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New Leaders
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.
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.
2026 Featured Workshops
Building The Dream Team
Adjusting Styles To Enhance Relationships & Build Trust
In this workshop, participants will discover the elements of their working style and communication preferences within four key dimensions: how we like to communicate, how we take in and process information, how we make decisions, and how we organize our lives. Through group learning, individual reflection, and group discussion, participants will walk away from this workshop with an increased confidence in their ability to articulate their needs to others, and heightened ability to adjust their styles to meet the preferences of others. This session takes a humorous and informative look at how we operate, providing us with the tools to adjust our styles to work effectively with anyone.
Learning Objectives:
- Clarify leadership and communication preferences, and develop a “user’s manual” to articulate our findings
- Discover the attributes, behaviors and common blind-spots of natural preferences, and explore and understand the same attributes and behaviors of opposing types
- Highlight specific actions we can take when working with someone who leverages opposing preferences, and develop a plan to adjust our styles with at least one current colleague
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Effective Communication
- Collaboration + Trust
- Openness + Awareness
Learning Objectives:
- Leverage feedback conversations to transform and inspire performance of peers, direct-reports, and other frequent collaborators
- Identify the theories behind three common negative reactions when receiving feedback
- Discover the three types of feedback to more effectively inspire peak performance
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Giving + Receiving Feedback
- Navigating Conflict Conversations
- Positive Psychology + Trust
Thanks For The Feedback
Inspiring Performance through Effective Feedback
We are constantly receiving feedback. Through formal and informal words and actions, each dinner invitation, speeding ticket, book recommendation or annual performance bonus says something about who we are and how we are perceived by others. This workshop introduces us to key strategies for both giving and receiving feedback, taking a deeper dive into understanding the types of feedback, discovering why and how we react, and how to more effectively deliver feedback in the future.
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
- Building Consensus + 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.
At The Leadership Laboratory, our workshops are grounded in the following core beliefs:
Everyone is a leader, whether or not you have a formal title.
Learning experiences must be interactive & customized to focus on creating long-term, positive behavior change.
We will partner with you to build and facilitate the right program for you + your team. All of our workshop offerings are grounded in three key goals: strengthening trust, enhancing collaboration, and leveraging positive psychology.
Leadership + Management Workshops
Making the leap from doing the work to leading the people takes a whole new skill set, one built on inspiring others rather than simply out-performing them. Our workshops give you the tools to motivate, coach, and deliver feedback that actually lands, whether your team sits across the table or across the country, so you can empower your people to operate at their peak.
Key themes: The Leadership + Management workshops at The Leadership Laboratory cover engagement and motivation, coaching for empowerment, giving and receiving feedback, psychological safety, and leading virtual teams.
Learning Objectives:
- Explore the three types of motivation and engagement, taking a pulse on current organization-wide strategies and opportunities for the future
- Experiment with three unique theories to immediately increase intrinsic motivation
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Engagement + Motivation
- Talent Strategy + Development
- Leading with Values
- Active Listening
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concepts of EMOTIONAL AGILITY and PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, and explore the building blocks that allow this to prosper in an individual level and within a team environment
- Explore the five common “THINKING TRAPS” that get people stuck, and practice five communication and trust-based “ESCAPE ROUTE” strategies to help yourself and others break free
- Empower team members to speak their minds, and encourage emotional openness from others
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Psychological Safety
- Building Trust
- Effective Communication
Learning Objectives:
- Explore the three types of motivation and engagement, taking a pulse on current organization-wide strategies and opportunities for the future
- Experiment with three unique theories to immediately increase intrinsic motivation
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Engagement + Motivation
- Talent Strategy + Development
- Leading with Values
- Active Listening
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concepts of EMOTIONAL AGILITY and PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, and explore the building blocks that allow this to prosper in an individual level and within a team environment
- Explore the five common “THINKING TRAPS” that get people stuck, and practice five communication and trust-based “ESCAPE ROUTE” strategies to help yourself and others break free
- Empower team members to speak their minds, and encourage emotional openness from others
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Psychological Safety
- Building Trust
- Effective Communication
Team Building + Development Workshops
Every team has the power to tap into the expertise, talents, and passions of the group, but only when we understand how each of us prefers to communicate, decide, and work. Through hands-on experiments and simulations, participants discover their own styles, navigate conflict with confidence, and design a shared vision for what's next.
Key themes: The Team Building workshops at The Leadership Laboratory cover collaboration and trust, effective communication, leading with strengths, consensus building, and strategic goal setting.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the CURRENT STATE and FUTURE STATE of the team’s collective goals and objectives
- Experiment with design thinking methodology to begin ideation of creative, implementable action plans to fully realize your team’s ideal future state
- Leverage positive psychology to create future-focused, behavior-based outcomes
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Strategic Thinking + Goal Setting
- Creativity + Innovation
- Positive Psychology & Growth Mindset
Learning Objectives:
- Identify current decision making practices, both on an individual and team level
- Discover The Four Phases of Team Development, overlaying the model to spark dialogue on the current state of team dynamics
- Measure individual and team-based decision making success, and develop an action and implementation plan of new leadership competencies
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Data-Based Decision Making
- Consensus Building
- Effective Communication
Learning Objectives:
- Define the CURRENT STATE and FUTURE STATE of the team’s collective goals and objectives
- Experiment with design thinking methodology to begin ideation of creative, implementable action plans to fully realize your team’s ideal future state
- Leverage positive psychology to create future-focused, behavior-based outcomes
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Strategic Thinking + Goal Setting
- Creativity + Innovation
- Positive Psychology & Growth Mindset
Learning Objectives:
- Identify current decision making practices, both on an individual and team level
- Discover The Four Phases of Team Development, overlaying the model to spark dialogue on the current state of team dynamics
- Measure individual and team-based decision making success, and develop an action and implementation plan of new leadership competencies
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Data-Based Decision Making
- Consensus Building
- Effective Communication
Improv Workshops
Improvisation asks us to think on our feet, stay in the moment, and truly listen, which happens to be exactly what our work asks of us every day. These sessions use interactive improv exercises to build upon the ideas of others, project confidence in front of any audience, and stay agile when the plan changes.
Key themes: The Improv workshops at The Leadership Laboratory cover collaboration and trust, active listening, executive presence, creativity and innovation, and change agility.
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
Learning Objectives:
- Experiment with interactive improv exercises to enhance storytelling and confident communication to effectively adjust set your message up for success with the intended audience
- Apply the concepts of Executive Presence to current and future conversations with internal and external stakeholders
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Building Confidence
- Effective Communication
- Collaboration + Trust
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
Learning Objectives:
- Experiment with interactive improv exercises to enhance storytelling and confident communication to effectively adjust set your message up for success with the intended audience
- Apply the concepts of Executive Presence to current and future conversations with internal and external stakeholders
- Develop an action + implementation plan for positive, long-term behavior change
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Building Confidence
- Effective Communication
- Collaboration + Trust
Leading Through Change Workshops
Until we can predict the future, we all rely on change agility to handle the surprises we're thrown each day. Our workshops build confidence around change and transition, explore resilience skills when navigating ambiguity, and equip leaders to coach their people forward with clarity.
Key themes: The Leading Through Change workshops at The Leadership Laboratory cover change agility and adaptability, resilience and trust, emotional intelligence, growth mindset, and innovation in uncertainty.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the CURRENT STATE and FUTURE STATE of the team’s collective goals and objectives
- Experiment with design thinking methodology to begin ideation of creative, implementable action plans to fully realize your team’s ideal future state
- Leverage positive psychology to create future-focused, behavior-based outcomes
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Strategic Thinking + Goal Setting
- Creativity + Innovation
- Positive Psychology & Growth Mindset
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concepts of positive psychology, trust, and resilience, and explore the building blocks that allow this to prosper in an individual level and within a team environment
- Explore the five common traps where individuals get stuck, and practice the escape route strategies to help ourselves and others to break free
- Design a team environment where trust can thrive, and open dialogue is encouraged
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Adaptability
- Effective Communication
Learning Objectives:
- Define the CURRENT STATE and FUTURE STATE of the team’s collective goals and objectives
- Experiment with design thinking methodology to begin ideation of creative, implementable action plans to fully realize your team’s ideal future state
- Leverage positive psychology to create future-focused, behavior-based outcomes
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Strategic Thinking + Goal Setting
- Creativity + Innovation
- Positive Psychology & Growth Mindset
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concepts of positive psychology, trust, and resilience, and explore the building blocks that allow this to prosper in an individual level and within a team environment
- Explore the five common traps where individuals get stuck, and practice the escape route strategies to help ourselves and others to break free
- Design a team environment where trust can thrive, and open dialogue is encouraged
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Adaptability
- Effective Communication
Organizational Development + Design Workshops
Culture gets talked about a lot, but shaping it on purpose takes more than good intentions. Our sessions apply design theory and people strategy to the bigger picture, from defining the culture you want to planning the future of your talent and polishing the messages that move people to act.
Key themes: The Organizational Development workshops at The Leadership Laboratory cover team and organizational culture, talent strategy and succession planning, design thinking, persuasion and influence, and storytelling.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concept of culture, including the visible and invisible components that exist within each participant’s team and organization
- Identify and discover how and where invisible cultural norms exist and manifest into employee behaviors and values
- Develop an action + implementation plan, fit with details of specific steps to support others during times of ambiguity
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Team + Organizational Culture
- Leading with Values
- Building Trust + Collaboration
Learning Objectives:
- Strategize the current state of your team, assessing and identifying current levels of performance and potential
- Experiment with talent development tools to more accurately articulate your development strategy to grow and engage with your top talent
- Develop an action + implementation plan, fit with details of specific steps to support others during times of ambiguity
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Talent Strategy + Development
- Empowering + Developing Others
- Executing Team Vision + Development Goals
Learning Objectives:
- Define the concept of culture, including the visible and invisible components that exist within each participant’s team and organization
- Identify and discover how and where invisible cultural norms exist and manifest into employee behaviors and values
- Develop an action + implementation plan, fit with details of specific steps to support others during times of ambiguity
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Team + Organizational Culture
- Leading with Values
- Building Trust + Collaboration
Learning Objectives:
- Strategize the current state of your team, assessing and identifying current levels of performance and potential
- Experiment with talent development tools to more accurately articulate your development strategy to grow and engage with your top talent
- Develop an action + implementation plan, fit with details of specific steps to support others during times of ambiguity
Key Themes & Leadership Behaviors:
- Talent Strategy + Development
- Empowering + Developing Others
- Executing Team Vision + Development Goals
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