Archive for the ‘Group Mind’ Category
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
One of my favorite improvisation exercises, ‘Count to Twenty’, calls for a group to stand in a closed circle, with players wrapping their arms around each others’ backs – their heads bowed, eyes closed. The players count in turn, with the objective of counting to twenty without anyone saying the same number at the same time. If two or more players voice a number simultaneously, the count begins back at one until the group does the exercise ‘cleanly’.
Players are coached to avoid following a predictable pattern in which the same people claim the same numbers each time (i.e. I’ll always be the one to say “two” and “eight”) but instead to feel the flow between members of the group, and to focus on the objective of getting to twenty without two players speaking simultaneously. Try it with a group of four or more players. Newcomers typically stumble through the exercise, while an experienced group, who know one another well, can usually count to twenty cleanly on the first or second try.
How does the experienced group do it? They do it by connecting, listening and communicating via what is called in improv theater The Group Mind. (more…)
Posted in Group Mind | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 17th, 2007
Okay, now that I got your attention by initiating with the the smart funny American TV sitcom chick and the dashing Brit billionaire with the brilliant hair, here’s the game…
A month ago, Carleen Hawn, the editor of Found/Read, asked me to write a post about improvisation for business, which I did. She gave it the catchy headline above. This is the gist of it… (more…)
Tags: Carleen Hawn, Decision-Making, Focus, Found/Read, Improvisation for Business, Principles, Richard Branson, Speed, Themes, Tina Fey
Posted in Communication, Focus, Group Mind, Networked World, Speed, Themes | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
In the mythology of the Networked World, Xerox PARC was Camelot. And King Arthur was John Seely Brown.
Yesterday, my partner, Dr. Virginia Kuhn, and I saw ‘J.S.B.’ as he is widely known, speak at USC, where he is an Annenberg Fellow, about the conditions that led to the breakthrough work by the barefoot geeks at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) from the 1970s through the 90s. Much of what he talked about had a familiar ring, and not just because PARC is legendary. Turns out their work, and their culture, were highly improvisational in nature. I grokked it like crazy. (more…)
Tags: Annenberg, Artist, Designer, Engineer, Game, GameChangers, John Seely Brown, Philosopher, Scientist, USC, Xerox, Xerox Parc
Posted in Creativity, Group Mind, Networked World | No Comments »
Friday, November 16th, 2007
So a few months ago, as part of an ongoing consultancy, I am hosting “Improvisation for Lunch” in the teched-up conference room at Twelve Horses, a kinetic and knowledgeable 60-person internet and social marketing company headquartered in Reno, with offices in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Phoenix and Dublin, Ireland. We eat pizza from the Blue Moon pizzeria while I show improv comedy videos performed by the world’s best — I. O. Theater, Upright Citizens Brigade, Second City, et al — and point out how certain techniques employed by the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler can also be effective in business. We have a quiz about the videos. The top scorers in the quiz face off in an improv game called Thunderdome. A champion is crowned. Prizes are awarded.
At a certain point in the proceedings, I notice a five-year-old kid sitting at the conference table, eating pizza and raising his hand to answer quiz questions like everyone else. What the — ?! Turns out it’s Cody LaPlante, son David LaPlante, the CEO of Twelve Horses. Cody is a full-on player. He jumps into the scene and plays the game 100%, even when there are 35 other grown-up players in the scene. For a kid, what’s not to understand about playing a game, right? Everyone’s ambition should be to engage in the world as unconditionally as a five-year-old. Cody’s support gives a definite lift to the group as a whole. He adds fun and lightheartedness to the scene. (more…)
Tags: Cody LaPlante, David LaPlante, Game, GameChangers, Improvisation Business, Listening, Little Motel, Martin Gastanaga, Modest Mouse, Music Video, Reno, Steve Spencer, Twelve Horses
Posted in Communication, Games, Group Mind, Listening | No Comments »
Monday, November 5th, 2007
I had coffee on Friday with Michael Slane, a creative director at Exopolis, an uber-hip L.A.-based design agency, and the conversation got animated when the subject of TRON came up. Slane, like many artists of his generation, was profoundly influenced by the film. This phenomenon first came to my attention about ten years ago — 15 years after the film’s original release, when I casually mentioned to Mike Goeddeke of Belief Productions in Santa Monica, that I’d worked on TRON. You’d have thought I told him I had invented the internet, or Doc Martens. “You worked on TRON?” Goeddeke, himself a graphics genius, asked, getting all googley-eyed. “I love TRON.” From that day on, I’ve worn my participation in the film as a special badge of honor.
I began my career as TRON’s publicist, (more…)
Tags: Belief Productions, Bill Kroyer, Bonnie MacBird, Brad Bird, Chris Wedge, Disney, Donald Kushner, Exopolis, Harrison Ellenshaw, Ice Age, John Lasseter, Michael Slane, Mike Goeddeke, Moebius, Peter Lloyd, Pixar, Richard Taylor, Roger Allers, Steven Lisberger, Syd Mead, The Incredibles, TRON, visual effects, Wendy Carlos
Posted in Games, Group Mind, Initiations, Networked World, Themes | 4 Comments »
Friday, October 26th, 2007
When people work well together, one’s sense of ‘apart-ness’ dissolves within the group dynamic. In improv, this is known as The Group Mind. Achieving this state of consciousness (team spirit is another way of thinking about it), is essential for players to be at their best. The Group Mind arises out of a focus on the game being played in the scene.
Business games have names like ‘Making Quota,’ ‘Product Launch,’ and ‘Being Green.” You can probably imagine a hundred games big and small you can play in your own business to create the focus that results in good teamwork.
When you focus on the game and work within the group mind, you set your ego aside, are less judgmental of both yourself and others, and feel freer to make spontaneous and authentic moves. When you are focused on the game, you support your teammates and they do the same for you. As a result everyone does better work than they could do on their own. And when you win, you win together.
It is a saying as old as time that a disaster brings people closer. In times of trouble, neighbors who have never spoken share one another’s food and homes. Families reconcile. Rivals unite. The reason this happens is that the disaster brings focus where there was none, and out of this the group mind goes to work and miraculous things happen. (more…)
Tags: Blackwater, California Fires, GameChangers, Games, Gus Grissom, John F. Kennedy, Lizzie Widhelm, Man on the Moon, Mendoza, NASA, Notre Dame, Pandora, Tom Peters
Posted in Games, Group Mind | 1 Comment »
