Talking Supply Chain: Improv in the Supply Chain

Comedians have flooded TikTok in the past year with “stage work” videos. This is where they stand on stage and interact with audience members. The videos frequently go viral because they are raw and unscripted.

They also have a lot in common with the work today of supply chain managers. Running a supply chain organization can feel a lot like stage work—you never know what is going to happen next, and you must think and react quickly.  In the supply chain, that stage work is better known by the concept of applied improvisation.

“We want to talk about improv comedy, many people will look at this and say comedy, you've got to be kidding me? I'm not in business to be funny,” Ted Klein, managing partner at Boston Strategy Group, tells Talking Supply Chain host Brian Straight. “What does improv have to do with what I need to do to deal with black swan events? Well for those of you in the audience who've ever watched an improv comedy show. It can give you a little bit of insight in terms of what applied improvisation is.”

Klein joined the Talking Supply Chain podcast to discuss applied improvisation, some recent developments in the managing strategy, and offer tips on how businesses can benefit from a little improv training.

The key to improv is listening, and that is also critical to managing the supply chain.

“Communication between each other is very specialized and effective,” Klein notes of improv artists. “They are creating things on the spot. They are very self-aware of what they’re saying and what everyone else is saying and in many ways they are leading the audience through a made-up story. If we think of the words—collaboration, team building, creativity, innovation, being emotionally aware, leadership—many executives when I talk about those words, they go my God, that’s what I want my people to be doing.”

Listen as Ted Klein and Brian Straight discuss how applied improvisation can be applied to supply chain management.