The Story Behind Business Improv
In 1999, Craig Fox was Associate Professor of Management at Duke University in Raleigh / Durham where he taught courses in negotiation and decision making, and Bob Kulhan was an improv instructor at Chicago's famed Second City and improv performer in the Improv Olympic Resident Company – Baby Wants Candy! On an academic visit at the University of Chicago that year, Craig began to take improv classes to enhance his teaching style. There he met Bob and the two had many discussions about the application of improv to management. Serendipitously, during that time a Dean at Duke's Fuqua School of Business put out a request to faculty for intensive one-week courses with strong academic and experiential learning components. Craig and Bob immediately saw this as an opportunity to collaborate on a new approach to teaching managers, and "Business Improvisation" (the course) was born.
From its inception, Managerial Improvisation has been among Duke University's highest rated MBA electives. We have opened created corporate training programs for several top business schools, leadership development programs, executive education programs, and corporate education programs for Fortune 500 companies. Based in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, we work with organizations nationwide.
Academic Partners
Academic partners use Business Improvisations to deliver executive and business training (e.g., open enrollment, non-company specific programs). We also work closely with PHD Faculty to innovate with respect to new research and training methods. We currently have classes in the following universities across the United States and in Australia:
- Los Angeles
- UCLA, Anderson School of Management MBA, FEMBA & EMBA Orientation
- UCLA Executive Education Programs
- New York
- Columbia Business School MBA, EMBA & CSEP
- Columbia Business School Executive Education
- Raleigh / Durham / Research Triangle
- Duke University, Fuqua School of Business
- Duke University, Law School Orientation
- Duke University Executive Education
- Duke University Corporate Education
- South Carolina
- University of South Carolina
- Australia
- Australian Graduate School of Management Executive Education
- Turkey
- KOC Business School - Istanbul, Turkey
Clients engage Business Improvisations for corporate training programs designed solely for their organization.
We've developed programs for organizations large and small. Below is just a sample of the corporations that have benefitted from our creativity and leadership training:
- American Camp Association
- American Express
- Blizzard Entertainment
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Capital One
- CISCO
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Cushman & Wakefield
- Duke Clinical Research Institute
- DuPont
- Eagle Family Foods
- Ford Motors
- FOSSAC , USA
- Fritch Consulting
- Glaxo Smith Kline
- Jumeirah Emirates Towers
- LeaderShape
- Mazda
- Neutrogena
- PepsiCo , USA
- Procter & Gamble, R&D University
- Progressive
- Quaker
- Raytheon
- Renovare
- Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
- SAS, Cary, NC
- Sears
- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
- University of Notre Dame
- USAACF Property Management Inc.
- USAYPO (Young President's Organization)
Some Testimonials...
"Your energy and imagination make it a pleasure to work with you. Your continual striving to bring the finest and most relevant exercises to the class was obvious in workshop design. Your ability to create a relevant custom training program for our specific faculty needs made clear the application and validity of improvisation training in both the professional business and education communities."
-James Thorp
Director Instructional Design and Faculty Effectiveness
Duke University Fuqua School of Business
"This workshop creates a trust upon which to build lasting professional relationships. I heartily endorse the Creativity & Teamwork Workshop and would recommend the experience without reservation."
-Karen Cochran
Associate Dean
Duke University Fuqua
School of Business
And a few quotes from our toughest critics - MBA students...
"This has been one of the best courses I have taken at Fuqua. I strongly believe all incoming students should be exposed to improv. The level of comfort that I felt working with my group during this week has been unequaled by any other experience I have had at Fuqua. ... an intensive improv course, like we enjoyed this week, would be a fantastic addition to the curriculum."
-Lauren Hughes
"This has been one of the great weeks of my recent life and certainly of my educational experience. I found improvisation refined and toned a part of my brain that may not get enough of a regular workout. I appreciate Fuqua's willingness to explore the non-traditional approach to developing the skills we honed this week."
-Julia Farnham
"I am convinced that the Business Improvisations class is amongst the most rewarding and unique experiences I have had at Fuqua. I am certain that there are many practical real-life uses for the material we learned this week."
-Christopher D. Johnson
"This has been a great class. I feel that it is invaluable for international students, as I have seen those who have been quiet as mice all year truly come out of their shells. It's probably one of the best experiences that Iíve had at Fuqua and one that I will remember and apply for years to come."
-Vijay Sankaran
"Overall, I felt the Business Improvisations course achieved a rare goal of academia: learning by doing, while entertaining amassing some knowledge to boot. I would recommend this class to everyone!"
-Michelle Xun
"(Dynamic Management: Workshop In Improvisation) has been the best confidence-building experience at Fuqua. No other experiences have forced students to participate in exercises in which they don't know what will happen."
-Nicolette Johnson
"I thought (the exercises created specifically for Fuqua) captured the spirit of improvisation while effectively addressing business principles. This course achieved a rare goal of academic experience - it allowed students to have fun while learning valuable skills and amassing practical knowledge."
-David A. Torgerson