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Articles about Todd Henry
The Accidental Creative
Five Myths About Creative People
Five Myths About Creative People

Five Myths About Creative People

There are several myths that exist about highly creative people, and they can seriously affect how teams are led, how client interactions happen, and how we collaborate with one another. If you believe any of these five myths, it can create chronic issues on your team. And, if you are perpetuating any of them, it can seriously curb your effectiveness as a creative pro.

The Accidental Creative
Getting To The Best Idea (with David Moldawer)
Getting To The Best Idea (with David Moldawer)

Getting To The Best Idea (with David Moldawer)

Ideas are often plentiful, but great, concise, well-presented ideas are rare. Sometimes you need another person to help you shape your work into something that can achieve maximum impact. David Moldawer is just such a person. He's an editor, and a writer, and he helps authors simplify and communicate their very complex work in a way that it can be received. On this episode, we talk about how to find your voice as an artist, a common fallacy that prevents us from success, and how to best position yourself for creative success. 

The Accidental Creative
How To Finish (with Jon Acuff)
How To Finish (with Jon Acuff)

How To Finish (with Jon Acuff)

There's so much discussion about how to get started, how to overcome creative block, and how to find your motivation, but you know what's rarely discussed? That's right - how to finish when things get hard. Today's guest Jon Acuff has written the book on the topic, and he's here today to discuss his creative process, and some core principles for finishing challenging long-arc goals in your life and work. 

The Accidental Creative
Friend Of A Friend (with David Burkus)
Friend Of A Friend (with David Burkus)

Friend Of A Friend (with David Burkus)

Networking. Just the word can sometimes bring chills to introverts like me. We tend to think of networking as "slapping palms" and "swapping business cards" and the whole thing often feel a little... swarmy. However, today's guest David Burkus is here to tell us how to think differently about networking, and how we can leverage both our strong and weak ties to help us accomplish our professional goals. His new book is called Friend Of A Friend.

The Accidental Creative
Find Your Creative Voice With These 10 Questions
Find Your Creative Voice With These 10 Questions

Find Your Creative Voice With These 10 Questions

We must actively search for our creative voice, and clear a path for it to emerge. It is uncovered, not manufactured. We may not even like what we discover at first, but by embracing it we will position ourselves to occupy the unique space for which we’re wired.
Here are a ten questions that will help you uncover clues to your unique contribution.

The Accidental Creative
Unsafe Thinking (with Jonah Sachs)
Unsafe Thinking (with Jonah Sachs)

Unsafe Thinking (with Jonah Sachs)

You're probably really skilled at what you do. However, this can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you can take shortcuts that help you create more value faster for your clients or organization. On the other, the more skilled you are the easier it can be to slip into ruts and "safe thinking." On today's episode, Jonah Sachs, author of Unsafe Thinking, will help shake us out of our creative ruts and help us think more boldly.

Herding Tigers
How To Handle Conflict

How To Handle Conflict

If you have talented, driven, creative people on your team, conflict is inevitable. Conflict isn't bad, it's just a by-product of the creative process. However, how you handle conflict will determine the health or dysfunction of the team. On this episode, we share...

The Accidental Creative
How To Eliminate 90% of the Tension On Creative Teams
How To Eliminate 90% of the Tension On Creative Teams

How To Eliminate 90% of the Tension On Creative Teams

Many of the e-mails and questions we get at Accidental Creative revolve around one question. Actually, it’s one question asked from two different perspectives: How can I get them to understand me?

The them in the question is either “my manager” or “my creative team” depending on who is asking the question. There is a lot of time spent lobbing shots across the organizational bow, from both sides, but there is often a significant dearth of real communication.

So with that in mind, on this episode I we share a simple way to eliminate 90% of this organizational tension. It begins by understanding the main question being asked by the other person in any given interaction.

The Accidental Creative
How To Plan Your Day In 10 Minutes
How To Plan Your Day In 10 Minutes

How To Plan Your Day In 10 Minutes

If you were going to purchase a house or a car, you would probably step back and consider how you're going to re-organize your finances to ensure that you're preparing yourself properly and will use your money effectively. However, many people are much less intentional abou thow they spend their day than how they spend their money. Yet, which is more valuable? How you spend your day is how you spend your life. On this episode, you'll learn a very simple 10 minute method for planning your day effectively so that you bring your best creative value to your clients and organization. 

The Accidental Creative
How To Keep A Creative Project On The Rails
How To Keep A Creative Project On The Rails

How To Keep A Creative Project On The Rails

No matter how well things go in the course of a project, there are always ways in which you can go off the rails. This is especially true when you're leading other team members or a client through a complex web of decisions. Sometimes, there are circumstances beyond your control that force you to go backwards and re-visit some of your earlier work. However, you should always ensure that a project isn't going off the rails because of a lack of diligence on your part. On this episode, we share four practical tips for keeping your creative project on the rails as you make difficult decisions. 

The Accidental Creative
The Coaching Habit Revisited (with Michael Bungay Stanier)

The Coaching Habit Revisited (with Michael Bungay Stanier)

When you think of the word "coach", what image comes to mind? Someone standing on the sideline barking orders at everyone? The master strategist standing in an empty room with a whiteboard full of plans? How about this one: the great listener? On today's show, Michael Bungay Stanier returns to share additional insights from his international smash hit book The Coaching Habit. We talk about misunderstandings people often have about coaching, and how we can coach our peers and even our managers to help them unleash their best work every day.

The Accidental Creative
5 Ways To Shake Up Your Creative Process
5 Ways To Shake Up Your Creative Process

5 Ways To Shake Up Your Creative Process

Over time, this pressure to produce every day can cause us to fossilize around bad habits. We get into a rhythm – the bad kind – that causes us to move mindlessly through our days without much thought for our process. On this episode we share five places where you might be experiencing “fossilization”, and some remedies for dealing with them.

The Accidental Creative
Push Through The Second Wall
Push Through The Second Wall

Push Through The Second Wall

There are two walls that creatives hit when engaged in making something meaningful. The first wall, and the most obvious one, occurs before or very early in the process. It’s what causes us to shrink back from engagement and to instead seek something – ANYTHING – that will immediately relieve our need to feel productive. It’s much easier to check e-mail, make a call or re-shuffle the papers on our desk than it is to bare our soul to the blank page, the blinking cursor, or the empty art board. However, the second wall can be the one that really keeps you from producing your best work. On this episode, we share some strategies for surmounting it and pushing through to your best work. 

The Accidental Creative
Make Your Contribution
Make Your Contribution

Make Your Contribution

Is passion important? Surely. Is it the most important factor in doing great work? I have my doubts. Some of the most effective contributors throughout time have been marked by two characteristics: they were (a) reluctant, but (b) resolved. They saw the great task before them, but they were determined to surmount obstacles because they recognized an opportunity and felt the urgency of the moment. Do not be dulled, friends. Do not allow the lull of comfort to cause you to abdicate your contribution. Stay sharp. Keep your edges. Nothing – NOTHING – is worth giving up the most precious thing you have to offer.

Herding Tigers
How To Handle Failure

How To Handle Failure

After a failed project, many teams simply move forward to the next one, without a postmortem. This is a huge mistake. It's important as a leader that you seize those failures and mistakes and turn them into growth moments for your team. Otherwise, people are likely...

The Accidental Creative
Great At Work (with Morten T. Hansen)
Great At Work (with Morten T. Hansen)

Great At Work (with Morten T. Hansen)

What separates top performers from everyone else? Is it really just a matter of hustle and multi-tasking, or is there something else going on? Today's guest Morten T. Hansen has spent several years studying top performers and he's discovered that there are seven key differentiators between average and remarkable performers. On this episode, he shares why working more hours can be counter-productive, how to prune priorities to create maximum value, and how to say "no" to your boss.

The Accidental Creative
Why Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race
Why Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race

Why Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race

It’s not enough to make daily, measured progress on your work if it’s not deliberate progress. If you’re not moving in a meaningful direction, then failure is a likely outcome. While most professionals know this, it often doesn’t affect how we approach our work. Instead of defining our work effectively, we are instead carried along by the flow of it from day to day. Instead of determining the problems we are trying to solve, we tackle big, conceptual challenges and thus set ourselves up for failure from the start.