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The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

Todd Henry

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Where do brilliant ideas come from? And, is it possible to do great work under pressure every single day? The Accidental Creative podcast explores how to stay prolific, brilliant and healthy in life and work as a creative pro. Host Todd Henry (author of the books The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Louder Than Words, Herding Tigers, Daily Creative) interviews artists, authors and business leaders, and offers tips for how to thrive in life and work. Listen in and join the conversation at ToddHenry.com/accidental.
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Leading From Anywhere (with David Burkus)

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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01/04/21 • 27 min

The pandemic hasn’t really changed the direction of the marketplace, it’s mostly just accelerated it. Many of the strategies companies are employing to deal with remote work are ones that were already inevitable a year or two ago, but have now become necessities because of the state of the world. The change that we’ve all been thrust into can be destabilizing if we aren’t able to adapt to the new reality.

On today’s episode of the podcast, David Burkus shares key insights from his new book Leading From Anywhere. It’s important that managers learn to understand how these new complexities affect the mindset and workflow of the people they work with, and develop strategies for helping their teams thrive, especially since it’s unlikely the workplace will ever go back to “normal”.

One of the key insights we discuss is the importance of developing empathy for the people on your team. The workplace is often the “great equalizer”, in that we all have access to the same enviroment, the same resources, the same tools, and the same people. However, when we work remotely, each person is in their own environment and some are most definitely better equipped than others to deal with the pressures of the day. While one person may live alone with plenty of space and ultra-fast WiFi, another might be living in a two-bedroom apartment with small children who are doing remote school at the kitchen table. We must learn and adapt to the unique needs of the people on our team if we want to help them succeed, which means we can’t simply layer the same expectations on everyone on the team. We must commit to a posture of continuous learning, then adjust as we go.

Regardless of when the pandemic ends, we will all need to learn to “lead from anywhere”. Hopefully, this episode will help you along that journey.

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Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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01/04/21 • 27 min

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How To Plan For Uncertainty

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08/07/20 • 18 min

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We live in uncertain times. My friend Andy posted a photo of a sign from 2015 today that asked “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Well, I seriously doubt that any of us would have answered “living through a global pandemic with an uncertain ending.”

No matter what your role, it’s important that you learn to plan for uncertainty. You can’t predict what will happen, but you can prepare yourself to deal with unexpected events in a more productive way. On this episode, we share three core principles for planning for uncertainty:

  1. Ask better questions. Many people don’t ask questions because they don’t want to know the answer. However, it’s only when things go awry that you fully realize the quality of the questions you’ve been asking. In this episode, I share how to ask the “what’s the pin in the grenade?” question to help you prepare for unexpected negative events.
  2. Build your runway. You need to know that you have the resources needed to bridge from here to there. Many businesses will go under during this pandemic because they weren’t able to survive the downturn, but those who make it through will be far better positioned on the other side to take advantage of the rebound.
  3. Protect the main thing. Mission is king. You need to adjust and adapt in whatever way is necessary to protect your mission and abide by your values.

Uncertainty is inevitable, but how we deal with it makes all the difference between a successful outcome and a disastrous one.

Mentioned in this episode:

Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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08/07/20 • 18 min

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How To Give Good Feedback

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08/17/20 • 14 min

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One key element of any healthy culture is that people understand how to give effective feedback to one another. Because creative work can feel a bit subjective, feedback can be a difficult thing to navigate, so many people default to being overly prescriptive or controlling. However, while specific, tactical feedback might achieve short-term results, it often creates bigger problems over the long-term. Instead, we need to learn how to offer feedback in a way that helps the team (or our clients) think in new and better ways about the work.

On this episode, we share three core principles for offering better feedback:

Honor the process

The end result of a project is just the final piece of a very long process. When you offer suggestions without first understanding how someone arrived at that result, you are negating their entire process, and the decision-making that went into it. You have to allow them the opportunity to share not only the end result of their thinking, but their thought process itself.

Ask better questions

Instead of being prescriptive, ask questions that help the other person articulate why they made the decisions they did. Also, ask questions that help them think about other pathways they could have taken, and where those pathways may have led. “Why did you choose to...” or “How did you arrive at...” are wonderful conversation starters to get them talking about the why behind what you are seeing or experiencing.

Invite them to re-direct

Once you’ve had a thorough conversation about the process, begin asking them questions that nudge them in what you think might be a more helpful direction. For example, “what if instead of doing X, you chose Y? How might that change your process?” or “Can you think of a way that we could...?” These are open-ended questions that value the other person and also invite them into the process of re-directing the work in a meaningful way.

Yes, we’re all pros and we need to be able to deal with difficult feedback. And, it doesn’t serve anyone when we are overly-prescriptive and lack empathy in how we interact with the work of others. Be a pro, and be intentional about giving feedback that helps them think not only about what to do, but why they should do it that way.

Mentioned in this episode:

Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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08/17/20 • 14 min

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Get Different (with Mike Michalowicz)

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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10/11/21 • 32 min

To gain attention for your work (or your message) you must stand apart from everyone else. There is no place for being another in a line of similar messages. How do you separate yourself from the pack.

Today's guest is Mike Michalowicz, author of the new book Get Different. He shares specific strategies for standing out from the crowd.

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Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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10/11/21 • 32 min

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Daily Practices and My New Book Daily Creative

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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07/18/22 • 15 min

I have been waiting for this announcement for over a year. Last Thursday I sent an announcement to all of our subscribers of 3 Things, my Sunday email that goes out each week with three creative sparks, that I've been working on a secret book during the pandemic. In fact, the book is about twice as long as any of my previous books and I wrote it in about a third of the time. It was quite a push.

The main reason why I wrote this book is because I noticed that a lot of people around me - creative pros at all levels of their game - were struggling to stay engaged and focused during the pandemic. However, those who seemed to endure and even thrive in the midst of the uncertainty were those who had daily practices to sustain them.

A phrase popped into my head: Talent may get you a seat at the table, but it's your daily practices that keep you in the game. What you do every day matters most.

So my new book, Daily Creative, is designed to help you do just that. It features 366 daily essays covering everything from mindset to tools to creative sparks to leadership. It's designed to be your daily companion as a creative pro. In fact, one early reader told me "It's like having my own personal coach in the mornings." That's exactly what I was aiming for.

Why are daily practices important?

1. They keep you micro-aligned. When you're doing complex, uncertain work, it's easy to drift. Just a few small deviations from your intended course seem like no big deal, but those deviations amplify over time and can carry you far from where you intended to end up. So, by doing a daily check-in on both your mindset and your practices, you ensure that you're at least making intentional decisions about your course.

2. They develop resilience. How do you increase your capacity? By doing hard things. By asking hard questions. By pushing beyond your comfort. Daily practices force you to do things you may not always feel like doing, but that will increase the likelihood you'll persist in the face of resistance. You train yourself to do hard things.

3. They refine your perspective and productive passion. You are smarter than you think. You know much more than you think. However, much of what you know is beneath the surface of your consciousness. It's on the level of intuition. When you're under pressure, you are likely to ignore those intuitive hunches because they're inconvenient. A daily practice forces you to slow down, listen to your thoughts, and be shaped by your intuition.

So, even though the book doesn't release until September 6th, I'm asking you to pre-order it now. Pre-orders are a huge part of the early success of a book, which is why so many authors ask you for them. So, I've put together a bunch of pretty great bonuses as a thank you for those who pre-order.

For example, you can get the audiobook version for free. Or, you can actually start reading the book RIGHT NOW by receiving it as a daily email.

Learn how to get these bonuses at dailycreativebook.com.

Mentioned in this episode:

Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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07/18/22 • 15 min

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You Can Change Other People (with Peter Bregman)

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09/20/21 • 26 min

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You've likely heard the old advice "you can't change other people." Today's guest would beg to differ. Through decades of coaching, he's developed a method to help you help other people change and achieve the results that they want. Peter Bregman is the author of the new book You Can Change Other People.

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Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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09/20/21 • 26 min

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3 Time Blocking Strategies That Unleash Great Work

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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01/12/22 • 24 min

When I ask "what is the one thing that stands in the way of your productivity?" the most common answer get is "I don't have enough time!" But...really? We each have the same amount of time - 168 hours a week. It's not so much about the quantity of time as it is about how we choose to leverage it.

In this episode, I share three big time blocking strategies that you can implement to help you produce better creative work in 2022.

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Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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01/12/22 • 24 min

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Think Like A Rocket Scientist (with Ozan Varol)

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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04/30/20 • 26 min

Albert Einstein once wrote “The world we have created today as a result of our thinking thus far has problems which cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them.” In order to go to new places in life and work, we need to expand our thinking beyond the confines of our assumptions.

But how do we do that?

This week’s podcast episode features Ozan Varol, who has just released a book called Think Like A Rocket Scientist. In it, he articulates several strategies for breaking through assumptive ruts and taking your work to a new level. Here are a few of my takeaways from the conversation:

You Must Question Your Assumptions

In the past, I’ve frustrated many managers and peers for my annoying tendency to ask lots of “why?” questions. I’ve never been able to simply accept the way things are, and that can be very inconvenient when you’re trying to make quick progress on a project. However, this tendency has also served me well, because it’s frequently allowed me to circumvent norms that are preventing others from seeing possibilities.

As you think about your current situation, your work, your life goals, what you are pursuing, are there assumptions that need to be challenged? They are often guidelines that have been in place for a number of years, or industry norms that others assume are hard and fast rules. Spend a bit of time this week challenging an assumption or two, and see where your thoughts lead you. Ask “What if...?”

Return To First Principles

Over time, it’s easy to get distracted with tactics and to forget what you’re actually trying to do. In the interview, Ozan shared the story of Steve Martin, who challenged the very conventions of what it means to be a comedian. In traditional comedy, the comedian will create tension and then relieve it by delivering a punchline, hopefully generating a laugh. Martin, however, wasn’t distracted by the tactics, and instead realized that the first principle was simply to make people laugh. He would create tension, but not relieve it with a punchline. At first, critics were apalled by his strategy, but audiences warmed up to it, and he became one of the most popular acts in the world, selling out arenas wherever he performed.

What are the first principles of your work? What are you really trying to do, and how can you return to them and develop new tactics for accomplishing your goals?

Have A Moonshot

Right now, many people are simply focused on survival. I understand this necessity. However, I also think this is the perfect time to begin working on your personal “moonshot”, or the idea so big that no one else would dare try to compete with you. Physicist Max Planck once said, “At the initial stages of idea formation, the pure rationalist has no place.” Many of the world’s greatest accomplishments were met with skepticism and scorn at their inception, only to be accepted later.

What is your personal moonshot? What could you aim for that seems scarily big to you, but that would completely change the trajectory of your life and work?

To make progress on the other side of the pandemic, we will need to think in new ways. I hope this interview and Ozan’s book will expand your perspective and grant you a renewed enthusiasm for what’s possible.

Mentioned in this episode:

Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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04/30/20 • 26 min

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Avoiding The Advice Trap (with Michael Bungay Stanier)

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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05/12/20 • 28 min

This week’s Accidental Creative podcast features Michael Bungay Stanier discussing his book The Advice Trap.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone offered unsolicited advice?

Let me tell you what you need to do...”

How did it feel? If you’re like me, you were probably grateful that they wanted to help, but it put you in the awkward position of either refusing their advice or, if they were your manager, acting on it just to avoid offending them in spite of your better instincts.

It’s tempting to fall into the “advice trap”, which is when we lead with advice-giving instead of pausing to listen to the other person, to consider what they really need, and to ask questions that help them arrive at the answer on their own. Not only is this a better way to ensure that we are truly helping the other person, but it’s also the best way to help them learn to solve problems on their own. Here are a few things I took away from my chat with Michael:

Lead With Curiosity

Ask a lot of questions. You should lead with your curiosity, not your advice. By asking a lot of questions, you will not only better understand what’s truly going on, but you will also help the other person learn to think through their problems in a more guided way. This is how a great manager (or peer) can build into team members in a lasting manner.

Ask questions first, and let the other person sort through the problem in conversation with you.

Release The Control

One of the biggest temptations of a manager is to clamp down and attempt to control the output of the team. Brilliant, driven creative pros need freedom to think for themselves and to try new methods for accomplishing their work. When you control your team, the work shrinks until it’s only as big as your personal sphere of attention can bear. Instead, you should aim to allow your team freedom to operate within clear principles and boundaries that guide their decisions.

Lead with influence, not control.

Give Empathetic Advice

The worst advice is always the “if I were you, this is what I’d do” type. Why? Because you are filtering your advice through your own lens, not the world of the other person. Instead, when you do give advice first put yourself in the other person’s position and try to imagine how it would feel to be in their shoes. How might their feelings and concerns differ from what you’d be experiencing if you were in their situation?

Before giving advice, imagine that you’re in the other person’s situtation.

Once you learn to temper the “advice monster”, you’ll become the manager (or the peer) that everyone wants to work with.

Mentioned in this episode:

Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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05/12/20 • 28 min

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Fear Of Missing Out (with Patrick McGinnis)

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry

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05/28/20 • 24 min

Is the grass truly greener on the other side of the fence? Many creative pros spend their career wondering if there is a better path for them, or whether they’re missing out on something that everyone else knows about. This can result in hopping from job to job, or never really fully embracing the opportunities in front of you because you’re always “hedging your bets” and looking for a better option. Patrick McGinnis coined the phrase Fear Of Missing Out in a college paper several years ago, and he’s just released a book by the same title to help us work through our anxiety about forgoing opportunities.

Here are a few key ideas to help us avoid FOMO:

Move Toward, Not Away From

I’ve had many conversations with people who never seem to be satisfied with their job. They hop from company to company thinking that there has to be some place that will better mesh with what they’re looking for. The problem is that these people are often chasing vapor. They are perpetually moving away from something they dislike, not something they aspire toward. People who thrive learn to move toward their ambitions and goals, not just away from discomfort.

Is there any area of your life or career where you are simply moving away from discomfort rather than toward your goals?

Be Decisive

Another hallmark of thriving professionals is that they are willing to be decisive in the face of uncertainty. That doesn’t mean that they make foolish or rash decisions, however they don’t wait for absolute certainty before moving forward. Instead, they make decisions with the best information they have knowing that if they make a mistake they can typically navigate back on course.

Is there an area where you are paralyzed because you are being indecisive? What decision do you need to make?

Don’t Compare, Except To Improve

There are two kinds of comparison, and one is harmful and one is beneficial. The beneficial kind of comparison is when we look at someone else’s performance in order to gain insights into how we can improve our own skills. By studying those who are great at their craft, we can see where we are deficient and establish a course of action to help us improve. The harmful kind of comparison is when we become envious about what someone else has, or fear that we are being “robbed” of opportunity because another person possesses something that we want. This can lead to bitterness, self-destruction, and eventual hopelessness.

Compare yourself to others in order to improve, not to stew about what you’re missing out on.

Don’t worry about what’s “out there”. Be present this week and tackle the opportunities in front of you.

Mentioned in this episode:

Please Support Our Sponsors:

Indeed: Indeed.com/creative Shopify: Shopify.com/accidentalcreative

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05/28/20 • 24 min

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FAQ

How many episodes does The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry have?

The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry currently has 684 episodes available.

What topics does The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry cover?

The podcast is about Management, Podcasts, Business and Careers.

What is the most popular episode on The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry?

The episode title 'Leading From Anywhere (with David Burkus)' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry?

The average episode length on The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry is 22 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry released?

Episodes of The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry are typically released every 4 days, 8 hours.

When was the first episode of The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry?

The first episode of The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry was released on Jun 29, 2013.

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3 Ratings