Beach Walk Insights - Volume 1, Issue 16 - Play time 3m 15s

Sadly, in the world of business “yes” is often the most difficult word to say. You may have experienced this when suggesting new ideas and having your boss turn them down without so much of a thought. Saying, "yes" is challenging. Who knows what might happen?

The inability to say “yes” is ingrained behaviour. People raised in western societies tend to be surrounded by negative language from an early age; “don’t speak to strangers”, "don't cross the road without looking". 

This negativity is often carried forward into adult life. When people have good ideas the easiest thing for a decision-maker to do is to hold back and hesitate, rather than taking action and going with it. This lack of initiative is holding back many businesses.

Those of you who have come across ‘improv theatre’ will know it to be the refreshing opposite of the rather negative picture described above. You have no option to say "no" - instead you have to quickly adapt to the evolving story. Improv theatre is characterised by there being the bare bones of a story and no real script. Participants learn to quickly adapt to what they are faced with and move on.

John Cremer is one of the UK's leading exponents of improv theatre and its application to business. John's published several books on the subject and helped countless business people break away from that reflex action of saying "no". I hope you'll take a look at John's website (URL below) and find the courage to say, "Yes, and now we're going to...". 

Tweet your thoughts @ChrisDavidsonUK

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