How does an unlikely organization go from top-down, traditional and struggling to grow to become an award-winning organization – recognized by Inc, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, among others – that works in a radically collaborative way? In mid-October 2017, we partnered with former CEO Tom Walter from Tasty Catering to tell his company’s story […]

The first months of 2017 have been BUSY! Lots of people asked for our elevator pitch. (Even our families didn’t know exactly what we were up to.) So we got smart. We teamed up with genius visual artist Sarah Moyle to create this 7-minute video. We sincerely hope this video gives you – and your team […]

Few things excite us more than seeing collaborative leadership infiltrate pop culture. It’s happening more and more. And no collaborative organization is grabbing more headlines or heartstrings than the record-breaking Golden State Warriors.  This year’s NBA season just began, and the Sunday New York Times is already speculating. Our first post is a catch-up on […]

Way back in March (remember March?), we posted “15 Improv games to develop leadership skills and ensemble thinking in your group (part one)” in response to collaborators near and far who asked for some of our favorite improv games to have handy when getting ready for a meeting.  Here it is, the thrilling conclusion of “15 […]

A billion years ago (or 25), I lived in Norway. Far, far to the north in the ice deserts of Finnmark – 35 kilometers south of the Barents Sea and 500 meters from what was then the U.S.S.R. One of the many things that delighted me about my time there was a particular spontaneous annual […]

There’s nothing like a last minute push to plan a meeting. You’re dying for that perfect game you played that one time (when? where?) to shake up your staff meeting, but you can’t quite remember how it goes. Unabashedly philosophical rant We – like all facilitators who use improv – are often asked for game […]

Kelly Ritchey-Davoren has had unusual – and unusually successful – practice as a culture-building leader. During one period as an operations executive at The Decurion Corporation (one of the most paradigm-shifting companies you’ve never heard of), she and her teams improved critical metrics while launching 5 new locations and prototyping a new culture that unleashed […]

What do Barack Obama and Albert Einstein have in common? Besides stinging intellects and “they-said-it-couldn’t-be-done-so-just-watch-me” spirits, both fill(ed) their closets with similar items to eliminate decisions about what to wear. As Obama says, it’s less disinterest in fashion, and more preoccupation with running a superpower: “I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating […]

You know Ian Prinsloo is a master of creating ensemble in business because he says it with a French accent. Ensemble, he says, making you wonder why you ever pronounced it any other way.  Prinsloo, an accomplished theatre director with a 30-year career (and Deeper Funner collaborator), works these days with social services and nonprofit clients from […]

When I see something three times in three days I figure it will be useful to say something about it. What’s dropped by so often? No. It started Friday. I was talking with a dear friend and colleague I lunch with regularly for peer coaching.  (BTW, if you lead anything – including your own life […]