ExperienceYes

ExperienceYes What’s the real value of being an innovative company? (Forbes.com, 2013)

But, what’s at the core of being innovative? How do we get there?

Using Linus Pauling's adage "The way to have good ideas is to have more ideas," ExperienceYes enables companies to create a culture of innovation and increase their measurable creativity index by using the tools and techniques of improvisation. According to Forbes, that value equates to a 10%+ “Innovation Premium” for companies like Apple, Google and Salesforce.com. Simply put, innovation requires

three things:
1) Creativity
2) New Ideas (and lots of them)
3) New ways to look at things

Enter ExperienceYes. ExperienceYes is an innovation company that uses the tools and techniques of Brain Disruption to allow teams to shut off their 'Executive Judge'. Academic studies have proven that “a single, promising, creative idea is strongly correlated (r2=.82) with the ability to quickly generate ideas.” (Kudrowitz, HaHa and Aha! Creativity, Idea Generation, Improvisation, and Product Design, 2010) Our workshops programs have been shown to increase participants’ ability to generate ideas by 41%. There are three core rules of this approach:
1) Yes, and…
2) Listen
3) Support your teammates at all costs

By leveraging these rules, ExperienceYes provides a measurable method for quantifying the creative process to make businesses more responsive, adaptive and innovative – pushing companies toward the goal of capturing that 10%+ “Innovation Premium”.

09/02/2026

How much silence is too much silence?

The 5-second rule is gold. It creates space. People share more. You learn something real.

Then there is the longer pause. In a negotiation? Waiting it out can win the moment.

And then there is creepy silence.
The kind where everyone starts looking around like: Who is driving this meeting?

Use silence on purpose:
1) Pause for 5 (listening)
2) If you are waiting it out, own it (stay calm, stay present)
3) If the room is drifting, take the reins with one clean question

Silence is a tool, not a personality trait.

08/27/2026

Ever replay a conversation for HOURS… and somehow it is never the good ones?

If you are looping on “that” conversation, try this:
1) Ask: What is real? What is true? What story am I telling myself?
2) Decide what is actually at stake.
3) Write down 3 next steps (or plan the follow-up conversation).

Your brain wants closure. Give it a plan.

Want a simple follow-up line you can send to reset the conversation?

07/30/2026

You think you're a good listener. Your team seems to disagree.

Here's what's really happening: You're not aware of what you're actually doing. You're checking your phone. Scanning Slack. Looking at Teams. Half-present while someone's trying to tell you something important.

The trap is thinking you know what good listening looks like. You don't - at least not from their perspective.

So here's what I'd do: Sit down with a couple of people on your team and ask them directly. Not defensively. Not to argue. Just to understand.

"What are you seeing that leads you to believe I'm not a good listener? Or - what do you need to see from me to show you I'm genuinely with you?"

Because the first step to being a better listener isn't changing your behavior. It's understanding what you're missing. It's getting curious about your blind spot instead of defending it.

That's the kind of self-awareness we ALL need.

07/23/2026

You think your idea is the best one in the room.

Guess what? Everyone else thinks the same thing about theirs.

Here's the trap: If you don't allow space for curiosity about other ideas, you've got zero chance of selling your brilliant idea as brilliant. Because nobody's actually listening. They're waiting for their turn to talk. They're already thinking about why their idea is better.

So what happens? Great ideas get buried. Innovation stalls. Teams talk past each other instead of with each other.

The fix is deceptively simple: Tell yourself, I'm not certain. I'm going to be curious.

When you shift from "I know mine's better" to "What could be possible here?" - that's when everything changes. That's when you move from pitch mode to solution mode. That's when all ideas are actually welcome.

It's the difference between arrogance and leadership.

Curiosity wins!

07/16/2026

Your boss dominates every meeting. You sit there silent, checking your phone, waiting for it to end. That's not managing up - that's tolerating.

Here's the truth: Most leaders don't create space for people to manage up to them. And most people don't try. So the dynamic gets stuck.

Here's what actually works:

First, have the conversation outside the meeting. Not during. Find a quiet moment and say: "I need your help. When we're in meetings, I feel like I'm struggling to find an opportunity to contribute. Do you have thoughts on that?" Then let it sit. Don't fill the silence.

If they don't realize it's them, you're not positioned to tell them they talk too much. Instead, show them what's happening in the room: "I've noticed in our recent meetings that some people haven't been able to really jump in or give feedback. I'd love to work with you on how we structure meetings so everyone has an opportunity to weigh in when that's important."

And in the moment? Flag yourself when you have something to say: "Before we move on, I want to make sure I say these three things." That signals to your boss that you have a point worth listening to.

That's managing up. That's how you lead from where you sit.

07/09/2026

Ever been in a meeting where one person won't stop talking? You know the feeling - everyone else is checking their phones, the energy dies, and nothing gets decided. Here's what actually works: pocket flags. These are simple phrases that interrupt the dominance without being rude. Try this one: "Hold on just one second. I have a couple questions before we go forward, and I'm wondering if anyone else has thoughts on it." What does this do? It stops the outflow of words. It gives you a chance to ask what you need. AND it creates space for other voices to jump in. That's how you run a meeting where everyone's heard, everyone contributes, and you actually get somewhere. Try it this week.

07/01/2026

When the conversation gets heated, most teams push through. Blood pressure rises. Tone shifts. Fear spreads.

That's Volcano Vikings behavior - and it's costing you 30% higher turnover risk (SHRM data).

The fix? The pause.

Not "we need to talk about your behavior." That escalates. Instead: "It feels like there's a lot of emotion around this. Let's take five and come back fresh."

That simple reframe does two things:
1. Names what's happening without blame
2. Gives the amygdala time to calm down so the prefrontal cortex can actually think

One pause. One conversation saved. One team that still trusts each other.

What's one heated conversation you could've handled differently with a five-minute pause?

06/03/2026

When someone says something in a meeting and everything changes - the energy shifts, people go quiet, someone's camera turns off - what do you do?

Most leaders? They pretend nothing happened. They move on. And in that moment, they've just told their team: "It's not safe to be real here."

Here's what actually works: acknowledge it. Create space. Ask a question. "Hey, feels like we hit something important here" or "Let's pause and give everyone a chance to say something."

That's it. You're building psychological safety in real time. You're telling your team it's safe to speak up, to take risks, to be human.

We come from improv, where this principle is fundamental: if you drop something on stage, you pick it back up. You acknowledge it. You don't pretend it didn't happen. That's the same principle that builds trust in your team.

Leaders who understand this? Their teams stay longer, speak up more, and drive better business outcomes. It's not soft. It's strategic.

05/27/2026

You ever feel like your mouth has a mind of its own?

You're in a meeting. You're with a client. You're trying to prove you know your stuff, so you jump in with solutions. Meanwhile, the other person is sitting there thinking, "Is she ever going to stop talking?"

Here's the reality: when you dominate the conversation, you kill the conversation. Your team stops speaking up. Your clients stop sharing what they actually need. You miss the whole point.

The fix is simpler than you think:
**Stop. Smile. Pause.** Ask, "What's resonating for you?"

That pause is where real connection happens. That's where you actually hear what people need. Try it in your next meeting. Your team will thank you.
Gail Montgomery Bruce Montgomery

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Evergreen, CO
80439

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+13038804173

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