By Andrew Carson
“Improvisation is probably one of the two or three cardinal skills
Businesses need to learn in the future”
John Kao, Harvard Business School
Most people mistakenly believe that Improvisation is only a performance art to be practiced in front of a roaring audience for amusement and humor. However this art form has much more to offer and should not be easily overlooked. It is more practical to think of improvisation as a mental process, which shakes up one’s normal pattern of thought. In Business Improv’s workshops, exercises focus not on what choices and decisions you make but rather on how you go about making those choices. The workshops are all about challenging and improving your decision making process until its bulletproof. Through practice individuals can learn to be adaptive, constructive, highly responsive and avoid mental pitfalls that lazy presumptions bring. All of the skills have extensive applications to professional careers, and corporations have begun to take note.
Companies such as: Ford, Capital One, American Express, Mazda and Procter & Gamble have all used improvisation in trainings and professional development. These companies have recognized that improvisation has tangible effects that can be applied to: teamwork, creative thinking, innovation, product development, change management, strategy development, consulting, risk taking, negotiation, interviewing and networking.
Next time you find yourself free on a Thursday night at 6pm stroll on over to the Goldwater Room (located between the CMC and Executive Inn), and discover what fun, awesome learning process Improv can be. Our weekly workshops are highly targeted to work one specific business skill at a time.
“I couldn’t stop laughing during the class, but beyond that it really pushed me to speed up my thinking and make more snap decisions”
– Stuti Vora (MS MKT)
“You really can’t prepare for this workshop because it forces you to abandon previous ways of thinking and then quickly but accurately communicate with your partner your adapting ideas as they flow along in order to keep the scene together. I definitely see the application to my business skills.”
– Jennifer Patton (MSMGT)