This article was based on the interview with Featuring insights from Mark DeCarlo, Emmy Award-winning comedian, voice actor, and speaker by Greg Kihlström, AI and MarTech keynote speaker for The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Listen to the original episode here:
When most people hear the word “agility,” they think of Scrum boards, KPIs, or digital transformation. Mark DeCarlo thinks of something else entirely: comedy. More specifically, improvisational comedy—the art of thriving in chaos, saying “yes, and” instead of “no, but,” and listening deeply so the scene doesn’t fall apart. In DeCarlo’s world, agility isn’t a methodology—it’s a mindset. And if that mindset can hold together a cast of comedians live on stage or behind the mic, it can probably do the same for your marketing team, creative department, or executive leadership group.
DeCarlo has spent three decades in entertainment—on sitcoms like Seinfeld, in animated classics like Jimmy Neutron, and as a travel host meeting entrepreneurs across the country. His latest project translates those lessons from the greenroom to the boardroom with five deceptively simple strategies to help teams overcome fear, embrace change, and do better work by actually enjoying it. This conversation is less about frameworks and more about freeing people up to be their best selves—especially when the script goes out the window.
The Best Ideas Don’t Always Come from the Top
One of the recurring themes in DeCarlo’s work is that organizational excellence depends on cultural openness. While many companies pay lip service to collaboration, DeCarlo offers a lived example: his week guest-starring on Seinfeld. Unlike other sets where the stars disappear between takes, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David stayed on set, offering feedback not just to lead actors but to guest stars, extras, and crew. “Literally everyone on that set felt free to speak up,” he says.
“You’d have the craft service guy say, ‘George wouldn’t say that.’ And they’d listen. Because he’d been watching the show for four years. And they respected that.”
The takeaway? Great teams don’t hoard the creative process—they democratize it. They make feedback safe. They assume great ideas might come from unexpected places. And they don’t punish people for the occasional dud, because that’s the price of admission for innovation.
Five Strategies for Working Happier (and Smarter)
DeCarlo’s five strategies are rooted in his background in improv and comedy, but they’re also tailored for real-world teams dealing with complex work and increasing pressure to perform:
- Empower Creativity at Every Level
If your lowest-paid employee doesn’t feel free to pitch an idea, you’re missing out on insights that leadership may never see firsthand. You can’t claim to be agile if your team is afraid to speak. - Say Yes-And
The core tenet of improv isn’t about agreement, it’s about momentum. Instead of shutting down half-baked ideas, build on them. “Even if someone says something dumb, you don’t shut it down. You say, ‘What if we added this?’” That’s how momentum builds. - Embrace Chaos (Don’t Just Tolerate It)
Businesses romanticize stability, but it’s often a mirage. “There is no stasis,” says DeCarlo. “Time passing is change.” Chaos is opportunity—an opening in the defense line where innovation can slip through. When you expect disruption, you’re less derailed by it. - Find Happiness First, Then Productivity
“You are your brand,” DeCarlo argues. “If you’re miserable, it’s your fault.” Instead of grinding through 40 years of work to enjoy five years of retirement, find ways to align what you enjoy with how you work—whether that’s through creativity, learning, collaboration, or storytelling. - Dissolve Fear
People fear failure. They fear looking dumb in meetings. And that fear kills creativity. “Fear is a wasted emotion,” he says. “The only way to get to a great idea is to throw out a lot of bad ones.” Create a culture where people are safe to fail, and the big wins will eventually surface.
Listening Is the Secret Weapon
Whether you’re pitching a client or managing a team, the most underutilized business skill is active listening. DeCarlo compares great leaders to great interviewers—like Johnny Carson—who didn’t just ask scripted questions but followed the thread wherever it led. “If you’re present, if you listen, then you can respond creatively,” he says.
This isn’t about personality; it’s about practice. As DeCarlo explains, we’re all improvising constantly—making decisions in real time based on partial information. Good improv just makes that process visible and intentional. It rewards attention and curiosity. It makes space for surprise.
And if that sounds like a metaphor for your last brand sprint, creative review, or CMO offsite, that’s the point.
Conclusion
Agility doesn’t require a certification. It doesn’t need a digital platform or a Gantt chart. Sometimes, all it needs is a team willing to listen to each other, take creative risks, and embrace the fact that things rarely go to plan. Mark DeCarlo reminds us that the best work often comes not from sticking to the agenda, but from throwing it out—on stage, in the boardroom, and especially when the room is full of strangers with good ideas and nothing to lose.
Whether you’re managing a campaign or running a company, the lesson is the same: build trust, welcome feedback, and leave room for something better than you originally imagined. Or, to put it in improv terms: say yes—and see what happens next.
