I assume the title got your attention, right?
You see, the editor of this fine publication told me a while back that he wanted me to write about presentations, and about how attorneys might improve their performances (sorry, that’s what presentations are) in front of their clients and their peers. I do not use the word “performance” in the sense of doing a couple of quick magic tricks before proceeding to a discussion of a client’s impending bankruptcy, or paying a visit to an incarcerated client while wearing a clown nose. (There is something rather charming about that picture, however. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that members of the bar aren’t big on red noses or squirting flowers.)
Hang on. I’ll get to the dogs in a minute.
Performance is a theatrical term. Our friend Mr. Webster allows that performance means, among other things, “the act or style of performing a work or role before an audience.” The theatrical parallels between the stage and the new business pitch or explanation to the partners as to why the Bindle case turned ugly are clear.
To wit:
Performances are always on a stage, real or assumed. If you are playing the lead in “Streetcar Named Desire” at the local community theater, you’ll no doubt be emoting on a stage. Magicians at children’s birthday parties carve out an imaginary space as their stage. Lawyers presenting in a conference room from the head of the table while they flash indecipherable PowerPoint (remember, PowerPoint isn’t the villain; its creator is) are on a stage. Pleading with the Homeowner’s Association to do something about Mr. Templeton’s poodle puts you on stage even if that stage is an armchair upholstered in a wretched elephant motif.
Performers wear costumes befitting their roles. When you take your turn as Stanley Kowalski on the neighborhood stage, the audience’s ability to accept you as Stanley will diminish somewhat if you are in a Brooks Brothers suit. At the same time, when you are in front of a client, you should be more than a little attentive to your attire. But you already knew that, right?
Finally, great performances on any level are the result of seemingly endless rehearsals. I’m not suggesting that you stay up nights rehearsing your compelling argument as to why Gorgonzola Industries should hop over the fence to your firm, but based on my own experience, I know that “winging it” is most often a disaster.
Now, about the dogs.
For many years my wife and I have owned Scottish terriers. It all started when then five year-old Joanna announced that she wanted a white female Scottish terrier whom she would name Rose. That settled that. Don’t ever argue with a five year-old whose mind is made up.
Rose was followed by Hoover and now we have Molly. A word about Scotties. They are very smart, arrogant, and stubborn, and they can be very loving once you realize that they have condescended to let you live in their house.
Molly taught me a lesson about confidence. Good actors have it. They know their lines, they know their characters, they believe in what they are doing.
Here’s what I learned from Molly, and it is a lesson for anybody who steps up on any stage:
Molly has a thing for squirrels. We have a deck on the back of our house, and there is a door from our kitchen to the deck. In the spring and fall, Molly sits at the open door to the deck and waits for the squirrels. She is very patient. Finally, a squirrel will appear, creeping across the deck to pick up bird seed knocked from the feeder. And Molly sits until she thinks that the squirrel has reached the ideal spot for her to pounce.
She races out the door, her stubby legs pumping and her bark piercing. Scotties are very, very fast, but squirrels are faster. To date, Molly has never caught a squirrel although she has chased hundreds of them.
Now for the lesson: after she has given it everything she has, confident she will get the squirrel but failing, she walks back to the door, sits down and waits for the next squirrel. She has completely forgotten her past failures. Her entire being is focused on the next squirrel, which she is confident she will catch. There is no such thing as defeat.
Life on the stage, whether business or the theater, is unpredictable. Sometimes things go exactly as planned, other times they don’t. But what sees the pros through this is confidence—in themselves and in their abilities. More than talent, confidence is the key element in your next performance.
Your audience is waiting.