Wendy Hagen
President of hagen inc
What, if anything, are you doing differently?
Even though I still have project deadlines to meet, I feel like I have the luxury of taking time to think things through more carefully and strategically: how can clients reinvent themselves and emerge even more relevant and important, post-pandemic?
Reading, reading, reading and getting out of my comfort zone.
I get out and walk with our dog, Rufus, and listen to podcasts (averaging 6 miles a day).
Zoom happy hours with colleagues and close friends, sharing our experiences, frustrations and inspiration.
Are you staying creatively active?
Not as much as I’d like to. I’m focused on small day-to-day realities (running out of toilet paper) and worried about how our kids are doing in Los Angeles (and whether they found any toilet paper).
I miss seeing challenging theatre that activates my imagination (full disclosure: I’m on the board at Woolly Mammoth Theatre).
I’m stopping to notice things I pass by on my walks – suddenly seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.
How are you sparking yourself creatively?
Podcasts – my faves are Reply All, Fresh Air (especially Terry Gross’ interviews with creative artists and musicians), Dolly Parton’s America, the Daily, and Revisionist History.
I joined a play reading group – we just read Teenage Dick (a retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III, reimagined as a 16-year-old high school kid with cerebral palsy).
Just finished David Epstein’s book Range (Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World) about how the most successful artists, musicians and inventors are generalists who are more creative and able to make connections that the specialists who have deep knowledge in a single area can’t see.
Trying new ways to make face masks and banana bread (secret recipe: tee shirt sleeves and peanut butter, respectively)
