Author: hopefulmindsets

Doug Abrams is an author, editor, literary agent, and truth hunter who is committed to helping catalyze the next evolutionary stage of our global culture.

In addition to co-writing The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, he also worked with Stephen Hawking on his last book, the global bestseller Brief Answers to the Big Questions. He has had the privilege of working with other Nobel Laureates including Nelson Mandela, Jody Williams, and Elizabeth Blackburn. He has worked with many visionary scientists. He is also devoted to spreading the importance of conservation and fighting climate change. He is currently working with Christiana Figueres, the former UN Secretary on Climate, who led the Paris Climate Agreement, on The Future We Choose: Ending the Climate Crisis, and with plant ecologist Suzanne Simard on Finding the Mother Tree, about her work discovering the communication and network intelligence of trees and forests, and how cooperation is as important to survival as competition. Doug has also worked with Desmond Tutu as his coauthor, editor, and literary agent for almost two decades.

Doug is the Founder and President of Idea Architects, a creative book and media company helping visionaries to create a wiser, healthier, and more just world.

Dialogue is key to Doug’s work, and he believes that genius is a collaborative process. His goal is to bring people together in a cultural conversation through books and media that transform lives and ultimately the world.

Books and films he has developed have been credited with convincing then-President Bill Clinton to stop the genocide in Kosovo (THE BRIDGE BETRAYED), for launching the modern anti-slavery movement (DISPOSSIBLE PEOPLE), and for helping to expand a mass incarceration reform movement (JUST MERCY, a book and film starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Fox).
Throughout all of his wide-ranging projects, Doug aspires to help build a prism through which life-changing conversations and experiences can be created and nourished. He has had the privilege of interviewing global heroes and icons including Jimmy Carter, Bono, Carlos Santana, Richard Branson, and many others.

He was also on the founding team of JustGive.org, a philanthropy website that has pioneered new forms of giving and been responsible for giving over half a billion dollars to charity.

He has written two novels, The Lost Diary of Don Juan and Eye of the Whale, which together have been translated into over thirty languages.

He lives with his wife, Rachel, an integrative family physician, author, and lifelong conversation partner. He has three grown children, Jesse, Kayla, and Eliana.

Pedro is a valuable member of Tom Lennon’s family. Tom first met Pedro when emceeing a dog rescue event at the Best Friends Animal Society, a rescue nonprofit based in Utah. Pedro was a small, emaciated dog that, after being abandoned by his previous owners, was sitting in the 100-degree weather, looking for a family. If anyone knows what hopelessness feels like, it was Pedro at THAT VERY moment. 

But Pedro knew he couldn’t spiral. He had a goal to be adopted, and he used his hope skills to make himself SHINE. 

He managed his nervousness using his Stress Skills, stayed positive by using his Happiness Habit of wagging his tail enthusiastically and adorably, took inspired action by running up to meet Tom, creating a Nourishing Network for Hope by having his fellow dogs encourage him, and eliminated challenges by staying in the present moment and focusing on the things he could control, such as his personality and his all-so-amazing disposition. And it worked! Pedro immediately won Tom’s heart, and he soon found with Tom in Wisconsin, living a life better than he ever could have imagined. 

Pedro is our Poster Dog for Hope: He reminds us that no matter what challenges life brings or how down and out we may become, we can always use positive feelings and inspired actions to get from hopelessness to hope.

Steve Shell recently accepted his new role as the Vice President of the Stacie Mathewson Behavioral Health & Addiction Institute at Renown. Prior to his work at Renown, Steve worked for Signature Healthcare Services, where he served as the CEO of both Reno Behavioral Healthcare Hospital and Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hospital. 

Steve was awarded the Healthcare Administrator of the Year in 2019 by Nevada Business Magazine and the Best Joint Commission Survey in Company by Signature Healthcare Services in 2017. 

Steven C. Hayes is Nevada Foundation Professor in the Behavior Analysis program at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada.

An author of 46 books and nearly 650 scientific articles, his career has focused on an analysis of the nature of human language and cognition and the application of this to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering. He is the developer of Relational Frame Theory, an account of human higher cognition, and has guided its extension to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a popular evidence-based form of psychotherapy that uses mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based methods. Dr. Hayes has been President of Division 25 of the APA, of the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. He was the first Secretary-Treasurer of the Association for Psychological Science, which he helped form and has served a 5-year term on the National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse in the National Institutes of Health. In 1992 he was listed by the Institute for Scientific Information as the 30th “highest impact” psychologist in the world and Google Scholar data ranks him among the top ~1,350 most cited scholars in all areas of study, living and dead.

Dr. Hayes is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in addition to several other scientific societies. His work has been recognized by several awards including the Exemplary Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications from Division 25 of APA, the Impact of Science on Application award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy. 

Dr. Hayes is actively involved in bringing science information to the public, such as through his blog on the Psychology Today blog or Thrive Global websites. His TEDx talks on pain and purpose, or on quickly reining in the impact of unhelpful automatic thoughts, have been viewed nearly three-quarter of a million times and he appears regularly in major podcasts and on other media.