I spent a lot of time in the eighties researching and studying business communication, team building and innovation skills. I read all the relevant management books, greedily absorbed articles in management and business magazines, listened to all the management gurus. Then I discovered the theatre and realized what a lot of time and money I had wasted! Want to be a better public speaker? Do a theatre course Theatre courses are plentiful, cheap and fun. They will teach you more in a couple of courses than a whole year with toastmasters, Dale Carnegie or any of the plethora of management communication courses that are run Want to improve your team working skills? Join a theatre group Its one thing learning to work in a team where people are paid and subject to some sort of authority. Learning to work in a team where your fellow team members are likely to throw a hissy fit and storm out is something again. Want to be more innovative? Do an improvised theatre course Keith Johnson, a Canadian, developed Theatresports back in the seventies as a way of teaching traditional actors to free up their creativity. Now improvisational theatre courses are available in most cities and you will discover your hidden creativity quickly, with lots of fun and very little cost Want to improve your writing? Study scripts. I thought I was a good writer until I started studying theatre and film scripts. A good script achieves that most difficult of things, an emotional response, and it does so without a single superfluous word in it. Good film scripts are even more impressive. Next time you are watching a good film, look at how minimalist the words are. Want to have some real fun? Do some plays. Here are some of mine: 'Charles Stanton' in J B Priestley's Dangerous Corner 'Jack Barker' in Dennis Potter's Sufficient Carbohydrate 'Sherlock Holmes' in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles ' Damsinski' in Peter Schaffer's Gift of the Gorgon 'Glagolyev' in Michael Frayn's Wild Honey 'Frank' in Andrew Bergman's Social Security 'Harry Kane' in Harold Pinter's The Collection Gus in Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter Uncle Bob in Morris Gleitzman's Two weeks with the Queen