The fundamental rule of improv theater is “Yes, and…”. Making something good happen always starts with agreement.
I didn’t learn this rule until well into my career. One of my consultants suggested that Improv training might be a good idea for our people. Naively, but correctly, I agreed and we brought in Chicago’s Second City group to our next All Hands Meeting. It was the success that Rik had foreseen.
Looking back, it occurs to me that I’ve long operated by a version of this rule. Decisions that others often characterized as risky or brave seemed more a function of being willing to say “yes, and…” to life in general. I haven’t been following some master plan or overriding dream. I do think Pasteur was on to something with his observation that “chance favors the prepared mind.”
There are always forces that want to channel that preparation. Sometimes those forces are internal (or at least internalized) and you find those souls who always knew they were meant to be doctors or athletes or writers. There was some compulsion to travel a particular path. And the world is often a better place for all of us because of those individuals. Sometimes they benefit from a support environment that helps to reinforce and focus their focus.
My internal curiosity has never had that degree of sustained focus. And my external environment had enough other things to worry about that there was little external pressure to walk a specific path. As long as I was doing well enough, I had free rein to follow my curiosities wherever they led.
I got to “yes, and…” my way through a lot of experiences and gates. No master plan. just an openness to opportunities when they surfaced.
When I complain about addressing the mess, I think what I really need to acknowledge is that the mess is where those opportunities lie. I suppose you can craft plans that avoid much of the mess. And, there’s a lot of advice committed in support of the value of plans over flexibility. Scripts are fine. But improv works too.