AUTHOR

Cathy’s written a book, a bunch of chapters for other people’s books, and a whole lot of articles.

Performance Breakthrough

Performance Breakthrough presents the revolutionary approach to learning and growing that Cathy and Performance of a Lifetime have used for over twenty years to help leaders and teams at companies like American Express, Nike, Pfizer, the United States Olympic Committee, PwC, 3M, and Chanel, among a Who’s Who of other clients.

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 “By viewing our identities and our jobs through the lens of improvisation and performance, Salit shows us how to find the courage to go beyond our self-imposed limits. With compelling stories and exercises that move us, she teaches it as she lives it.”

Sheila Heen & Doug Stone

“I know from my own experience having Cathy Salit as a teacher that her lessons can be life-changing. This remarkable book will electrify your work and enliven your soul.”

Daniel H. Pink

“This is an exhilarating book. Cathy Salit shows how we can make ourselves more effective in our relationships with others – not by adopting a set of slogans or rigid formulas – but by activating the basic human capacity to learn through play, from the outside in, by performing the kind of person we wish to be.”   

Mary Catherine Bateson

“Performance Breakthrough is a refreshing and fascinating book about how to grow as a person and as a professional. Cathy Salit’s vivid storytelling, humor and wisdom combined with highly creative and practical coaching makes it a must read for anyone who’s looking to stretch, learn and become more of who they really are.”

Susan Cain

“Cathy Salit’s Performance Breakthrough breathes life into the tired buzzwords taking over business, education and social science writing. Here’s a book without hype! Bravo!”

Lois Holzman

Author Cathy Salit — co-founder and CEO emerita of Performance of a Lifetime (POAL) — based Performance Breakthrough on a simple yet profound idea: all humans have an innate ability to perform, pretend, and improvise. It’s what helps us develop as children and continue developing as adults. You may not have been on a stage since you played a tree in third grade, but the reality is that you’re performing all the time. Performance Breakthrough shows how you can use ideas and techniques from theater and improvisation, along with the new science of performative psychology, to enhance your performance at work and “become who you are not yet.”

In his best-seller, To Sell is Human, Daniel Pink devotes almost an entire chapter to just one aspect of POAL’s work. Performance Breakthrough presents the full methodology, to help you hone your listening, relationship and communication skills; recognize and act on opportunities; build healthy working relationships; and grow as a leader. No matter what the challenge, this combination of case studies and practical exercises will help you realize your potential and deliver your own top performance.

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Articles & Chapters

Check out Cathy’s piece published in the Harvard Business Review as part of their Emotional Intelligence Series on Confidence. Salit, C. (2019). To ace your job interview, get into character and rehearse. Confidence, HBR Emotional Intelligence Series. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press.

Read her chapter about Performance of a Lifetime’s groundbreaking work with 250 oncology nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Salit, C. (2018). Oncology Nurses Creating a Culture of Collaboration with Improvisation. In C.McClure, T. Robbins Dudeck (Eds.), Applied Improvisation: Leading, Collaborating and Creating Beyond the Theatre. London: Bloomsbury.

Read her co-authored chapter on constructing your own humanity through play. Holzman, L. and Salit, C. (2020). Why Be Half Human? How Play, Performance and Practical Philosophy Make Us Whole. In Taos World Share: Taos Institute.

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