If Fast Company was to have an Article Hall of Fame, Tom Peters' The Wow Project [May 1999] would be a first-ballot inductee. This article changed my business life. No longer did I approach project assignments as being a task to endure. Instead, I saw projects as an opportunity to gain more responsibility and more recognition from being involved in something meaningful. And if the project wasn't perceived as being meaningful by the company, then it was my responsibility to make the project meaningful to the company.

Recently I struck up an online conversation with Patrica Ryan Madson after reading her Improv Wisdom book. In the book, Patricia shares basic improv principles culled from her thirty years of teaching improv to help us make the most out every moment we live.

Our conversation turned to project management in the business world and Patricia shared how the best project managers, "... are champions at seeing the detail of what everyone is doing well, doing right, doing on time. They observe the contributions of others on a continual basis and express appreciation. They never take a team members work 'for granted.'"

The best project managers, like the best improvisers, have the ability to wake up to the gifts they are presented with in every scene throughout the life span of a project.

To wake up to the gifts you are presented with at work, try improving your listening skills. Listen not only to WHAT someone is saying but also HOW they are saying it. Once you start picking up on all the verbal and non-verbal gifts, start reacting to them. After all, improv is not about acting ... it is about reacting.