“Getting to yes” is a popular phrase among business managers. (It is the title of a 1981 book by Harvard professors, Roger Fisher and William Ury. A 1991 re-issue added an author’s credit for the original editor, Bruce Patton—apparently it took the authors ten years to get to Yes). The book dealt with negotiating tactics, and spent a record number of weeks on the Business Week best-seller list. Over the past 30 years, the book’s title has taken on a lot of meta meaning among managers: Close the deal. Don’t take “no” an answer. Get ‘er done. Reach agreement. Earn eyeballs. Satisfy the customer.
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.
The most basic concept in all of improvisation is ‘Yes and’. If we are in a scene together and you make a statement, it is my obligation as an improviser to ‘yes-and’ your statement. By ‘yes-anding’ you, I not only agree to your reality, I add to it with perspective of my own. In this way, we can ‘triangulate’ on the problem to be solved, and also bring dimension, and new levels of collaboration to the scene.