Explore how the principles of improvisation — flexibility, collaboration, and adaptability — can inspire the design of human-centered AI systems. Just as improv thrives on the “yes, and” mindset, successful AI must work in harmony with human creativity, adapting to our needs while amplifying our potential. Mickey McManus, senior advisor and leadership coach at BCG, shares his perspective on the parallels between improv and AI design: “Great improv isn’t about stealing the spotlight; it’s about listening, adapting, and building something greater together. AI should do the same — supporting humans, not overshadowing them.”
Episode Guest
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Mickey McManus
Mickey McManus is an Executive Coach and Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group. He has coached both new and established leaders in a range of industries and situations, including working with executive boards to find and nurture founders/CEOs, helping executives work through transitional moments in their company’s evolution, helping leaders transition into new roles, and helping seasoned executives and board members leading large-scale change (particularly digital transformations). In addition to his work at BCG, Mickey is a visiting research fellow at Autodesk’s Office of the CTO.
A pioneer in pervasive computing, collaborative human/machine innovation, and human-centered design and education, Mickey was the president, CEO, and chairman of MAYA Design, a design consultancy and innovation lab that was spun out from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989. During Mickey’s 13 years as CEO at MAYA, the company won numerous Consumer Electronic Association (CEA) awards for product innovation, and spun out, launched, or incubated five new MAYA organizations based on research done for the US government’s “Department of Strategic Surprise,” DARPA.
Mickey holds 12 patents in the area of connected products, environments, vehicles, and services. His current research is at the intersection of automation, cognitive capacity, biases, and meta-cognition. He is the co-author of the award-winning book Trillions: Thriving in the Emerging Information Ecology.
Episode Transcript
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