Yes, And: Getting Ahead by Getting Along
How the First Principle of Improvisational Comedy Might Just be a Superb Principle for Living
Being an effective person requires being able to get along with many different people. But navigating the various personal and professional relationships in your life can be difficult. Luckily, there is a simple tool that can help you build better relationships, help you more effectively navigate difficult conversations, and produce more creative ideas while with a diverse group of people. It does, however, come from a pretty unconventional source: Improv Comedy.
There’s a principle at the foundation of improv called yes, and. The idea is that in order for an improv sketch to work, the actors involved need to be able to count on one another to keep the spirit of the skit going — no matter what crazy improvised line one of them has blurted out. So if the sketch starts out as being about a boy asking a stranger if he’s seen his lost dog, and the stranger suddenly informs the boythat his dog is actually a dinosaur, and being hunted by the dinosaur police — everyone has to roll with it, or the skit falls flat.
When actors are yes-anding, an improv sketch could be a hilarious and surprising mini-play that takes the audience on a journey. When the yes-ands are half-hearted —…
