Yes, and: How Improvisation Reverses No, But Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Les

Yes, and: How Improvisation Reverses No, But Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Lessons from the Second City

By Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton

The authors, both executives at Chicago's The Second City, present their insights and perspective on how to apply the seven elements of improv comedy in both professional and personal situations.

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Book Information

Publisher: Harper Business
Publish Date: 02/03/2015
Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780062248541
ISBN-10: 0062248545
Language: English

What We're Saying

December 01, 2015

Our Special Projects Manager, Michael Jantz, looks inside the Innovation & Creativity category of this year's 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

November 03, 2015

These 40 books—five selections across eight distinct categories—make up the 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards Longlist. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

February 19, 2015

Kelly Leonard & Tom Yorton, authors of Yes, And, talk about the books that have influenced them and what they're reading now. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

February 18, 2015

Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton of The Second City answer our questions about their book Yes, And. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

February 17, 2015

Kelly Leonard & Tom Yorton take the secrets of improv from Chicago's famed Second City into the business world to tackle problems with laughter and trust. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

Executives from The Second City--the world's premier comedy theater and school of improvisation--reveal improvisational techniques that can help any organization develop innovators, encourage adaptable leaders, and build transformational businesses.

For more than fifty years, The Second City comedy theater in Chicago has been a training ground for some of the best comic minds in the industry--including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. But it also provides one-of-a-kind leadership training to cutting-edge companies, nonprofits, and public sector organizations--all aimed at increasing creativity, collaboration, and teamwork.

The rules for leadership and teamwork have changed, and the skills that got professionals ahead a generation ago don't work anymore. Now The Second City provides a new toolkit individuals and organizations can use to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by speed, social communication, and decentralization. Based on eight principles of improvisation, Yes, And helps to develop these skills and foster them in high-potential leaders and their teams, including:

  • Mastering the ability to co-create in an ensemble
  • Fostering a "yes, and" approach to work
  • Embracing failure to accelerate high performance
  • Leading by listening and by learning to follow
  • Innovating by making something out of nothing

Yes, And is a must-read for professionals and organizations, helping to develop the invaluable leadership skills needed to succeed today.

About the Authors

Kelly Leonard is the executive vice president of The Second City and the president of Second City Theatricals. He has worked at The Second City since 1988 and has overseen productions with such notable performers as Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler.

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Tom Yorton has been CEO of Second City Works, the b2b arm of The Second City, since 2002. Before joining The Second City family, Tom worked in advertising and marketing at agencies like Ogilvy, Grey, and Hal Riney before jumping to the client side, with stints as a marketing vice president at Sears and 3Com, where he actually hired Second City Works on a couple of occasions.

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