You’re Not Too Good to Fail

Without a foundation of trust, your efforts will be in vain

Papa CJ
2 min readFeb 11, 2022

--

Photo by Nicola Barts from Pexels

Summary: There’s a reason we sometimes fail miserably at tasks we can usually execute standing on one leg, while juggling puppies with our eyes closed. You might have killed a presentation to one group and then failed miserably when delivering it to another. How can someone be so bad immediately after being so good?

  • As a stand-up comedian, I have seen this firsthand. To manage it, I believe in starting my gigs by first building trust with the audience. I usually structure my sets with the safer and more palatable material at the top before moving on to content that is more contentious or risqué.
  • As my performance progresses and the audience starts to like and understand me, a foundation of trust begins to form. The audience is then more willing to let me lead them to places where they may not have been willing to go initially.
  • As an executive coach I am always respectful of my clients’ knowledge and experience. First, I make an effort to understand them and the context in which they operate. Second, I don’t presume or proclaim to know better. I explore developmental paths together, based on the response I get from my client’s actions in real time.

Read the full article as published in Harvard Business Review HERE.

Below are a few more of my articles, in case you missed them.

  1. How To Make More Money By Thinking Funny
  2. Mixtapes: The Greatest Show of Romantic Love
  3. 10 Ways to Be Known for a Good Sense of Humour
  4. Silence Is a Powerful Measure of Engagement
  5. The 2022 CEO needs to be a Chief Empathy Officer
  6. Pitch Your Next Idea Like a Stand-up Comedian

Have a lovely weekend!

Thank you for subscribing to my writing. I’d LOVE to hear your comments on this piece. Do share it with anyone whom you think might appreciate it.

Read my work: Substack | LinkedIn | Harvard Business Review

Get my autobiography: India | USA | UK

Get in touch or book me for an event: papacj.com

Social media: Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

--

--

Papa CJ

Professional comedian. Published author. Disappointing lover. Oxford MBA. Executive coach. Website: http://papacj.com. Newsletter: http://papacj.substack.com.