CommLog

True Professionalism is a wonderful book by David Maister that lucidly and compellingly describes the art of professional counsel. It's a must read for advisors to leadership, be they consultants or staff. It’s also an apt description of Paul Newman, with whom I shared a green room prior to a client speech several weeks ago. Newman was part of the intro to the show, and he had roughly 30 seconds of text, all of which was on TelePrompTer. So there we are, 15 minutes before show time, and Paul Newman … who has won an Academy Award, been nominated for another eight, and been part of nearly 60 film productions … is practicing. I was quite struck by this. He’d had the text for weeks, was familiar with all 30 seconds of prose, and there he was, 15 minutes before the show, rehearsing. Of course, that’s part of why he’s Paul Newman, and a true professional in his own right. The lesson: No matter how great your talent, delivering a home-run performance in any public appearance, regardless of venue, requires practice. It’s what separates the pros from the amateurs, and unless you’re more talented at public speech than Paul Newman, it’s something to which you must commit time, energy, and attention if you want to succeed.