Podcast: Can a Little Embarrassment Make Your Team More Creative?
Skip to content
Insight Unpacked Season 3: Can We Still Build a Green Economy? | Listen
A magazine of research and ideas from the
faculty of the Kellogg School of Management
Podcast: Can a Little Embarrassment Make Your Team More Creative?
itunes download
Leadership Organizations Nov 6, 2019

Podcast: Can a Little Embarrassment Make Your Team More Creative?

On this episode of The Insightful Leader: new research suggests an unusual icebreaker to try at your next brainstorming session.

Based on the research of

Leigh Thompson

Listening: Can a Little Embarrassment Make Your Team More Creative?
download
0:00 Skip back button Play Skip forward button 13:38

It’s important to celebrate your accomplishments. But as Leigh Thompson watched executives engaging in a “brag session” at a corporate retreat, she began to wonder if feeling proud could also inhibit creativity. “Because if you are engaging in a brag session or being prideful, you are unwittingly encouraging people to self-censor their own ideas,” says Thompson, a professor of management and organizations at Kellogg.

So she began to wonder: could the opposite of pride make one more innovative? On this episode of The Insightful Leader, Thompson describes a series of experiments examining how feeling embarrassed can affect creativity. The results point to an unusual icebreaker to try at your next brainstorming meeting.

Note: The Insightful Leader is produced for the ear, and not meant to be read as a transcript. We encourage you to listen to the audio version above. However, a transcript of this episode is available here.

Featured Faculty
Leigh Thompson

J. Jay Gerber Professor of Dispute Resolution & Organizations; Professor of Management & Organizations; Director of Kellogg Team and Group Research Center; Professor of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences (Courtesy)

LinkedIn Logo Share Chain Link Link Email Printer Print Republish
Most Popular This Week
  1. 5 Traits That Set the Best Leaders Apart
    A former CEO and current executive coach discusses the tendencies of these high performers, including sharing credit and ignoring shiny objects.
  2. What a Legendary Winemaker Can Teach Us about Leadership
    A renowned viticulturist helped turn Portugal’s Douro Valley into one of the world’s great wine regions. His philosophy holds value beyond the vineyard.
  3. Podcast: Why Wall Street Slowed Its Roll on Sustainability
    A few years ago, the stock market was wild about green tech and ESG funds. And then it wasn’t. We look at why in the third episode of “Insight Unpacked: Can We Still Build a Green Economy?”
  4. Does GameStop Signal the End of Short Selling as We Know It?
    A conversation with a prominent short seller about the possible consequences of a wild week on Wall Street.
  5. When the Fog Rolls In, Do Leaders Need a Map or a Compass?
    Some moments call for a business plan, while others call for adaptability. Here’s how to know when to lean on one or the other.
  6. Is AI Mastering the Art of Persuasion?
    “If AI continues along even a similar path and speed as we’re seeing now, then this becomes less of a Black Mirror episode and more of reality.”
  7. Advice to Graduates in an AI-Disrupted Job Market
    In today’s rapidly changing world, new graduates will need to become far more adaptable and forward-thinking than any previous generation.
  8. Podcast: Does Climate Policy Stand a Chance?
    America passed its biggest-ever climate bill … only to reverse course three years later. In the fourth episode of “Insight Unpacked: Can We Still Build a Green Economy?” experts discuss why policy solutions struggle to stick.
More in Leadership
5 Traits That Set the Best Leaders Apart
About Us Faculty & Research Research Hub
2211 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208
insight@kellogg.northwestern.edu
LinkedIn LinkedIn Substack Substack Substack RSS
© Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern
University. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy.