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At The Second City<\/em>, the world-renowned comedy company, living in the moment is the stuff of great improvisation. This is the stage that launched some of the greatest comedians of our day: Gilda Radner, Dan Ackroyd, John Candy, Mike Meyers, Tina Fey, Steve Carrell. The list goes on.<\/p>\nAs CEO of Second City Communications, the business solutions division of The Second City, Tom Yorton\u2019s passion has been in expanding the power of improvisation beyond the stage to address a wide array of challenges in innovation, learning, training, social media marketing \u2013 and more.<\/p>\n
It turns out, improv fundamentals work very well in business \u2013 the idea of working without a script; the importance of co-creation and building on others\u2019 ideas; and the essential challenge of balancing the needs of individuals and the ensemble.<\/p>\n\n\n
So much of business – like life itself – is one big act of improv. People make plans but, if they accept that there’s a whole bunch of stuff they can’t control, then most of what they’re doing is improvising.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
\u201cSo much of business \u2013 like life itself \u2013 is one big act of improv,\u201d Yorton said. \u201cPeople make plans but, if they accept that there\u2019s a whole bunch of stuff they can\u2019t control, then most of what they\u2019re doing is improvising,\u201d Yorton added. \u201cWorking without a script, creating something out of nothing, working in teams, co-creating solutions with input from the marketplace \u2013 all that\u2019s improvising.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Second City has been a dominant force in improv comedy for 50-plus years \u2013 but the application of the company\u2019s expertise to business has taken shape over the past 20 years or so. Second City Communications now does more than 400 assignments a year for clients looking to spruce up their customer relations skills, tap into their collective creativity, or maybe get their employees to play nicely together.<\/p>\n
Yorton describes how he ended up at the helm of Second City Communications as a \u2018happy accident\u2019 in a career spent largely toiling in the leadership ranks of technology, retail, and advertising companies. \u201cI come out of corporate ranks \u2013 not from the world of improv or theater. In fact, I often say that I\u2019m the most unfunny guy at Second City,\u201d said Yorton. \u201cBut my experience \u2013 and in fact, my scars \u2013 are from bumping up against the same organizational hurdles that improv is so effective at helping companies get over \u2013 challenges that include connecting with customers, engaging employees around change, moving into new markets, innovating new products and services, working without a script,\u201d said Yorton.<\/p>\n
Co-creation is essential to the improv process. The classic rule of engagement is called, \u201cYes, and.\u201d When your partner says something, you respond, \u201cYes,\u201d and then add to it. Yorton explains: \u201cWhatever you say, I affirm and build on that. You can create interesting scenes and characters that way. You can also create an entire business model.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drawing on its command of the 3 to 5 minute sketch, Second City Communications creates online videos that develop corporate brands in \u201cshort form funny\u201d format and reach a huge audience fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be successful, our actors have to use the same skills that are regarded as soft skills in business\u2014how to listen, to react to the unexpected,\u201d Yorton explains. \u201cWe built this capacity to use humor as a mirror to hold up to an organization, to pop the tension bubble. We get people laughing at the shared truth of the organization, and it changes the mood. By changing the mood, you\u2019re able to make progress,\u201d Yorton added.<\/p>\n
Improv turns business upside down. Don\u2019t follow the leader, follow the follower. Rigorously support whoever initiates. Forget what you know about critical thinking because, as Yorton points out, \u201cthere are times when it\u2019s about creating something new, so there\u2019s nothing to be critical about.\u201d Forget your self-interest. Exist for your partner to succeed. Live in the moment.<\/p>\n
Even Yorton is amazed at how the delightful raucousness of improv can enliven a business: \u201cHow are we able to co-mingle this temple of satire with this affirmative, positive thing? It\u2019s really a powerful combo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corporate training from America’s most famous improv company. \u00a0 An opportunity for artists of all sorts? At The Second City, the world-renowned comedy company, living in the moment is the stuff of great improvisation. This is the stage that launched … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurs","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30063"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30067,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30063\/revisions\/30067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}