I grew up looking at this sign often and I never realized how funny it is. It was just some thing that was always there. Street Rd. Nothing special about it, nothing funny about it, it was just the name of the road. This is a Road named Street. Street Road.

It wasn’t until I took my wife to visit the area where I grew up and she looked at it and said “Street Road. That’s funny“. Suddenly, I saw the name in a new light. Why would you name a road Street Road?

Sometimes you overlook things that are right in front of you, because they blend into the everyday surroundings. This is why it never seemed funny to me that near where I grew up we have a road named Street Road. (The word road is beginning to look like not a real word.)

I always told new employees in my company that I really valued their input and questions when they started working. They were the only people who didn’t have the rose-colored glasses on, so they could see things that I could no longer see - for me, it was all normal. I had to rely on the newcomers to let me see things in front of me that maybe needed addressing, or changing. But it had become so familiar to me, that my eyes just glazed over when I saw it.

There was an exercise I did in graduate school to help with noticing things as they are. It involves touching objects — calling them by their name, then moving to the other side of the room and touching a different object,  then calling it by its name. As in, I would touch a chair and say “chair“. Then cross the room and touch a backpack and say “backpack.“ The second step is starting to move faster — touching objects and calling them by the names of things they are not. Example: I would touch the chair and say “orange juice.“ And then cross the room and touch the backpack and say “vacuum cleaner.“ The goal of the exercise was to disconnect the defined name of an object from the object itself, so that you stopped ignoring something because it had a specific name (and therefore a finite and specific value) and started focusing on objects for all the value they had. When you looked at the chair, you didn’t see all of the detail, or dirt, or scratches. You just acknowledge the “chair” and then moved on. This exercise helped me to focus on the specifics and the details of objects by disconnecting the object from its predetermined, and agreed upon, name.

In business, we can potentially get ourselves in trouble if we use the same solution for every problem. We ignore the details in front of us, keep the status quo, because change is scary and difficult. But what if we challenged ourselves to see new solutions? New options for situations we have looked at every single day? Well then, the possibilities are endless.
​
We can look for our own personal Street Road. (Still funny.)

Whether we like it or not, there are a lot of things happening in our world right now that we cannot control (or even fully understand). The one thing we can control is how we react to what is going on.
 
A practice I do at each of my workshops is a quick check-in: How are people feeling? This is sometimes done as a virtual exercise or as an in-person discussion. Everyone gets a chance to be honest about how they are feeling and share it with the group. It allows us to be vulnerable and open with each other. It also allows us to be honest with ourselves. How are we feeling? What is keeping us from being present in the room, available, listening and focusing on how to support the group?
 
Once we can identify these things, we can begin to accept those distractions and allow them to exist. We can accept and build on (yes, and…) what is happening to us in a positive way.
 
I know I am feeling excited, a little overwhelmed and slightly anxious about the new year. As my schedule is filling up, and I am planning activities, I start to feel anxious about how I will be able to manage it all!
 
Going forward, my question to you is: How are you feeling?
 
Let’s embrace the messiness of life and start to figure out how to take what we have (whatever it is) and make something amazing.
 
Happy New Year. I can’t wait to see what we can do together.

The past two years have created a lot of isolation and distance. It has also brought many people together, in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

My last workshop for a client had participants in Singapore, London, Johannesburg, Mexico City and all over the United States. I've adjusted to waking up at all different hours to accommodate all different time zones. As much as we have been at home, adjusting to virtual work and figuring out how to look good on Zoom while in sweat pants and slippers, we've had the opportunity to connect with people in places all over the world. I can now count these people as friends. I get to hear how their lives and situations have been in upheaval due to COVID, and they get to hear about what is happening here in the US. They have expanded my understanding and knowledge of our connected  human experience in ways I would have never imagined. We share stories of our lives, families, joys, sorrows and recipes. 

​We have all lost something  in our lives from this pandemic. Let's also look at what we have gained: a global understanding, an international reach, and new friends. For this, I am grateful.

​Happy New Year everyone. I hope to see you all face-to-face soon. 

​I recently spoke to an individual who is in charge of a company, and he mentioned to me an award they give out called the ‘First Penguin Award.’
 
The idea is - if you are a penguin on the edge of the iceberg, with all the other penguins standing with you, who is the first one to jump into the water and swim to land? What risks are lurking under the surface? Will they all just freeze waiting on the iceberg? No one wants to go first… because maybe the first penguin will get eaten. And if they do get eaten then the others know not to jump in. So all the penguins just stand on the iceberg looking at each other.

Until one brave penguin steps up. They are the ‘first penguin’ to jump into the unknown. And they make it to land safely! The other penguins decide to follow! And everyone moves forward. Or, maybe they don't make it safely. And the other penguins now know they will get eaten if they jump in. Either way, someone had to take the first step...
 
The leader I spoke to encourages his employees to be the ‘first penguin’. To jump. To try something scary. He especially rewards them if they fail. And he publicly acknowledges them for being brave enough to jump off the iceberg.
 
By making failure something that is celebrated, his company culture encourages taking risks and trying innovative new ideas. 
 
How can you encourage taking risks in your organization? 

One way is to make it fun to fail. Employees can be more confident to experiment and try new things, knowing it is more important to try than to worry about failing. Give out your own 'first penguin' award. The winner gets to keep a stuffed penguin on their desk for a month.

That is how you succeed and create an innovative / growth mindset for your company.

To learn more about Innovation and Growth Mindset workshops, Contact Andrew for more info.

​There was a recent scientific study on happiness: small amounts of money were given to people to spend on themselves, or to give to others. Researchers then tested the participants to discover the amount of happiness received from giving to others.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
Researchers from the University of Zurich in Switzerland told 50 people they’d be receiving about $100 over a few weeks. Half of the people were asked to commit to spending that money on themselves, and half were asked to spend it on someone they knew.
The researchers wanted to see whether simply pledging to being generous was enough to make people happier. Before handing out any money, they brought everyone into the lab and asked them to think about a friend they’d like to give a gift to or how much they would spend on themselves. They then performed functional MRI scans to measure activity in three regions of the brain associated with social behavior, generosity, happiness and decision-making.
Their choices—and their brain activity—seemed to depend on how they had pledged to spend the money earlier. Those who had agreed to spend money on other people tended to make more generous decisions throughout the experiment, compared to those who had agreed to spend the money on themselves. 
Those people who chose to give the money to others also had more interaction between the parts of the brain associated with altruism and happiness, and they reported higher levels of happiness after the experiment was over.
The researchers concluded that “actually helping others and being generous to them increases happiness…” 
 
One of the main rules I teach in Improv is that it is not about an internal focus. The lesson is: if I am making my partner look good, and I am focusing on serving them, then I am doing my job. And I know they are doing the same thing for me. When I am on stage and I say something that makes the audience laugh, I know it is not about me being brilliant. My fellow actors set me up so I could say that specific line which made the audience respond. It’s not about me, it’s about the group. This takes of the focus off of ‘what do I say next?’ and places it more on ‘how do I serve the other people on stage?’
 
Think about your office. When was the last time you saw someone make the choice to set someone else up for success, and not be concerned about getting the credit for themselves? When has your team focused on serving each other, and the mission of the company, rather than personal achievement?
 
It’s a fact: thinking outside of yourself / focusing on others can make your team more productive, happier and more effective. By adopting a group focus rather than an individual focus, and using ‘yes and’ as a rule, you can create a better work environment for your staff, and a better world for your clients. 

​For more information on workshops - email Andrew today!

​When I do workshops all over the country, I am always encountering the same question: “My kid wants to go into theater… what do I do?!?!?!”
The look of fear and concern from the parent is evident.
I usually have to unpack the discussion to find out what exactly is their concern about a degree in the arts?
Always, the answer is: “They will never make enough money to survive….”
This has led me to talk openly about what I have learned from my training in theater. I learned:

• How to take $50 and make an amazing set that challenges and excites audiences.
• To motivate people to work for very little, or nothing, in order to accomplish a goal.
• To manage difficult personalities, and to discover ways to communicate that could bring individuals together to work in a team.
• How to engage an audience (customers) into paying money for my product, and how to make them think they can’t live without what I have to offer.

 
In short, I learned sales, fiscal responsibility, leadership, management and presentation skills.
 
Theater training is leadership training. Taking the talents of others and directing them into a cohesive project, which is inclusive of all of their abilities, is a skill that only a true leader can accomplish. Listening, responding, and motivating others to work towards a goal larger than their own individual part is the essence of leadership. Creating theater is the essence of leadership.
 
So, when a concerned parent asks me that question, I always say “Let them.” The truth is, your child will learn more about themselves (authenticity) and more about others (emotional intelligence) then they will in any MBA program. They will learn how to tell a story, motivate a team, and use whatever resources they have to make a vision come true.
 
Theater is the skill we all need and use everyday. And if you don’t have it, find an actor to teach you.

Find out what theater training can do for your team - email Andrew today!

In over twenty years of teaching, I have met many individuals who have taken a progression of classes (levels 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500) with the plan of becoming an ‘expert.’ They complete all the classes, and then feel as if they are finished. They reached the last class, and are now 'experts.'
The idea is planted in our heads by most higher education. I go to school, I learn things, I take a test, I get a degree and I am an expert.
Tests are binary. There is a right, and a wrong. You get graded. Some people pass, some fail.
This is the mindset of a ‘test taker.’ 
In acting, it doesn’t work that way. When you are an accomplished actor and getting hired everywhere, you STILL have to practice and stay active. It is a skill you NEVER WIN. You constantly work on, and you get better, and you keep learning. If you consider yourself finished learning, you stop being an actor.
Why is that? I believe it is because the arts are eternal; you can see the same Shakespeare play over and over, and hear something new each time. It can suddenly be relevant to where you are now, as opposed to where you were five years ago. It can help illuminate you current world. Just like a balance sheet is a snapshot in time for a business, the arts can be a snapshot in time for your life.

So ask yourself;

• Am I closing off new learning by considering myself an expert?
• What can I do to learn more?
• How do I get 1% better each day?

One thing I coach my clients is rather than focusing on what is the same, focus on what is different. By focussing on the new, we can explore find the creative experience in each situation.

Click here to email Andrew for information on coaching, workshops and presentations for your group.