Improvisation as a life skill with Andrea Jones-Rooy and Justin Gregg

Adam joins an improv comedy workshop and comes away with new insights about facing failure, building resilience, boosting creativity, and elevating collaboration. He takes the stage in Authors@Wharton with a pair of past Re:Thinking guests, data scientist Andrea Jones-Rooy and animal cognition researcher Justin Gregg, who happen to moonlight as improv comedy performers. In this unique episode, Andrea and Justin throw Adam headfirst into a series of improv exercises and lead a lively, often hilarious discussion of the practical lessons. Follow our podcasts! ReThinking with Adam Grant: https://link.mgln.ai/kdYcyx The TED Podcasts is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Podcasts videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

Andrea Jones-RooyguestJustin GreggguestAdam Granthost

Aug 20, 202637mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 20, 2026
Duration: 37m
Channel: Re:Thinking with Adam Grant
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Adam joins an improv comedy workshop and comes away with new insights about facing failure, building resilience, boosting creativity, and elevating collaboration. He takes the stage in Authors@Wharton with a pair of past Re:Thinking guests, data scientist Andrea Jones-Rooy and animal cognition researcher Justin Gregg, who happen to moonlight as improv comedy performers. In this unique episode, Andrea and Justin throw Adam headfirst into a series of improv exercises and lead a lively, often hilarious discussion of the practical lessons. Follow our podcasts! ReThinking with Adam Grant: https://link.mgln.ai/kdYcyx The TED Podcasts is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Podcasts videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

SPEAKERS

Andrea Jones-Rooy
guest
Data scientist and professor who studies collective intelligence and applies improv principles to teamwork and communication.
Justin Gregg
guest
Science communicator and professor who teaches and uses improvisation in workshops and public speaking.
Adam Grant
host
Organizational psychologist and host of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, author of Originals.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, featuring Andrea Jones-Rooy and Justin Gregg, Improvisation as a life skill with Andrea Jones-Rooy and Justin Gregg explores improv’s “yes, and” turns failure into teamwork and creativity Andrea Jones-Rooy and Justin Gregg argue that improvisation is not just comedy but a transferable life skill that improves listening, collaboration, and comfort with uncertainty.

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