Page 120 - The Voice of Authority

how to act at both places. The question is, where do you
catch people being more “themselves”?
Stories like this circulate in chitchat and e-mails be-
tween coworkers:

“John and I were just standing at the back of the au-
ditorium, and the CEO walks up and is just standing
around with us, shooting the bull—eating chili, talk-
ing about the ballgame. . . .”
“I’ve met him—he’s just a regular guy.”
“I got to talk to her once. We rode to the airport to-
gether. Her limo driver was picking her up, and I was
just standing there with luggage, waiting for the shut-
tle. It was raining. And she said, ‘Are you going to the
airport?’ and I said, ‘Yes’ and she said, ‘Jump in.’ She
just asked me all about what we did in my depart-
ment and how I like working there.”
“Just as I was leaving his office after the big presen-
tation was over, something came up about the mili-
tary. And I asked about his son. And we started talk-
ing about how proud he was of his service. We just
really hit it off after that. Everything changed from
that point on.”

In our culture, informality is a big deal for many people.
That’s why radio and TV talk shows rank so well. People
want to talk to celebrities “off camera,” behind the scenes,
presumably without their talking points, so we hear them
respond spontaneously. Likewise, network news anchors
are now hired as much for their ability to chitchat infor-
mally with each other, guests, and callers between the
planned segments of the program as they are for their jour-
nalistic skills.

108 The Voice of Authority