You’ve got to accentuate the Positive
Eliminate the Negative
Latch on to the Affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between *

Accentuating the Positive is how improvisers keep their scenes productive. Entering scenes with a positive frame of mind, supportive, open to the possibilities, lays the groundwork for the group agreement that makes scenes good. In improv theater, of course, performers conjure all kinds of characters, from the overjoyed to the clinically depressed. And yet, even the darkest scenes are based on some kind of agreement, an understanding shared by its players that a particular game will make the scene tick. Business also calls for positive, upbeat outlooks, but just as on the improv stage, players in business must sometimes find agreement around a contentious, difficult or negative situation. In fact, the darker the situation, the more important it is to accentuate the positive. Maybe the most familiar example of finding agreement in a contentious business scenario is a court case. No matter how adversarial the scene gets, there’s an underlying agreement to play a game governed by laws, refereed by judges, decided by juries. The same principle holds true for less formal scenes — it’s finding the underlying agreement to play a productive game that allows the scene itself to become productive. ‘Accentuating the positive and latching on to the affirmative’ will guide you toward that game like a magnet points you to the Pole.

Eliminating the Negative is is a matter if focus and discipline. The kind of energy you bring to your scenes is up to you. If your personal life takes some kind of negative turn, can you summon the focus that will let you rise above your gloom? Going negative is anti-improvisation. Nothing sinks a scene quicker than the player who refuses to play the game. ‘Just saying no’ might have sounded good to Nancy Reagan, but in the Networked World, we understand that saying no gets us nowhere; it’s what we say ‘yes’ to, what we agree to, that leads to the success of our scenes.

Messing with Mr. In-Between is generally a waste of time. Players who make soft choices or ‘choose not to choose’ contribute very little, if anything at all, to the inquiry that yields potent solutions. Industrial Age organizations might have had room for this kind of cagey, low-profile, dis-engaged and delaying behavior. Mr. In-Between steered clear of trouble, took credit for the successes of others, and after 25 years, he found himself in charge without ever making a significant decision in his entire career. In the Networked World, things move too fast and too many decisions must be made for an indecisive player to have any kind of impact — or value to the organization.