Improvisation - Publications - Faculty & Research

22 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Negotiation is Like Jazz

Skilled improvisational musicians practice alone and with others for hours every day, year after year—notes, scales, chords, and progressions. After all of this practice comes a performance, and an View Details

Keywords: by Kathleen L. McGinn

07 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Negotiation and All That Jazz

propositions apply in negotiation, as well, according to Michael Wheeler's new book, The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World. As the title suggests, he sees negotiation as an art rather than an exact science.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Jun 2012
News

Tickling the Ivories

discipline, creativity, and risk-aversion that contribute to innovation, Kao sat down at a piano and played improvisational jazz. According to a rapporteur at the session, Kao artfully demonstrated how “seemingly mistaken notes” can be... View Details

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

Portrait Project

Tanya Khakbaz

Say yes. When I was an undergraduate, I took an improvisation class on a whim. It completely changed my life. Improv has only one rule: say yes. Say yes to the scene that your actors are building with you, embrace their offers and build... View Details

Blog

Lessons from Jazz in the Live Online Classroom

public policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., Barrett was invited to speak to program participants by faculty chair Ethan Bernstein. While a session on jazz improvisation may seem out of the ordinary for an Executive... View Details

01 Dec 2009
News

The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle

self-confidence, sophisticated analytical skills, and the ability to make decisions quickly. And unlike the top-down hierarchy found in the U.S. military, the IDF is a ground-up organization where local commanders are responsible for creating strategy, solving... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; National Security and International Affairs; Government

Profile

Samuel Racana

improvisation and stage training have come in unexpectedly useful in life. What is your favorite childhood memory? Food has always been at the center of my family gatherings, whether during travels or at home. Cooking during Christmas... View Details

01 Dec 2013
News

Faculty Books

a start-up, discuss lean prototyping techniques for hardware, identify costly outsourcing mistakes, provide practical tips on user acquisition, offer branding guidelines, and explain how a choir of angel investors often will sing different parts. The Art of... View Details

14 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Liberal Arts Major Pursues an MBA

strategy, operations, and entrepreneurship. And, for any fellow actors out there, HBS professors love a good role play! I could always advance the class discussion by volunteering to improvise a meeting or pitch a sale from the... View Details

02 Dec 2017
News

Helping HBS Make Big Bets

programs like the ABT Leadership Lab, where company dancers demonstrate their creative process to business executives to help them improvise and problem-solve. Barnett is deeply grateful to HBS and gives annually to the HBS Fund for... View Details

Profile

Rohan Gopaldas

Much of that thinking becomes manifest through the case method. "Everyone comes into the classroom on the same page," Rohan says. "Then the professor poses a question that takes the discussion in multiple directions. It's like View Details

05 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

The Ten Deadly Mistakes of Wanna-Dots

issues. Williams-sonoma Williams-Sonoma is a great example precisely because it had such a hard road to travel from initial denial to its first round of successes. The CEO was converted from skeptic to sponsor through two pilot ventures that were View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

01 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

What it Takes to Lead Through Turmoil

improvisational theater." When chief executive Scott McNealy decided to push Sun Microsystems beyond workstation sales and into service and other opportunities around the Internet, every department in the company came up with ideas... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

22 Oct 2018
News

Capital Murder

plot are taking you in directions you wouldn’t have anticipated. And oftentimes it’s that allowance for improvisation that makes a sentence, chapter, or entire book better. The analogy to the business world is clear—you start with a plan... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

Web

2019 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

collectively explores new textural and improvisational horizons at the nexus of multiple musical perspectives. Rajna's debut album with RAJAS, titled Of Agency and Abstraction, will be released by Biophilia Records on April 26, 2019. She... View Details

06 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Conducting Layoffs: ’Necessary Evils’ at Work

intense emotions and improvise as the situation unfolds, customizing the way in which they treat those on the receiving end of their actions. For these individuals, following a scripted response to the situation might feel like a burden.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2009
News

Alumni Books

draws on historical case studies and research into areas as varied as improvisational comedy and military training to provide a series of intellectual and practical frameworks that defy conventional wisdom and show how to seize triumph... View Details

01 Feb 2001
News

Books

provides a hands-on blueprint for adopting the core principles of e-culture: treat strategy as improvisational theater; nurture networks of partners; reconstruct organizations as online and offline "communities"; and attract and retain... View Details

Keywords: books; research; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

11 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

How Do You Grade Out as a Negotiator?

wonder if we could have done better; if we get a great deal, we wonder if we could've gotten even more." In his book The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World, Wheeler gave readers concrete strategies for... View Details