Episode 1650: Interview with Andrew Davies About How Improve Can Improve Your Leadership and Your Life

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us at episode 1,650 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Andrew Davies: I'm Andrew Davies. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to listen more than you talk is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

The Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

Being a better listener is one of those things that at one time feels obvious and simple, and also is extremely hard, right? It's extremely hard to actually be a great active listener. And the reason improv is the best way to practice is because if you're improvising with other folks and someone stops listening even for 10 seconds, it is so obvious to everyone.[00:01:00]

Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, who will learn to invest in your.

Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

In today's podcast episode, I interview Andrew Davies. I ask Andrew about why improv is so important to leadership and to sales. I also ask Andrew to share with you how improv and coaching are related. And Andrew also shares with you how he's made theater and improv relevant to the workplace. I have a great book that's been out for a while now called Inspired Living.

Assemble the puzzle of your calling by [00:02:00] mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about that book over an inspired living book.com. It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there. I'd love to see you get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world.

Andrew Davies: Andrew Davies is the Better Meetings director of artley working, which uses improv and theater to help build stronger teams made up of happier people and higher performers.

Scott Maderer: Since starting in 2019, Artley Working has led programs with over 100 innovative companies like Netflix, Roblox, meta, and Google.

With training in improvisation from the Magnet Theater and facilitation from Georgetown University, Andrew is passionate about bringing those skills to strengthen company culture and people experience. His Better Meetings workshop helps teams to gather with purpose and [00:03:00] play designing and facilitating more effective meetings that people actually want to attend.

Andrew has won several awards for his groundbreaking work, including the Young Pioneer Award from the Jewish Education Project and the Pomegranate Prize from the Covenant Foundation. Andrew is also the co-founder of Kerik Tours. Theatrical Walking tours where the past visits you and the Bible players.

A Jewish comedy team, when Andrew's not working, he can be found making up songs with his toddlers bike riding around Philadelphia or leading a free tennis camp in the neighborhood. Welcome to the show Andrew.

Andrew Davies: Thanks so much for having me, Scott. Glad to be here.

Scott Maderer: Absolutely. So I talked a little bit. In the intro about some of the work you do over at Artley working and around improv, and of course immediately I think everybody's gonna have certain pictures that come to mind, you know, when they hear [00:04:00] improv.

Um. Like, you know, my favorite show on the, on the planet, uh, the whose light is it anyway? Right? The, that's, uh, uh, uh, the picture that I think for a lot of people at least comes to mind. And yet I think given that this is kind of in your journey and where you've ended up. I think the end of the story, the destination is never the most interesting part.

So take us back in time a little bit and share a little bit about your journey and what's brought you to the work where this is the work you feel called to do right now.

Andrew Davies: Yeah. I, it's been a long, wonderful journey with performing and with improv and theater and. I think feeling that an artist can be someone that brings more joy and laughter and connection into the world.

And I think that took me a long time. My performance journey started really as a kid. I remember in fifth grade our teacher put on Fiddler on the roof, and there were no auditions. The casting process was, she [00:05:00] gave us each a note card and she said. Write on the note card your name and if you want a big part or a small part and singing or nons singing.

And I paused and thought about it and I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna go for it. Big part singing. And I got to be Tevye, the lead, the father, and Fiddler on the roof. And I'm still convinced to this day that I was the only boy that put singing, big part singing and that, that's why I got it. Um, but it's a lesson I always take because I think.

Um, showing up is so much of the battle in life and showing up on stage or in any, in any space means so much. And I, I loved that. And in high school, I really had an incredible theater teacher who. We did musicals with the Music Man was the first musical I did in high school. And he would always tell us to just give it 110%.

He would say if when you get off the stage you don't feel like you have to vomit, you weren't working hard enough on stage. And he was only half joking. Just don't, just

Scott Maderer: don't do that on stage.

Andrew Davies: Just don't do it on stage. And so I really took that seriously even though I was, I was [00:06:00] salesman number five in that show.

I wasn't the lead, but he made us all really feel like we had to give it a hundred percent. And so. After college I moved to New York City. I found improvisation formal study at the Magnet Theater where we studied what's called long form improvisation, where you get a suggestion or an idea mm-hmm.

And you make up a 30 minute show or 40 minute show from that one word. And it was just so wonderful and beautiful at. Feeling connected to my teammates. Creating something magical together really felt like the magic of the human mind. And, uh, you know, it's, it's been so a feeling that I've wanted to share with folks.

And really my mission in life is for everyone to have improv as something that they want to try and as a tool in their tool belt, because I just think it's so powerful. Personally for our communities and, and just in how we operate in the world.

Scott Maderer: So just for the person that maybe this is the first time they're hearing the word, what tell folks in a sentence or [00:07:00] two.

You know what, when you say improv, what do you mean?

Andrew Davies: Yeah, so improv is, you know, coming from improvising, making things up. And in my context, improv is creating an spontaneous performance. Based on a suggestion and just building off each other's ideas. So improv is really just about being in the moment and creating something up from scratch.

Scott Maderer: Okay. And, and I just, again, I, it dawned on me as we're sitting there digging into it, I'm like, there's probably at least one person out there that's going improv. What the heck is that? Yeah. So, you know,

Andrew Davies: no, for sure. No, we're

Scott Maderer: consuming. So, you know, you I gotta go back to the kid, you know, here you have this moment where, you know, oh, what the heck?

Big part. Singing, you know, I'm gonna do it. You know, most people they talk about how most people have a fear of public speaking. You have a fear of performing, you know, you don't like to get in front of a crowd. Uh, you know, I think the [00:08:00] old surveys, and I, I have no idea if this is even true or not.

What, it's one of these things I should look up one day is that, you know, more people are afraid of. Public speaking than they are of death. You know, that, in other words, they'd rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy. Right. I think is what everyone says. Ed, yeah. Here you are as a, as a young kid put down.

Yeah. Big part. Do you think, did you not have the fear or, you know what was different in your mind? Or was it the same? Explain that, you know?

Andrew Davies: Yeah. Um, I, you know, I, I think I still wrestled with fear as everyone does. I think it was really a moment that stands out because it was a moment that I kind of overcame that fear and wrote it down.

Even in the performances later and in the programs, there were nights that I remember being scared of this or that. But I think, you know, so much of life is about doing it even though you're afraid and not, you know, waiting until you're not afraid. And I do think there's an element [00:09:00] of. Being a kid where you have less fear.

You know, I mean, I think there are a lot of ways I think about if you ever go to like a ski slope, you'll see a 7-year-old just going down the mountain, not afraid. And you'll see a, you know, a 30-year-old or a 50-year-old just like shaking in their boots and like trying to figure out what to do and they're overthinking it.

In some ways fear is, is natural, but also in, in some per things like a social setting. It's kind of learned, it's, it's learned because we get more afraid of messing up than we do excited about doing something fun. So in my work with improv, I, I work with Artley, working in the workplace. I also have a group called the Bible Players, where we do a lot of.

Jewish education and and improv comedy with Jewish groups, and we work with a lot of kids. And when I ask for volunteers in audiences of elementary schoolers. Every hand goes up when I ask for volunteer, almost every hand goes up with adults. I don't even ask for volunteer. I'm just like, Scott, come on [00:10:00] up.

You're playing the next game. Right? Yeah. Because I know that if I asked, no one would raise their hand, right? And everyone

Scott Maderer: would look at everybody else like, Hey, wait, who's all

Andrew Davies: exactly? And it's, and it's, um, it's hard for me to see, but I know that it's just those learned experience from adults of feeling like them messing up or making a fool themselves.

Is more on their mind than, oh, I get to play the game. Whereas every kid in the room is like, oh, I wanna be in the game. I wanna play, I wanna be the star. Right? But as adults we're like, nah, I'd rather not be the star. 'cause if I'm the star, then I might look foolish. I might mess up. Um, and so I think I sometimes say we have to treat like adults more like kids and kids, more like adults.

And this is what I think about that we need to, like, as adults, we need to find that playfulness and that fearlessness that a lot of us had when we were kids.

Scott Maderer: Well, and I think it is 'cause I have talked to people about it and I think the fear of public speaking. As an example is really more about the fear of social [00:11:00] ostra being socially killed.

Yeah. You are in fear for your life, but it's not like, and that's what it feels like, but it's not like, oh, I'm afraid I'm gonna get eaten by a lion. It's, I'm afraid I'm gonna embarrass myself and no one's gonna like me anymore. You know, and they're not gonna talk to me and they're not gonna be treating me well.

And you know, all of those things. And it's a social death instead of a, a physical death. But it still feels like, I mean, it feels like I'm gonna get eaten by a lion, you know? Yeah, yeah. Your body doesn't know any difference between those two things. But then remembering. That. Like for instance, I tell people and, and I've done a little bit of improv and, and over the years is have, I'm like, have you, have you ever been to a show, you know, like theater or something like that?

Well, yeah, and I'm like, and were you sitting there the whole time going, boy, I really hope they screw up.

I can't wait until they mess up so I could boo. They're like no. And I'm like, neither is anyone. When they're watching you, you know, they're on your side, you know, they [00:12:00] want you to succeed.

They're actually, you know, they're rooting for you. They're not, you know, they're not waiting for the chance for you to mess up. And yet, that's how we feel about it. And I think that's, that's interesting.

Andrew Davies: Yeah.

Scott Maderer: Question I, I've got 50 questions. So you talk about working in improv in the workplace, and then you also shared the bible players the doing that pretty different.

And yet, so what, what's different about doing it in those two settings and what's the same?

Andrew Davies: Yeah, it's, it's different in, um. The audience is, I think, as I mentioned with adults, there's definitely more of a warmup period, making people feel comfortable to jump in the first 20 minutes with adults. My main focus is on conveying to them that like, this is gonna be fun, this is gonna be a safe space, this is gonna be great.

We need to warm ourselves up a little bit. Whereas kids are ready [00:13:00] to play at the drop of a hat, right? Like they hear the recess bell and they are off to play. When we arrive, we're like, we're ready to go. I think, you know, the other, the other thing about the different work is just the, it's really the vocabulary we use to get at some of the same values, right?

So with adults I might talk about, you know, the team dynamics and the message that we're sending in our team. If we're, um, if we're not speaking up, if we're not participating and jumping in and improvising and supporting each other with kids, I might more talk about it in. Um, values, like in, in Hebrew, the word is ed in English, like kindness or loving kindness.

Like how do we show kindness to people? How do people know our kindness? And what I always say is like, the greatest gift we can give each other is our support and our attention, right? Like, I think especially around this time around the time of year, you know, around like Christmas, Hanukkah, in December, people are giving a lot of physical gifts, but really the best gift we all can give each other is not physical at all, right?

It's about our [00:14:00] attention, our love, our support. So it's, it's just. Attacking some of those values on, on different levels, but honestly, a lot of the activities, a lot of the games, a lot of the modalities are the same. It's really the same approach, but it's framing it in a different way so that they see the value of it and they can take something away from it.

Right? So a lot of my work is about helping people to play and jump into improv and then step back and say, how did that feel? What did I notice? What can I take away from that experience? So when you were talking about how. Folks really feel put on the spot, terrified of public speaking. Right? It feels like you're being eaten by a lion.

It really feels like that. So one of the things I love about improv and, and in the workplace for folks is that it feels really high stakes, but it's actually very low stakes. Mm. So that it feels like this is life or death situation. Whether we can pull off this scene about a, a clown who's going to dental school, whatever the scene is, but really it's very low stakes. Everyone's rooting for you. Nobody cares if you mess up. So then in the [00:15:00] workplace, when you get to a situation like let's say a meeting, a, a full staff meeting or a presentation for a client, and you're really feeling like this is high stakes, I'm nervous. You've already had practice being in those high stakes, feeling in that improv, so you can recognize I'm gonna be okay.

I know I get these butterflies, but I'm gonna be okay. And so that, that's so important. That's a big part of it.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. And I think too, it teaches you, or at least this was my experience with improv it teaches you how when there is a mistake, 'cause there will be. It's not the mistake that matters.

It's what do you do right after the mistake? You know, how, how do you, how do you reengage and keep moving forward and, and, you know, keep things going is much more important and much more the focus of attention than. Oh, Scott just screwed up. You know, it, you know, for you and for everybody else as a team, it's more like, oh [00:16:00] wait, we've gotta keep this going.

How do we recover? Yeah, absolutely. And I, and I think in that context with kids, with adults as well, you're never alone, right? You feel alone, you feel on the spot. But when you make a mistake, Scott, when I make a mistake, there's people back us up and people wanna support each other. And if that's the environment, then.

Andrew Davies: Any one person's mistake isn't consequential because everyone else will back them up and, and support them.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. How can we, how can we jump in and keep things going and keep it moving or, or recover a as we go forward and, and it's, and it's even where the attention is. 'cause again, it's not the attention, it's not on the person that made the mistake.

The attention's not even on what was the mistake? You know, the attention becomes very quickly if, especially in a group that's been working together, oh wait, how do we keep this going? You know, how do we, how do we recover? What, what do we do? You know to keep moving forward? You've mentioned a couple of times, you know, doing the work, uh, with the Bible players and around the Jewish [00:17:00] faith and teaching those values.

One of the questions that I like to ask everybody is how your particular faith journey, whatever it is has intersected and kind of fed into your life journey, and then vice versa. How does your life journey feed back into your faith journey? So, would you share a little bit about, about how that's played out for you?

Andrew Davies: Yeah. So I was raised in a you know, observant Jewish household. My mother, grew up Orthodox Jewish and raised us keeping kosher. We had two sets of dishes, milk and meat dishes and, uh, things like that. And always were home on Friday night doing Sabbath, doing Shabbat dinner. And I, I went to Jewish school and I think what really I felt connected with in, in my Jewish faith is the approach to community and the approach to conversation and reading and ethical thinking.

So the history of the rabbis. Really grappling with, um, how do we [00:18:00] be good people? How, how do we make a good community? How do we treat each other well? And when I got out into the kind of world after college, I think I, I was doing a lot of theater and a lot of performing, a lot of arts. And then I ended up doing some Jewish education and teaching in spaces, and I found that.

My Jewish values, I carried with me everywhere and, and in the artistic work that I did. And I found that my improv studies brought me back to a lot of my Jewish values as well in terms of these ideas of like building community, listening to each other doing Tikuna Lam, repairing the world as Jewish phrase.

And these are all like great ideas, but the how we do them in the real world with the foibles of human beings felt so hard. And so I think. Improv for me made a really tangible way to practice values. Like I always felt like if out in the real world we could operate with the values of improv, of like [00:19:00] having each other's back supporting each other, putting the team before ourselves, the collective mind problem solving, that the world could be such a better place.

And so I think a lot of my work has been integrating and, and feeling connected to those Jewish values. And the values of theater and improv and how they speak to each other.

Scott Maderer: So I've mentioned a couple of times that I, I've studied improv and a, a, a good friend of mine he passed away a, a few years ago from a, a brain tumor, but he was one of the best coaches I've ever met.

And I was. To get, to learn a a lot from him and, and engage with him. And he was huge into improv and he and I used to geek out and, and play like on calls where we were training other coaches and talk about how. We both felt like the, the little bit of improv training that we did helped us when it came to coaching and this [00:20:00] sort of relationship with people.

And I, I think I, I don't think you'd give me any argument, you know, on that. Yeah. But talk a little bit about how, you know, e even beyond just the workplace, and we can dive some into the, the workplace part too. Yeah. But just in terms of, of. Communication and relationship, you know, how do you think improv helps in those sorts of just living your life kind of values, you know, or moments?

Andrew Davies: Yeah, I mean it doesn't surprise me at all that it was helpful in coaching or has been helpful in coaching, doing a little bit of improv. And I think the number one skill that I tell folks that you're working on with improv is being a better listener, right? Mm-hmm. And being a better listener is one of those things that.

One time feels obvious and simple and also is extremely hard, right? It's extremely hard to actually be a great active listener. And the reason improv is the best way to practice is because if you're improvising with other folks [00:21:00] and someone stops listening even for 10 seconds, it is so obvious to everyone, right?

Right. Like, we're having this conversation right now, Scott. Right? Or if folks listening or having a conversation at the dinner table, if they zoned out. For 30 seconds and went off into their own world and then came back. The other person might not really ever know it might be kind of unaware.

They might be able to hide it. You might be able to sort of like hide your attention or just pick up on the last thing they said and jump back in. When you're improvising and you're creating everything from scratch, if you miss anything, it just kind of all falls apart. It requires. A level of focus and listening to build 'cause you're kind of desperately seeking for little nuggets of humor or connection to build on.

And so I think when you start to exercise that muscle, it's so helpful in all your relationships and all your conversations. 'cause you really just start to notice what people are saying. Their tone change a, a word that they said that they picked out. And in [00:22:00] something like coaching or in the workplace or in a family relationship, you might.

Just really be at tuned in and notice, like you said, something I haven't heard you say before. Like you use this word that really jumped out at me. And that level of listening is a superpower that we can all acquire, but it requires a lot of practice and improv is the most fun way to practice, right?

Like I'm sure like therapists become amazing listeners sitting for hours listening to people's things, and. Bless the work that they do. To me, that sounds exhausting, right? But to play improv games for two hours is energizing and fun and is making me laugh, but is practicing those skills in a, in a really tangible way.

Scott Maderer: Well, I think, I think coaching even, you know I good coaches, at least not everybody that's a coach is a good coach but you know, good coaches at least that have been doing it a while. I, they become better listeners in part, but I, yeah, I just argue that go take, kinda like you, it's like, go take some improv [00:23:00] classes for a while.

A, you'll have fun. Yeah. And, and b, you'll get better quick. You know, it's, it's kind of a, it is a speed lesson, you know? It's like, yeah, because, I don't know, just one performance of improv to me at least already starts to make. Your mind work differently? I think it's, I think it's faster for whatever reason.

Yeah. I don't know if it's 'cause it being fun, lowers the barriers or it's more intense or whatever, but Yeah.

Andrew Davies: Yeah. I think you're, you're willing to step a little bit more outta your comfort zone because it's so much fun. Because you want to try it. Right. And I think one of those things, again, as adults, we don't do enough is we, we underestimate the power of fun and if something's fun, how we'll come back to it.

Right? Like, I'm a big fan of Freakonomics, I dunno if you've read their books. Mm-hmm. The author, Stephen Levitt, Steven Dunner. And one of the things they evaluate is what's the best form of exercise, right? Is it swimming? Is it weightlifting, is it running? And they're basically like, the best form of exercise is the one that you will do, right?

Mm-hmm. That is the best. So there isn't actually the same best form of exercise for Scott and Andrew and whoever's listening. It's about figuring [00:24:00] out what's fun for you. Oh, I get so much joy from my daily bike ride down the path. That's my form of exercise. Or I love my Zumba class, or I love my weightlifting to my dance music, whatever it is.

It's gotta be fun for you to, to practice. So I think too often we, we try and tell ourselves I've gotta do this even though I hate it, rather than asking ourselves, how could I make this fun? Like, what would make you know, cleaning up fun for me? I was just discovering. I have, I was sharing with you, I, I have two toddlers.

I have a two and a 4-year-old, um, as we're recording right now. And I'm just like constantly cleaning up their stuff and trying to figure out like how to make that fun. So I've, I've started with them. Picking a, a like a dance song that, that I know they love. And I'm like, how much can we clean up by the end of this song, like one song.

And if we make it a game, it just becomes more fun for me, more fun for them. And, uh, if we can, if we can do that for ourselves, it's such a gift. And improv is just a gift of making these life skills a fun game [00:25:00] that we want to come back to.

Scott Maderer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I, I think, um. And, and I do think fun. I think of it, I talk about things in terms of friction and smoothness, but fun is a form of smoothness, which is, you know, yeah.

What can I do to make the things that I need to do more smooth, create less friction, and what, and create friction around the stuff I don't want to do. You know what? Whatever that is and if you do your life like that, you discover that. 'cause it's le, I mean. It's, you can get a certain amount done by just sucking it up and pulling it up on your bootstraps and will powering.

And you know, I'm gonna gut my way through it, but boy that runs out, you know, at least for me that my energy for that runs out pretty darn quick.

Andrew Davies: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's when we beat ourselves up and we see other people doing a million things and we're like, how do they do that? They just have so much grit and determination.

And then if you talk to them, they're like, oh, here's how I make it. I love that phrase, like friction or smooth. Like how, here's how I make it smooth for myself. You know, like [00:26:00] I. Lay out my clothes the night before. You know, like a greatest gift that a friend gave me is that my breakfast, like 90% of the time is overnight oats that I made last night.

And it's so easy, so good. And it's just like a gift to tomorrow, Andrew, where it's like I wake up, I got my breakfast ready to go. In terms of that, it's smooth. It makes it easy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Can't help keep other things smooth, you know? Yeah.

Scott Maderer: People joke about, you know, like Steve Jobs always wearing the black turtleneck and jeans.

Right. It's like, you know, and his comment when somebody asked him that one time is he is like, that's what I own, and that way I don't have to spend any energy deciding what to wear, you know? I just,

Andrew Davies: yeah.

Scott Maderer: I, I got a closet full of black turtlenecks and jeans, you know, it's like, you know, easy.

Yeah. And, and if. No decision making, I just pull 'em outta the closet and put 'em on. And I think sometimes people, and then that leaves energy for doing those other things, you know, like active listening and, and engaging with people and, and [00:27:00] all of that other stuff. 'cause you're not burning energy because for the first 30 minutes of the day you're trying to figure out what do I want for breakfast?

Or whatever. Right. Yeah. That's awesome. What other thought that, that crossed my mind? I was talking to another podcaster a few months ago, and they were fairly new to podcasting, and one of the things I told them is, you know, whether it's an audio podcast, video, podcast, you know, all of these different things and everything that when you're talking on a podcast.

Whether you're a guest, whether you're the host, you know, you've gotta turn your energy up to 11 was how I put it. You know, you, you gotta, you gotta give more oomph to it so that people can pick up on the energy and I see that again a little bit with skills that improv teaches us in terms of the flipping it around as well as teaching you to be a good listener.

I think it also teaches you how to put [00:28:00] energy out in a different way that is more. Intentional and obvious to people. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, that side of the equation that you've seen from folks in improv?

Andrew Davies: Yeah, absolutely. I, I think especially in the workplace, I see challenges with energy, right?

And people coming down. And so one of the improv games, it's my favorite, is uh, is called speech. And where we get in a circle and we take turns coming in the middle and the person in the middle has to say, I am sick and tired of, and then they pause and someone else shouts out. You know, bananas, trees, clouds, and they have to give us three reasons why they're sick and tired of that with like full intensity.

Like it's the, the thing they believe in the most and. I love doing that activity because folks see how much fun it is to have that high energy, to have strong opinions even about something silly like bananas, like why they're so tired of bananas, and also how contagious that energy is with the group, right?

So the first couple folks, they kind of start slowly and they [00:29:00] get warmed up, but by the fifth or sixth person, like everyone is just like rolling with energy and seeing that contagiousness is so important and so powerful because again, we forget in these workspaces. How contagious and important that energy is.

And we'll have like a two hour meeting and at no point during the meeting will someone be like, can we just stand up and like, move our arms around a little bit? Can we have like a three minute dance party? Like, can we move around? And our, our ideas suffer. Our work suffers, like our morale suffers. And so I think improv is a great way to to, to capitalize on that energy and really remind people how much energy they have and remind them how much creativity they have.

Like folks just. Forget how creative and amazing they are, because sometimes our day-to-day lives put us into a box and don't invite us to just like, be creative and silly. You know, I think one of the greatest gifts of having kids for me is that my creativity is in constant demand and my kids are constantly ready to be silly.[00:30:00]

But I think in the workplace amongst adults, again, it's that like we feel weird putting ourselves out there, just like making up a song in the coffee room or something, right? But. If we do, we, we get energized. Other people get energized. It helps a lot. So that improv, um, that's the communal part of improv that I think he helps spread that energy.

Yeah.

Scott Maderer: Mm-hmm. Well, and, and again, having been in, in leadership positions and leading large teams of people. I think good leaders realize very quickly that the energy of the team is, is contagious, you know? Yeah, yeah. Um, that, that, yeah. Yeah. It, it's 'cause it, yeah you can see a team go negative real quick if you've got one or two people that, that have that energy and start feeding into you know, talking all they ever do is talk about how everything is bad, you know, and how everything is wrong.

And it's like, pretty soon everybody. Everybody's doing that, you know, that kind of thing. So it's, it's the same sort of idea. So [00:31:00] I've got a few questions that I wanna ask all of my guests, but before I go there, is there anything else about improv or the work you do in the workplace or with the Bible players that, that you'd like to share with the lister?

Andrew Davies: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, one, one key idea that we've danced around a little bit, but I think is so important for all of this is if folks are listening, I just invite them to think about if they're inviting people to participate, to join in. I think so much, if I had a pet peeve I had to share is how often we think about things as frontal presenting, and then listening and presenting, and then listening.

Whereas what's beautiful about improv is that everyone is able to participate in any given moment. And so for me, that's such an important metric that I use to evaluate my own work and other people's work is are you inviting the people around you to participate be a part of it, or are you expecting them to silently listen for a while while you talk [00:32:00] and then them talk and you listen, you know, but is, or is it participatory?

So I think I just wanna introduce that because I feel like that is, uh. Really important framework to look at things and think about are we doing well or not? For me, that's, that's my main question.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. And I think, uh, you know, for that if you want help with that and want an environment where you'll be forced to do it, go teach math to middle schoolers.

Yeah. 'cause they will interrupt you. No. How, you know, halfway through the lesson they'll ask you why your shoes are blue. You know, it's, it's a, it's just, yeah. They, they have no problem. Do, uh I was a middle school teacher for 11 years, so trust me, I didn't, math, science, math, still, still traumatized about science, you know but you do, you get good at dealing with, okay, we've gotta keep this interesting, we've gotta keep it moving.

We've gotta keep 'em engaged and active and, and you know, if all I do is lecture at the front of the room and they passively listen. Yeah. I'm blessed if they [00:33:00] fall asleep. 'cause at least then they're not bothering you, you know? Right, right, right. But that's usually not what they're gonna do.

Right,

Andrew Davies: right, right.

Scott Maderer: They're, they're usually gonna make you pay for it.

Andrew Davies: That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Maderer: So my brand has inspired stewardship and I kind of run things through that lens of, of stewardship, and yet I've discovered over the years that that's one of those words that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

So for you, what, what does the word stewardship mean to you?

Andrew Davies: Yeah. You know, when I think about the word stewardship, I think about the world and the environment in which we live and how it's been taken care of for us and how we can take care of it for others. And a lot of my work I think about as trying to be.

A positive steward of the communities and the, uh, relationships that I've grown into and being a positive steward going forward. I really think about it with my family and how much I appreciate [00:34:00] the the faith traditions of my family, the holidays that we get together in those traditions and trying to be a steward of those to my kids and to the next generation.

And so I think about it on that personal level of the people in my life that have. Pass down traditions and the people in my life who I want to pass down traditions to.

Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a moment that I could invent this magic machine, and with this machine, I was able to take you from where you set today and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years.

But through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life. See all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left. What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

Andrew Davies: You know I hope when looking back in my life that, that the world is a little bit happier, a little bit sillier, [00:35:00] a little bit more playful. When I think about the way we treat each other day to day the folks in our lives that help people find, find space for play every day and find space for laughter every day, and hope I bring a bit more of that into the world.

And, uh, and I hope everybody's riding bikes 'cause I love that as well. So I hope that, uh, it's already the most popular form of transportation in the world, but in the US it doesn't always feel like it. So I hope when I look back at the US. That it's safe to bike everywhere and everybody's biking around and laughing all the time.

Scott Maderer: So I, I, I'm a native Texan, so, um most places that I have to go to in Texas, biking might be a bit much, I,

Andrew Davies: I know it's. It's, it's, it's, it's, I know it's spread out. It's far apart and the trucks are too big. You're scared of biking, but

Scott Maderer: that's what I mean. I hope it's a little dangerous in my state.

But I do like biking. [00:36:00] I enjoy Portland. 'cause you can walk and bike everywhere. So, uh, there, there are parts of the country where I wish more people would. Sure. I'm not sure if Texas is ready for that yet.

Andrew Davies: Yeah. Cer certain seasons. Certain seasons. Half. Half. My family's down there. My dad's from tech.

So, uh,

Scott Maderer: yeah, when it's hundred 20 degrees, you don't want to go outdoors much, like,

Andrew Davies: exactly, exactly. Yeah. For sure, for sure.

Scott Maderer: So what's coming next? What's, uh, what's on the roadmap for you as you continue on your journey this year?

Andrew Davies: Yeah, so I am, um I'm working on my first book, which I'm really excited about and I've.

Sharing some pieces of it this year. And, uh, the, the working title is participate and it's a guide from Personal Courage to Community Change. And the hope is to really exploring improv and different ways of building connection amongst groups to help us to kind of like overcome our own fears, to have everybody put down big part singing and like sign up for things in that way.

[00:37:00] And to also see the opportunities to. Build their communities more intentionally, whether it's their nuclear family or their neighborhood or their workplace, to really see those tools to help everyone participate and be a part of it. So I'm really excited working on that and sharing that and, um, you know, and continuing to share all these tools with communities, with Artley, working with the Bible players and, uh and continuing to work that way.

Scott Maderer: Awesome. So you could find out more about Andrew over@artleyworking.com. Of course, I'll put a link to that over in the show notes as well in case you're driving or, or can't find it right now. Andrew, what else would you like to share with the listener?

Andrew Davies: You know, my, my favorite story about improvising with some folks might know, but I love is about Martin Luther King Jr.

And how. His most famous speech I ever Dream was in some ways improvised. He showed up with his script and his speech that day, [00:38:00] and it was all about a promissory note that America's written and it hasn't cashed. And it wasn't really landing, it wasn't his best performance. And, uh, Mahalia Jackson, who was a singer that worked with him, shout it out.

Like tell him about the Dream Martin. And she had heard versions of the I Have a Dream speech in churches. And in that moment he decided to improvise and pivot and shared. Um, what's now one of the most iconic speeches in American history is I have a dream speech. And so I like to share that with folks because when folks think about improv, sometimes they think it's sort of frivolous and like, when will I use that in real life?

And so if, uh, I feel like if it's good enough for, you know, perhaps the greatest order in American history, I think, uh. We can all do with a little improvising as well.

Scott Maderer: Yeah, absolutely. I had never heard that, so yeah. Thank you. That, that's a, a new story that I'll have to put in the story toolbox 'cause I, I like that one

Andrew Davies: for sure.

Scott Maderer: Thank you.

Thanks so much for listening to [00:39:00] the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

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