About Us

What is Applied Optimism?

You probably have it, but don’t even realize it. Applied optimism is more than a business or a strategy. It’s a mindset. Sure, pure optimism is an almost naïve confidence and hopefulness that the best possible outcome will occur. Applied optimism, however, is an intentional approach to achieving your best possible outcome through a mix of purpose, knowledge and wonder. If you’re interested in using applied optimism to help you achieve your goals, that’s where we come in.

Who are we?

Applied Optimism is a team of advisors, collaborators and allies who audaciously believe in the power of creativity and strategy, yet also embrace a realistic understanding that success can only come from experimentation and continuous learning. Together we help businesses, grantmakers, nonprofits and community leaders design and apply creative solutions to complex organizational, social and individual challenges.

Click here to meet our team of collaborators.

How can we help you?

Even optimists like you face complex challenges that need some fresh perspective from experienced eyes. That’s where we come in. We offer strategic support to help you imagine and implement solutions for your organization, your customers, and your communities through the use of design thinking, storytelling, innovation strategy and community building. Click here to learn more about our services and solutions.

How we do it

We listen carefully to you, finding out who you are and what you want to achieve. We ask questions (and even more questions). Then, together with you, we identify goals and opportunities. If there are ways we can help apply our optimism to the ideas that energize you, we assemble a custom team of our collaborators to bring the insight and expertise that you need.

Sometimes our work together is a single day, and other times it is a multi-day workshop, design sprint or experiment. Sometimes it is an ongoing consultancy, and other times it is a retainer-based model. Depending on your needs, we also do individual and community coaching where we work with you and your team of leaders on an ongoing basis.

Bottom line: we don’t like boxes, so we don’t try and put you in them either.

Who we work with

Our global network of clients includes organizations across a range of sizes and stages of growth. We work with major media and hospitality companies and some of the world’s largest social enterprises and grantmaking foundations, yet we also work with emerging startups and nonprofit organizations.

From the United States and Canada to Europe and the Middle East, the most common quality among our clients and their leaders is that they are creating new pathways of inspiration and impact through business, culture and social change.

Do you believe what we believe?

We also believe in grounding our work in shared values, not only among ourselves, but with our clients and partners.

Click here to learn more about our values.

Our Collaborators

Optimistic solutions require collaborative efforts

That’s why we have assembled a team of seasoned experts from around the world to collaborate in helping our clients apply optimism to complicated organizational, communal and individual challenges. Here are a few of our key collaborators. Want to be part of an optimistic team? Email us here!

SETH COHEN
Based in: Atlanta + NYC
Favorite book: On the Road
Superpower: Finding people with superpowers

With more than 25 years’ experience working with leaders of all backgrounds, Seth’s expertise is cultivating transformational community systems and leaders with the ability to share purpose, knowledge, and wonder. Prior to founding Applied Optimism, Seth was part of the senior leadership team of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, a global foundation focused on improving the lives, strengthening communities and reducing inequality. Seth served as one of the foundation’s Senior Directors, leading the Foundation’s global efforts to identify, connect and support networks of young adults to enable them to create experiences and communities for themselves and their peers. As part of this work, Seth helped develop purpose-focused communities around the world and led the development of REALITY as leading travel experience for global leaders and changemakers.

Prior to Schusterman, Seth previously worked for 13 years as a nationally recognized Atlanta-based corporate attorney, most recently as a partner at the international law firm of Holland & Knight LLP, leading its Atlanta corporate and M&A team. In addition to representing clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 10 telecommunications companies, Seth also received recognition for his commitment to pro bono legal services, including his work as one of the lead attorneys in a successful federal civil rights lawsuit protecting the voting rights of Georgia citizens. Seth has served as a committed activist in the local and national Jewish community, serving in leadership roles within a diverse array of organizations. An alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program and a frequent author and panelist on a range of topics on Jewish life and innovation.

More about Seth’s background can be found at his LinkedIn profile, and he can be reached by email here.

Our Values

Sure, it might sound cliché to say that all of our work is grounded in our values, but it’s true. We love working with people who share our values and who take joy in applying optimism to their work and their lives. So what are these values of ours?

Honesty and Integrity

We believe that people’s words are their bonds, and that when they say something, they mean it. That doesn’t mean saying the things that are easy to hear, but it does mean saying the things that are important to hear.

Inclusiveness and Empathy

We value the rich tapestry of insight that comes from people of diverse genders, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, heritages and lived experiences. We also know that through careful listening and patient understanding, we can embrace a deeper sense of empathy for the experiences and opinions of others.

Creativity and Joy

We like to dream big and have fun, and we value the creative energies and joyous wonder of working hard and playing hard. We also embrace the fun resulting from creative collaboration and intellectual playfulness.

Aspirational Excellence

We believe deeply in the value of excellence, in both effort and results. We relentlessly pursue the creation of value to our clients and partners and we strive to achieve new heights of excellence in all we do.

Responsible Risk-Taking and Continuous Learning

We are intellectual adventurers and believe in pushing the boundaries of the possible. This means we take responsible risks, grounded not only in insight but also applied optimism. That’s why we also value continuous learning – so that we not only draw insights from others, but also from our own experiences and failures.

Humility

The capstone of all of our values is our deep sense of radical humility in the work we do and the clients we serve. We value humility as a check on our own audacity, and while we might be optimistic, we don’t want to be arrogant (and we don’t like working with people who are either).