33voices interview withPatricia Ryan Madson
The gift of improvisation
One of the most important maxims that I used to teach our sales team is the principle of no expectation. While that may seem radical in the sales and marketing space; especially in financial services, it was the mental muscle that anchored all of our sales success. I was introduced to this wisdom by the esteemed Stanford Professor, Michael Ray, who taught me that ‘Creativity in Business’ is simply a metaphor for knowing yourself on a deeper level. That, of course, requires a lifetime of work, but one that will forever enrich your life. Along the way, I was encouraged to study the principles of Improvisation, as they relate to business, and I quickly discovered the synchronicity between paying attention and creativity. In here brilliant book – Improv Wisdom: Don’t prepare, Just show up – Patricia Ryan Madson reminds us that life is truly an improvisation and and to be a good improviser is to be “awake, not entirely self-focused, and moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back and who acts upon this impulse”. Patricia, too, has been an icon at Stanford, where she has taught since 1977, and in our conversation, she shares how the principles of improv are fundamental to your entrepreneurial success. Here’s why…..