Reflections from Dick Costolo’s commencement address

I watched Richard/Dick Costolo’s commencement address at the University of Michigan earlier this week. Dick C is the CEO of Twitter and previously was a co-founder at Feedburner. I’ve been interested in hearing from him ever since I learnt that he’s an ex-Improv artist and stand up comedian (I love such diversity!).

Here are my reflections from the talk –

– Learnings from Improv. Inspired by Dan Pink’s points in “To Sell is Human,” I recently bought a book on Improv. Improv principles like listen for offers, see humor in every situation, make the other person look good, be open, and make a plan but adjust rapidly resonate with me and Dick Costolo’s learnings from improv struck a chord.

– “Life is unscripted.” We have to be relentless about making scripts and understand the direction while being relentless about adapting. Make plans but be open for change is a worthy principle.

– “Our stage can be absolutely anything.” His Director once pointed out that they weren’t thinking big enough. The stage they were on could be absolutely anything – a space shuttle or an Amazonian forest if they wanted it to be.
It’s something we need to keep reminding ourselves. We are the heroes of our own stories and we own the script.

– Twitter went down when Russian President Medvedev entered the office to send a tweet. I’ve often wondered why the biggest IT issues on my computer/internet/Skype happen just when I’m about to record a Real Leader interview. Dick C’s experience with Twitter going down as the Russian President entered made me smile. As a quote I read today goes – “Expect problems. Eat them for breakfast.”

I enjoyed the talk. It’s not often you have a CEO of a top companies channelling inspiration from improv and stand-up. Good on you, Dick C.