A rich history rooted in improv techniques

In 1999, Bob Kulhan was a highly-regarded improv instructor at Chicago’s famed Second City and an improv performer at the Annoyance Theatre, as well as in the iO (Improv Olympic) Resident Company – Baby Wants Candy! It was that fall when serendipity slapped Bob in the kisser, and he seized the opportunity to co-create the first program in any business school in the entire world that focused solely on linking improvisation to business. Bob traveled down the path of behavioral sciences and real-world outcomes. Now more than 25 years later, The Workshop in Managerial Improvisation is still one of the highest rated MBA electives in the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

As the first pioneers in the space of applying improvisation techniques to corporate training through the behavioral sciences, our history is rich. We blaze trails- from creating the world’s first credit-bearing improv course in a business school (Duke Fuqua, 2000) to creating the world’s first 100% virtual credit-bearing improv course in a business school (Notre Dame Mendoza, 2020). We have formal connections to 13 of the top 26 business schools in America and a half-dozen more top tier b-schools around the globe. Not to mention our list of blue-chip clients is even more impressive. From pharma to manufacturing to aerospace to consultancies to government agencies to small businesses and entrepreneurs, we’ve led leadership initiatives on six continents, in more than a dozen countries (even through 3rd-party interpreters).