On February 20 in New York City, Jonathan Franklin, author of 33 Men, the new book about the rescue of the Chilean Miners, and I rehearsed Where Are You Stuck?, the new GameChangers program based on our shared observations of the rescue. His observations are anecdotal, and chronicle the story of what happened before and during the rescue. Mine are technical, and cite the way in which improvisation informed the process.
The WAYS? menu consists of 15 game-oriented activities inspired by the rescue. A half-day WAYS? workshop will be comprised of eight of these 15 activities, of which the client chooses six; two activities, the first and last, are ‘requirements.’ Our first WAYS? engagement is March 2 in Miami, for 120 executives from a large manufacturing company that is restructuring its processes on a global scale.
Because we had only one day to rehearse in person prior to March 2 (Franklin is currently on a worldwide book tour), we hired a coach, Sevanne Kassarjian, to guide and focus our work in New York. Two ‘applied improvisers,’ Zohar Adner and James Tossone, along with Heather Soldania, a Masters student at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication who happened to be in NYC last weekend, joined us for part of the day. Jonathan’s wife, father and three-year-old daughter, Zoey, also sat in for part of the day at the Ripley Grier Rehearsal Stages where we were rehearsing. Zoey even participated in one of the activities, in which her job was baking cakes in a high-speed oven.
It was a good day. We made huge strides toward getting the program ready. Sevanne is terrifically focused. She relentlessly probed and pondered the experience from every perspective. Her work demonstrates how an improviser can play many roles in quick sequence, always through the essential truth of one’s character. During our collaboration, she played the roles of Gentle Encourager, Stern Critic, Logistics Manager, Playful Mom, Erudite Intellectual and Fellow Improviser, to name just a few of the hats she wore. Through it all, she was always the brilliant individual we now know as Sevanne.
Sevanne’s work is itself a microcosm of why improvisation is an essential skill for managers in a Networked World. A job title is just that, a title. Sevanne’s job title last week was ‘Coach.’ That title did not define the many ways in which she supported us. Simply put, she did what was best for the scene, in each and every moment. Given the gift of improvisation, so can you and your organization.
Play on!
Sevanne Kassarjian (Jonathan Franklin in b.g.)
