You just arrived at work, your shield of honor, a warm winter coat kissed by an approaching snow storm is hung while the barely awake body whose only job is to keep the jacket in place shoots hints of needs and wants to the imagination and its working parts to walk near places that carry the scent of morning coffee.
The desktop computer accepts your password, one fear gone, you move forward three quarters of an inch only to stop…something is different, a cooler breeze is felt—an all too familiar angle is exposed inside the assumed circle. Sometime overnight master controller, Micromanager Willie took the time to completely erase everything you’ve been working on and given it a new face and goal to be accomplished.
Do not react! Breathe... Your mission today: Find a plastic face.
No matter how much you want to kick, scratch and rip a part…the end result is simple…you’re going to do it. So why waste incredible amounts of precious energy fighting the effort? It’s 100% human to complete the project not only on time but before the required limit, as a way of grinding the knife into the soul of the noncaring.
Paul Damon, the robust radio station program director in Lewistown, Montana once said, “There are two rules I expect to be followed:
1. I’m always right
2. No matter what happens during the average 24 hour period if you’re ever confronted with doubt…always revert back to rule number one.
But is this sort of daily living healthy? Who truly wins in a world dominated by the chosen keeper of the key to that particular door? Mr. Damon’s job was terminated six weeks after I accepted the early evening on-air position and in the days that followed I constantly received phone calls asking to stop by for a beer, BBQ and whatever else friends do.
Author Lou Solomon writes: Dialog is a way of understanding that two realities can exist side by side. This takes brains not dominance.
You don’t need a cute fuzzy tail to notice every place of business is governed by an Alpha Dog. Politics aren’t just a Washington DC performance. Feeding the frenzy are bookstore novels based on getting people to do as you please, motivational speakers pen out plans that showcase which suit is best to wear that’ll gain more attention, how to get everyone to wear a game face attitude to every full staff meeting and blah, blah, blah.
The end result is physically visible in the eyes, actions and reactions of nearly every American—the cowering dog syndrome.
If having dialog displays an understanding of two realities existing…is John Lennon required to write music about giving peace a chance? We live in an age where singer/songwriter John Mayer is blasted for his addiction to Social Networking—Rollingstone Magazine calls him music’s nasty boy. One look at his tattoos on the front cover and instantly you think Motley Crue…but reality shows, Mayer is no Nikki Sixx or Tommy Lee. Mayer is constantly ridiculed for his private chapters made public but rarely do you ever catch the average radio listener complementing his efforts as a musician and thanking him for releasing a tune that sounds so much better when they’re singing at the top of their lungs on the way home from a horribly designed day at work?
Dialog is conversation—an act of communicating and all too often it appears the only voice being heard is the Alpha party telling the other what to do or how they can’t seem to get it right.
In a recent email to Ken Fuquay who heads the Carolina School of Broadcasting I wrote, “Harmony is like dialog…two separate realities that if not properly guided become unwanted noises.”
I can’t imagine how Corporate America sounds to a passerby. This might explain why Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol…after watching the downsizing of the NBC late night lineup, one can only wonder what’s taking place behind Fox doors. You know how company memos work: Funky Pete with feet that don’t stink has decided to further his love for dancing in other discos. Funky Pete has a different story which he’ll one day share on Facebook.
The American business world competition bar has been set so high the idea of the Colts slamming the Saints in the Super Bowl is a total no show in the majority of our lives—who cares? There’s a reason why ¾’s of the audience tunes out at halftime. We’ve been reprogrammed to think about one thing: Make the boss happy or face nearly two years of unemployment.
Dialog takes brains not dominance.
Twenty five years ago I stood on the corner of a downtown street watching radio disc jockey Bill Dollar slowly walk through a crowd of listeners then over to a competing radio stations presentation. Holding his hand out, he shook a genuine smile into each of our hearts. His decision to drop dominance from our assumed game of competition has led my career into more areas of radio the rules completely disagree with and I’m not alone…Ryan Seacrest is the master at making sure all parties involved walk into every situation without faces of war and in doing so, Seacrest has become the next Dick Clark.
Create some dialog today without someone you constantly fight with. Make it a point to learn something new so that the next time you see them you can ask, “How’s your dog Sally the wiggle butt?”
America is at war in Iraq, Afghanistan and with itself. There’s no budget to fix your attitude. Winning is a choice. Treating coworkers and employees with respect is a choice. So is beating them up mentally with words and demands that hurt worse than a good old fashioned Daddy made me get a stick from the woods tail slapping.
What did Billy Joel truly mean when he wrote, “Only the Good Die Young?” We're dropping like flies and nobody wants to fix it.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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