One of the things I have enjoyed the most about my current road trip has been the opportunity to bridge the offline and online worlds and meet, in person, many of the people I regularly converse with online.

Last December in Los Angeles I was able to meet Mike Bonifer, co-founder of GameChangers and author of the GameChangers blog and book, GameChangers: Improvisation for Business in the Networked World (thanks Ethan!).

Throughout the book Mike uses the language of improvisation (players, games, scenes, roles, openings, issues, entrances, exits, gifts, etc.) to give us the frames of reference to understand the business world. The explanation and applicability is not strained: improvisation gives us “the tools to prepare for and participate in change, and make that experience an enjoyable and profitable one”. Change is with us everyday: we are either changing, being changed or standing by while change occurs around us.

Remember, inaction is a form of action.

Among the many lessons Mike points out is one that I find particularly meaningful in my own life (throughout my writing, consulting, photography and travels), the principle of agreement and “Yes-anding” (from the book):

Agreement.

If there is one principle of improvisation that has the potential to change not only the way business gets conducted, but to change lives, it is this one. … The process of agreeing is known as saying ‘Yes and’ or ‘Yes-anding’.

… A new idea comes alive when you ‘yes-and’ my idea, I ‘yes-and’ yours, and we suddenly arrive at what neither of use could have created on our own: an idea that is uniquely ours.

… [There is] an important distinction between agreeing to collaborate in the game being played and being a ‘yes-person’ who blindly agrees with everything. … Agreement does not mean rubber-stamping. It is not unquestioning, dogmatic acceptance. … the expression used to define the Agreement Principle is not yes. It is yes-and. With the ‘and’, an improviser supports his or her fellow players by acknowledging their contributions and building upon them. … ‘and’ becomes the bridge that connect players to one another and the team to its new;ly-created reality. … We keep advancing one another’s ideas and supporting one another’s actions until we arrive at the objective.

… the Agreement Principle means acknowledging the worthiness of every individual in the group and valuing the performance of the group over that of any of its individual members.

We apply the principle of ‘yes-and’ everyday in our range of online discourse: in our writing, linking, curating, commenting and sharing, we are ‘yes-anding’ our fellow creators and commentators. Rarely do we all agree with each other, but by agreeing to listen, share and discuss we build the discourse and exchanges we need to create change.