Author: Jim Karwisch

  • The Improvisational Parent

    I spend my days as an evangelist of the “Yes, and” mindset. Working with leaders and collaborators, I help them to understand with respectful engagement and a non-judgemental environment can do to improve their culture and consequently boost their profits. I spend my evenings attempting to do the same with my five-year-old son Elijah. Maintaining a…

  • Just. Spend. The. Dollar.

    The year was 1987. I stood at my dad’s bedroom door begging him to take me and my Ziploc bag filled with quarters to the arcade so that I could take another stab at playing Mrs. Pacman or Galaga. Sometimes you would wait patiently behind another person who had a stack of quarters balanced between…

  • FIVE ways to craft a safe collaborative space

    At the beginning of my career I was asked to join a group tasked with brainstorming, strategizing and implementing a new campaign for a major brand. I was young at the time but I was known for high intuition and clarity in my ideas. As we began the first session, the facilitator started by simply…

  • Move these FIVE books to the top of your reading list

    If you are like me, you have a stack of books that you have been either meaning to read or working your way through over time. It always seems like there are more books coming out and the stack grows with every purchase. Below I list five books that you should pull from their place…

  • The FIVE People of whom I am the Average

    By now, most of us have heard the quote by renowned businessman Jim Rohn who said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.” In 2014 I left SunTrust Bank to venture out on my own as a freelancer. Within a week of leaving I had met with each…

  • A Culture of Yes-and

    Culture is a balanced blend of human psychology, attitudes, actions, and beliefs that combined create either pleasure or pain, serious momentum or miserable stagnation. –Shawn Parr I work in a culture of Yes-and. It is how I approach my life and my relationships. Yes-and is how I make my decisions and how I (when I…