SEMESTER: Spring 20

COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 291I-11

COURSE TITLE: Improvisational Leadership

UNITS OF CREDIT: 1 Unit

INSTRUCTOR: Cort Worthington, Ori Brafman, and Susan Snyder

E-MAIL ADDRESS: cort@haas.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME:  The course will meet over 2 Sundays – 9 and 23 February 2020.

Please note the unorthodox nature of this course, which meets all day on 2 Sundays. To earn a passing grade, you must attend BOTH class sessions in their entirety.

PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA Core Curriculum

CLASS FORMAT: Course content is covered through approximately one-third lecture and discussion, two-thirds interactive class exercises.

REQUIRED READINGS:

The Starfish and the Spider, Brafman, 2006

Improv Wisdom, Madson, 2005

People Skills, Bolton, 1996

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:

· Two short written assignments (30%),

· Final paper (30%)

· Class participation (40%)

CAREER FIELD: This course is relevant for all career fields

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

IMPROVISATIONAL LEADERSHIP is an introductory course in the theory and application of improvisational techniques to business communication situations. This course explores the broad principles of improvisation: a performing art form that has developed pedagogical methods to enhance individual spontaneity, listening and awareness, expressive skills, risk-taking, and one’s ability to make authentic social and emotional connections. Such skills grow increasingly critical as leaders rise within organizations, and this course strives to develop students’ business communication leadership skills while enhancing both interpersonal intuition and confidence. No prior experience with improvisation or performance is necessary or presumed.

Specific topics include (1) introduction to improvisational theory,(2) speaking and spontaneity, (3) listening and awareness, (4) emotional intelligence, and (5) status and influence. In all of these topic areas the emphasis will be on applied business communications.

Lectures and discussions comprise approximately one-third of each session. Interactive exercises comprise the remainder, giving students considerable opportunity to strengthen their own improvisational, in-the-moment decision making skill set. Additional role-plays will provide practice applying class material to leadership and communication situations. Readings and outside assignments supplement each unit.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: 
Cort Worthington is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow on faculty at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, where he teaches leadership courses and Business Negotiation for undergraduates and MBA students. His consulting client list includes Pixar, Yelp, Kaiser, Samsung, the US Army, the US Olympic Team, Stanford University, and the government of Saudi Arabia.

Prior to his position at UC Berkeley, Cort was co-founder of toy company Primordial, LLC, where he raised capital and served as Director of Operations. Along with multiple stints in Central America as a political activist, Cort spent twelve years as a film producer, directing documentary crews around the world.

Additional experiences include fourteen seasons leading elite teams as a forest fire fighter and parachuting U.S. Forest Smokejumper, which piqued his interest in improvisational principles as applied to leading within high-risk, dynamic situations.

Cort holds an MA in Communication from Stanford University, an MBA from Columbia University Business School (finance), and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley (leadership). He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Susan, daughter Shifra (12) and son Zachariah (7).

Ori Brafman is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow and multiple New York Times bestselling author, specializing in organizational culture, leadership, inclusion, and conflict resolution.

Brafman’s recent bestselling book, Radical Inclusion: What the Post–9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership, co-authored with 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, argues that inclusion is no longer a “nice-to-have”, but a strategic imperative in today’s rapidly changing world.

His seminal work, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, is cited by the U.S. military as the foundation for a successful campaign to counter Al Qaeda. Its concepts have been utilized by Amazon, Google, Netflix, Facebook, Cisco Systems, the Johnson & Johnson Companies, Toyota, Greenpeace, and the Family Business Network, among others, and formed the basis of blockchain technologies.

Brafman holds a BA in Peace and Conflict from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He resides in San Francisco, California.

Susan Snyder’s background in counseling psychology, disaster preparedness, and improvisational performance informs her approaches to leadership education. Engaging with clients from small nonprofit associations to the United States Armed Forces and certified in the pioneering field of Mental Health First Aid, she has recently focused on decision-making within high-stakes, chaotic environments.