A cautionary tale about crazy business people
I was running a company vision day with a client, who was looking to double their revenue.
I had spent a good while preparing for this course…these sessions had always gone down well with other clients…people felt pumped up at the end of it…it’s a physical day, on your feet… and they would often follow up with positive feedback not just about how i had run the sessions, but also about the impact the work had on the success of their business. Some people did in fact achieve the objectives that they envisioned.
This one time, the head honcho, the person who had engaged me to do the work, started off the session by telling everyone that they’d read my imdb - my actors profile on the internet - and had found a clip of me doing a TV crime drama show. They then proceeded to share the link with everyone in the room and make fun of me of me…referring to my acting training, their opening gambit was “ooooh…are you going to teach us all how to be a tree….wooooh…look at me in my tights, being a tree…”
I used my training to make sure i stayed as balanced as possible in this situation…my fight flight freeze, my Force Fidget Freeze, my triple F response, definitely kicked because it seemed like this person was being more than a little bit sabre tooth tiger…I calmly said…”interestingly, we did a whole series of workshops at Drama School on how to be a tree…and one of my main take aways was that trees are never really still…they breathe, they move imperceptibly”. and i chose at that point to assume the pose of the kind of tree i was describing.
“Oooooooohhhhh…” reacted nearly everyone in the room in a rather overly dramatic playground way…to be fair, it was probably a bit artsy fartsy, deliberately so though. This situation is a trigger for me because…the sabre tooth tiger is not simply a dangerous animal…it’s a bully…and i just can’t stand that.
Then their curiosity took over and the group said “let’s watch it on the screen” We all watched a scene or my character being interrogated for crime he didn’t commit.
It’s a decent bit and I stand by it…it’s framed in a tight close up and i’m holding my own in the scene…the lad i’m playing is innocent but feeling guilty about how he’s treated his girlfriend.
Never the less, it’s somewhat odd that the boss put it up on the screen. I had every chance to fall into rage…i’m gonna show you…and i didn’t. I could have
It’s rare that you get to watch a performance on screen in front of an audience.
Soon after, The head honcho went “wooooooooo…..and left the room saying “i can’t be doing with all of this…”
A noticeable silence in the room.
Second in command said “i think we should carry on with the day you’ve planned Scott”
Interestingly…the head honcho was out by the end of the year. i didn’t freeze and i fly away and