If I Were President . . .

A few weeks ago, the New York Times published an article in which they acknowledged that most of us are fed up with hearing from politicians, and asked some creative thinkers what they would do if they were President. Although I have strong political opinions, I try to avoid expressing them on this blog. However one of my favorite authors was one of the contributors and deserves acknowledgement. Patricia Ryan Madson wrote the book Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up, and her advice is useful for anyone trying to work with others to solve problems effectively and creatively:

I would invite all of the members of Congress to join me in an improvisation retreat.

• We would spend the time practicing saying “yes” to each other and really listening to one another’s offers.
• We would create stories of well-being.
• We would encourage thinking “inside the box.”
• We would look for innovative ways to use the resources at hand to solve our problems.

We would make some mistakes, and we would laugh a lot. Real laughter has been absent in the White House lately.

Think about how you can apply this to your life, and if you’re a caregiver, download my advice on Improv Wisdom for the Caregiver free for a limited time.

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