Pearson and Shakespeareís Globe spoke to a number of eminent practitioners from the

business and theatre sectors, to hear their thoughts on the importance of a drama education.

When you think about business schools, you donít necessarily think about drama. But

when you think about business, you certainly think about drama.

The skills you gain, and study, and understand from drama, are critical if you want to think

about the impact you will have in the business environment, especially if you are a leader

of a company, firm or organization. We have a lot of CEOs and managing director

level people doing our Executive degrees. Iím interested to see how other people look

up to them, as experts. But also, the reverse is true, that we now live in an environment

where you might have a very young CEO. I think were drama comes in, is that if you think

about your favourite heroes from fiction or theatre, are they always the King Lear authority

figure, or are they a younger person who is bold and dramatic, who is able to take risks

and do things that will make a positive impact on their society.

Performance is key to business, and good communication is key to performance.

Employers want the skills that are developed in drama. They want people who can think for

themselves, who can work in a team, who can listen to others, who know how to negotiate,

who know how to create an outcome. It doesnít matter what product you are producing;

the skills are required.

If a business didnít have any entrepreneurial or creative flair in it, it would probably

be quite unsuccessful and moribund. Itís really important that when a business plan

is put together for a new product, that creativity is brought to it.

Things donít just happen on the bottom line; you need good ideas, you need invention, innovation.

All those come from people having creative talent.

My advice to a parent who is thinking of their children studying drama would be to definitely

let them go for it. Like myself, it was very helpful in gaining confidence, and networking,

and building a network of people, but also they may get it out of their system and go

on and do other things. There are so many transferable skills that theatre and acting

can give you, that can really stead you will for any career.

Working in the creative industries helped me, because the first thing I needed to do

was to try and develop a team; gather a team around me. I had to think strategically. I

had to be able to think imaginatively and ëon the hoofí. And I couldnít have done

that without the background I had in the arts. But that theatre training allowed to me take

over that role with some degree of confidence.

Arts and culture contribute to the national economy in an enormous number of ways and

have a significant impact. In 2011, they contribute five billion pounds to UK GDP and, on average

between 2008 and 2011, they funded 111,000 full time equivalent jobs.

Give them the opportunity to explore their interests and, beyond that, be reassured that

some of the skillset will not be wasted, even if a young person decides to pursue other

careers, whether its a career in medicine, in law, or in business, or in other areas.

I do think that some of these skills will be useful. And not just useful in the early

stages of their careers, but for their career lifetime.

I always say, in an arts organisation, every artistic decision is a business decision,

and every business decision is an artistic decision; the two work hand in glove to assure

success.

As weíve heard, studying drama helps develop key business skills, such as negotiation,

leadership and collaboration. It also boosts confidence, teaches pupils to work in a team,

and to think creatively. Drama provides key transferable skills that will be useful in

any industry.