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- How to Handle Anything
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Description
Wouldn't it be great if we all had a user's manual for handling uncertainty? Well, now we do.
Drawing from her expertise as a sought-after creative consultant when it comes to improving leadership and teams, TED speaker and global consultant Mary Lemmer reveals how the principles of improv can be a powerful tool for transforming how we approach life's challenges. If we learn to handle ambiguity, we can handle anything.
Through four core principles, supported by research, examples, and actionable strategies, Mary offers a step-by-step guide to help build creative resilience, improve our ability to adapt and respond to life's inevitable curveballs with confidence, positivity, and creativity. By integrating these techniques, we will learn how to shift our mindset, increase our emotional flexibility, and create more opportunities in both our personal and professional lives. Learn how to apply the core principles of improvisation to real-life situations and gain the tools to navigate uncertainty, reduce anxiety, and improve your overall well-being.
Accessibility Information
Additional accessibility information
- PDF/UA-2, 1.4
- accessibility@bloomsbury.com
Hazards
The publication contains no hazards
Support for non-visual reading
Has alternative text descriptions for images
Navigation
- Page list to go to pages from the print source version
- Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
- All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 00: Introduction
Chapter 01: Why Improv?
Chapter 02: Fire the Judge
Chapter 03: Form Your Ensemble
Chapter 04: Principle One - Say “Yes, And”
Chapter 05: Principle Two - Take Everything as a Gift
Chapter 06: Principle Three - Play the Scene You're In
Chapter 07: Principle Four - If It Feels Weird, Do It
Chapter 08: Navigating Change
Chapter 09: Embracing the Unexpected
Chapter 10: Building Connection and Clarity
Chapter 11: What's Your Anything?
Bibliography
Product details
| Published | 15 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | 9798216367062 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Much of our suffering comes from the belief that we can control what was never ours to control. In How to Handle Anything, Mary Lemmer uses improvisation principles to help readers explore a different way of meeting life-one grounded in presence, flexibility, and a willingness to engage with, and not control, what's here.
Jerry Colonna, author of Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong
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Mary Lemmer understands better than most the undeniable power of an improvisational practice to bolster our relationships, improve our daily work and to build a better life.
Kelly Leonard, Vice President of Creative Strategy, Innovation and Business Development at The Second City, Inc.
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I've long believed improv builds some of the most valuable skills for leadership, including presence, communication, collaboration, adaptability, creative thinking, and the ability to operate under uncertainty. In How to Handle Anything, Mary Lemmer translates those principles into an accessible, practical guide for navigating the unpredictability of work and life.
Dick Costolo, co-founder and managing partner, 01 Advisors
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We never can control what happens in life, but we can choose how we show up. Lemmer's How to Handle Anything offers a compelling, refreshingly human guide to navigating uncertainty with presence, adaptability, and intention---the skills that matter now more than ever.
Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies and author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, and Do Method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships
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Improv principles are catchy enough to actually remember---which means you'll actually use them. Backed by real neuroscience, tested in real lives, and written with the warmth and humor you'd expect from someone who found her way out of adversity by learning to say yes, and.
Ori Amir

























