Ep.96 - Guest episode with Neil Mullarkey - Improv Maestro, Actor, Author, Comedian and Leadership Expert

The Occupational Philosophers - A not-so-serious business podcast to spark Creativity, Imagination and Curiosity

In Episode 96, The Occupational Philosophers chat with a returning guest, Neil Mullarkey! Neil who embodies the ethos of this shows and plays at the intersection of curiosity, creativity, and serendipity!

His last conversation with the show was way back in 2021 when the world was still reeling from the pandemic, the Tories were still in power, and Jeff Bezos was launching himself into space into a strangely shaped spacecraft….

He co-founded the world-famous improvisation group The Comedy Store Players here in the UK with Mike Myers, later appearing with him in the fabulous Austin Powers movies….who can forget “This sort of thing is my bag baby”...and more recently with Mike Myers in the Pentaverate sporting a lovely moustache.

He is also highly accomplished in the field of management training, running many workshops and conferences for private and public organisations, using the techniques of theatre improvisation to inspire business people to embrace their creativity and enhance their communication skills.

He is a published author of Seven Steps to Improve Your People Skills, and the more recent, In the Moment - both great books and highly recommended

It’s a real delight to welcome back, the man both ‘In the moment’ and man of the moment....Neil Mullarkey!!!!

In this episode, the Occupational Philosophers explore:

• The different ways you can organise your bookshelves
• What is a moment?
• How you can build a Cathedral if everyone brings a brick!
• What is adaptive leadership?
• Why you need to trust the process of collaborative creativity, saying ‘Yes to the mess’
• When you need to be prepared and when you need to let go
• Could AI replace Neil?
• The experience of writing his book ‘In the Moment’
• Why don’t people say ‘ancillary’ or ‘flan’ anymore?
• When is a LAGER a LASER? And what does that have to do with Improv?
• The wave-particle duality of light…..quantum facilitation anyone?
• Why is curiosity the yin to serendipity’s yang?
• The story of the ‘lucky butcher’...

And as ever, enjoy the Thought Experiment …this time it’s:

• In the What?

Learn more about Neil

• https://neilmullarkey.com
• https://neilmullarkey.com/inthemomentbook (Discount code available!)
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmullarkey
• https://comedystoreplayers.com
• https://www.improvyourbiz.com
• https://acknowledgements.substack.com

References

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67871679.amp
• https://news.sky.com/story/hotel-looking-to-hire-banter-merchant-to-entertain-guests-during-edinburgh-festival-fringe-13175451
• https://www.michaelconnelly.com
• https://www.waterstones.com/book/my-family/david-baddiel/9780008487607
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambozola