In a networked environment, it’s easy to get to Yes.  Anyone can say Yes to anything.  One could make a pretty good case that in large networks, especially when it comes to innovation, there’s an epidemic of ‘yessing,’ paralleled by an equally virulent epidemic of doing nothing about it.  This is a kind of safe harbor, an advantageous position for piggybacking on successes (”A big fan from the start.”) and distancing oneself from failure (”Not taking the hit for that mess.”)

As a description of a particular point in time, “Getting to yes” is fine (and the 1981 book has still-relevant advice for negotiations and sales).  “Yes” does not, however, describe a process.  It’s a status:  Thumbs up.  Good to go.  Roger that.  A big 10-4.  As a status it is, by definition, static.  And “static,” in a dynamic environment like the one in which business operates today, is death.

By contrast, “Yes and,” a basic building block of improvisation, describes a process, an obligation by every player in the game to contribute, and actively build on the reality of the moment.  In terms of process, “Yes” is the icing. “And” is the cake.  “Yes” may get all the credit, but “and” does the work.  “Getting to and” invokes participation.  It demands collaboration.  It results in extension of ability and expansion of possibility.  “And” moves the narrative. It unlocks the adaptive processes demanded by a networked world.  Adaptation means movement.  And movement is life.

To live, to grow, to seize the potential of the moment, don’t make things good.  Make them better.

William Gibson

Where trajectories of fashion, business, government and technology will someday intersect, William Gibson is already there, reporting back in mindbending detail.  His novels are, for me anyway, like books of code, densely-clued mysteries about the near future, that challenge a present-day intelligence to unravel them.  Here is one clue that gets dropped over and over again in Gibson’s newest novel, Zero History:

In the future, improvisation is a must-do.

Page 135:  “Doing it, as a pickpocket had once advised him, as if it were not only the expected but the only thing to do.”  The improvisation:  When you invest in your scene, the scene makes choices for you.  ‘Doing what’s expected’ is someone else’s script for you, it’s a voice in your head that’s not even your own.  ‘Doing the only thing to do’ is the feeling that you are in tune with everyone and everything around you.  It is acting on the clarity of one’s intuition instead of  obeying the voices stored in the RAM of one’s rational mind.  Just don’t be using your new-found powers to pick pockets.  Not all improvisation is put to work for the good of the team.  Beware the bad game!

Page 171:  “THE ORDER FLOW” (Chapter title.)  Gibson’s characters talk about “the inability to aggregate the order flow”—the sum of everything being bought and sold around the world at any given moment in time—as being the dynamic that keeps markets alive.  “Stability’s the beginning of the end,” says the character of Milgrim, a high-level intuitive, quoting an even more intuitive base jumper named Garreth.  “We only walk by continually beginning to fall forward.”  The improvisation:  Always fall forward, never stand still.  Turn fails immediately into positives.  Embrace flow.  Stasis—a static state—is the enemy.  Harness chaos with structure.  Subvert structure with flow.

Page 202:  Garreth talking about whether a phone call that’s crucial to their fates will happen or not:  “Either way, we’ve moved it forward.”  The improvisation:  ‘Something happening’ and ’something not happening’ are both opportunities to move your scene forward.  Don’t worry about what will or won’t happen, do something with whatever happens.

Page 225:  “You’re just doing this to see what happens,” says Milgrim.  The improvisation:  Do something and see what happens.

Page 234:  “…some kind of London PR hive-mind thing,” says a character named Heidi, a biker chick who uses taser-tipped darts as her weapon of choice.  “Wires are hot but there’s no actual signal.  Kind of subsonic buzz.”  The improvisation:  This is a description of the group mind.  Nothing perceptible is communicated.  What the group needs to know is simply, without ever being consciously transmitted, already there, waiting to be shared.

Page 319:  “Follow the accident.  Fear the set plan,”  says Garreth.  “I thought you loved plans,” says Heidi.  “Love planning.  That’s different.  But the right bit of improv makes the piece.”  The improvisation:  Think of your process as a series of scenes, in Gibson’s lingo, ‘pieces.’  Preparation is more important than planning.  Planning goes out the window in the first few beats of your scene, but preparation will be there for you throughout.

Zero History also has juicy insights into the future of marketing and brand strategy, which I’ll post separately.

Now go do something to see what happens.

Heighten–To build emotional involvement and energy in a scene

Improv–See ‘Improvisation‘

Improvisation–spontaneous communication designed to generate positive outcomes from unforeseen circumstances; interpersonal and group communication that is instinctive and informed by experience, knowledge, serendipity and respect for environment; improv, as performed in theaters, such as with improv comedy; a conversation with the community; the pedagogy, philosophy and process defined by Viola Spolin in her 1963 book, Improvisation for the Theater; a games-based methodology for generating communication, learning and transformation

Initiation–The first meaningful words or lines spoken during a scene; in this case, ‘meaningful’ refers to anything that directly involves the group’s progress toward achieving the scene’s objective(s).

Interrogation–A performance-related issue, often arising in interviews or employee reviews, that arises when one player only asks questions and never acts on the information revealed by the answers;

Invention–A performance-related issue that occurs when players work with speculative or subjective information instead of the reality of the scene.

Invocation–An exercise that lets players examine a subject from the third-person (”It is”), second-person (”You are”) and first-person (”I am”) perspectives in order to identify themes for a performance.

Issue–Any performance-related problem which can be remedied by better execution of GameChangers business communication techniques.

Judging–A performance-related problem that occurs when a player subjectively assesses a scene while the scene is taking place.

Justifying–A performance-related problem that occurs when a player self-consciously explains his or her (or their team’s) actions in a scene, especially when the behavior does not align with the GameChangers principles.

Liminal–relating to the threshold of perception that players break through by participating in a game; relates to perceptions of one’s own abilities and to what one’s perceptions of what is generally possible; transcending the status quo

Meta Communication/Meaning–A symbolic or allegorical representation of ideas and concerns that exist on a societal, cultural or archetypal scale; the symbolic representation of a macro trend, widely held belief, or aspect of the human condition; (See ‘Cosmetic Communication/Meaning‘ and ‘Emotional Communication/Meaning‘)

Monologue–A speech given by a single player in a scene; a speech shared amongst multiple players in the course of a scene or presentation.

Narrative–A flow of thematically-connected events that can be related after the fact as a story; organizational memory and vision of the future that inform scenes performed in the present; a purposeful alignment of ideas and events, such as for a brand.

Negativity–Traits, ideologies and behaviors that halt a scene’s progress through skepticism and a disagreeable inclination to oppose, deny and/or resist the ideas or involvement of other players; pessimism; the antithesis of the attitude required for productive collaborations.

Network–The communications matrix of an organization, brand or individual; those who are connected by a communications matrix or belong to an organization; defined by John Seely Brown, John Hagel et al as consisting of ‘core’ and ‘edge’

Networked World–The highly communicative, internet-supported global stage on which business gets conducted

Objective–The desired outcome of a scene; the stated purpose of playing a game; the business goal of a scene; one of the four elements that comprise a Game

Opening–An ‘overture’ prior to a scene or series of scenes in which a player or a group develops the themes for an upcoming performance; usually triggered by Suggestions From the Audience

Organization–The manifestation of a business or brand to its audience; the operational structure of a business or brand; a company or group with a shared mission and business objectives (see ‘Network‘)

TO BE CONTINUED…

Addition–Entering a scene in progress for the purpose of contributing immediately to the team’s performance; contributing to a scene; giving a gift

Agreement, The Agreement Principle–A principle of improvisation, characterized by players’ openness towards each other and an organization or communications network’s openness at its edge; the group consensus around a game or theme that informs a scene

Audience–Those within and outside of an organization whose reactions and opinions will determine the success of a scene or performance

Audience, External–People outside an organization or network, including customers (and potential customers), competitors, bloggers, users, fans, viewers, etc. whose reactions ultimately determine the value of a performance or narrative

Audience, Internal–People inside an organization or network, whose judgment acts as a kind of filter on scenes and narratives before they reach the External Audience

Blocking–A performance-related problem that occurs when players impede the progress of a scene by refusing the gifts offered them by their teammates

Callback–The act of recalling information that was stated by a player earlier in a scene or in a previous scene.

Cast–Players who share the same business objective; also called a Group or Team; can also refer to the employees of an entire division or organization (Disney, for example, refers to all employees as ‘cast members’)

Casting–The process of selecting players who will comprise a business team

Character–Traits that make a player unique as an individual and consistently valuable to his or her team

Close, Del–Credited as one of the originators of longform improvisation, and one of its most influential teachers, Close (1934-1999) created ‘Harold,’ probably the most-performed structure for group improv theater performances; his proteges include Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey; legend has it that he willed his skull to the Goodman Theater in Chicago to be used in future productions of Hamlet, in which he was to be billed as playing the role of Yorick

Coach–A person who casts a team; an objective observer and critic of a team’s performance; one who establishes game-based strategies and standards of preparation and performance in directing a team toward its objectives; manager; director

Cosmetic Communication/Meaning–The surface level of communication within a scene, primarily through spoken dialogue; data; information. (See ‘Emotional Communication/Meaning‘ and ‘Meta Communication/Meaning‘)

Crazy Town–A performance-related problem that occurs when players indulge in fantasies, magical thinking, or egoistic behavior, until the scene becomes un-moored from any actionable reality.

Denying–A form of blocking in which a player repeatedly contradicts or ignores other players, confusing the audience and fellow players; refusing to recognize another player’s reality

Edit–The action of making an entrance for the purpose of shifting the scene’s focus, or to begin a new scene; edits usually occur in concert with other players exiting the scene

Emotional Communication/Meaning–The most dynamic and meaningful level of communication in a scene. conveying its players’ passions and desires, where reactions (both positive and negative), and reinforcements/alienation are strongest

Energy–The pitch at which a player or group performs (and modulates) its performance; an umbrella term for the level of activity and intensity the audience observes in the group, and that players in the group experience in one another

Entrance–A player’s first appearance in a scene

Environment–The setting in which members of team collaborate to achieve their objective; any place where players interact; more expansively, any place where an audience experiences a brand; the overall business climate in which an organization operates, shaped by factors such as regulatory agencies, competitors, geopolitical factors and the desires, attitudes and beliefs of customers

Exit–A player’s departure from a scene

Fantasizing–A performance-related issue that occurs when players build outlandish, or wildly fictitious scenarios that do not acknowledge or act on the real world environment or the businessa; magical thinking; (see ‘Crazy Town‘ and ‘Invention‘)

Flatlining–A performance-related problem that occurs when players show no energy or life, impeding or halting a scene’s progress

Game–Rules, roles, environment and objective(s) defined; an exploration of a theme; a strategy used to achieve a business-related objective; games fall into two broad categories – productive and unproductive

GameChanger–A player who has mastered the art and practical techniques of business improvisation; a manager/coach or player with the ability to identify and support productive games and quickly change or edit unproductive ones

Gift–A move that supports the scene and the players in it; ‘giving gifts’ is one of the most powerful and effective moves a player can make

Grandstanding–A performance-related issue that occurs when a player wastes time and effort trying to contribute something ‘heroic’ to a scene; holding back for effect instead of engaging in the moment; habitually swinging for the fences or reaching for the ‘Wow Factor’; going for a home run when a single would better serve the scene

Group Mind– The tangible web of connectivity between players that achieved through a shared focus on a game and the exploration of a theme; the collective unconscious; not the same as ‘Group Think‘

Group Think–Rubber-stamping; going along to get along; consensus for its own sake; agreement that does not involve a game or theme; behavior that is not intended to achieve the objective, but rather to reinforce status; uncritical or unquestioning support for a political agenda, ideology or hierarchy

TO BE CONTINUED….

1) Nature creates freedom within structure;

2) Nature recycles everything;

3) Nature rewards cooperation;

4) Nature demands local expertise;

5) Nature curbs excesses from within.

Yet how many organizations and brands attempt to circumvent biology? The new organizational model, as we point out at GameChangers, is more biological than mechanical. Only by embracing what is natural and biological can a networked organization stay in sync and in tune with its environment. Humans, are, after all, biological organisms, and participants in the Ecosystem, Gaia, God’s Plan, The Grand Experiment, or whatever you want to call it. It is our obligation to play along. Thank you Belina!

A story on CNN this evening demonstrated this fundamental of gamechanging.  Two years ago, Oliver Percovich  an Aussue skateboard enthusiast,  formed a non-profit group called Skateistan, to give some fun to children who don’t experience much of that in their war-shredded society.  Later this year, the skateboarders of the “Republic of Skateistan” will begin ollying in a new 19,000-square-foot skate park and will be taking English and computer classes as part of the program.

Skateboarding is probably a hundred eighty degrees from most of the problems facing Afghanistan, which means that the Skateistan game is probably a step in the direction of solving them.  Thanks to Oliver Percovich, at least the possibility has been created that one day “killing it in Kabul” will mean kickflipping and nosegrinding intead of mortar attacks and suicide bombs.

The Life Drum Core, as Lonnie named the group, was a big hit.  They got coverage on all the local TV stations, and on the night of Earth Hour, their four-minute performance was well-received.  They ended up afterward jamming with the mayor, who grabbed his own recycled bucket and began banging out a beat.  (He wasn’t bad.)

A week before the event, the ten kids in the Drum Core got covered by three local TV stations as they rehearsed downtown at L.A. LIVE.  While we were waiting for the TV crews to arrive, one of the dads pointed out USC football coach, Pete Carroll, sitting on a bench near the entrance to the Nokia Theater.  He was with a couple of young assistants, texting on a Blackberry. I walked over to Pete and asked if he’d mind saying hi to the Life Drum Core.  “Sure.  Give me a minute,” he said, and went back to his Blackberry.

In a minute, he came over, talked with the kids, and got his picture taken with them.

And then Pete Carroll said something he did not have to say.  He said, “Have them come out to football practice one day and play on the sidelines.  Call my office and we’ll make it happen.”

We made it happen.  Last Saturday, Lonnie and five of the Drum Core kids attended a USC football scrimmage at the Coliseum and played on the sidelines while the USC football team practiced.  It was a good day for everyone involved.

You’d expect a successful coach like Pete Carroll to be solid on the fundamentals.  He is.  Let’s break it down like a football coach would break down a well-run play:

Understanding the game.  Carroll quickly picked up on the Life Drum Core game.  These are students who don’t have music or arts programs in their schools.  Professional artists and musicians like Lonnie donate their time to give the students art and music instruction. It is project-based learning.   Carroll immediately understood the game and the players involved.  He got the concept that these are students who don’t have a school to schedule performances for them.  Their performances are, in a word, improvised.  This understanding of the game informed everything that happened afterward.

Teamwork.  Improvisation is not designed as a solo act or soliloquy.  It is most effective and teaches us the most when performed in groups.  Carroll, in effect, put the Life Drum Core ‘on the team’ for an afternoon.  While at the Coliseum, they were treated like members of the family.

Additions.   Because the group was formed to perform at Earth Hour, and would normally have disbanded after the event, Coach Carroll’s invitation made it possible for the scene, and the group, to continue playing for a surprising new reason.  Additions to a scene are great if they move the scene forward like this one did.  The Life Drum Core’s performance was, likewise, an addition to practice, a kind of gift from Carroll to his players.  More than one player came up to the kids and Lonnie afterward and thanked them.  “It really got me pumped up,”  offensive lineman Garrett Nolan told them.

Listening.  It was Carroll’s good listening skills that let him absorb what the Life Drum Core is all about, and act quickly and intuitively on that information. He could have gone into ‘pep talk mode’ and given the kids big-ups and left it at that.  Letting the kids and Lonnie do a lot of the talking gave Carroll his opportunity to add to the scene.

Environment.   Carroll had a ‘business objective’ in inviting the Life Drum Core to practice.  Their presence added to the environment he builds during scrimmages to simulate game conditions where sound is concerned.  As the team runs its plays, speakers on the sidelines are cranked up to deafening volume with crowd noise. Drummers pounding drums on the sidelines made the ‘hostile crowd’ simulation more realistic.

Working with Status.  As with just about every scene he’s in, Pete Carroll was high status in this one.  (Meaning he has more resources at his command, more prominence in the world than his fellow players.)  Now, high status players, whether it’s an arrogant athlete or a pompous CEO, can often be condescending.  Much of their focus goes to maintaining their status, and behaving in ways that call their status to other players’ and the audience’s attention.  (If you’re a football fan, think Terrell Owens.  If you’re in business, think every other manager you’ve ever had.)  As Pete Carroll showed, this does not have to be the case.  By listening and giving gifts as Carroll did, a high status player can confer status on other players in the scene.   This is not always productive for improv comedy where the objective is to make fun of arrogant atheletes and pompous CEOs, but in business and in life, it is always a powerful and productive move.  It’s the move Pete Carroll made.  He used his status to elevate the other players in the scene. (Speaking of which, note the book he’s holding in his right hand.  Thank you, Pete!)

My aim was to learn what kind of strategies these men use to get hired.  After all, what could be a more honest scene than one that has to be productive if a player wants to eat that night?  When lives literally depend on one’s behavior, how does one behave?  This is obviously far from scientific.  I draw no firm conclusions from it, and neither should anyone else.  But everything, even five minutes talking with day laborers outside a Home Depot, is a learning opportunity if you are open to it.

In my brief and chaotic encounter with the day laborers on the sidewalk in front of the Home Depot, here’s what I learned:

The loudest and most aggressive get the attention first, but the best communicators get the attention that lasts.  Communication that day begins with a surge of attention and energy coming my way in a ragged five-foot-six sweatshirted and baseball capped wave.  The wave has no shape, it’s pure cacophony as nearly every one of the 40 guys on the sidewalk clamors for attention.  The wave breaks and dissipates when I begin asking questions most of them don’t understand, and it becomes clear I’m not there to hire.   The multi-lingual players move front and center and focus fiercely on understanding what the tall gringo in the black fedora wants.

“Why do people hire you?  Who is the best at getting hired?  Why?  What do you tell people that gets you the job?  Do you work alone or in teams?”

A few of the men, younger than most of them, comprehend.  At this point, a minute in, the scene centers on three or four people, with the rest of the guys either walking away or lurking nearby to see where this is going.   Skill sets come up.  Yes, the young men in front say, knowing how to do many jobs is a plus.  They begin to recite all the skills they have…painting, dry wall, concrete, plumbing, floors, landscaping…”

One of them, name of Jose, stands out.  He is the most articulate and the one most capable of engaging in a dialogue.  He says that to get work it helps to speak English and Spanish, do many jobs well, and have friends who will bring you along when groups get hired.  And a business card, he says.  Here is my card.  He is the only one with a card.

I slip Jose twenty dollars and tell him to buy breakfast for an old guy standing near us, who looks like he’d be the last one out of this big group to get hired for the day.  Which means he has almost no chance of getting hired.

Getting hired for a day by a contractor to plaster walls in Echo Park has more in common than most of us would like to believe with finding work in the Networked World.   In a swirling, shifting job market, employment opportunities move like empty vans into a Home Depot parking lot.  The vans are not empty long.  We’d better be ready to attract a contractor’s attention, and when we have it, hold it.  A player needs a strategy, and a player must be prepared to improvise.

Here’s what I learned (or was reminded of) that day:

It helps to throw off a lot of energy at first, but that doesn’t last long.  Okay, so you made a big entrance, or delivered a killer initiation for the scene.  Now what?  Once you have an audience’s attention, what are you going to do with it?   What skills do you have that will expand and heighten the scene, and captivate your audience?  In a Home Depot parking lot and in the Networked World, it helps to have many skills.  If you’re in media, can you write, produce, direct, shoot and edit?  If you’re in law, can you arbitrate, negotiate, adjudicate, argue, defend, file…and market yourself?  If you’re in HR, are you versed in psychology, human sexuality, labor law, hiring practices?  If you’re working a staff job you hate can you navigate into doing something you love without missing a beat?

It helps to speak many languages, and I don’t necessarily mean spoken languages, though that certainly helps, especially if it’s Chinese.  (Chinese students are learning English at a way faster rate than American students are learning Chinese.  It cannot help but expand their opportunities for employment in the next 10-12 years.)  Humor is a language.  Programming obviously includes many languages.  Cloud Computing has its own lexicon, as does Sustainability, and almost every industry.  Golf can be a language you and a potential employer speak.  Or gaming.  Or travel.  Food.  Music.  The point is, always be adding to your vocabulary.  It will give you a broader audience.  It will help you engage in more productive dialogues with more potential employers.

In To Have and Have Not, Ernest Hemingway wrote, ‘A man alone ain’t got no bloody fucking chance.’  I think the boys in the Home Depot lot would understand that, and so should you.  When you’re part of a team, a tribe, an emotionally-bonded group (with the Home Depot boys it’s probably their hometowns in Guatemala, Nicaragua or Mexico that bind and define them), your opportunities are increased exponentially.  When your homie makes a connection with a contractor who ‘needs four for drywall,’ homes will bring you along on the job, and vice versa.  Your team gives you an opportunity to be of service to others.  In life, in work, in improvisation, supporting others is the strongest move you can make.

Lifelong employment with one company has pretty much dodo birded, which is to say it’s kaput, gone, extinct.  Work in the Networked World will be more project-based or brand-based than it was in the Industrial Age.  These days, a person can have five or six, or ten or twelve ‘careers’ in their working lives.  Nothing wrong with that.  It can lead to rich and rewarding experiences.  It can also be hugely disruptive, especially when young families are caught up in it.  The people who navigate these swirling waters best, those who are captains of their own destiny,  communicate best.  And they never stop learning.

Here is Jose’s business card.  If you’re in the L.A. area and need someone to do Painting–or Drywall or Taping or Linoleum or Roofing or Gardening or Plaster or Sprinklers or Stucco or Block or Hardwood Flooring or Cement or Ceramic Tile–give him a call.

As I’m always on the lookout for scenes that demonstrate improvisation at work, the story gets my attention. The woman is starting a job she’s never done before, yet clearly with the confidence that she is prepared for the experience. That’s an improviser talking. I turn up the volume…

The subject of the story is Channa Cook. Her age is 28. She and Kristin Leigh Moody are the co-founders of Sojourner Truth Academy in New Orleans, a new charter school that opened to its first class in August (then had to close its doors for awhile to let Hurricane Gustav blow through, but is now open again).

All around the U.S., championed by entrepreneurial educators like Cook and Moody, charter schools like Sojourner Truth are springing up as responses to failures or shortcomings in public school systems. In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, New Orleans has become a laboratory for experiments in education. Seven new charter schools opened in New Orleans this fall, where half of the 33,000 high school students are charter school students.

At Sojourner Truth all 122 students in the first class of 9th graders have been made a bold promise by Cook and Moody. “We promise the parents college,” says Cook. “Not only do they (students) have to apply to college. They have to get accepted.”

Listen to Channa Cook’s story to hear how an improviser changes the game. As you listen, note the fundamentals of improvisation that are in play:

1. Emotion. The Sojourner Truth ‘brand’ is built on emotion. The determined confidence of Cook and Moody. The gratitude of the parents. The hopes and dreams of the students.

2 . Theme. The school is named for a pioneering educator whose story provides the theme of its education program: Balance self-improvment with community uplift.

3. Objectives. Very clear and unambiguous. The objectives are for Sojourner Truth’s students to continue their education beyond high school, and to champion social justice in the process.

4. Accountability. The principal is making herself personally accountable to the students’ families. and there’s no bureaucracy for her to hide behind. Students themselves are accountable to their community, and to one another. “Each one teach one” is one of the school’s mottos.

5. Commitment. After doing volunteer work after Hurricane Katrina, Cook moved to New Orleans from her home in Los Angeles. An improviser understands that breakthroughs, and beneficial disruptions of the status quo can occur only through committed action.

6. Rules. To be productive, the game must have clearly-understood rules. Students attend from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Breakfast is mandatory. The story didn’t say what the rest of the rules are, but you can bet that whatever they are, Cook and Moody have made them very clear.

7. Environment. The school shares a building with a Head Start program and a Juvenile Drug Court. This is not what you’d call your traditional school environment, but by acknowledging it instead of complaining about it, and interacting with it instead of ignoring it, Cook and her team are preparing themselves and their team to keep the focus on education.