“Yes, And”: A Leadership Practice for Building Trust, Momentum, and Culture

What if better leadership starts not with having the right answer—but with how you respond in the moment?

In this episode of The Leadership Vision Podcast, Nathan Freeburg is joined by Laura Johnson to explore the power of “Yes, and,” a principle borrowed from improvisation that helps leaders build trust, maintain momentum, and strengthen team culture.

Drawing on Laura’s background in improvisation, live-event hosting, and business leadership, this conversation unpacks how acknowledgment, presence, and small language shifts can dramatically improve collaboration—especially in fast-moving or virtual teams.

If you lead people, serve on committees, or collaborate across teams, this episode offers practical ideas you can start using immediately.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why “Yes, and” is about acknowledgment—not agreement
• How leaders unintentionally shut down momentum
• The connection between “Yes, and” and psychological safety
• How to say no without breaking trust
• Simple ways to practice presence in everyday leadership moments

About the Guest

Laura Johnson is a new member of the Leadership Vision team, helping bring clarity and alignment to complex, fast-moving work. She draws on her background as a former talent agency owner, live-event host, and trained improviser, with deep experience in communication, presence, and relationship-centered leadership.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

When we look at yes and, it is a way to harness the collective. I think it's a really inclusive way of gaining additional perspectives because I think that the best outcome comes from when we are getting ideas and perspectives from other people. That's not slowing a team down. That's not compromising forward momentum. It is ultimately things that are going to add to the momentum because you aren't going to have to go back and recreate the wheel because you didn't take into consideration what somebody else said, because you were able to yes and in that moment and incorporate the learnings that you gained from the conversation you had with that person.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

You're listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. Our consulting firm has been doing this work for the past 25 years so that leaders are mentally engaged and emotionally

What “Yes And” Really Means

SPEAKER_00 0:53

healthy. To learn more about what we do, you can click the link in the show notes or visit us on the web at Leadership Vision Consulting.com. Hello everyone, my name is Nathan Freeberg, and in today's episode, I am joined by Laura Johnson, the newest member of our team here at Leadership Vision, where she helps bring clarity and alignment to our complex, fast-moving work, drawing on her background as a former talent agency owner, live event host, and trained improviser with deep experience in communication, presence, and relationship-centered leadership. Together, she and I are gonna explore a deceptively simple idea with big implications for leadership and team culture. It's the power of yes and. Now, drawing on Laura's background in improvisation, theater, and real-time leadership, we talk about how small moments of connection, acknowledgement, and presence can dramatically shift trust, momentum, and psychological safety, especially in virtual or distributed teams. Now, as you listen, pay attention to how yes and isn't about agreeing with everything or avoiding hard decisions. It's about valuing people first, preserving forward momentum, and responding in ways that move both the work and the relationship forward. Now, if you lead a team, collaborate across functions, or serve in some sort of community or volunteer leadership role, this conversation will give you practical language shifts and mindset changes that you can start using immediately today. This is the Leadership Vision Podcast. Enjoy. So Laura, I'm excited to talk to you today about a number of things, but I wanted to start with something that you said in an email recently to me. This was after a staff meeting that we were in, and you said it was fun having that little banter. It felt just sort of like water cooler moment or like something that you would do with colleagues in an office over coffee. Now that so many of us are in this virtual workspace, why do you think those moments are so important? Or maybe what stood out to you about that that you felt was important enough to mention?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, I think in those moments we have an opportunity to connect on something that's not work-related. And I can speak specific for me in that moment when we had that bantery moment at the beginning of our meeting before

Meet Laura And The Big Idea

SPEAKER_01 3:14

we got into what needed to be a very productive meeting. Right. For me, as somebody who is new to the team and as somebody who just thinks a lot about how I show up in the world, having that really loose engagement time at the top of the meeting allowed me to get out of my own way as we got into the meeting and I could show up with my full self because I wasn't thinking about, okay, how am I going to present this? You know, how do I fit into this team? Because all of those things are background noise that are happening, I think, for

Virtual Banter And Belonging

SPEAKER_01 3:44

me sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes in the Monday meeting, which is one of the only times that all of us get together and talk about the work that we're doing. So I loved being able to casually just shoot the breeze. And that's a way that allowed me to get engaged in what was happening before we actually got engaged in the meeting.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Yeah. It it's so important. Talking with Chip yesterday, he just stressed that humanity piece of it and listening. And I think, especially with our team, like being all virtual, like it's just it's so hard to do that. So even in the few minutes before a meeting, it's really a great opportunity to just be like, oh, this is who this person is when they're not talking about deadlines and schedules and all of those things. Um, where I want to go with this is you have this great idea of yes and. And what I'm tentatively titling this is yes and leadership, presence, and building team culture in real time. Yes and is this concept in I think improv comedy where somebody mentions idea and rather than being like, no, no, no, we're not gonna pretend that you're a shoe salesman, now you're a baseball player, you yes and you affirm it and then you build on it. And I love that idea when it comes to leadership because I think too often we want to be right, we want to knock other people down. And so I'm curious if you can, by way of just sort of introducing us with just a brief kind of overview of your background through the talent agency and working for the twins and the wild

Improv Roots Of “Yes And”

SPEAKER_00 5:15

as the event MCs, how did that idea maybe develop before we sort of get into what it is?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Yeah, so for me, yes, there was a little bit of improvisation training that happened when I was in college, but really for me, it entered into my life when I was in my early 20s. I'd been cast in a show called Tony and Tina's Wedding. It is an immersive theatrical experience where there are certain beats of the show that are scripted, but by and large, the entire show is improvised. And so, in preparation for going into that show, I received some improvisation training. And if you spend any time around improvisers, the phrase yes and comes up. It is one of the central tenets of improvisation. I think a lot of times people think improvisation means being funny on the spot, and that's really not what it is at all. Improvisation is responding to what is being given to you in that moment and doing so authentically in a way that moves the scene forward. So in improvisation, yes, and is your commitment to agree to whatever the shared reality is of the scene and your commitment to responding to it in a way that's going to move the scene forward. Because if you don't, if you negate what is being presented to you on stage as an improv performer, then the scene falls flat. All of the air gets deflated out of the scene, and it's hard to clamber your way back in to make the scene move forward. And then that compromises, of course, the experience of not only the people who are watching the scene, but the people who are participating in the improvisation.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I love that. What is the benefit of that? I mean, why is that a better method than trying to sort of, no, we're gonna go this way, no, we're gonna go that way.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Well, it keeps momentum going, right? Momentum is going to be fractured if you're saying we are in a deep sea submarine, and then the next person comes into the scene and says, No, we are in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Momentum is hard to make happen when everybody is going in a different direction. But when people are engaging in a scene and saying, Yes, we are in the Sahara Desert and I'm thirsty. Does anybody have any water? Then people can build on that scene and it has somewhere to go.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Yeah. So is this just about being agreeable? Is it just about like whatever you say, I just go along with it, or how is it not that?

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yes, and the whole idea of yes and isn't about just being agreeable or saying yes. It is acknowledging the shared reality before you respond to it, before you add parameters around it, before

Momentum Versus Negation

SPEAKER_01 7:54

you move things forward. It is saying, yes, this is where we're at, or yes, I see you and your contribution that you're making, and now I'm going to move it in this direction. It's different than saying yes to everything. I think that's a common misconception when people think about the concept of yes and that it means that every idea needs to move forward or every idea has validity. It's not that at all. It's acknowledging the person or acknowledging the input and the contribution before the idea moves forward.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah. And I think why when you wrote

Not Agreeing, Acknowledging First

SPEAKER_00 8:28

me about this and said, I think this is where we should go, what struck me about it and why I liked it so much from like a leadership business team culture perspective is because I've been on so many teams where momentum is just killed because every idea is, no, we can't do that. Here's why. Or, you know, well, I have a different idea, let's go this direction. And it feels like that idea of momentum never really gets momentum. It never really takes off. I'm curious to kind of shift away from the improv area. You know, you've had a variety of roles and you were the owner of this talent agency. How have you seen this idea of yes and in the business leadership context? And maybe, you know, by way of story, what are some like real examples of like how this plays out in kind of the business setting?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah. So again, in that posture of yes and, you receive information before you decide what you do with it. So on stage, yes and is going to be what advances the scene, but in a work context, it is what advances understanding. In the context of owning a talent agency, I would have a client come to me with a really fast audition turnaround. They'd want me to turnaround audition, say, by the end of the day. And in that moment, rather than saying, sorry, we're not going to be able to accommodate it. We have too many other things we're working on, I could say yes and that moment and say, this sounds like a really exciting casting. And I'd love to get my talent in front of your clients. In order to make that happen, I'm going to need 48 hours or 72 hours. I understand if you can't accommodate that timeline, but I'd love to work with you on this project. Because in the context for me, the currency of a talent agency is

Business Stories And Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 10:12

relationship. And I think that's the case in a lot of businesses. And you want to preserve those relationships. And the way you can do that is not by brushing somebody off or by just saying no. Certainly you can still be direct and you can still communicate the same outcome, which is that I can't accommodate a same-day audition turnaround, but you can do that in a way that acknowledges what somebody has brought to you and that maintains the relationship in the process.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

I read Robin Williams' biography a year ago, and you know, he's a great improv performer. But something that was interesting is that uh they were talking about how he kind of didn't need anybody else to work with because he was just sort of the solo improver. And so it was sometimes hard because other people were like, well, I don't really know where I fit in this scene, and he's not really taking my ideas, he's just kind of doing his own thing, which is great and hilarious. But I bring that up because I'm curious about how do you then get to know your other quote unquote performers, team members, whatever you want to call them, outside of a scene or outside of that environment when you're yes-anding and doing the work? Is it just more of those impromptu water cooler coffee chats? Or what were some of the ways that you were like, oh, this is sort of what this person's good at? This is how I can best yes and them. What did that look like in your experience?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

In my experience as an actor, we had a lively social engagement that happened outside of a show. When you're in a show, those are the people that you do life with. You are on stage with them at night. And then a lot of times during the day, you're meeting up to have coffee or you're meeting up to connect a couple of hours before you get into costume and put on makeup and go on stage. So that rapport is easily established when you are doing life in the context of other people. When I think specifically about Tony and Tina's wedding, you know, we were doing two shows a day some days with a short, but I think in work context, it is those water cooler conversations, or it is

Knowing Teammates Outside Work

SPEAKER_01 12:13

intentionally carving out moments where you can not just have a sync about the projects that you're working on, but it's about being able to connect with people socially and find out, hey, what was something that you did this weekend? Or hey, what do the holidays look like for you and your family? Those opportunities to foster connection outside of work in an improvisational way where you don't have a set agenda of what you're talking about can then translate to the work that you're doing together because energetically you understand that person and you have a frame of reference socially for the way that maybe they present ideas, which may be completely different from the way that you maybe bring forward ideas in a group context.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Sounds like it's a lot about trust. It's a lot about you're building trust with this person outside of maybe the pressure of a performance or the pressure of a work thing, so that when you're in that moment, you can trust them. Oh, yeah, if I throw out a suggestion that we're in a submarine, I know that they're gonna receive that and do something great with it versus like, man, I don't know who this person is. I don't know the how they're gonna respond to it. How do you work with someone? Maybe this is outside of the performing area, who can't do that? Or I don't know what the opposite of yes and no but maybe, or no, no way. I don't know. How do you teach this? I guess is what I'm asking. How do you help someone on your team be like, so where about yes and? This is what you do, here's how you build a mentor. Like, what are do you find ways to help others learn this philosophy, or is it something you sort of have or you don't?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

I think yes and is taught through example. Like so many things in life, you lead by example. When you are part of a team where the yes and ecosystem is at play, you know that you can bring ideas forward freely because they're not going to be dismissed out of hand. They're going to be acknowledged even if your idea is not the one that's ultimately being moved forward. You are creating a culture of collaboration when you acknowledge the people who are providing input,

Modeling, Redirects, And Safety

SPEAKER_01 14:22

giving solutions, giving ideas. And the more that you can do that, the more productive your teams can be, the quicker you can arrive at solutions, the quicker you are going to get to the best possible end result when people have had it modeled to them that, hey, this is an environment where we can all bring our ideas to the table. They may not all move forward, but they're all going to be acknowledged. I think that as far as teaching people, I think in moments you can redirect the conversation. You can lead what they said into a yes and. So if somebody steps into a meeting, say, and says, well, we don't have budget for that, that's a cue that they have skipped over the yes and move straight to the and, which I think is natural for a lot of people because if you are very execution-minded, you are going to be very mindful of how are we going to get there. And that's not a bad thing, but we need to make sure that we are acknowledging the person who is providing the idea before we rush to the solution. Because we have a lot more tolerance for not having our ideas move forward if our idea has been acknowledged first.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Totally. Are you familiar with the concept of psychological safety? Have you heard that?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, you know that. Yeah, this sounds similar to that. Is it like, is that accurate? Like, would you agree with that? Like, what are the maybe the differences? I know this wasn't on our list of questions, but as you were talking, I was like, oh, this sounds like all the stuff I've read and learned about psychological safety is just that ability to, I can throw out an idea that might be dumb and not work, but I'm not going to get criticized or demoted or nothing bad's going to happen to me. And that's how the best work happens.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, I think that one of the cornerstones of psychological safety is trust. And trust is established when you know that you're going to have a consistent response. And when that consistent response is somebody acknowledging you as a human being first and foremost, then that opens up all sorts of freedom to be able to respond in the moment. Because again, you're not having to deal with all the background noise of is my idea going to be dismissed? Is this being presented in a way where it's going to be most broadly accepted by the people that I'm working with? And so I think that psychological safety happens more readily when you are employing that idea of yes and because it's placing value on the people and on the contributions that are being made.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

So this really all comes down to people then. And comes down to how do we know and understand our people so that and be understood. You know, like I want you to understand me, like you want me to understand you and Brian and Linda and everybody. How do we do that? Because things are happening so fast, because this and maybe this is kind of re-asking

Time Pressure And Micro-Connections

SPEAKER_00 17:15

what I already asked, but I feel like sometimes this fast-paced real-time environment, we're like, I don't have time for that. I don't have time to get to know you, Laura, because there's so much happening. Things are on fire. You want me to yes and you want me to trust da-da-da-da-da-da. How do we practically do that? Or maybe share again some more examples that that you have done that, because time and time again, I think we hear from people like everything that you're saying is good. I just don't have time to do any of it.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

I think that people dismiss those moments of social engagement thinking that they are a waste of time. But if you invest those five minutes of social engagement, like we saw at the beginning of our team meeting this week, that five minutes of investment can make so many other things down the line move so much more quickly. Because again, we're not having to deal with some of the social dissonance that may enter into play. And also because we now have a frame of reference for the person that we're speaking to. We are able to engage more authentically. So what may feel like it is a waste of time or an inefficient use of time is actually something that allows us to operate with more efficiency.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

What about when you can't or shouldn't? Like when you do have to say no. In the world of improv, there's no no. But in the world of life and business, like are there times where yes and truly doesn't work because you have to say no or you have to set a boundary? And what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

A yes doesn't mean a yes, we're moving your idea forward. A yes doesn't mean a yes that something can happen. Again, the yes is in acknowledging the idea or the person that has been brought forward, not necessarily the outcome. So let's say somebody comes to you as a team leader, Nathan, and says, Hey, I think our team dynamics would be really improved if we did an off-site together every Friday. Now, in your head, you may be thinking, that's

Saying No With Care

SPEAKER_01 19:26

not something that I have time for, nor is it something that our team has budget for. But in that moment, rather than saying those two things, what you can say is I love how you are thinking about how our team engages with one another. And right now, due to my personal schedule, I wouldn't be able to make that happen. But I'd love to hear your ideas on other ways that maybe we can improve on the team experience and foster collaboration and how we work together. So in both cases, the idea is no, we can't move every Friday activities forward. But the way that it lands when you do yes and is something that preserves the person who came to you, preserves their sense of identity and their role within the broader team.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

I love this because I think it something just clicked for me there where it is valuing the person. It is saying, your idea is great in theory. The philosophy behind what you're wanting to do, yes, this is fantastic. We need more ideas like this. And the reality is such. So let's maybe rework it or rethink it. Where I think what I've seen before happen is that exact scenario, the leader would say, No, we can't do that, and here's why. And then the person sort of slinks off back to their cubicle, being like, Oh, I shouldn't have done that. I'm so dumb of me to think that. But you're totally right, and it seems like such a simple shift. And I wonder why more people don't do that. Like, I can think of I'm on a bunch of committees at my kids' school, and just even in that setting, there's people who are whatever the opposite of yes anders are, and like, guys, this isn't rocket science here. Let's just, yeah, that's a fun idea. Let's figure out how we do it. Why do you think more people don't do it?

SPEAKER_01 21:09

I think again, because people are so wired for the solution. We're so wired towards productivity, and we think it's more productive by jumping to the what's the constraints we're working under, what is the conflict here, why won't something work, or wanting to contribute, even if you're thinking in the positive sense, people are wanting to contribute their ideas, put what they think is important first, but they miss the piece of acknowledging what is in the scene or what is in the room before they jump to that conclusion. You know, trust doesn't erode because an idea isn't adopted. It is because a perspective hasn't been uh respected.

Practice “Yes And” In Email

SPEAKER_01 21:48

I think also people don't lose trust when leaders say no or when teammates say no. It's when that no is delivered without any acknowledgement. I think it's important. Important to make that distinction that with yes and you are separating the person from what the ultimate outcome is.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Yeah. And it it's so important to value people first to have a because I the the negative of doing that is eventually people will stop bringing you ideas. And then as a leader, you're just in this echo chamber where no one will bring you an idea because they're afraid you're gonna shoot them down, or yeah. Did did you always have how how long did you run your talent agency?

SPEAKER_01 22:31

For over a decade.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Okay. So year one, were you doing this from all your theater background, or is this something that you sort of developed and integrated along the way?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Both and.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yes and. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

I think that yes and is so much a part of who I am and the way that I approach the world, that there are a lot of ways where that happens just effortlessly. It's my disposition, it's my positioning in how I view the world and how I engage with people. And it's similar to muscle memory. The more that you practice something, the more it becomes part of who you are. That said, I'm also a human, and there are moments where I too will rush to the logistics or rush to what the solution is or rush to what needs to be done. It's not about perfection, it's about going, okay, how can I incorporate this? How can I? And being intentional about the way that you show up in the world. And for me, that's something that I feel like is always top of mind for me. How am I showing up in this situation? How am I showing up in this relationship? How am I showing up in this job? And if yes, and is a part of that, it's going to naturally enter into the picture.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

I was in an improv group in college for like a minute because I couldn't, they would practice. And I'm like, I can't go to these practices. I just want to perform. And like, well, we have to practice. And the concept of practicing improv to me has always seemed so that's not what you do. My sister-in-law did comedy sports for

Low-Stakes Team Drills

SPEAKER_00 24:07

a while in Minneapolis, and she would talk about practice. So you're practicing improv, which again seems like not what you do, but you do, right? Like that's a part of it. So, how do you practice this idea of yes and in the business setting so that it becomes what you're talking about, a part of who you are? Like, are there examples you can share of, you know, there's so many drills in like the theater world of yes and practice, but how does a leader practice yes and, maybe when the stakes are low, so that it becomes kind of that muscle memory sort of a thing? Are there any tips or tricks you can share with us that would help? If someone's listening to this like, oh, I want to be more like this. How do I practice? Like, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Within the context of mindfulness, there is this concept of noticing things. And I think sometimes when we think of mindfulness, we think of it as something that exists in our minds.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

But improvisation is how we can practice mindfulness because improvisation calls us to be present and in the moment and to be responding authentically to what happens in the moment. And I think a really great place to start would be within an email. Because if you have an email where you know your response is going to be no, email is nice because it gives you a moment to pause and think about what you are going to say. You aren't being called to respond right there live in front of another person in the moment. Let's say somebody reaches out and says, I'd like to schedule a sync meeting with you on Friday morning. But let's say Friday mornings are a period of time where you count on being highly productive so you can wrap up the week in a really good place. What you can say rather than sorry, Friday mornings aren't going to work for me, you can say, Hey, meeting with you is really important to me. Can we meet on Friday afternoons? Friday mornings are a sacred time for me to get my day rolling so I can wrap up the week in a and feel good about how it's wrapping up. So that would be an option. I think it really doesn't have to be this big shift in how we position ourselves and our roles, we can start to incrementally incorporate yes and in our everyday practices in work. And then it becomes more automatic the more that we do it. If you are somebody who works within the context of a small group, the next time you're meeting as a small group to gather ideas on a particular topic, if you are in a position where you can influence what that team meeting looks like, you could say, hey, for the next 10 minutes, let's all gather ideas around this. And whenever anybody comes up with an idea, you can only build on that idea. We can't bring any constraints into the picture. We aren't going to bring any logistics in. Just for the next 10 minutes,

Applying It On A New Team

SPEAKER_01 27:04

let's all build on the idea of X, Y, or Z.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

I love that because it is so practical. It's a small little behavior, just a way to shift our language just enough to start on that. I read a book last year called 10% happier. Are you familiar with that book? Yes. Yes. It's a great book. It sounds like a horrible, cheesy, corny title. It's all about mindfulness. And the author is basically like the the title came because from doing this mindfulness stuff, from pausing, from reframing, I'm about 10% happier. I was like, oh, okay, that that makes sense. But it creates that pause. And if we can find the, I don't know, just the werewolf all to have that when getting those emails or texts or whatever, that's just that pause to say, yes, I like this idea, and here's some whatever. How does that, and maybe this is opposite of what we're should be talking about, but I'm thinking of a person in particular right now that the answer just has to be no. I don't want to meet with them. I don't need to meet with them. I don't want to give them my like it's all these things. How would a yes and approach to a hard no for something, what would that look like?

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Can you give me a specific example?

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Yeah. Well, I'm just so let's say there's a committee at school that they want me to join. Because I I do a lot of stuff at the kids' school. I'm sort of like a jack of all trades, master of nothing, really. And it's not an area that I'm interested in. I really don't have time for it. But they're like, well, can you just come and sit in and do this thing? And I just, I really don't want to be involved because I'm just kind of at my capacity.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

In that specific example, you could say, thank you so much for thinking of me for this role. Right now, my capacity is full and I won't be able to take on additional responsibilities.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

That's that

Harnessing The Collective

SPEAKER_00 28:53

simple. And see, what I like about that, and that's actually probably exactly what I'm gonna say, is the other side of that is just saying, I don't want to do this. But what I like about what you said, and I think the helpful note there, which might seem obvious to everyone, but it's clear, it's direct, it's also kind, and just saying this is wonderful and great. I'm not your man for this. So did you have to do much of that sort of yes anding in your decade of leading all these talented people?

SPEAKER_01 29:19

All the time. In a very high-pressure, fast-moving talent agency, you have to stay very focused on what you are working on. Things need to move forward efficiently, or balls are going to get dropped and talent aren't going to end up where they need to end up on set. An example would be I would receive an email from talent who were very excited. They had just gotten a new set of headshots taken. They would say, I want to get your feedback. Here's my headshot portfolio. Help me pick out which headshot I should put on the website. And because that wasn't something I had time for, I still wanted to be able to acknowledge that relationship. So I would say, thank you so much for taking this proactive step and getting new headshots and thinking about how you're positioning

Presence, Adaptability, And Play

SPEAKER_01 30:04

yourself with clients. Right now, I'm not going to have time to look at your portfolio. And either I would say, can you narrow it down to your top 10 favorite options? Because then that would mean I didn't need to look at the 300 different headshot options that they had in their portfolio. Or I would say, this isn't something that I would have time to take a look at. Could you send this to your close friends and get their feedback? Or I think a great resource for you would be one of my other agents. And then they would have time to be able to take a look at that. But it was honoring that relationship again in that moment and either pointing them in the right direction, or, you know, there were occasional times where I'd say, I trust your instincts. Thank you so much for getting these headshots taken. I trust your instincts. You pick whichever one you feel best about putting forward on our website.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Yeah, I was just gonna say it puts some of the power and authority and autonomy back on them to empower them to make those decisions versus just you telling them what to do and then and then they kind of go about always asking you, what should I do? What should I do? What should I do? I want to bring this to our current team. You started working with us about a month and a half ago. A variety of different reasons why, but the main thing is to help us kind of get everything we have going on in a straight line. There's just kind of become a lot to manage. How do you bring this yes and philosophy? Let's call it. You should write a book. How do you bring this philosophy to our team when you're not in charge, when you're not leading? I'm just curious how you think about this now in your current role as a member of the leadership vision team.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Great question, Nathan. I think when you are in an environment where everything feels important, it is important to prioritize. It is also important to acknowledge why everything feels important. If everything is important, nothing is important. So you can still approach it in a yes and in the sense that you find out why something is important, you acknowledge why it is important to that particular person. And then I think this is one of the rare moments within an organization where a hierarchy comes into play, where you need to ultimately look to the person whose marching orders you are ultimately executing. So you can still acknowledge that something is important and needs to move forward, but you can also look to whomever the leader is in that environment. I'm hearing that this is really important from

Letting Go Of Cherished Outcomes

SPEAKER_01 32:48

this member of the team. Those specific interactions, I can acknowledge why it's important to those people and let them know that I'm going to run it past Linda, who is our CEO, and she gets to make the final call on what is the most important thing to be able to move forward.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

So again, it comes back to acknowledging and I mean seeing the humanity in people and sort of having that be the front and center versus like, no, we can't do this. Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Or saying I'm focusing on this. Right. Hey, thank you for bringing that to my attention. I wasn't aware that that was one of the challenges you were working on, or that that was one of the things you came up against. Let me put that into my idea dashboard. And then as I'm continuing to work on projects for the team, that's something that I can help you figure out solutions for.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

When we look at yes and it is a way to harness the collective. I think it's a really inclusive way of gaining additional perspectives, because I think that the best outcome comes from when we are getting ideas and perspectives from other people. That's not slowing a team down. That's not compromising forward momentum. It is ultimately things that are going to add to the momentum because you aren't going to have to go back and recreate the wheel because you didn't take into consideration what somebody else said because you were able to yes and in that moment and incorporate the learnings that you gained from the conversation you had with that person.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Yeah. I think the concept of yes and in improv comedy is really about collaboration. It's like how do we all come together to build the scene collaboratively? And so if you approach that same idea in business, then you're not competing, you're building, and you're getting the best from everyone. Well, Laura, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. It's fun to get to know you a little bit better. We can call this our proverbial virtual water cooler. In closing, knowing that you worked for the twins and the wild in these kind of big roles, I'm just curious how this idea, this concept, this philosophy of yes and prepared you for some of those big moments and continues to prepare you for the unknown of the future.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

There were a lot of moments where I would need to host a segment and it was one of those goofy games that you see up on the Jumbotron. Oh, sure. And the contestant that I would be working with was intoxicated. And so who picks up. Sometimes you get really great content out of those moments, and sometimes it completely blows the moment. But I think one of the great things about yes and is it forces you to not take yourself too seriously. You just move through the moment, you just roll with whatever is happening. You're you have a segment on camera with a dog. You don't know what that dog is going to do, but you're going to roll with it. And so it really calls you to greater adaptability to just being present and in that moment. And I don't know how this is going to go, but it's going to go one way or the other. And we're going to have fun while we do it. And it's just keeping that mindset of let's have fun while we're doing this. Let's see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Yeah. What I love about our conversation here is that idea of presence. And maybe it's what I love about watching comedy or I do some MC hosting type stuff here, is you do have to be fully present. You have to be completely engaged in the moment. You can't be checking your phone. You can't be thinking about the next thing. You have to be right there. And when you watch like a comedian who does like crowd work, have you seen any of those like crowd work specials where the comedian is basically just talking to the audience and making jokes out of whatever they say? I'm like, how in the world do they do that? It's practice, it's paying attention, though. And I wonder if maybe now for real closing it out, is how do we get better at being present? Is it mindfulness meditation? Is it something else? Like, what do you do to be more present in all things, not just in that stage moment when you're working with an intoxicated twins fan or whatever? Do you do any personal practice type things to get better at just being present in the here and now? Is that another loop question?

SPEAKER_01 37:18

I don't know that I do any specific practices per se of being present in the here and now. I think I used to be somebody who, when I entered into conversations, I would try to think through what I was going to say ahead of time. I think that's part of me wanting to show up in the best way that I can. But also I could see ways that that was working against me where there's a piece of authenticity that is sacrificed when you're prepared with everything that you're going to say before you enter into every conversation. And so for me, the practice is letting go of trying to manufacture moments, letting go of trying to exert control over what an outcome is going to be and staying open to the possibility, staying open to the potential that by saying yes and and by letting go of, you know, Pema Chodron talks about whole not holding a cherished outcome. And by doing that, by not holding a cherished outcome in conversations or in moments, you have more freedom to play. You have more freedom to say yes and and respond authentically to what is happening in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

I love that. Letting go of expectations allows you to get to something that maybe you couldn't have dreamed of on your own.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah, the idea of doing less is actually doing more. You just need to let go to a place where play can effortlessly happen.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

That's what OC did and unfolded.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Yes, OC lived in the space of yes and because OC was on that playground. And yes, there was Fox who had all sorts of ways that they were doubting what OC would do. And yes, there was Rabbit who had fears about what OC was wanting to do. But OC said, yes, I see all of that. And I'm going to look to Owl. I'm going to look to Eagle. I am going to figure out my way to fly that looks uniquely like me. And so in doing that, OC said yes and to that moment.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Laura, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. I appreciate you taking the time. And I'm excited to edit this all together and re-listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Thank you so much, Nathan. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

All right, well, I will talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Sounds great.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Laura, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. It's been really fun not only getting to know you, but getting to see your work and getting to see your background play out uh kind of in real time and just watching you bring the lessons that you've learned from your work as a host, as an improvisational expert, as as a business owner, and just kind of integrate that as you are learning our team. So thank you for taking a little bit of time to share that with us and all of our listeners. And thank you, listeners, for listening. We appreciate you. We would love it if you could give us a review in Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on YouTube and on social media. And we also have a free email newsletter, Leadership Vision Consulting.com slash subscribe if you want to join there. There's also links in the description. My name is Nathan Freeberg, and on behalf of our entire team, thanks for listening.