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Improvisation and the Jaws of Life

Improvising and being creative in real time under pressure is a skill that we appreciate in the arts such as music and theatre. We also admire athletes who develop an ability to ‘read the game’- especially a fast paced sport such as basketball or hockey. However, when I started researching improvisation for business applications I came across applications of its use in other professions as well.READ»

Creating Corporate Strategy & Making Movies – Together?

it’s a windy cold February afternoon, looking out of the floor to ceiling windows of the skyscraper the day looks like night has already taken over. The darkness is perpetuated by the tinted windows, its 4:30pm in Chicago and the sun has indeed set. It’s been a long week but the team is looking forward to this evenings Team Building session. It’s not a cooking class nor is it trust exercises, this group is going to become movie moguls and create movies as preparation for their Strategy Workshop scheduled over the next 2 days. The client is the Foreign Exchange (FX) Traders and Sales team from a major Financial Institute. The objective of the strategy session is to find new markets and clients for a traditionally reactive division of the bank. Combining the fun and comradely of making a movie with the ‘heavy lifting’ of strategy creation may seem odd companions but there are several reasons why having these two disparate activities on the menu makes sense.READ»

From Brazil to Your Boardroom

Forum Theatre as an Effective, Empowering Means of Problem- Solving in a Corporate SettingREAD»

SALES   |  Comment

Sales and Status - Business Improvisation at its Best

Status awareness and manipulation is one of those allusive attributes that people often think a great sales person is ‘born with’. Like most value sales skills, some come to them naturally and perform them in an unconsciously competent state of mind. Status awareness and manipulation, your own and how you use it to affect a situation, is a key ingredient in sales and leadership. We are constantly keeping track of our status relative to others. Status is also about pecking order, real or imagined. We hold a metal representation of our status in our minds during interactions and it affects our metal processes. If your target relationship with a client is as a trusted adviser and if your purpose is to obtain an insider position then observing and manipulating status is a critical success factor.READ»

Gladwell on Talent Selection

I just got back from the American Society for Training & Development’s International Conference and Exhibition in San Diego where I was a speaker. This was a great conference – one of the best I’ve ever been to and I’ve ...READ»

ChangeThis: Business Improvisation

ChangeThis was built in the summer of 2004 by Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu and Michelle Sriwongtong. You can read their bios in this blog entry. The original idea behind ChangeThis came from Seth Godin. ...READ»