When actors are improvising together, it is a true collaboration. The best scenes occur when each actor is generously creating situations for the other actor to do something that fits perfectly in their sweet spot. Scenes where both actors are building each other up -making each other look "good" - are a joy to perform and a joy for the audience to watch. Those scenes are a success.
That seems counterintuitive to a lot of people. A lot of people think that success involves climbing to the top through any means possible. A lot of people think the only way to do this is to make others look "bad".
Those folks see others in the same field or business as "competition" and cannot understand why anyone would go out of their way to make the competition look good.
To those people I'd kindly and respectfully ask, "How is that working for you? Do you really want to live there?"
I know I'd rather live in a place of generosity. I'd rather live in a place of abundance where the success of my colleague, neighbor or peer is only an reminder that such success is possible and a similar success can be mine.
In the improv of life, we gain confidence, strength and power from this purposeful generosity.
In the improv of life, when you live in purposeful generosity, you are living in a powerful world of abundance and possibility rather than a world of limits and "not enough to go around".
Please understand:
I'M NOT SUGGESTING YOU SAY "YES" TO EVERY REQUEST OF YOUR TIME, MONEY OR TALENTS.
I'm suggesting you practice continual, purposeful generosity and collaboration. I'm suggesting you take your precious time and if you are going to talk about others you do so to build them up for their "wins" rather than tear them down for their weaknesses.
I'm suggesting you delight in the success of others and if you can play a small part in that success with your purposeful generosity then you should do so.
What does purposeful generosity look like in the improv of life?
It looks like taking a few extra seconds to type a positive comment rather than just "liking" or retweeting in social media.
It looks like sitting down to coffee with someone who you genuinely like and sharing your knowledge or expertise.
It looks like teaching a new skill to someone who you genuinely like.
It looks like sharing a job posting, or an interesting article to someone who you think could genuinely use the information.
It looks like making time in your schedule for those who report directly to you by scheduling weekly one-to-ones. During these, make sure you take notes and follow up on what you promise to do.
It looks like taking the time to find out where your direct reports or volunteers feel they are most in their flow and finding opportunities to place them there.
It looks like publicly congratulating a colleague or peer for their successes.
It looks like sharing your "finds" and connecting talented people with one another.
It looks like being honest and saying "no" when you don't have the bandwidth to give anything but 100% on something.
What would you add to this list?
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