By Kevin Cashman, originally posted on his Forbes blog, Pause Point on December 15, 2017.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The world belongs to the energetic.” While true, in our volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous world, it may be even more true that “the world belongs to the most agile.” Our ability to learn on the fly and deliver in first-time conditions has never been more critical. I marvel at clients who can flex, adapt and perform in new and novel situations. Like that, I also deeply admire comedians adept at improvisation, who can seemingly create out of the unexpected, the new and the different. Fascinated by improv, I have studied it at a distance for years trying to understand how it works and often reflected: Is there a process here or does it just depend on lightning fast out-of-the-box comedic thinkers? Are there connections between improv and the change agility needed by leaders today?
