Duke Fuqua’s Improv Course Teaches MBA Students To Be Quick On Their Feet

Bob Kulhan and his team on the opening day of the annual Workshop in Managerial Improvisation. Fuqua photo

In January, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business celebrated the silver anniversary of its annual Workshop in Managerial Improvisation, marking 25 years of success in improvisation.

The course is a bootcamp-style experience taught over five days in a supportive environment with a focus on teaching students to react, adapt, and communicate in business — all through engaging and fun comedy improv methods.

“At the start, only about 30% of students knew each other,” says Bob Kulhan, who created the course. “By the time the course is done, they’re a high functioning team. It’s a time to focus, support, and help each other in a very personal and meaningful way.”

Kulhan, a seasoned improviser trained in Chicago with extensive stage experience in improv and sketch comedy, created the program in 1999. Back then, it was the first of its kind — an improv program that focused on improvisation in business.

Bob Kulhan: “This program pushes you — students have to be focused, present and in the moment at a high level collectively for five days in a row. It is a physical and mental commitment”

PEOPLE SKILLS & HUMAN CONNECTION THROUGH IMPROV

With nearly three decades of involvement in the improv sphere, Kulhan has translated his expertise to the world of MBA education, serving as an adjunct professor. His company is Business Improv, and its motto is, “We focus on people skills and human connection.”

Kulhan found himself in this role in a rather unexpected way. “It was serendipity,” he says. In 1999, he was in a coffee shop waiting for his order when he overheard a group of professors arguing about how to add experiential learning to their mid-year orientation. At the time, Fuqua had six other orientation courses in place, but nothing experiential.

“I jumped in and told them I had an idea,” Kulhan recalls. The professors didn’t know who he was, and improv was not as popular an entertainment form — but Kulhan caught the professors’ interest. They encouraged him to submit a formal proposal to Duke.

His idea was tested, and the course was a hit.

“In the spirit of today’s language, it went viral,” says Kulhan, “so much so that Duke discarded the six other courses the next year and only kept this Managerial Improvisation course.”

WHAT A BOOTCAMP-STYLE IMPROV COURSE ENTAILS

The bones of the program are the same today as they were 25 years ago, Kulhan says, with the for-credit course kicking off on a Monday morning and concluding in an improv capstone performance on Friday evening.

Over five days, students spend 33 to 37 hours in experiential learning, with a couple of papers, breakout sessions, and professional development and strategic applications in between. Even after the program officially concludes, Kulhan extends support by way of one-on-one or small group coaching.

“This program pushes you — students have to be focused, present and in the moment at a high level collectively for five days in a row. It is a physical and mental commitment,” Kulhan says.

For this past course at Fuqua, 43 Fuqua students attended, split into five groups. Some were first- or second-year MBAs, others were from the MMS program pursuing an MBA.

Helping to lead were a few core Improv Leads that have many years of experience in both the improv and business spheres. Kulhan has a total of 15 dedicated Improv Leads that are located throughout the nation which he calls upon to assist him in these programs.

Aside from teaching at Duke, Kulhan also has running relationships for courses at UCLA Anderson, CBS, Florida Warrington, Notre Dame Mendoza, and more. Though not at Duke, most of these universities have built his course in as a standard part of orientation.

Bob Kulhan and his team on the opening day of the workshop. Fuqua photo

IMPROV IS URGENT

By nature, business students need to adapt to constant change within the classroom and in the working world, and that is exactly what Kulhan’s course is preparing them to do, especially in the face of changing workforces and technology, with AI and virtual reality.

“Improvisation is truly this unknown place of constant change with a high level of unpredictability,” says Kulhan. “This program has such a strong reverberating effect on people. We are going head on into some of the biggest things that people need to overcome in life, and we are doing it in a really fun and energizing way.”

Kulhan is still in contact with some of his students from when he first began the program 25 years ago. “Students leave this program, some with an impact that is positively life changing.”

One of Kulhan’s favorite moments every year is when English-as-a-second-language students blossom and come out of their shell — when “they are communicating freely and boldly, they are empowered to share their voices.” He also loves seeing students overcome their fear of public speaking.

Kulhan expressed his gratitude to Fuqua, to whom he is grateful for taking a chance on him and embracing improvisation at a time when it was far from popular in the media. “Duke was really pioneering this,” he says.

DON’T MISS LOL WITH COMEDIAN MBA PAUL OLLINGER