F**k ups may be inevitable, though staying stuck doesn’t have to be. This workshop helps participants break free from the mental traps that keeps us dwelling on past mistakes, learning how to shift our focus toward growth, resilience, and action. Through a mix of cognitive reframing techniques and practical action-oriented strategies, participants will learn how to bounce back with confidence, reignite our motivation, and turn failures into fuel for future success.
Leaders Aren’t Born – They’re Made.
We deliver team + leadership development experiences that navigate the fast-paced creative landscape. We partner with entertainment and media teams to accelerate content innovation, deepen audience engagement, and develop visionary leaders who thrive through digital transformation, evolving storytelling platforms, and emerging audience connection opportunities. From teams of newsroom editors and investigative journalists to theater directors, performing arts administrators, print magazine publishers, and broadcast producers, our creativity-focused, meticulously-tailored process ensures editorial relevance and immediate implementation.
Suggested Leadership Workshops: Entertainment & Media
Bouncing Back from a F**k Up
Approaching Setbacks with a Learning Mindset
Learning Objectives:
- Explore the five common THINKING TRAPS where individuals get stuck, and discover the ESCAPE ROUTE strategies to help ourselves and others to break free
- ILeverage positive psychology to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset
- Inspire a culture of resilience, trust, and psychological safety
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Confidence
- Emotional Intelligence
- Effective Communication
Learning Objectives:
- Experiment with interactive exercises to enhance active listening, setting others up for success, challenging the status-quo, and confidently stepping outside of our comfort zones
- Embrace the concept of “YES, AND” to build upon the ideas of others in an effort to strengthen interpersonal, team, and organizational relationships
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Collaboration + Trust
- Effective Communication
- Openness to Change + Innovation
IMPROVing Team Collaboration
Embracing “YES, AND” to Foster Leadership & Build Trust
Understanding the fundamentals of improvisation enhances core communication in personal and professional settings. Improvisation requires participants to think on their feet, be in the moment, and use enhanced active listening skills, all of which play a role in our success in the work we do on a daily basis. In this workshop, participants will gain an understanding of how to fully embrace “YES, AND” and other core principles from improv for increased collaboration, trust, and enhanced team dynamics.
We Can Work It Out
An Experiment with Conflict & Consensus Building
While frequent conflict can certainly be taxing or uncomfortable, disagreements can often lead to enhanced respect, open-mindedness, and innovation. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to understand various reactions to conflict, and discover which response is most appropriate for a given situation. Participants leave this session with a deeper understanding of their natural communication style during times of conflict, and a refreshed outlook on how to approach these conversations in the future.
Learning Objectives:
- Determine personal approach to conflict conversations, and discover the five differing conflict styles
- Identify benefits and potential obstacles for each style to clarify effective conflict communication strategies
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Effective Communication
- Adaptability + Assertiveness
- Consensus Building + Alignment
Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate between the concepts of COACHING and MENTORING in our leadership style
- Experiment with coaching methodologies to enhance our skill set, and determine the strategic questions that inspire others to feel empowered to act
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Coaching for Empowerment
- Asking Strategic Questions + Active Listening
- Talent Development
Coaching to Full Potential
Empowering Others through Coaching Conversations
In making the transition from individual contributor to leader, we rely on a new skill set that focuses on inspiring and motivating the people we work with. In this series, participants will focus on people and project leadership skills, specifically as it relates to the topics of coaching and motivating to inspire those we work with to take action. Through knowledge-sharing and discussion based learning, and an opportunity to directly experiment with coaching methodologies, participants will have the opportunity to learn from and alongside each other, and connect these practices to specific action plans to retain and grow their top talent.
Why Choose Us for Entertainment & Media Leadership Training?
Looking to elevate creative collaboration, editorial impact, and strategic agility within your media organization? The Leadership Laboratory delivers team + leadership development workshops that are fun, grounded in research, and built to reflect your organization's unique culture. Our data-driven workshops are carefully designed and hands-on – elevating your team and leaders to the next level.
Entertainment and media professionals balance creative artistry with editorial integrity and commercial demands, and we're committed to maximizing those unique talents. Whether your team includes theater producers, magazine art directors, investigative reporters, or performing arts curators, The Leadership Laboratory creates targeted workshops that build on existing creative capabilities, strengthen storytelling leadership, and drive enhanced content performance, audience loyalty, and organizational innovation. Our approach focuses on growth to facilitate sustainable, meaningful change across your company. Our data-driven media leadership workshops utilize proven frameworks developed specifically for creative and deadline-driven environments to inspire long-term, positive behavior change.
The Leadership Laboratory operates nationwide with both in-person and virtual media leadership development workshops. We proudly serve media and entertainment organizations across the country, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC.
Building tomorrow's leaders today.
The Leadership Laboratory works across multiple industries - including start-up and established technology firms, non-profit and government agencies, finance companies, healthcare organizations and more. We are proud to collaborate with individuals and teams of all sizes.
Contact us and say hello! We're excited to get to know you and share our ideas on learning + leadership development.
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Collaborating Partners
“I laughed harder than I have in a while!”
Our workshop was engaging, informative, rejuvenating and pure fun. I laughed harder than I have in a while! This was a phenomenal way to get more comfortable as a team.
— Director of People, SpotHero
“You made this easy to apply and implement”
You listened to our needs and adapted on the spot to incorporate leadership lessons. Every element was backed up by research, and you made this easy to apply and implement.
— VP / HEAD OF PEOPLE, WARBY PARKER
Meet Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein is the founder of The Leadership Laboratory, and leverages his experiences in education, the performing arts, and corporate learning & leadership development to his work. As a performer, Jacob has sung as a backup vocalist for musical artists such as Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, and Patti LuPone, as a recording artist for Netflix series Sense8, and at venues including The United Center, The Chicago Theater, and Chicago Symphony Center. In the education space, Jacob has served as an educator for high school, undergraduate and graduate students, and has been a Guest Lecturer at Northwestern University since 2016. As a Learning & Leadership Development Consultant, Jacob has worked as a one-on-one coach and group workshop facilitator to organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies in diverse industries, including technology, healthcare, non-profit, and fashion/apparel. Jacob holds a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master’s of Science in Communication from Northwestern University.