The following list appears in my book, GameChangers. It was handed out at the beginning of a class I took at I. O. West in Los Angeles, by our teacher, Jason Pardo. The list came to Jason by way of improv legend Mick Napier, under whom Jason had studied in Chicago. (Napier is Artistic Director of the Annoyance Theater in Chicago and author of Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out. ) The GameChangers translation of each tip appears in italics .

TIPS FOR BEING A KICKASS STUDENT AND POWERFUL PERFORMER

1. Be someone who is always on time. Chronic lateness or lallygagging is a form of control, passive-aggressive behavior that’s pure ego. Being on time is common courtesy to the rest of your team, it acknowledges that time has a money value, it allows the scene to begin and end on schedule, keeping the day’s performance on track and moving in a productive rhythm.

2. Be someone who says yes. Our accomplishments, our character and our wealth are brought about by what we cause to happen, not by what we deny or keep from happening.

3. Be someone who listens more than they talk. Listening is learning, and ensures that when you DO talk, you’ve got something worthwhile to say.

4. If you must talk, be someone who knows what they’re talking about. See #3.

5. Screw your fear. Be someone who makes strong choices. Fear is what keeps us from trusting our instincts, what causes us to hold back and shy away from choices that express our fullest potential. Don’t be a wuss. Knock on fear’s door, and when fear answers, sock fear in the jaw and walk on through. A smokin’ hot choice will be there waiting for you to free it from captivity, and will forever show its gratitude in ways you cannot imagine and will never realize as long as you let fear stand in your way.

6. Be someone who isn’t tired or hot or scared. Be vital and engaging. The nature of our work experience is up to us. It is a matter of discipline and focus to discover those qualities in ourselves that are conducive to performance, breathe life into them, and allow them to inform our character and our scenes.

7. Be someone who will try anything. See if it works. As the business world evolves, the boundaries of what is and what is not possible are changing like the maps of Eastern Europe. In this environment, experimentation and exploration get rewarded much more so than when everything is static, hunky-dory, status-quo.

8. Be someone who isn’t an asshole, even if you are. We’re in this together. There’s a school of thought, forged in the ultra-acquisitive ethos of the Industrial Age, that one must take in order to have. This has resulted in a lot of asshole behavior, and some of the assholes who perpetuated this behavior are now paying the piper for it. In the Networked World, we recognize that to generate wealth, we must connect, collaborate and create. We understand that our fates are shared, and that what helps one helps all. As improv icon Shelley Berman likes to say, “The taking is in the giving.”

9. Be courteous off stage. if you interrupt, apologize. One of the most useful aspects of improvisation as it relates to business is that it gives us the keys to productive behaviors and performances. Subjective judgments give way to critical assessment. In becoming more self aware we also become more respectful and aware of others. Improvisation gives us a diopter for distinguishing between interruption and interjection, between diversion and digression, between conflict and contribution.

10. Be honest. There’s no substitute. If we are honest with ourselves and others about our motives, desires and dreams, our behaviors will be authentic, our goals achievable, and our contributions unique and therefore valuable. The road to wealth and well being begins with an understanding of oneself.