Proper planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance.
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This is, of course, a codification of sensible business practice: Never go into an organized work activity (planned call, meeting, etc.) without getting ready. It's widely practiced, I hear once or twice a week something along the lines of "I'll talk to you in a bit, I have a call in twenty minutes I need to get ready for." I learned the lesson of ignoring this rule in 1992, when I had the head and shoulders above all others, worst sixty minutes of my business career, remember it like it was yesterday, due to insufficiently preparing for a pretty important meeting. I had some people who bailed me out, but I never want to get that feeling again. The price for not preparing can be pretty high in terms of reputation, but just the embarrassment level can be pretty high.
Case in point: Kathie Lee Gifford has a pretty fluffy talk show, we're not talking Carson or anything, but still, she's in business. Her guests almost always come on for one of two basic reasons. They have a book/movie/show to shill or they need to get their face out in public for some personal reason. But even if all you are doing is asking leading questions for the guest to push what they are pushing, there is still some level of preparation required. It can't be much, but if it's someone with a book, you should know what the book is about. If you can't read the book, at least read the dust jacket. Or find out what the movie is about. Find out why the guest who wants to appear in public wants to, and I'm sure Kathie Lee has a legman to do all that work for her, all she has to do is review the report. So you would think that from a preparation standpoint, the bar is set pretty low for Kathie Lee. You would think wrong. She had Martin Short on her show, presumably because he has some new show/movie. And in the course of talking to him she mentioned that he has a long marriage, unlike others in the entertainment business, and how long had he been married? Thirty-four years. Kathie Lee bubbles about how wonderful that is, and that they must really be in love, and Short says somewhat quickly, yes very much in love.
Martin Short's wife died two years ago.
The morning show that I listen to talked about this very thing, this morning. They mentioned both Gifford's lack of preparation, bulleting the same things you mentioned, as well as the gracious way that Short replied and allowed the questioning to continue, unwilling to correct her on camera. It wasn't until the commercial break was over that Gifford re-visited the topic, clarifying for everyone that Short had, indeed, corrected her during the break and that she felt awful.
ReplyDeleteSuch a small amount of effort on her part was called for here. Such a small amount of effort for her to do her abundantly paid job.