“You should meet Ted,” I said, “he’s also into mindfulness and improv.”
It was lunchtime at the Applied Improvisation Network (AIN) conference this past weekend, and I was talking with another first-timer to the conference. I felt rather pleased that I was connecting people that I didn’t even know!
But the guy — let’s call him A — seemed skeptical.
“Yeah, I met Ted,” he said. “But I don’t know… We live in the same area, so aren’t we competitors? And really, aren’t all of us here at the conference competitors?”
It was a valid question. 200 improvisers, who use improv in our work in an applied way — i.e. Applied Improv — convening together for four days.
Aren’t we competing for clients? Competing for business? Competing for scarce resources?
Well, as I said to A, that’s certainly one attitude to take. You could look at the 200 people at this conference as competitors, competing with you for scarce resources. End of story.
But is that a useful perspective? [Read more…]
