I’m a few weeks into my 2012 reading list, and just finished Tina Fey’s Bossypants. I started this as an audio book (while running my first half-marathon and finished with the print edition a few days ago. I didn’t know much about Tina Fey, other than she was hilarious as Sarah Palin, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. There were some great insights from her early career to her time at Saturday Night Live to her current work on 30 Rock.

Tina Fey got her start in Improv comedy, and her Rules of Improvisation have incredible applications in leadership.

Tina Fey’s Rules of Improv

1. Agree and Say Yes. In improv, you can’t shut down a scene with a “no.” You have to respect what your partner is delivering to you and go with it. People that lead with no are not fun to be around. I want my default answer – in life, business or ministry – to be a yes.

2. Yes, And. Not only should you say yes, but you need to add something to the discussion. Don’t just agree…agree and add your own voice. Introduce a new character. Add something interesting. I want to be the kind of person that makes things better. I want to leave things better than I find them. If you have ideas and suggestions, don’t keep them to yourself. Speaking up is worth the risk.

3. Make statements (as opposed to asking questions). In improv, you can’t just ask questions…that puts all the work back on the other person. You’ve got to solve problems and advance the story. If you’ve ever worked with someone who asked questions but never offered solutions, that can be extremely frustrating. Asking questions is great, but sooner or later we need to make decisions, make statements and move on.

4. There are no mistakes, only opportunities. Things are going to go haywire and wrong, and that’s no time to shut things down. Fey writes, “If I start a scene as what I think is very clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, guess what? Now I’m a hamster in a hamster wheel. I’m not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike…. In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents. And many of the world’s greatest discoveries have been by accident. I mean, look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, or Botox.” I love this, because I’ve made mistakes. We can sit around and whine about them, or we can move on to whatever is next.

The book was very entertaining (there is some adult humor and language) and insights like this made it a great read.

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