On the Other Side of Campus

A message from Steve...

I was recently back at my alma mater, Northwestern University, where my love for improvisation all started as an undergrad student majoring in Theater and Performance Studies. 

This time back on campus, I wasn’t attending a reunion or watching my beloved Wildcat football team. This time, I was standing in front of a room full of accomplished businessmen and women and marketing leaders, as a keynote speaker for the Kellogg School of Management Marketing Summit. 

And what struck me was, I was presenting in a building I had never walked into as an undergrad. There was something both humbling and energizing about being in that room. And before I entered the room, as part of my pre-game routine, I walked around campus and I realized the very tools I was about to use on that stage - curiosity, agility, connection - were rooted in what I learned as a Theater and Performance Studies major 35 years ago. And now, so many years later, those same tools were resonating with business leaders, marketers, and executives. 

This realization validated for me what I have felt for years: these two worlds, business and theater, leaders and performers, executives and thespians, have more in common than we think. Being productive in both worlds requires presence, they both demand awareness, and they both reward those who can listen, adapt, and connect in real time. 

And at the center of both is... Improvisation. 

We often think of improv as something reserved for actors and the theater kids, but the truth is, we’re all improvising. In every conversation, every meeting, and every presentation, we’re adjusting, responding, navigating. We’re improvising every day, and that’s one of the areas I reinforced in my presentation. 

To create the structure to invite everyone in the room to see themselves as improvisers, I focused on three core ideas. These core ideas are not necessarily complicated, but they can be very powerful when implemented with intention. 

1. The Power of Curiosity. Not surface-level curiosity, but real curiosity that requires you to slow down and actually hear what’s being said. One of the biggest challenges in communication isn’t a lack of ideas, it’s a lack of listening. Too often, we’re not listening to understand, we’re just waiting for our turn to talk, and when we can shift that, everything changes. 

2. The Power of Agility. In improv, when you feel stuck, you don’t force what’s not working, you simply adjust, pivot, and respond to what’s actually happening, not what you hoped would happen. That applies in business, in leadership, and in life. Because things will change, and when they do, the question is, can you pivot with purpose? 

3. The Power of Connection. This is where it all comes together, because at the end of the day, people don’t remember everything you say, but they remember how you made them feel, and authentic connection is key. 

And underneath all of this, there’s an improvisation foundation we can’t ignore, and that is the importance of both challenging and supporting one another with love and strength. 

In good improv, and in healthy leadership, you need both. When there’s too much challenge without support, people shut down. And when there’s too much support without challenge, people don’t grow. When we can balance the two, we can create space for people to take risks, to step forward, to become more of who they are capable of being. 

Being back on campus at Northwestern, I felt a sense of unity, and I was reminded that the lessons we learn in one space often show up in another. Creativity belongs in business, strategy belongs in performance, and that connection belongs everywhere. 

As leaders, teachers, coaches, marketers, performers, wherever you find yourself today, in a boardroom, in a classroom, on a stage, in a room familiar to you, or a room you’ve never been in before, but you’ve admired it from afar, let’s all do our best to remember these three simply complex take aways: 

LISTEN, DON’T JUST WAIT TO TALK... because curiosity starts with presence. 

PIVOT WITH PURPOSE... because agility isn’t reaction, it’s intentional adjustment. 

BE A COIN COLLECTOR... because showing people your value is more impactful than just telling them. 

Improvisation is not exclusive to one particular group. And once we break that myth, we can use it as a gateway to not only help us perform well, but to help make a positive impact on high-performing people from all walks of life, including those marketing people in that big, beautiful building... On the Other Side of Campus.