Jon in the Spotlight
Recognition, interviews, and conversations about using improv to build better leaders and teams.
2026 Real Leaders® Top Impact Speaker
Award · January 7, 2026
Jon Colby has been named a 2026 Real Leaders® Top Impact Speaker, recognizing his influence as a leadership speaker and improv based communication expert.
"This recognition is crazy to me. My goal has always been to show how we can use improv to help leaders communicate more clearly, lead more humanly, and create environments where people actually feel valued and really want to contribute. Being named a Real Leaders Top Impact Speaker validates that approach and encourages me to keep raising the bar."
Indianapolis, IN, January 7, 2026. Indianapolis based keynote speaker, leadership trainer, and improv comedian Jon Colby has been named one of the 2026 Real Leaders® Top Impact Speakers, a global recognition honoring communicators who are shaping leadership and workplace culture through meaningful, results driven speaking.
Presented by Real Leaders®, the international authority on impact leadership, the Top Impact Speakers ranking recognizes an elite group of speakers selected for their ability to move audiences from insight to action. Honorees are evaluated on speaking impact, professional demand, audience reach, and leadership influence.
Colby is known for blending improv comedy and leadership development to help leaders communicate more clearly, respond well under pressure, and create workplaces where people feel valued and engaged. With more than two decades of improv experience, his work focuses on listening, adaptability, and human connection, skills that matter more than ever in today's fast changing workplaces.
As part of the recognition, Colby will be featured in the 2026 Real Leaders Top Impact Speakers magazine, highlighting speakers who are redefining leadership through storytelling, presence, and practical impact.
The ranking uses the proprietary RealLeaders® STAR Evaluation Scorecard, which measures Speakers of Transformation, Authority, and Reach by evaluating speaking demand, engagement volume, and leadership influence.
Jon Colby is the founder of the Colby Leadership Institute (CLI), where leaders and teams learn improv inspired communication skills they can apply right away, without awkward role play or trust falls.
WISH-TV: How Improv Builds Leadership and Team Dynamics
Jon Colby appears on WISH-TV’s Life.Style.Live! to talk about his 2026 Real Leaders® Top Impact Speaker recognition.
Indianapolis, IN, January 2026. WISH-TV (News 8) featured Jon Colby in a segment on how improv comedy techniques translate into real leadership and communication skills. The segment aired alongside Colby's 2026 Real Leaders® Top Impact Speaker recognition.
In the segment, Colby explained how he moved from performing improv for fun to training Fortune 500 teams. He walked through one of his signature listening exercises, a game built around giving full attention to a conversation partner, the same skill he ties back to workplace communication. He also talked about why employees leave their jobs, pointing to research that the top reason isn't pay but feeling unheard, and shared the improv principle "yes, and" as a practical tool for making people feel valued.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Jon Takes the Hot Seat
Bright lights, big questions, and zero time to think. Turns out improv training comes in handy when the clock is ticking!
Podcast
Jon has been a recurring guest on leadership and communication podcasts since 2021, most recently on Leadership Career Accelerator, Return on Empathy, and The Adventure To Evolve.
Leadership Career Accelerator
The Fastest Way to Destroy Innovation
Jon breaks down how improv principles like "yes, and," the "magic if," and small shifts in how meetings run help leaders build trust and get better ideas out of a team instead of shutting them down too fast. Made for emerging leaders and new managers navigating meetings, brainstorms, and team communication.
The Adventure To Evolve
Yes, And: What Improv Teaches Us About Life and Leadership
In this Q&A episode, Jon shares his path from teaching to full time speaking and how "Yes, And" applies beyond the stage, to parenting, grief, and everyday collaboration. He talks about presence, patience, and why feeling valued connects workplaces, teams, and families.
Improv and Magic
Episode 53: Jon Colby
A longer, more relaxed conversation where Jon shares how he got into professional improv and his "three Cs" approach to teaching it. A fun pairing with a magic themed show, with real detail on his methods, not just highlights.
Return on Empathy (ROE)
Improv and Empathy with Jon Colby
Jon explores where improv and workplace empathy meet: deep listening, psychological safety, and building an inclusive team culture. He shares specific techniques for drawing out quieter voices and treating mistakes as part of the process instead of something to hide.
The Human Resource
Introducing Jon Colby
A shorter conversation on engaging teams through training that doesn't feel like training. Jon talks about keeping leadership development genuinely fun without losing the substance.
Small Time Leaders
Look at Possibilities, Not Limitations with Jon Colby
Jon talks about how a colleague, David Quick, helped him reinvent his approach to virtual speaking during the pandemic, shifting his engagement strategies when in person events disappeared overnight.
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