Dr. Tony Middlebrooks - Do NOT Listen to This Episode! Do Something Else.

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Tony Middlebrooks, Ph.D. teaches at the intersection of leadership, innovation, creativity, and design as Associate Professor and Director of the Siegfried Leadership Initiative for Horn Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware. Dr. Middlebrooks has created and taught more than 35 different courses for all collegiate levels, and numerous experiential abroad programs. He received the University of Delaware Excellence in Teaching and Excellence and is the lead author of the textbook Discovering Leadership: Designing Your Success.

Learn More About Tony's Work

• Discovering Leadership: Designing Your Success by Middlebrooks, Allen, McNutt, and Morrison

Quotes From This Episode

• "I don't know better, I know different."
• "One of the things that I have been long fascinated with, as someone who studies creativity, is this notion of metaphorical thinking and how ideas from one world map onto another in ways that allow you to see those worlds in uniquely different ways...to see other perspectives and, and to see the spaces where innovation can really happen."
• "The Von Restorff effect basically says that anything that is done that is significantly different from the norm from the ordinary is going to be more highly retained, more highly noticed, and more likely to be engaged."
• "The design principle of balance...I love the notion of balance for leadership because there are so many things, and many of them paradoxical that you have to balance as a leader."
• "A lot of folks use design thinking as a process, but in reality, it’s a set of mindsets." 
• "With this definition of entrepreneurship, you know, you’ve got a whole bunch of different skill sets, mindsets, and activities built into the notion of creating value." 

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters by Barbara Kellerman (Leader, Followers, Contexts)
• Television Series - The Crown

If You Enjoyed This Episode, Check Out...

• Dr. Barbara Kellerman - Leader, Followers, & Contexts
• Dr. Kathy Allen - Leading From the Roots