I’m currently taking an improv class, and it has highlighted a major leadership blind spot: the leftover vibe. In improv, if you carry the "stiffness" of a bad day onto the stage, the scene fails. Leadership is no different. We play many roles—the efficient delegator, the empathetic coach, the bold visionary. These aren't masks; they are authentic "costumes" we wear to meet the moment. But if you don't "shake out" the energy of a budget crisis before walking into a sensitive one-on-one, your team feels that residue. This episode is about the power of the 30-second transition and why your energy speaks louder than your words.
Summary:
I’m currently taking an improv class, and it has highlighted a major leadership blind spot: the leftover vibe. In improv, if you carry the "stiffness" of a bad day onto the stage, the scene fails. Leadership is no different.
We play many roles—the efficient delegator, the empathetic coach, the bold visionary. These aren't masks; they are authentic "costumes" we wear to meet the moment. But if you don't "shake out" the energy of a budget crisis before walking into a sensitive one-on-one, your team feels that residue. This episode is about the power of the 30-second transition and why your energy speaks louder than your words.
Takeaways
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So let's get into the good vibes leadership for today.
I love to challenge myself. I love to explore different creative outlets and find different stages that I can play on. As much as I love being a professional speaker sometimes, you know, it's fun to get on different kinds of stages. So last year, I took a stand up comedy class and started having some fun with stand up. This year, I'm taking an improv class.
And, you know, improv is—it's hard, first of all. It is really hard to not really know what you're going to say in any given moment. It feels like so much pressure. And am I even going to be funny? Maybe I'll have the words. Maybe I'll come up with something, but is it gonna be funny?
So it's a lot of cognitive overload that can happen when preparing for improv. And especially if I'm coming from work—my improv class starts at six. So if I'm basically shutting down work and going right over to class, that transition time, there's not always a place to put my leftover work energy.
If I have some tension from work or if I have just sort of just general heavy day tension, that can show up at class. And, by the way, that's not funny. It's not.
One of the things the instructor has us do, which I've learned is a pretty common improv exercise, is something called shake it off. So we literally start the evening by shaking out our bodies.
The way it works is we stand in a circle and we shake our hands and our feet. We shake them out literally. We count our hands: one, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, five, six. Same thing with our feet. One, two, three, four, five, six. Both feet. And then we do the same thing: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for each of our hands and each of our feet.
It goes really fast, and there's shaking, and there's movement, and there's excitement, and we end with, "Woo!" And it's funny, and it's fun. And it's a great way to get the energy up.
Having done this and noticed the change from work mode to play mode with improv after doing this activity, it sort of got me thinking about transitions throughout the day.
How do I transition my energy from a sales call into a conversation with my son or a one on one with someone on my team? Leaders, I think we don't always take the time to be intentional about those transitions. We might be efficient in one meeting, and then we need to give really just kind but direct feedback in the next meeting, and then we maybe need to be an empathetic manager after that.
Each of these different meetings essentially require a different version of us. But one thing that I learned in improv is that we can actually put on costumes, essentially. Some performers actually pre plan an emotion or an energy that they're gonna bring to a scene.
You can actually put on a costume like this as well. You can sort of pre plan:
What is the energy I need to bring into this meeting where I am the efficient leader?
What is the energy that I need to bring into this meeting where I have to give direct, kind of harsh feedback?
What is the energy I need to bring into this meeting where I have a member of the team who's really struggling, and I wanna show that I'm empathetic and kind?
All of these can be authentic versions of you. I'm not telling you to be performative. But you might need to have that shake it off moment as you transition from one costume to the next.
If we bring that leftover energy from one meeting into the next, there can be a mismatch. People can read us wrong. They can make assumptions about our intentions. It can erode trust. Bringing that leftover energy—it's important to get rid of that so that we can truly bring our best. And, actually, that's a way of showing them respect.
I want you to look at your calendar for tomorrow. As you look at your meetings for the day, think about the types of transitions, energetic transitions you're gonna need to make.
How do you shift your energy to get ready for that next meeting?
What is the costume you need to put on so that you can be fully present?
When we have that kind of clarity, when we take that time to manage our transitions, to kind of pause before we get into it, we show up with a more clear energetic vibration. And that actually helps our team feel safe.
I'll tell you one area in which I'm pretty bad at shifting my energy—and this is something I need to work on—but one area of improvement is on the pickleball court. If I make a mistake on the pickleball court or I get slammed on because it's my fault, sometimes I have a hard time letting go and shifting my energy to being back in the present as opposed to critiquing what just happened. I need to shake it off on the pickleball court.
So, folks, I want you to think about how this can play out in your world. Come up with a ritual that's going to be your version of shaking it out. Just remember that the transition from one energetic experience to the other is just as important as what you give once you're there.
That's all for today, folks. Thanks for listening.
I'm cheering you on!