How Talented Teams of People Work Together – and Strengthen Each Other

Like Meryl Streep, many highly acclaimed actors have also described themselves as not being outgoing or extroverted, as we might suspect of anyone who purposely casts oneself onto the stage of public presence. Rather, they often state that they are really and truly “shy,” “aloof,” “introverted” and “withdrawing.”

Those persons who make such claims also tend to express their belief that, because they are so unwilling to reveal their true selves in real life, acting enables them to be much more expressive than others who are not so withdrawing.

Their idea in a nutshell is this: Since everyone knows that the role being played on stage, or in front of the camera, is not really me, I am free to perform as I choose and not place myself at personal risk in expressing whatever the imagined role requires. In these situations, one’s true self is safely hidden and thus not exposed to risk of rejection or attack. So, anything can be done—risk free to self. If the performance is not appreciated or admired, it is the performance and not “me” which is not positively recognized, or even criticized.

Over the years, I have come to know several public personas who privately are quite different from the public image they construct and convey. And, I have found it quite remarkable to see how quickly some private persons can, and do, transform themselves to appear publicly to be someone radically different from the real person I have grown to know and appreciate for who they truly are.

This is a cultivated and practiced capability.

Shakespeare well understood such behaviors. Here’s how he expressed our multifaceted personal role-playing capabilities, and their demands:

“All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

William Mulready, The Seven Ages of Man (1838)

With this introduction, Shakespeare then goes on to describe these “seven ages,” which end finally in “mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

At every stage of life, we are personally involved in many roles and positioned in many different scenes. And each “scene” in which we are involved has an effect or an impact on our own personal development and has impact upon others, just as each “scene” in a stage drama or movie has an effect on the overall story.

Those who successfully create and produce literary, theatrical and movie stories well know that the story is a series of scenes that have a beginning scene, a series of development scenes and a closing or ending scene. All together, these scenes form a scenario, or a story, which is designed to support the intended ending.

Without a good ending, we have only a partial story, or “a story without an ending.” Humphrey Bogart complainingly used these very words to make this exact point to Ingrid Bergman in a critical scene midway through the 1943 movie Casablanca.

That movie, which Ms. Bergman called only a “little story” which she felt was merely “OK,” has been voted the best romantic movie of all time. But, Ms. Bergman said that she preferred many other movies and performances that she played to that of her role in Casablanca. Ms. Bergman later also said that she was much more interested in the other 1943 role she played in the movie adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bells Toll. But whatever her opinions may have been, or that of the Academy who honored her with three Academy Awards and seven nominations, her role in Casablanca, which did not earn Ms. Bergman one of her Academy Awards or even a nomination for Best Actress, is surely one of her most famous and most memorable.

But it was not just Ms. Bergman’s performance that helped to earn for the very low budget film Casablanca the 1943 Academy Award as Best Picture, and to receive eight total nominations; rather, it was the collaborative work of many talented people, all stimulating and elevating each other to levels of performance and degrees of excellence that they might never otherwise have achieved. For example, the American Film Institute’s poll of the Top 100 lines from movies over the past 100 years voted six different lines from Casablanca among these Top 100. No other movie came even close to this record; the lavishly funded Gone With the Wind, considered by many to be the greatest movie of all time, ranked second to Casablanca, with only half as many quotes in this Top 100 recognition. And very few Academy Award winning films had even one of their quotes included in this Top 100 list.

But even beyond the storytelling, the acting and the Academy Award winning directing of Casablanca, even the lyrics of the theme song “As Time Goes By” reinforce and support the story itself. This song was not written for Casablanca, but was published 12 years earlier.

However, someone was keen enough to realize that the lyrics from the middle of this song almost perfectly embodied certain of the themes of this movie. So, this song was very astutely included as the one “Sam” so memorably played, and sang. That’s how talented teams of people work together. Each one of the team is always alert for anything that can be done to aid, elevate and enhance the overall effort and work to help to better express the ideas intended to show how the lyrics of this song tie in so closely to the storyline of Casablanca, is an example of such collaborative creativity.

Those who deliver value for their company must play various roles, either directly “on camera” or “behind the scene.” In various sales cycles, or other activities that directly affect overall outcomes, they must fully realize that each may also be called upon to “play many parts” in this grand process, and that each one must play his or her part, or role, as well as possible. But, for each to be able to do so, it is essential that all involved understand the overall intent, and theme of the project or undertaking.

No matter whether one’s specific “role” may seem to be substantial or insignificant and critical or immaterial, to the “scene,” or the situation, each must do all that can be done to make each specific part of the overall story an interesting, enjoyable, informative, cohesive, convincing and compelling one. In this way, each action or idea contributes to the overall process and not only becomes a real-life “learning lab” for each one involved, but also is one that helps to produce a happy, positive and successful outcome for  all involved.

Attitudes are habits of thought. Behaviors are habits of actions. But attitudes influence, and even control actions. Those with negative or pessimistic attitudes can seldom produce the positive and optimistic actions which deliver meaningful, or winning outcomes. Moreover … attitudes are contagious.

It’s been said that “an ounce of example is worth a ton of preaching.” The same could be said for “an ounce of proof.” So, positive examples and proofs should also stimulate and encourage others to ever higher levels of performance. Just as moods and attitudes are highly contagious, so too are levels of performance.

The better one performs, the more that person encourages and uplifts the performance of others.

Photo courtesy of Ancoma 99

These are some of the reasons why each one should want every one of his or her actions or contributions to not only have positive impact on the collective efforts, but also everyone should try to have a positive and elevating influence on others, and be an encouraging exemplar as well. Like other truly great actors and actresses, Ingrid Bergman was not only brilliant in her own direct contributions, but she also helped others to give surpassing performances as well.

Surely this is something that everyone should aspire to emulate.

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