Thinking Inside The Box

Hello Human.

Here’s a challenge for you; the next time you are faced with an everyday leadership challenge try thinking inside the box.

The answer to the question or the response to the challenge might be right in front of you.

You know the context and appreciate the constraints. You likely know the question to ask to get to the answer.

It doesn’t have to be new and shiny. It doesn’t have to be the next big fad. It doesn’t have to be innovative and clever. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering and life-altering. It doesn’t have to be from ‘outside the box’.

Acclaimed teacher Patricia Madson taught drama for over 40 years. Her niche was improv drama at Stanford, where she joined the faculty in 1977. Madson wrote a book, ‘Improv Wisdom’. In her book, Madson sets out the maxims of improv theatre and suggests we humans apply them to daily life. Her suggestion is accompanied by encouragement to ‘lighten up, look around and live an unscripted life’.

Lighten up. Look around. Live an unscripted life. Be structurally unstructured. Maybe get a little comfortably uncomfortable while you’re at it. There you go, Human, I have written your 2023 Performance Goals for you.

You’re welcome.

Ponder that, Human; an unscripted life. You have likely improvised a few times already today during your usual routine without realising it.

In the daily life of the organisation that you work in and lead, there’s Strategies and Plans, and Budgets and Meetings. There’s Goal Setting and Performance Reviews. And there’s the endless relentless bullshittery that goes with it all. You know it. I know it. We all know it.

But here’s the thing, there’s no daily script. Every day plays out according to many of Madson’s improv maxims.

The maxim I have latched onto for this Muse is ‘be average’. It’s in her be average maxim where this idea of ‘thinking inside the box’ sits.

Think inside the box, look more carefully, celebrate the obvious, say what you want to say in a way that seems natural to you, and act according to who you are. Try and cut through the Buzzword Bingo and the Corporate Jargon. Express your ideas just as you see them. Simply, be Human.

“What is ordinary to you is often a revelation to others.”

Madson.

Think inside the box.