Ep.16 - Guest Episode with UK comedian Neil Mullarkey (and did we mention Austin Powers star?)

The Occupational Philosophers - A not-so-serious business podcast to spark Creativity, Imagination and Curiosity

In Episode 16, The Occupational Philosophers chat with the very talented and very funny, Neil Mullarkey. Neil co-founded the world-famous improvisation group The Comedy Store Players in the UK with Mike Myers, later appearing with him in the fabulous Austin Powers movies. He has appeared on TV over many years, including Have I Got News For You, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Saturday Live and QI. He has also won awards for his alter ego - L. Vaughan Spencer, (L-Vo for short), A Life Coach, Self-Help Guru and Gangsta Motivator.

Neil has become highly accomplished in the field of management training, running many workshops and hosting conferences for a wealth of private and public organisations where he uses the techniques of theatre improvisation to inspire business people to embrace their creativity and enhance their communication skills.

In this episode, they explore:

• How Improv comedy can teach us how to work more effectively in teams and organisations
• Why listening is the critical skill we all need to master
• Why constraints and restrictions can liberate our creativity
• What leaders need to do to provide the extraordinary leadership required in today’s VUCA world
• Who in your business needs to take responsibility for ensuring meetings have impact
• And what to do when faced with an electric drill and a wombat

As always, there are some great thought experiments such as:

• What’s in the box?
• Listeners Dilemmas

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmullarkey

Learn more about Neil:

http://neilmullarkey.com/

http://www.improvyourbiz.com/

http://succeeedy.com/

https://neilmullarkey.com/sevensteps

References

http://www.provocativetherapy.com/

https://almosthappy.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Rogers

https://www.seenandheard.org/

https://gestaltcentre.org.uk/what-is-gestalt/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel

https://chimpmanagement.com/

https://hbr.org/2015/02/how-to-revive-a-tired-network

https://www.leadershipcentre.org.uk/artofchangemaking/theory/complexity/

https://comedystoreplayers.com/