IN A CONSTANTLY SHIFTING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT in which every players eeks a competitive edge, there is little to be gained from platitudinous morale boosting. Yet over the last ten years a fourishing cottage industry has arisen, providing companies with exactly that. Almost every brand-name sketch comedy group has developed some kind of corporate outreach program, in which teams of comedians lead business people through improvisational games and exercises, ostensibly to hone business skills. Quite often these games are exactly what a college student would participate in during an introductory level improv class.
在不断变化的商业环境中，每个参与者都在寻求竞争优势，因此，单调提高士气并没有什么好处。然而，在过去的十年中，蓬勃发展的家庭手工业已经兴起，为公司提供了这一点。几乎每个品牌速写喜剧团都制定了某种公司的宣传计划，其中喜剧演员团队通过即兴游戏和练习来领导商务人士，表面上是在磨练商务技能。这些游戏经常是大学生在入门级即兴课堂上要参加的游戏。
Corporate America pays handsomely for the chance to play these games. In 2013 U.S. firms spent over $70 billion on corporate training and approximately $15 billion on leadership development, with much of that money spent on “intangibles training”—programs focused on such unquantifable skills as leadership and creativity.Companies often pay at least $5,000 a week to send a VP-level employee to a top business school, and it has become common for comedy-oriented improv groups to run these programs or be a signifcant part of them.
美国公司为参加这些游戏的机会付出了丰厚的回报。2013年，美国公司在企业培训上花费了超过700亿美元，在领导力开发上花费了约150亿美元，其中大部分花在了“无形培训”上，这些计划侧重于诸如领导力和创造力之类的不可量化的技能。公司通常每年至少支付5,000美元一周将VP级员工派往一所顶级商学院，面向喜剧的即兴小组运行这些程序或成为其中的重要一环已变得司空见惯。
For a young drama student improv games may provide a wonderful first step into the world of improvisational comedy. For business-people such games may provide a bit of fun, a pleasant day out of the office, or a chance for the VP of sales to finally learn the names of those IT folks (it’s Pat and Deanna, by the way). So, does the simple act of bringing traditional improv games to a corporate setting provide businesspeople with anything of substance? Anything practical?Anything that might be useful in the real business world? In a word, Nope.
对于年轻的戏剧学生来说，即兴游戏可能是进入即兴喜剧世界的绝佳第一步。对于商务人士而言，此类游戏可能会给他们带来一些乐趣，让他们在办公室外度过愉快的一天，或者使销售副总裁最终有机会了解这些IT人员的名字（顺便说一下，是Pat和Deanna）。那么，将传统即兴游戏带入公司环境的简单举动是否能为商人提供任何实质内容？实用吗？在实际的商业世界中有用的任何东西？总之，不。
And yet a true understanding of the art of improvisation can offer business people the most impactful, culture-changing, success-enabling tool imaginable. There’s much, much more to improvisation than games and giggles, and for the past 16 years my company, Business Improv, has specialized in teaching improv techniques to corporate executives with the express intent of developing skills that allow these serious people to accomplish serious business in the most effective way.
然而，对即兴艺术的真正理解可以为商务人员提供想象中最有影响力，改变文化，促成成功的工具。即兴创作比游戏和傻笑还重要得多。在过去的16年中，我的公司Business Improv专为公司高管传授即兴演奏技巧，其明确意图是发展技能，使这些认真的人能够完成认真的业务。最有效的方法。
Though the techniques of improv can be used to entertain, in the following pages I will show you how these techniques can be used just as easily to run a meeting, handle negotiations, spark a brainstorming session, and positively influence those around you. The tenets of improvisation can help you help yourself, your team, your department,and your entire company to succeed beyond what you think you’re capable of. Yes, a great improviser can be a very funny person. And great improvisers don’t just play games.
尽管可以使用即兴演奏的技巧来娱乐，但在接下来的几页中，我将向您展示如何轻松地使用这些技巧来召开会议，进行谈判，引发集思广益的会议以及对周围的人产生积极的影响。即兴的原则可以帮助您帮助自己，团队，部门以及整个公司取得超越您认为能力的成功。是的，出色的即兴演奏者可以是一个非常有趣的人。出色的即兴演奏者不只是玩游戏。
Consequently the work that goes into becoming a great improviser is a little more involved than simply bringing on episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway? To make the best use of this art, we have to draw on the range of communications-related sciences: behavioral decision theory, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and behavioral economics. Together these foundations point us toward a smarter way of reacting,a more effective way of adapting, and a deeper way of engaging—the things true improvisation provides.
因此，成为一名出色的即兴演奏者的工作要比简单地制作《反正谁行？为了充分利用这种艺术，我们必须利用与传播相关的科学领域：行为决策理论，认知心理学，社会心理学和行为经济学。这些基础共同为我们指明了一种更明智的反应方式，更有效的适应方式以及更深层次的参与方式-真正的即兴表演所提供的东西。
It is a driving passion of mine to get people to understand that improv skills can be effectively translated into the business world with powerful results. I thirst to make this connection for people. For those who might react to the idea of “business improv” with apprehension and skepticism, I have a confession: I empathize with you. Yes, improv techniques are often taught without a detailed exploration of substance. If your negative assessment of the value of improv was crystalized when you invested good money to spend a day playing Zip,Zap, Zop—a basic improv game with no practical business value—I feel your pain. There is no Zip, Zap, Zop in this book. “Return on investment” means something to me. And that is what you will get if you suspend your disbelief and follow me through these pages. I enjoy the challenge of winning over the skeptics, and the first step in notching up those wins is to emphatically and decidedly debunk the two biggest myths around improvisation.(To be continued~)
使人们理解即兴技能可以有效地转化为具有强大成果的商业世界是我的一种驾驶热情。我渴望为人们建立这种联系。对于那些可能对“即兴即兴”的想法感到担忧和怀疑的人，我要坦白：我同情您。是的，通常在没有详细探究实质的情况下教授即兴技巧。如果您在投入大量金钱花一天时间玩Zip，Zap，Zop（一种没有实际商业价值的基本即兴游戏）时对您对即兴游戏价值的否定评估得以具体化，我会感到很痛苦。本书中没有Zip，Zap，Zop。“投资回报率”对我来说意义重大。如果您暂停怀疑并跟随我浏览这些页面，这将是您得到的。我喜欢赢得怀疑论者的挑战，获得这些胜利的第一步是着重并坚定地揭露即兴创作的两个最大神话。(未完待续~)
