The power of the word "AND".

Several years ago I attended an annual luncheon of the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce.  The presenter was Kat Koppett, a Training Director at the Mop and Bucket Co., Capital District's premiere improvisational theatre company. Kat  is an accomplished speaker with corporate experience. MopCo uses improvisation to teach teamwork, collaboration and goal setting to business leaders through the use of improv.


What I learned during that luncheon changed the way I speak, how I think and how I react to people. Not only did I learn the power of the work "AND" , I also learned the negative aspects of the word "BUT".


After the introductions Kat asked 4 audience members to come up to the front of the room and stand in a line facing the crowd. She then set the stage and instructed them to make a statement with the rule that the next person in line had to start their sentence with the word "BUT". The topic was... "We're planning for a business meeting in London"


Here is how it went:


Person 1: “We're going to have a meeting in London”
Person 2: "BUT it rains there”
Person 3: "BUT the traffic is terrible”
Person 4: "BUT the people there don't like Americans”


By the time they rotated back to the first participant the energy in the room and in the contestants was noticeably low. The enthusiasm was not there. Does this remind you of a real meeting you recently attended, where the "BUT's" just brought everyone down leading to very little progress?

Kat then asked the group to do the same exercise and instead of using the word "BUT", the next person in line had to begin his sentence with "AND".

Person 1: "We're going to have a meeting in London"
Person 2: "AND we can bring our families"
Person 3: "AND there's so much to do at night"
Person 4: "AND we can get so much done"
Person 1: "AND I can see the Queen"
Person 2: "AND maybe we can invite guests"
Person 3: "AND we can raise some funds through our vendors"

The process continued for three or four turns with each person "building" on what the previous individual said. The excitement was obvious, the collaboration was evident and the room overall was engaged and focused. In improv and in business, we need more "AND's" in our people interactions.

I once wrote an email to my boss which went something like this. "Boss, I'm excited to inform you that the planning for our product launch is going great! All of the committee members are engaged, we have the venue picked out and the manufactures are reviewing the agenda."
His reply was "Thanks for the update Jarek BUT, I would speak with Bill to make sure he's on board." Ugghhh!!!  I wrote back to him and explained that I just attended a seminar on the usage of the word "AND" and suggested he rewrite his email like this: "Thanks for the update,Jarek AND I would speak with Bill to make sure he's on board." My boss replied with a ;-) and started to use the word "AND" instead of "BUT" at every opportunity.

Will you start using the word "AND" instead of "BUT"? Give it a try! While you're at it, get rid of "HOWEVER" too!

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