The Answer He Already Had

Someone asks the Performer a question in the leadership meeting, and he answers it beautifully. Clear, structured, 3 points. The trouble is, it was the answer he prepared on Sunday night, and the room asked a slightly different question.

He has done this for years. Every meeting gets a script. Every likely question gets a rehearsed reply. It looks like mastery. It is also why nobody has ever seen him think, and why the half second of real reaction, the one that tells a room who you are, never shows up.

The preparation is not the problem. Hiding inside it is. The move is to answer the question that was actually asked, out loud, before the polished one gets there.

Tomorrow: the Performer from another angle.

The Right Altitude. Available now. www.therightaltitudebook.com/the-book