Our Approach

The Intersection Between Leadership Development Strategy and Execution

Business Improv has always recognized the incredible benefits of improvisation, particularly the advantages of linking improv and business. Bob rose to the ranks of an elite improviser and sketch comedian in Chicago; however, his professional background was in business. Through this unique lens, he constantly saw links to real-world applications throughout his growing improv career. Bob was in the right place to design the world’s very first credit-bearing improv course at a business school (full story here), his experience and perspective led to an incredibly original creation – Business Improv®!

Pillars Of Our Approach

Rooted In Science

Customized Solutions

Focused On ROI

Any Learner, Any Industry

Our Instructors

Rooted In Science

Our Approach is Rooted in Science and Experience

Over the past 20+ years, Business Improv has had the great fortune of working with many of America’s best improvisers and collaborating with globally recognized authorities in the Behavioral Sciences to develop training that is as entertaining and enjoyable as it is powerful and impactful. We’ve partnered with more than a dozen elite business schools and the top Executive Education and Corporate Education houses in the world.
This exclusive network provides us a treasure trove of wisdom. Access to cutting-edge professors, thought leaders, students (from MBAs to CEOs), Deans, and a high degree of academic rigor educates us on trends and informs our decisions, so we always stay years ahead of the curve on our offerings. We are in a perpetual state of learning, experimentation, and development.
As a result, our programs have always been dynamic, fun, and engaging while our strategies are backed up and pinned down by science. Our team works with global leaders in the below sciences to develop our cutting-edge concepts!
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Organizational Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
We study how and why people make decisions in real-time and apply that to our energizing, dynamic, experiential learning for personal and professional development. A fundamental driving force in Business Improv is to push the envelope and be the agents of change in an industry we pioneered.
group activity
Customized Solutions

Customized Solutions

We understand what ROI means. We design programs based on your team, your industry, and your needs. We partner with you to make sure that we’re on point and focused so that we make sure we’re hitting all your needs. It is our job to support you and make you look like a Rockstar for bringing us in. (We take this very seriously.)

Business Improv programs can be designed to fit any length of time and any style that works with your schedule: in-person delivery, virtual instructor-led programming, a self-paced, asynchronous learning program, professional coaching, or even blended (a la carte). From one-off engagements to full-service training consultancy, and whatever format you use we will develop the solution that serve your needs and hits your goals.
Let’s walk through your needs and design a solution that is perfect for your team.
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Focused On ROI

Focused on ROI

We can both qualitatively and quantitively prove behavior and culture change. We are hound dogs for proof. Understanding your goals and your specific Return On Investment is as paramount to our design process as it is to our success. Our driving force is to put you in a position to use Business Improv techniques without us. We specialize in creating results-driven, high-impact experiential learning programs for the toughest clients.
With a strongly defined ROI always a top priority, accessibility, transferability, and sustainability became imperatives. We offer follow-up and on-going support in the forms of literature, customized materials, microlearnings, entertaining videos, memes and small bumps, virtual learning, online learning, coaching, and ongoing Business Improv challenges after the program is over so that behavior and culture change is sustainable.
Challenge us with the research, measurable results, and proof of concept. We’ll do the heavy lifting.
Any Learner, Any Industry

Impactful Solutions for Any Learner, Any Industry

We’ve had the incredible opportunity to become industry agnostic with our target audience. We’ve worked with an unbelievable array of organizations from intimate family-owned accounting firms to “blue collar businesses” and hourly-wage employees to multinational conglomerates with tens of thousands of employees. We’ve created hundreds of transformational programs for:
  • Entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and one-on-one coaching
  • Small and medium size businesses
  • Large consultancies, biopharma, manufacturing, and aerospace companies
  • Construction companies, hotel and hospitality, food and beverage, and automotive industries
  • Start-ups, unicorns, and big tech
  • National sports teams, ad agencies, and mid-tier pizza chains
  • Two branches of the federal government: Judicial and Legislative, having worked with both the House of Representatives and US Senators
  • Numerous three-letter government agencies, defense contractors, and many branches of the armed forces
  • Everyone from the highest-ranking executives at Fortune 500 companies, down to mid-managers, high-potentials, new hires, and onboarding.
  • Small, community-based non-profits up to those on the international stages of the United Nations that impact millions of lives, every year.
In addition, we have unmatched international and ESL experience, teaching BI all over the world: Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, the Middle East, Africa and throughout North America. Moreover, our MBA, Exec Ed, and Open Enrollment classes are filled with an international cornucopia of diversity. We’ve even taught BI through 3rd-party interpreters!
check out our full list of partners
Business Improv focuses on People Skills and Human Connection. If you have to talk with people, collaborate, ideate, build cohesion, chemistry and trust, manage conflict, build meaningful relationships, create culture – In-Person, Virtual, Hybrid – Business Improv is the partner for you!
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Our Instructors

Our Instructors: All Improv is Not Created Equally

Two common trends in the “improv for businesspeople” market are theaters with a corporate wing that send their stage performers out to do corporate gigs for supplemental income or corporate coaches who took one level of improv classes, say “yes and” to a group of businesspeople, and then tell them that they’ve just been taught improv.
The problem is that both scenarios fall short on what the learners actually need. In one case, we’re relying on a performer with no business experience, who’s good at improv but does not know how to relate that to a business setting. And in the other case we have a business coach who doesn’t have legitimate experience in improv (performing or teaching) and is using improv techniques superficially, if not incorrectly.
Our world-class faculty are neither.
Business Improv only works with the very best improvisers in the country. Our faculty are global experts – thousands of stage and performance hours combined with real-life business experience. We work hard to find these improvisers, for whom Improv is their love and passion. They teach it; they perform it; they live it; they breath it, and they do it all with every fiber of their bodies. We find “improv lifers” – people who have been performing and teaching at the highest level for at least a decade – and then we go into a deeper dive.
From there, we find a more detailed subset within that group – improv lifers who have real-world business experience. Once we find this subset within a subset, we train them to lead Business Improv programs. Because all our instructors have real-world experience, they understand business acumen and how to tackle tough questions by making links back to your day-to-day. We never punt on difficult questions.
Over the past 20+ years, we’ve assembled a team of more than 100 of the world’s best improvisers, who are all seasoned and experts in Business Improv. As a result, Business Improv programs are scalable. We have the depth and breadth to take on multiple, complex jobs, with multiple clients, all running simultaneously in different locations.
Finally, Business Improv does not own an improv comedy theater. (We’ll perform at yours though!) That means that our sole purpose is learning and development, and our clients’ training needs receive 100% of our attention.
This is our base for designing meaningful, memorable, impactful programs for personal and professional development so you can apply improv techniques authentically, on your terms.
This is how Business Improv sets itself apart from the rest.

Let’s get started!

Contact us so we can design a custom engagement for your team today!
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