In 2004, the USA Olympic Men’s Basketball team was shocked and humiliated, barely winning the bronze metal. The team was comprised of top NBA players so skills and talent were not the issue. In organizations of all kinds, we make great efforts to hire the best into our teams, assuming that top talent will bring top results, later to often wonder “What went wrong?” Extraordinary teams are positioned for robust and sustainable success, able to adapt and bounce back from setbacks, operate seamlessly even when navigating new territory, and meet new challenges with enthusiasm. With a framework grounded in the latest findings in neuroscience, we will use the profound example of a leader who applied these strategies to shape such a team, and we will discuss what other leaders can do to shape their own extraordinary teams.
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Iris Firstenberg, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor
UCLA
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Dr. Iris Firstenberg is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology, UCLA and Adjunct Professor of Management at UCLA Anderson. She specializes in strategies for creative problem solving and innovative thinking.
Dr. Firstenberg also conducts seminars on creativity and innovation for a wide cross-section of Fortune 500 organizations, including companies in aerospace, software, healthcare, defense, telecommunications, energy, financial services, retail, and pharmaceuticals, as well as government agencies such as NASA.
Her latest book, Extraordinary Outcomes: Shaping an Otherwise Unpredictable Future (John Wiley & Sons, 2014), provides a practical framework to help organizations navigate in a world of uncertainty.
Dr. Firstenberg is the recipient of the 2002 UCLA Department of Psychology Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2011 UCLA Extension Distinguished Teaching Award.