Just say Yes, And

Teaching Improv to Business People

Think back to your last “If Only I Had Said That” moment.  Frustrating, yes?

I can teach you how not to have those moments ever again!  I’ve taught this to literally 1000s of business execs, from Goldman Sachs to Novartis and even the CIA. 

How do I do this? Well, true confession time. Before my academic career, before my MBA, before my venture capital investing: I was an improv comic.  

I studied at the Groundlings in LA, performed professionally in San Diego, and then came to MIT Sloan, where I realized I often used my improv skills in my business experiences in private equity finance and venture capital investing. I created a course that combined improv and leadership and taught it at MIT Sloan for 10 years. It actually works!

When most people think of Improv Comedy, they think of Saturday Night Live sketches and doing silly corporate bonding exercises. Or you may think it’s just learning to say “Yes, And” to everything – which is the generic guideline you get from improv comedy school.  That’s important to do for comedy performances, but maybe doesn’t work for real life. 

What I have achieved through generations of students goes far beyond the pithy and will change how you approach certain conversations. (And it’s all going in my book…) You really need to experience my training to understand why my method works. But, here’s the key takeaway:  the importance of learning to really listen and accept what others say and feel.

Listening in improv is not the same as trendy concepts like “Active Listening” or “Reflective Listening” that come from psychology. These are great. But they’re different.  Accepting in improv is also not the same as Agreeing or “Yes, And”-ing willy-nilly. It’s more about learning to accept someone else’s perspective or state of mind.

Below are the improv techniques I teach that you can learn and internalize, with practice.  And they work!  Try a conversation following the rules and you might be surprised where it takes you.  I had a McKinsey partner implement them into their strategy meetings when they got stuck and it was a game changer.

To read more – see my writing on my site:  www.justsayyesand.com. I’ll write more about the rules work in my next post.

And reach out if you want my improv training in your workplace!