Big Week ahead

Tee up for the match of the century

In my corporate video work a few years ago, people doing presentations were always talking about teeing up the next thing. It was almost like the setup was more important than the content…or the message.

They had a “goal” which ALWAYS translated to selling more stuff, so the stock price would continue to go up…and they lived in 3 month chunks…each quarter was all that mattered. The long game tended to get lost in the mix.

One of the larger production groups that I free lanced with was doing the tech for the meetings, get togethers, Christmas parties…whatever they wanted of a relatively new business for our area...most of our clients were 60 to 100 years old…

I won’t name names but they started out in the sweaty T-shirt business in a garage…and became VERY successful through a lot of very hard work and perseverance. They dominated that market and then turned to sneakers which was dominated by another brand on the other coast….in order to continue their quarterly growth.

That theory worked, until it didn’t. They had grown for 20 years…and then, holly moly they went backwards by a few percent…a FEW…and you’d think they had hit an iceberg and were starting to sink…jump ship and get in a lifeboat was the financial advice from just about everyone…the pundits said that their constant growth was “not sustainable.”

In our corporate culture, there is no room for a setback of any kind…no room to have made even a small mistake. Don’t F…Up, not even a little bit…or you’re out…or at least in a different building with no corner window. The thing I started to notice…in a company that had been VERY upbeat was how tightly wound they had become. How afraid…how fear of loss was driving the agenda more than “love of the game.”

Here’s a personal story. One day we were prepping a VERY large show that was a rollout of THE plan for their new HQ and property and where they were headed. It was a VERY big deal.

The CEO was rehearsing his speech, with tele-prompters and cameras. It did not go well for him. He wasn’t happy with the content. He needed changes…and it needed to happen soon…there was one more scheduled rehearsal before the big show the next day. This put his staff in a tizzy.

We took a lunch break and I just happened to be next to him in the make your own deli sandwich line backstage. I was impressed that he was making his own lunch and not in a trailer with some underling fetching it. ( no disrespect to the poor PAs)

I could tell he was stressed out and I reminded him that we had done an interview together a few years before…and that I wished I had bought his stock…he laughed…and I told him I was sure his speech would work out ok. He thanked me for the “pat on the back”.

It did work out well…he was a hero and pumped up the crowd of employees and he teed up the Samoan fire breathing dancers. (rehearsal photo by me)

A few weeks later I had the audacity to send him a DVD of a program we had done that I felt resonated with his build American theme and so he’d remember who I was I reminded him of our lunchtime encounter.

Well, his handlers read all of his mail…nothing gets to him uncensored…even Fed Ex packages…because of my mention of the difficulty in the rehearsal, his people reached out to my people and told them that I was to “NEVER” approach him again in any way…or I should be terminated.

Thankfully my immediate boss and the folks above him, saw this for what it was and I got a mild slap on the wrist. In a few months we were doing a much smaller meeting with them and the CEO had a small rah rah speech to give. I was reminded to stay away from him…after the rehearsal, he came up to me and said' “how you doing ?” I didn’t know what to do…I didn’t want to be rude, but I knew if the “wrong” people saw us together, I could be fired on the spot…or they might even not use our production group any more…which had been implied. ( and this client was worth a LOT of $$ )

Well the shit did come down…and I had to explain that he came to me…that the 2 of us actually have some history together. We weathered that storm…but it was because of the support I got from our team. His minions really just wanted me gone…they were afraid I had his ear and some little bit of influence on their jobs. (which I did not care about at all )

So what does all of that have to do with this very important week ahead? It’s a look behind the curtain of all of the stuff you do not see or hear…the internal politics and constant survival mode of EVERYONE’s minions. Being close to power can be very stressful…but there’s an adrenaline rush in it and being close to power, gives you power. (so they think)

There’s A LOT of energy swirling around Harris & Trump right now…a lot of their “professional” folks futures and their vendors are on the line. Just keep that in mind as you watch the daily dramas unfold. Someone will be the next VP and their staff will have a new life…the others…not so much. THIS really is professional Life and Death for them…

And we ALL will be affected like never before…this ain’t selling gold sneakers.