Yes, And!: Harnessing the Power of Improvisation to Transform Your Life and Work


Book Description

If everything went as planned, you wouldn't need to improvise. But, it doesn't, so you do. Sharing the secrets improvisers use to solve problems quickly and well on stage, Mary Jane equips you to do the same at work and at home. Stories, examples, and more than 60 exercises provide a humorous, practical approach to ensuring you don't just manage change or merely survive the unexpected. Instead, you can seize opportunity and thrive. "Finally. A business book that makes learning fun and delivers powerful insights! Yes, And! is a simple, yet powerful, tool to unlock your true leadership potential. EVERY member of my team will have a copy." -Jim Ayres, Managing Director, Amway North America




Yes, And!: Harnessing the Power of Improvisation to Transform Your Life and Work


Book Description

If everything went as planned, you wouldn't need to improvise. But, it doesn't, so you do. Sharing the secrets improvisers use to solve problems quickly and well on stage, Mary Jane equips you to do the same at work and at home. Stories, examples, and more than 60 exercises provide a humorous, practical approach to ensuring you don't just manage change or merely survive the unexpected. Instead, you can seize opportunity and thrive. ""Finally. A business book that makes learning fun and delivers powerful insights! Yes, And! is a simple, yet powerful, tool to unlock your true leadership potential. EVERY member of my team will have a copy."" -Jim Ayres, Managing Director, Amway North America




Widening the Lens


Book Description

Drawing on an asset-based approach to adolescents and their literacy practices, this book is a powerful resource for secondary teachers across all content areas. The authors encourage a “widened lens” approach that considers varied perspectives and research findings when engaging in multiple and often competing initiatives, issues, and pedagogies. Using examples from their own and others’ classroom experiences, the authors explore numerous theoretical and practical understandings of literacy to inform classroom instruction. They discuss different theories of literacy instruction and the ways that sociocultural and cognitive approaches to literacy like the Science of Reading and Whole Language can work in concert with each other. Readers will find relevant information about adolescents’ multiliteracies, text selection and complexity, and meeting the needs of diverse learners. With suggested resources, teaching strategies, and discussion questions throughout, this is an ideal text for teacher education courses, professional learning communities, and professionals who want to learn more about how to support adolescents’ literacy development. Book Features: Research-based strategies to improve the reading ability of adolescents.Concise descriptions of current literacy approaches commonly referenced in educational policy and the media.Application suggestions with scenarios from middle and high school classrooms.Guiding questions to help beginning teachers reflect on their own literacy experiences and their adolescent students.Tables and a glossary of key terms to support readers’ understanding of complex concepts.




Say Yes, And!


Book Description

Twenty years of improv comedy experience. Eight years speaking to companies and associations on applying improv to business and life. All boiled down to one big idea, contained in two little words: "Yes, And!" If you want to learn a simple technique that will transform your business, career, organization, relationships, and life, this is it. Rather than focusing on hundreds of different ideas and techniques, this book hammers home the one idea that thousands of audience members have resonated with: The simple power of saying, "Yes, And" instead of, "yes, but." What is, "Yes, And"? "Yes, And" is the attitude that builds great relationships, at work or at home. "Yes, And" is the approach that leads to creativity and innovation. "Yes, And" is the key to great leadership, sales, and customer service. "Yes, And" is the only way to take action and achieve your dreams. "Yes, And" is the thought process that allows you to improvise with the unexpected. "Yes, And" is the tool that helps you to break past limitations and embrace possibility. "Yes, And" is the mindset that lets you reduce conflict and stress in your life. In a nutshell? "Yes, And" is a little two word phrase that supports a big idea that will transform your business, career, and life.




Happy Accidents


Book Description

Stop saying 'no' to opportunity, and start saying 'yes' to possibility Happy Accidents is your personal guide to transforming your life. As we take on task after task, responsibility after responsibility, we lose sight of who we are and why we're doing what we do; we rush through the day completing a to-do list, but we never really seem to accomplish the things that are most important. What goals do you have for your life? What steps have you taken toward them today? Consider this book your guide to getting back on track to your dreams and help inspire those around you. It's not about doing more or doing less, it's about making what you do worthy of the effort. From forging new relationships, stepping out of your comfort zone, and reframing your work—start valuing these as empowering choices you get to make toward a particular goal every day. To preserve our precious time and energy, we often default to 'no,' yet this only closes the door to our growth, while a 'yes' opens up a world of possibilities. The secret is adding 'yes, and' to our lives. This seductively simple turn of phrase opens the doors to better collaboration and positive relationships, and invites self-sustaining opportunities into our world. 'Yes, and' helps you get from where you are, as an individual or organization, to where you want to be. No person or organization is an island, and none of us reaches our goals alone. This book shows you how to build on the power of open-mindedness, cultivate supportive relationships, and adopt a win-win mindset to reignite your purpose and unleash your best. Harness the power of team collaboration, cooperation, and creativity Reframe 'mistakes' and 'bad ideas' into 'Happy Accidents' that lead to opportunities Communicate more effectively by learning how to listen actively and build on the pertinent information Relinquish some degree of control to allow for more growth and discovery Children have a natural inclination toward curiosity. As we grow into adults, our curiosity gradually takes a back seat to obligations, responsibility, and duty—but that spark remains, and can be reignited. Don't spend your life adrift in a sea of 'could've, would've, should've'—take back your sense of purpose, positivity, joy, time, and energy with the power of Happy Accidents.




The Art of Is


Book Description

A MASTERFUL BOOK ABOUT BREATHING LIFE INTO ART AND ART INTO LIFE “Stephen Nachmanovitch’s The Art of Is is a philosophical meditation on living, living fully, living in the present. To the author, an improvisation is a co-creation that arises out of listening and mutual attentiveness, out of a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. It is a product of the nervous system, bigger than the brain and bigger than the body; it is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, unprecedented and unrepeatable. Drawing from the wisdom of the ages, The Art of Is not only gives the reader an inside view of the states of mind that give rise to improvisation, it is also a celebration of the power of the human spirit, which — when exercised with love, immense patience, and discipline — is an antidote to hate.” — Yo-Yo Ma, cellist




Ensemble!


Book Description

Drawing on a combined expertise in improvisational theatre and psychiatry, author team Dan O'Connor and Dr. Jeff Katzman show readers how improv skills are the perfect antidote to loneliness and isolation. I know what you're thinking: Hold on...improv? Like getting on a stage in front of an audience? What if that's not my thing? Don't worry: this isn't a book about becoming an improv theater expert, and it's not really a book about performing. It's a book about loneliness--about our feelings of disconnection and isolation, ones that we may have been experiencing since long before the pandemic. More importantly, it's a book about becoming unlonely--by borrowing from the collaborative and creative tools of improv. Authors of Life Unscripted Jeff Katzman, a professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, and Dan O'Connor, multifaceted actor, writer, and director, have created a process they call Ensembling that helps us build an ensemble of relationships in our lives and more deeply enjoy the groups we already belong to. This is a process of becoming a little vulnerable with each other, and of embracing the moment in which we find ourselves. Drawing on concepts from narrative improvisational theatre and depth psychology, the authors present us with the skills we need to connect with each other more actively and meaningfully. To ensemble or not to ensemble--that is not a question. With the rise of loneliness and isolation in an increasingly virtually connected society, we must find ways to come together. We must ensemble!




Yes And... Your Customer Service


Book Description

The added value of improvisation in organizations. Or: how you can work quickly and creatively in an ever changing world. This book teaches you not only the value of improvisation, but also how to put that value into practice. From an explanation of what improvisation is, to leading improvisation, to improvisation in multi-cultural teams. Whether you're a manager who wants to use the power of improvisation, or a trainer who wants to teach it to other people, this book will give you the theory and the tools to do just that. This Special Edition includes an additional chapter on Customer Service, written by Patrick Short. "Based on the author's scientific research" "Over 70 exercises to experience and improve your improvisation skills" "With contributions from 18 improvisational experts from all over the world"




Happy Accidents


Book Description

Stop saying 'no' to opportunity, and start saying 'yes' to possibility Happy Accidents is your personal guide to transforming your life. As we take on task after task, responsibility after responsibility, we lose sight of who we are and why we're doing what we do; we rush through the day completing a to-do list, but we never really seem to accomplish the things that are most important. What goals do you have for your life? What steps have you taken toward them today? Consider this book your guide to getting back on track to your dreams and help inspire those around you. It's not about doing more or doing less, it's about making what you do worthy of the effort. From forging new relationships, stepping out of your comfort zone, and reframing your work—start valuing these as empowering choices you get to make toward a particular goal every day. To preserve our precious time and energy, we often default to 'no,' yet this only closes the door to our growth, while a 'yes' opens up a world of possibilities. The secret is adding 'yes, and' to our lives. This seductively simple turn of phrase opens the doors to better collaboration and positive relationships, and invites self-sustaining opportunities into our world. 'Yes, and' helps you get from where you are, as an individual or organization, to where you want to be. No person or organization is an island, and none of us reaches our goals alone. This book shows you how to build on the power of open-mindedness, cultivate supportive relationships, and adopt a win-win mindset to reignite your purpose and unleash your best. Harness the power of team collaboration, cooperation, and creativity Reframe 'mistakes' and 'bad ideas' into 'Happy Accidents' that lead to opportunities Communicate more effectively by learning how to listen actively and build on the pertinent information Relinquish some degree of control to allow for more growth and discovery Children have a natural inclination toward curiosity. As we grow into adults, our curiosity gradually takes a back seat to obligations, responsibility, and duty—but that spark remains, and can be reignited. Don't spend your life adrift in a sea of 'could've, would've, should've'—take back your sense of purpose, positivity, joy, time, and energy with the power of Happy Accidents.




Applied Improvisation


Book Description

This collection of Applied Improvisation stories and strategies draws back the curtain on an exciting, innovative, growing field of practice and research that is changing the way people lead, create, and collaborate. Applied Improvisation is the umbrella term widely used to denote the application of improvised theatre's theories, tenets, games, techniques, and exercises beyond conventional theatre spaces, to foster the growth and/or development of flexible structures, new mindsets, and a range of inter and intra-personal skills required in today's volatile and uncertain world. This edited collection offers one of the first surveys of the range of practice, featuring 12 in-depth case studies by leading Applied Improvisation practitioners and a foreword by Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson. The contributors in this anthology are professional Applied Improvisation facilitators working in sectors as diverse as business, social science, theatre, education, law, and government. All have experienced the power of improvisation, have a driving need to share those experiences, and are united in the belief that improvisation can positively transform just about all human activity. Each contributor describes their practice, integrates feedback from clients, and includes a workbook component outlining some of the exercises used in their case study to give facilitators and students a model for their own application. This book will serve as a valuable resource for both experienced and new Applied Improvisation facilitators seeking to develop leaders and to build resilient communities, innovative teams, and vibrant organizations. For theatre practitioners, educators, and students, it opens up a new realm of practice and work.