About Debra Schifrin
Debra speaks your language
Debra Schifrin has a unique blend of business and creative experience that make her rare in corporate training. It makes her the ideal person to bring improv-based training to your organization.
Her career began in national media, as a reporter and producer for National Public Radio, followed by Harvard Business School for her MBA, then Stanford Graduate School of Business as a lecturer.
Debra can jump right in. With her background, she can quickly diagnose both your business and employee/people challenges. – she listens to you and she gets it. She is able to drill down to the main point quickly, and start moving into solutions.
Send her a message to get started.
Debra Works at the Intersection of Improv and Business
Debra spent over a decade at NPR as an on-air reporter and producer for flagship shows like All Things Considered and Morning Edition, where she honed her communication skills and the ability to distill complex information into engaging narratives for millions of listeners nationwide every day. During that time, she spent two years reporting on business for Marketplace, gaining a deep understanding of how business decisions and economics impact people from all walks of life.
While at NPR in Washington D.C., Debra co-founded the Washington Improv Theater. There she discovered the profound relevance of improv concepts to the workplace – quick thinking, supporting your teammates, feeling comfortable sharing your ideas – all things businesses would greatly benefit from more of.
This realization led her to Harvard Business School to get her MBA. Along with studying finance, marketing, and strategy, she focused on creativity and innovation in leadership and corporate training. She saw that existing leadership training often undervalued spontaneity, creativity, and collaboration skills, and that improv techniques were the way to bridge that gap and create more agile and effective leaders.
Bridging Academia and Practice
Debra joined the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and delved deeper into the relationship between improv practices, creativity, and business strategy. Her extensive conversations with C-suite executives and people leaders informed the nearly 80 case studies she published focused on strategy, marketing, product and social innovation, creativity, humor, and storytelling. These case studies are taught at the GSB and in MBA classes worldwide.
Debra co-developed two groundbreaking courses: Creativity in the Business Ecosystem and Spontaneous Management, the school’s first and only improv-based management course and one of the only improv-based MBA courses in the world. She still teaches these courses at the GSB.
Leading Transformational Workshops
Today, Debra is a thought leader in improv-based teaching and consulting. Her workshops are renowned for creating a lively and inclusive environment while imparting practical skills that participants can immediately apply to their professional roles.
Her clients come from across the world in multiple sectors including high-tech/AI, consulting, medical, Edtech, consumer goods companies, investment banking, private equity, nonprofits, and top-tier universities. She helps them excel through improved leadership, communication, innovation, and collaboration.
Book Debra for Your Workshop
If you're looking to transform your team's effectiveness, improv techniques and strategies may be the piece you’ve been missing.
Get in touch today to explore how Debra’s improv-based training can benefit your organization.
“Debra did an impressive job of relating the principles of improvisation and performance to the specific task of effective communication and presentation in the workplace.
Participants come away with a clearer definition of the type of presenter they want to be, a better understanding of where they currently stand relative to those goals, and an arsenal of tangible tools to employ to get from where they are to where they want to be with regards to presentation and confidence.”
– Wande Olabisi
Vice President, Altamont Capital Partners
"Debra led a session on Improvisational Leadership for my Strategic Communication class at Stanford. Debra led the class through a series of interactive improv exercises designed to teach the value of play, collaboration and whimsy in a leadership role. The entire class participated enthusiastically and raved about the experience after."
– Burt Alper
Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business
“We all got a lot from practicing the active listening and the ‘thinking on your feet’ skill set that Debra teaches in an interactive, fun (even on Zoom!) format. Even though I communicate about our mission and membership every day personally, I walked away with more energy and new skills. Really appreciate the work that she did and highly recommend her services to others."
– Mairin Macaluso
Director of Member Impact and Engagement, Leadership Now Project
Training as an Improviser
Debra has been performing and teaching improv for over 15 years.
She is a founding member of San Francisco improv troupes Phasers On Stun (improvised Star Trek) and Flash Mob Musical (the longest running musical improv troupe in SF).
She has trained and performed at famous improv theaters including: Washington Improv Theater in Washington D.C., IO in Chicago, UCB in New York, and BATS improv in San Francisco.
She is a member of the international organization Applied Improvisation Network.
