Your Team Is An Improv Group Your team IS an improv group. Collaboration Is What High-Performing Teams Do Every team in a business setting is an improv group. I don't care what kind of business you are in or work for - every business [...]
(My first version of this post appeared in PureMatter blog). I am an unabashed humor and improv nerd. And I mean visibly nerdy from space. At 8, the very first presentation I gave to a class that I remember was on Harold Lloyd, Hollywood’s silent film-era comedy [...]
Keeping it Human's Improv and Innovation Cafe' Improv and Innovation: Techniques for Product, Content, Marketing and Communication In this hangout series, I talk about applying improvisation to marketing, communications, and content as well as product innovation. Join me several times each month as we discuss how [...]
On December 12th, I had a great chat with Kat Koppett. Kat is a fellow improviser-in-chief who also applies concepts from stage improvisation to the needs of business to improve performance. This means accepting others ideas and adding onto them (vs. denying them) in order to create new [...]
View my AINx talk from the 2012 Applied Improvisation Network (AIN) World Conference Think Like an Improviser, Speak Like a Customer Blah, blah, blah, blah. This is what customers hear when we drone on about our methods. Every industry has its insider language; yet, customers should not be [...]
I am a marketer. I am also an improviser. That means I am also a storyteller. Like improvisation, all great marketing is ultimately storytelling. Before I threw myself (slightly kicking and screaming) into improvisation, I did sketch comedy and stand-up. Few things will help you stretch your [...]
This post is part II of II. To read part I, click here. Truth and authenticity. Truth makes compelling comedy. Great comics talk about what they know - the good, bad, and ugly. Hacks try to sell what's popular rather than focus on generating authentic material that [...]
Comedy and marketing have much in common. Well, comedy is marketing, really. And some marketing is pretty comical, intentionally or not. Comedy is a priceless education. In addition to 20 years in marketing, my many years in sketch, stand-up and improvisation have provided a number of critical business [...]
The Center for Creative Leadership writes about four mindsets that inhibit positive organizational change. One of those mindsets that pervades and stops progress in its tracks is a “yes, but…” mentality. You know the type of thinking that keeps us from moving forward. We hear it every day. [...]
