Four Day Weekend
Sundance Square
312 Houston Street
Fort Worth 76102
817-226-4329
www.fourdayweekend.com
Happy Accidents: The Transformative Power of “YES, AND” at Work and in Life, 208 pages, Wiley; 2017
From Happy Accidents:
In the beginning, it was dark. Literally, we couldn’t see a thing. There we sat – Frank Ford, David Wilk, Troy Grant and David Ahearn – in a dark, rundown apartment. The electricity had been cut off, and so too had our dream of the future. Hours earlier, three of us (Ford, Wilk, and Grant) had been fired from a comedy club where we had worked for two years for little to no pay to bring an essentially unknown comedy club from obscurity to a citywide hit.
Four Day Weekend has performed nearly 6,000 live shows since the group was founded over 20 years ago. Along the way, the troupe has received some honors not typically associated with a comedic theatrical group. Four Day Weekend has been named a Small Business of the Year by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, delivered their “Yes, and” keynote address to the U.S. Congress, worked with dozens of Fortune 500 companies each year and been Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. Now, the three founders – David Ahearn, Frank Ford and David Wilk – have released their new book Happy Accidents: The Transformative Power of “YES, AND” at Work and in Life. The “fourward” (they’re comedians, after all) to the book was written by Fort Worth philanthropists Mike and Rosie Moncrief.
The Fort Worth Business Press talked to David Wilk about the book.
To start, why did you write this book and who is it for?
We realized what the “Yes, and” philosophy did to enrich our lives, so we wanted to share it with others to help enrich theirs as well. We found that this fundamental improvisational philosophy, which worked so well for us onstage, worked just as well for us offstage. “Yes, and” encompassed how we ran our business and how we communicated in our personal relationships. In life, all of us improvise, so whether you’re a CEO, a budding entrepreneur or a stay-at-home mom, this book is for you. It’s a book for everyone.
Why should people in the business world read Happy Accidents?
They should read this book because it will teach them that there is a better way to do things in business. We live in a culture where negativity and saying “No” seems to be the default reaction. Our book shows you how, through practice, saying “Yes, and” can become your default and open up the doors to more possibilities. Instead of rewarding the dog-eat-dog approach to business, where people backstab each other to get ahead, why not work to make each other look good and inspire others to succeed together?
Was there a learning curve for applying the skills you use onstage in the business world?
Yes, there was a lengthy learning curve to determine how to best apply this philosophy to our business. Applying “Yes, and” is a lot like working out – you can’t just go to the gym once and magically be in shape. Similarly, you have to practice “Yes, and,” over a period of time, because people have been conditioned to say “No” in their life. Saying “No” to things is easy, while saying “Yes” to something can be much harder. “No” rewards you with control at the expense of making progress. Conversely, saying “Yes” rewards you with progress but means giving up control. Reprogramming your mindset around this concept takes time and it’s different for each person. This book will help to shave years off of your learning curve.
In Chapter 10, Practice Makes Perfect, is there anything in all your years of practice that prepared you to write this book?
In many respects, improvisation is a form of glorified brainstorming and storytelling. Onstage, we’ve had to create and tell stories, in a concise and entertaining way, for the last 20 years now. The ability to do this helped us in writing our book. We were able to recount our story, and apply the things we learned, in a similar concise and entertaining way.
How long did it take to write this book?
It took three years, from conception to fruition, to write the book.
What was the most challenging part of putting this book together?
Creating a cohesive tone for the book was the most difficult part of the process. Since the book was a collaboration between three people, that meant that three slightly different perspectives had to be molded into one. However, these same differences helped to give our stories more layers and complexity than they otherwise would have had if only one person had voiced it. As someone once said, “There would be no harmony if everyone sang the same note.”
“Yes, and?” Is there anything else you wanted to add that I didn’t ask you about?
We want to make it clear that “Yes, and” IS a philosophy and NOT a statement. We are well aware that, in business and in life, one has to say “No.” The only thing we ask is that it be a considerate “No” and not a knee-jerk “No.” “Yes, and” is not a cure-all or a panacea, but it is an introduction to a positive culture shift and rewiring the brain to default to “Yes, and” versus “No, but.”