Cory Hartman

Improv Leadership emerged from the Slingshot Group, a church staffing and leadership coaching organization co-founded by Endicott in 2007, in which Hartman and Miller served as collaborators and thought partners. The book represents an applied improv framework developed specifically for the Christian pastoral and organizational context, drawing on the improv tradition's emphasis on listening, presence, and responsive engagement rather than scripted or formulaic leadership approaches.

The five competencies the book identifies, Story Mining (drawing out others' narratives), Precision Praising (specific affirmation of growth), Metaphor Cementing (reinforcing learning through memorable imagery), Lobbing Forward (anticipating next steps), and Going North (directing conversation toward organizational mission), translate improvisational performance skills into pastoral coaching behaviors. This framework positions improvisational listening and responsiveness as pastoral virtues rather than entertainment skills, a transfer that reflects the broader applied improv movement's expansion into professional development contexts far removed from comedy stages.

The application of improvisational principles to pastoral and church leadership positions the book within the broader applied improv movement of the 2000s and 2010s, in which improv-derived frameworks were adopted by organizational consultants across multiple professional sectors including corporate training, education, healthcare, and nonprofit ministry. Hartman's theological and pastoral formation gave the Improv Leadership framework a distinctly Christian ministry orientation that differentiates it from the secular organizational training literature that occupied most of the applied improv market.

Hartman's teaching draws on the convergence of improvisational principles and pastoral leadership development that he explored in co-authoring Improv Leadership: How to Lead Well in Every Moment (Zondervan, 2020). The book presents five competencies it calls Story Mining, Precision Praising, Metaphor Cementing, Lobbing Forward, and Going North, each of which draws on an improvisational skill set (listening for offers, supporting partners, building on what is given, and committing to a shared direction) and applies it to the specific communication challenges facing pastoral and organizational leaders.

His pedagogy is addressed primarily to church leaders and organizational ministers rather than performers or business professionals, a distinction that shapes his approach. Where most applied improv work emphasizes productivity, creativity, or communication effectiveness as its outcomes, Hartman's instruction frames improv principles within a theological understanding of human relationship, vulnerability, and service. The leader who practices "yes, and" in Hartman's framing is not primarily optimizing their team's output but cultivating the kinds of attentive, receptive, and flexible relational habits that pastoral vocation requires.

This theological grounding distinguishes Hartman's teaching from the mainstream of applied improv facilitation and positions his work in a specific institutional context: Christian organizational leadership, pastoral ministry, and church-based team development. His thirteen-year pastoral career in Pennsylvania and New Jersey provides the practical experiential foundation from which he draws in his workshops and consulting work through Fulcrum Content.

Improv Leadership is a documented contribution to the applied improv literature as it extends into Christian ministry and pastoral development contexts. The book has circulated within evangelical leadership and church consulting communities as a practical framework for pastoral responsiveness and leadership flexibility, reaching audiences within those communities who would not typically engage with secular applied improv training. Hartman's work through Fulcrum Content and The Future Church Co. has placed applied improv-adjacent communication and leadership principles within the organizational infrastructure of evangelical church consulting, demonstrating the breadth of the applied improv transfer across professional sectors.