What can improv comedy teach us about leadership?

More than you might think.

In this episode James H Stewart sits down with Simon Dowling, whose career has taken an unusual path through commercial law, executive education, leadership — and improv comedy.

Simon began his professional career as a commercial lawyer with Gadens before moving into executive education, negotiation and communication. At the same time, he spent around 16 years as an ensemble performer in improvisational comedy, including with Impro Melbourne and on Working Dog Productions’ hit television show Thank God You’re Here.

Today, Simon works with CEOs and leadership teams on trust, communication, collaboration and building more effective teams. He is also the author of Work With Me: How to Get People to Buy Into Your Ideas.

In this conversation, James and Simon explore what the principles of improv can teach business leaders about listening, trust, adaptability and performing under pressure.

They also discuss:

• Why leadership teams become dysfunctional

• The respective roles of leadership, team composition and culture

• How leaders build trust — and earn it from their teams

• The difference between leadership and getting genuine buy-in

• When collaboration becomes counterproductive and leaders simply need to make a decision

• Simon's concepts of focus, flow and care in effective teams

• The lost art of conversation and the importance of genuinely listening

• Managing emotion when leadership gets difficult

• The mistakes Simon sees CEOs repeatedly make

• What Simon believes about leadership today that he didn't believe 20 years ago

It's a conversation about what happens when leadership theory meets human behaviour — and what a career spent performing without a script can teach you about leading when things don't go according to plan.

DISCLAIMER: What I Learned in Business (That Didn’t Kill Me!) is produced for general information and entertainment purposes only. The views, opinions and experiences expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily represent those of James H Stewart, the podcast, or any organisation with which either the host or guest is associated. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal, financial, investment, business or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. References to individuals, companies or organisations are made in the context of the discussion. Listeners should make their own enquiries and obtain appropriate professional advice before acting on any information discussed in this episode.

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