An Excerpt from The Art of Making Sh!t Up:

If you want to make shit up for a living in this world, you need to understand a few things about how people communicate with each other. Words have meaning, yes. They also have a great power and influence. The words we choose have immense impact on how we create. Verbal communication is the number one way to exchange information and ideas with other people on a day-to-day basis. What we say and how we say it completely determines whether or not we can successfully get our ideas into action. You can be the most brilliant person in the world, If you can never communicate your ideas there is really nothing we can do with them.

Communication is the secret sauce of success. Think of it this way; all things being close to equal would you prefer having a doctor who was a poor communicator or a doctor who is a great communicator? That same concept applies any job. Who wins, the coder or the coder who is a great communicator? The teacher or the teacher who is a great communicator? The mechanic or the mechanic is a great communicator? And so on and so on. There is almost never a time when given the opportunity to choose, someone would ever say “Given the choice, I'll take the poor communicator”. ? Just doesn't happen. Effective communication completely changes the game in terms of how people view you both personally and professionally. The better communicator you become the better your personal and professional relationships will be.

When we improvise onstage we are using a well honed communication skill set that the audience never really sees. Hopefully the actors just look brilliant and funny and incredibly fast on their feet. We want the audience to laugh and be entertained and constantly be surprised and delighted by our choices onstage. We want to leave them amazed and asking “how do they think so fast to come up with that stuff?” You do not necessarily want them to see the underlying skill set that the actors are using to communicate with each other, which is being able to quickly get on the same page and advance ideas. In general, we don't want you to see how the sausage is made, we just want you to enjoy the delicious, unhealthy sausage.

All communication can be broken down into three avenues of approach; Yes, No, Maybe. Do you love me? Yes, no, maybe. You Want to grab a beer? Yes, No, Maybe. Should we colonize Mars, or get sushi tonight, go for a walk or buy a dog or any other situation you can think of, the communication comes down to yes, no or maybe. There are no emotional connotations to these words. Yes is not a good word and no is not a bad word . Each has power and influence regarding how ideas are or are not moved forward. Since this book primarily people interested in creating ideas and moving them forward let's take a look at the impact these words have on this process.

No. Say it out loud. NO! You can feel the power in this simplest of words. No is authority. No is discipline, the parent, the teacher. No, by its nature is negative. No is often fearful, afraid of change. No is risk averse, happy to maintain the status quo. No is safe. No can be knee-jerk. No is hard to hear and easy to say (for some). No also has great power. It can be decisive and strong. No has the ability to stop unwanted actions in their tracks. No can be rebellious and brave, Empowering people to stand up for themselves and what they believe. No can be hard to say as it often disappoints. Used correctly no can help shape the creative process. Wielded in a haphazard way no can stop the creative process before ever gets a chance to begin.