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Who else has a nightmare of standing in front of an audience with no script or preparation? Well, improvisers like Gary Hirsch get excited by that idea. Improvisers take uncertain situations and ask themselves "What is the opportunity here?" And who couldn't stand to be more competent in uncertain situations? For over 20 years Gary has been bringing the principles of improv theater to organizations to help them with their business objectives. He is the co-founder of On Your Feet, the creator of Botjoy, an accomplished artist and the proud father of two artistic kids that are confused about what he does for a living. Gary is one of the most joyful humans I know and I hope you will be inspired by this conversation to live life more like an improviser.

We talk about:

• Gary's winding career path that started with a discussion about a t-shirt to the co-founding of On Your Feet

• How accidentally walking into an improv rehearsal in graduate school led to finding one of his passions

• The voice of doubt that never goes away even when you are an accomplished entrepreneur and artist.

• Improv as a way to deal with uncertainty in life

• How improv helps us deal with unexpectedness by asking "What is the opportunity?"

• Why we should keep our imaginary friends for life.

Mentioned in this episode and Resources

• On Your Feet, the company that Gary co-founded which takes improv-theater based workshops into companies.

• Botjoy, Gary's project that spreads joy all over the world

• World Domination Summit, the conference where Gary presented and I first learned of his work

• Gary's World Domination Summit talk

• Gary's Instagram

• NYTimes: When School Gets Real: Teachers Connect Classroom Lessons to Current Events

• Bloomberg: Improv Training Is Making Management Throw Away the Script

• Delight: Co-creating with Improv, Monsters & Robots

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