If you're like me, you probably watched only parts of the Academy Awards last night. I was thrilled to see Ennio Morricone win the Lifetime Achievement Award -- and intrigued to watch Clint Eastwood translate him for the audience.
Although born in New York, I also considered Scorsese's Award for Best Director an achievement by a fellow Italian. Both prolific creators, both held in high esteem among their peers.
Seeing all those actors at once got me thinking about how each of them plays many different roles throughout their careers. The best ones do not let anyone typecast them and instead experiment with new characters from movie to movie. Yes, they have a core set of skills, and they draw from their natural talent and personal experiences to bring their roles to life. Acting is hard work, the easier it looks, the harder the work.
I can say that with confidence because in a way we're all actors. Every day we wake up to play various roles in our lives. The most prominent is the one we play at work: marketer, business development guru, communicator, architect of experiences, brand evangelist, etc. To succeed in these roles, we need a good mix of skill sets based on strengths, life experience and role experience.
Do we get typecast? It happens every time someone expects our history to match exactly our future. The history is an indication of what we have been able to accomplish in the past given our context -- and how we acted the screenplay that the company and business provided. There's an important role that the director plays in drawing the best out of us individually (manager) and collectively (leader) to achieve the results we've come to expect from a great story and experience.
Those who help us stretch, those who see the potential for growth, those who inspire us to employ our skills and bring our experience to bear in new ways deserve an award. Be they our managers, colleagues, or customers.
[above: Ennio Morricone; Martin Scorsese during the acceptance speech as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg look on - courtesy of Epa]
"...in a way we're all actors. Every day we wake up to play various roles in our lives...at work..."
So, I'll play contrarian here and take a left turn. I'm curious as to how many of our colleagues, bosses, direct reports, clients, customers, stakeholders, etc. would nominate another for academy awards at work...
In addition to "acting roles", there are those who get up in the a.m. and go to their closets to choose a personality, perhaps more than one, and take it to work...the egoist, the control/power-freak, the bully and gosssiper, the nay-sayer, the restrictor and constrictor, the anti-inspirer, all of whom come to create a toxic workplace in spite of their marvelous skills.
Often-times, at work, it's not the lack of skills that gets in the way of the Oscar, but the attitude and personality with which one regards others, while one applies one's skills, that keeps one from the stage and receiving the award. As they say, life, even life at work, is not a dress rehersal. Skills without integrity, authenticity, respect, honesty and trust often can get one nominated but maybe not so often the statue. Do we know the best-skilled actors in our organizations? Are we ready to nominate them hands-down? Really? Really, really?
Posted by: peter vajda | February 26, 2007 at 02:49 PM
Peter:
You have it right; it's the spirit with which we play our roles that makes them worthy of an Oscar nomination. It's interesting to note how many still think of leaving their "true" selves outside the door at work because 'cosi' fan tutte' to put it with Mozart -- so does everyone.
I've been lucky; there have been many colleagues worthy of a nomination and one CEO. He would have won the inspirational leader with ethics award. In fact, I think he would already be eligible for a lifetime achievement awards if he weren't so young. And he was my boss.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | February 26, 2007 at 04:19 PM
How close to reality was Clint's translation of Ennio?
Posted by: Roger von Oech | February 26, 2007 at 06:29 PM
Roger,
That was the astonishing thing: it was really good. I kept looking for the earpiece to show...
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | February 27, 2007 at 08:58 AM
That would be so cool, an Academy of Business Awards night! But then we would have to become a union. lol
We remember our teachers from school. What about our teachers in business? I remember, Norm, he was always telling me. "You have to learn to think on your feet." Thanks Norm.
Posted by: Greg Balanko-Dickson | February 27, 2007 at 11:21 AM
moricone award moment was really touching. italian dailies reported that after the ceremony he asked if he had been ok or had made any mistake. and how funny is that such a worldwide known artist does not speak a single word of english....
Posted by: gianandrea facchini | February 28, 2007 at 04:57 AM
Greg -- welcome to the conversation. As a business coach I hope you get your fair share of recognition for inspiring action in others. We have plenty of business awards. I wonder if we should follow Peter's advice here and make an effort to measure attitude or spirit more.
Gianandrea -- I too was surprised by how simply and humbly Morricone expressed his gratitude. Although if you look at his site, they call him "maestro"; a title that is well deserved.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | February 28, 2007 at 08:37 AM