IMPROVE BUSINESS SKILLS THRU IMPROV: Second City Works' Lessons Are Practiced in Geneva at do-over.me

By Dave Hanchette

“I always thought about business as an act of improvisation even before I came to Second City,” said Tom Yorton, CEO of Second City Works, the business side of the renowned improvisational comedy theatre and improvisation school. Second City Works serves more than 400 Fortune 1000 clients annually with innovative solutions in talent and leadership development, sales effectiveness, marketing and content, and more. (1)

“Mostly, for all the planning and controls and governance and things you put in place to keep bad stuff from happening, we all know what a day in the life is like,” Yorton said. “You have to deal with uncertainties and curveballs all the time, and so that is the idea: that if business is an act of improvisation, it is a good idea to have this toolkit to deal with it effectively” -- a toolkit that promotes agility, social communication, collaboration, decentralization, comfort with change, willingness to fail, and the creativity to solve old problems in new ways. (2,3)

Yorton worked previously as a senior marketing executive at 3COM and Sears and as a vice president in the advertising firms Hal Riney & Partners and Ogilvy & Mather. His experience spans many industries including high tech, Internet, retail, automotive, airline, fitness, restaurant, lodging, financial services, and healthcare. He writes and speaks widely on his unshakable belief in the power of improvisation and humor to improve individual performance and to transform organizations. (1)

Yorton is co-author of the new book, “Yes, And”: How Improvisation Reverses “No, But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration (Harper Business). The book presents eight key principles of improv and suggests their practical applications for business. (2,3)

“Yes, And” thinking refers to the improv principle that whatever one person initiates, it is up to the other person to accept that, affirm that, and then build on it, Yorton explained. Improv comedy ensembles collaborate; they do not compete, he continued. “This is how you get unlikely ideas,” said Yorton. “Great individual performers like Steve Carrel and Steve Martin who went on to have legendary careers learned everything in the context of a comedy ensemble,” he added. (2,4)

The goal of Second City Works, Yorton said, “is to help companies communicate, collaborate, and innovate better in a web-first, social-everything world” by providing practical tips, creative games, and fun exercises to take back to the office that will both improve staff effectiveness and make the workplace a little more enjoyable. (2)

Summer classes offered at do-over.me will be led by Geneva resident and Second City alumnus, Adam Jun. The focus of these classes is fun! This is not a performance troupe. No experience is required to join. You are guaranteed to learn and laugh.

Improv classes will be held Wednesday nights from 7 – 9 pm at do-over.me, 1141 Commerce Dr., Geneva, IL 60134, 630-402-0429, info@do-over.me Join us!!!

Please call or email for more information and to register for classes, which begin on July 1 and August 5. Summer classes are FREE; a donation of $10 per class is requested. do-over.me’s improv library is available to participants.

Cynthia Wade, Founder of do-over.me, and Bill Russell, improv performer at the Comedy Shrine in Aurora and improv teacher at Fox Valley Repertory, brought improv to the western suburbs and to do-over.me in 2014. Do-over.me —“supporting people to try again” – is an Illinois Not-for-Profit 501 (c)(3) corporation.

Footnotes:

1 – Tom Norton bio, secondcity.com

2 – Liz Button, “Second City Works Shows Improv Skills Lead to

Better Business,” American Booksellers Assn.: Bookselling

This Week, Thursday, Mar 05, 2015, bookweb.org

3 - Books, “Yes, And”: How Improvisation Reverses “No, But”

Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration,

amazon.com

4 – “Full Speed Ahead with ‘Yes, and’ Thinking”

www.guidingmindfulchange.com/docs/Article1154_Yes...