Adaptability and Why everyone should take an improv class
In the age of artificial intelligence, you’d think the most valuable marketing skills would be AI, data analytics, and automation.
Nope.
According to the American Marketing Association’s 2025 report, "Marketing in the Age of Disruption: The Skills Marketers Need in 2025 and Beyond,” it’s actually human skills that matter most (you may recognize these as what have traditionally been referred to as "soft skills" cue eye roll 🙄).
Top 5 Skills for Marketers Today, according to the AMA's research:
Communication
critical thinking
adaptability
collaboration
creativity
And the fastest-growing skill? Adaptability: up 10% since 2021 as AI disrupts workflows faster than organizations can keep up.
Guess where I learned how to be adaptable? Improv class. (Also, where I met my husband and closest friends, so: improv ftw).
What "Yes, And" Actually Teaches You
In improv, there is one Golden Principle: No matter what happens, say “Yes, and.”
“Just say yes and you’ll figure it out afterwards.” — Tina Fey
Most people think improv is a $5 basement comedy show where guys in flannel interrupt each other.
Which, I mean, is sometimes/often the case. But when you see GOOD improv, it’s genuinely magical. The performers are in sync, collaborative, and — since, like in life, you can’t control what other people do — they don’t shy away from building on an accidental flub and turning it into the best part of a scene.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
You think you’re holding a cell phone. Your scene partner just called it a magic wand.
The instinct is to correct them: “What do you mean? This is a phone!” But that would be “NO”-ing your partner, the resistance to which is one of the key challenges of improv.
If you’re truly conditioned to “yes and,” you roll with it: “I am Linux, the all-powerful wizard of Techtopia, and this is my AI-powered chat-wand. Don’t be rude, say hello.”
By accepting your scene partner’s premise, you inadvertently “mapped” magic onto technology and found the “game” of the scene. C’est cool, non?
Why This matters for marketers right now
“Those who have learned to collaborate and improvise have prevailed.” - Charles Darwin (ya, for real)
The best improvisers don’t resist change, they build on it. That’s the actual skill, and the data backs it up: in 2024, LinkedIn named adaptability the “Top Skill of the Moment.”
Right now, companies are rethinking their positioning every time OpenAI or Anthropic announce an update.
That’s basically improv!
Professionals who can think fast, welcome the unexpected, and collaborate constructively in real time will always have an edge. Best of all: it’s a skill that can be cultivated.
The Takeaway
"Yes, and" is a comedy rule — but it's also a useful one for work and life. It keeps you moving when the scene shifts. It yields collaboration, creative problem-solving, and occasionally, magic.
So: get thee to an improv class, tout de suite. And let me know how it goes.
This piece is adapted from Why Improv Is the Secret Weapon for Future-Proofing Your Career, originally published on LED Musings on March 5, 2025.
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