Ep 8. Scott Sonenshein: To Chase or To Stretch?
"Constraints are not something you should shy away from -- embrace scarcity."
-- Scott Sonenshein
Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at Rice University. His award-winning work has helped Fortune 500 executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals in many industries, such as tech and healthcare. Scott holds a PhD in management and organizations from the University of Michigan (where Stew got his PhD -- brothers). His book “Stretch” offers a groundbreaking approach to achieving high performance.
The stretch mindset is about resourcefulness and creativity in the face of constraints -- simply put, to achieve more with less. Stew and Scott discuss how listeners can develop a stretch mindset. The key is to embrace constraints instead of chasing after more resources. Constraints enable us to achieve more by forcing us to look for creative solutions.
Listen below or on Stitcher, SoundCloud, iTunes, or Google Play
Show Notes (times when new topics start)
1:50. Silicon Valley. Scott spent time in SF during the dot com bubble. There he saw startups recklessly chasing resources. This inspired his current research.
5:10. Using creativity to stretch. Creativity allows business to use old resources in new ways.
7:15. Embracing constraints. They enable us to do things unconventionally to achieve goals.
16:05. How to stretch. There are many ways to develop resourcefulness and creativity in work and other parts of life.
Selected Links
Scott’s Rice University faculty page.
Check out Scott's book Stretch.
Follow Scott on Twitter @ScottSonenshein.
See Sonenshein, S. (2014). How organizations foster the creative use of resources. Academy of Management Journal, 57(3), 814-848.
Share your questions, ideas, and stories by tweeting @StewFriedman.