The Research Stall
The Research Stall Let’s face it. Even the least change-averse person among us still has a resistance to change. Even the change champion feels hesitation. Sometimes we find ways to disguise our resistance and delay action even when we want to move forward. Consider the following. An Ongoing Magic Debate Last week I answered an online question from a fellow magician in a private forum. His question related to a technique that is used in card magic, a genre of the art which I have studied for almost my entire magical life. It is a technique that requires not only a significant investment of time and effort to learn, but also consistent, ongoing practice to maintain. It’s not a trivial skill to develop, and multiple versions of the technique have been developed. In the last 30 years or so it has truly caught fire within the industry and new developments on the principle are being released constantly. As a result, there is an ongoing tension about which approach to the principle is “best.” There are two primary approaches that have the lion’s share of the market. A new entry within the last few years is gaining traction. And there are a dozen other players each of which has vocal advocates. The debate about which is “best” comes up often, attracting comments from long-term adherents to recent adopters to new converts. My answer to the “which approach is best” question was to investigate the options, decide which approach had features that best suited his style, and to remember that whichever option he chose, the vast majority of experiences he could create using that technique were actually achievable using all of the available approaches. From the audience’s perspective, relatively few things were completely dependent on this choice. It was mostly a matter of what fit his own preferences and got him to take action. The technique is a tool, and there is much less profit in constantly agonizing over the debate than in making an informed decision and moving forward with implementing it. Unfortunately, many magicians spend so much waiting, second-guessing, and debating the merits of the approaches that they miss out on literally years of performance time when they could have been amazing audiences and learning performance lessons that they could apply to the work even if they ultimately changed their preferred approach later. Doesn’t This Sound Familiar? In the true story above, you could probably replace magic with almost any industry, and the specific technique in question with almost any decision that people have to make about tools and methods. In any change management situation, it is obviously important to do due diligence, do the research, and compare what you learn to what your specific needs and preferences are. But… Beware the inertia of the debate, the questioning, the “what if”-ing. There is a comfort in knowing that your delay in taking on the actual work is reasonably covered by the excuse of continuing your research. In change management, as in magic, things are not always quite what they seem. Change advocates and leaders can still be privately afraid of actually moving forward. An endless review loop is a good way to feel like you’re leading change even while you’re stalling! Are you stalling with a research excuse? Your audience is waiting.
Change Management and New Shoes
Organizational change initiatives are complex in part because they can succeed or fail based on variables such as human psychology, business agility, economic environments, leadership skills, communication skills, technical capability, and even the occasional lucky break. Managing change is a combination of business acumen, social instinct, and leadership abilities that can’t be reduced to silly, oversimplified analogies. On the other hand, change initiatives are a lot like getting new shoes. Eventually you’re going to need new shoes. You can’t put it off forever – even if you resole the pair you love, you already know that’s a stopgap measure. You know now that one day you’re going to need to get rid of what you’re wearing in favor of something else. If you wait until your shoes have holes in them, then you’ll have a lot less flexibility in looking for replacements. Do you want to be searching for new shoes because you have to have something immediately, or do you want to search for the next pair while you have the luxury of taking your time? Do you think you’ll more easily find the right fit if you search carefully, or if you search while in a state of dire need? In all likelihood, the exact make and model of the shoes you’re wearing now won’t be available when you need new ones. Even classics get changed, updated, or taken out of production. If you have convinced yourself that you can only function in one particular brand, style, or color of shoe then you may find yourself barefoot while looking for the new ones – and that may be a fool’s errand. Is your ability to function going to be helped or hindered by the constraints you have established for the new shoes? Are you certain that the constraints are meaningful? Even if the same shoes are available, your activities and needs may be different by the time you get the new ones. You might have a new job, suit, or fashion taste by the time you’re in the market for that new pair. Maybe you bought an extra pair when you found them. Even so, eventually your supply will run out. Are you willing to bet your future mobility on your hunch that neither your activities nor the environment in which you operate will change? Does that seem like a wise risk to you? You may not be able to afford custom-built shoes. Some folks can guarantee that they’ll never have to wear shoes that were mass produced. Most of the world will have to buy something off a shelf. Can you afford a custom solution for your new shoes? Does your budget make that a realistic option? Or will you get further, faster, by doing a careful search of more affordable options? There may be some discomfort involved. Even when new shoes fit great in the store, when they get put into action in the real world, you might get a blister at first. Eventually both the feet and the shoes adapt to each other. The process of change is inevitably going to bring some degree of discomfort. That doesn’t mean you discard the shoes – it means you may have to stretch them, break them in, and give them time to mold to your physical shape. Are you giving the new shoes a fair trial? Can you think of other ways that organizational change is like getting new shoes?
Change Aversion, Iocane Powder, and Your GPS
The fact is that all of us demonstrate elements of being change ready and change averse. Equally true is the fact that we all live and work in environments where the pace of change is constantly accelerating. Help yourself be more adaptable by building up a tolerance for change.
Changing the Model: The Real Experience of Magic and Mentalism, part 2
Magic and mentalism are a form of theatre. The most effective magic and mentalism performances lead audiences to focus on messages and experiences rather than props and methods.
Changing the Model: The Real Experience of Magic and Mentalism, part 1
Before we explore the principles we can learn from seemingly impossible experiences and apply to real-world issues, let’s rethink the fundamental premise of the modern theatrical magical experience by contrasting two interpretation models.
The Path of At Least Some Resistance, Please
One of the familiar idioms in our language has to do with “finding the path of least resistance.” We use this phrase to describe the flow of currents – water, electricity, even people. It is sometimes applied to discussions about process and workflow design, and is occasionally even used to describe personality traits in people, as in “He’s the type that seeks the path of least resistance.” Even good-hearted, well-meaning friends, seeing us facing hard times, sometimes say “Why fight it? Take the path of least resistance!” That kind of advice certainly sounds reasonable on the face, doesn’t it? The path of least resistance sounds like an easy choice, and none of us is likely to be interested in making life harder for ourselves, particularly when economic, professional, and personal crises may be creating plenty of stress already. Why not ease up and take the path of least resistance? One good reason not to do it is that the path of least resistance isn’t really a path at all. It’s not a path, a road, a highway… it’s not even a trail. It has no target, no metrics, no direction, and no destination. The result of the path of least resistance is not to get anywhere or do anything – it’s just to find the easiest way to move somewhere else other than where you started. Worst of all, once you are on a path of minimal resistance, it seems to take even more effort to get focused again! Resistance isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In human muscles, resistance builds strength. In “project muscles,” resistance helps to ensure that forward motion is done purposefully and in ways that can be explained and defended. A certain degree of pushback is useful and can help keep audiences focused on the goal and the core reasons for achieving it. You can illustrate this for yourself. On a sheet of printer or copier paper, draw a large circle. Place the paper on the floor. Stand beside it and hold a business card over the target with your finger and thumb, positioned with a short, thin edge pointing straight down toward the target. You should be holding the card at about waist height. Drop the card over the target. Instead of hitting the target, the card will almost certainly flutter away and land nowhere near the target. It will often land without even touching the piece of paper! Try again with another card, but this time hold the card parallel to the ground, so that the card drops toward the target flat side first. Drop the card so that the printed side is aimed at the target. In this position, it will fall more or less straight downward. This is an unintuitive result. It would seem that in the edge-first position, the card would move more swiftly and slice through the air toward the target with little or no resistance. However, in that position it is most vulnerable to being knocked off course and it eventually tumbles out of control. When dropped in the face-first position, the steady air resistance actually allows the trajectory to be more accurately controlled. Apply this demonstration during your next team meeting or presentation by considering the following: Resistance to change in an organization is normal. It’s human nature. But are there certain types of resistance which are actually beneficial to reaching the ultimate goal? Without some resistance, a trajectory can be influenced by chaotic factors and spin out of control. With too much resistance, the target is never reached. How can you evaluate the kinds of resistance your team is facing and harness it to allow you to progress more effectively and accurately toward your goal? I’ve mentioned Martin Gardner in this column before. He was an amazing writer and thinker. He died just over a year ago, and when he crossed my mind recently I decided to give him another reverential nod in my blog. This “falling cards” demonstration appeared in his book Smart Science Tricks in 2004.
Your Hidden Skills
You have amazing skills and capabilities that you don’t even know about! These skills lie hidden in each of us, buried beneath layers of negative self-talk and false preconceptions about the nature of creativity. Why am I so certain? Because nobody else on earth has the specific combination of skills, experiences, and observations that you have, and nobody can replicate the combinations of those skills that only you can provide.
Re: Vital Eyes
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.” — Charles Dickens Last week I traveled to Delaware to perform at the Dickens Parlour Theatre, a 50-seat venue in the small town of Millville. The theater is the brainchild of Rich Bloch, a brilliant man and performer who I’m proud to call a friend. I performed in the first incarnation of this venue in Atlantic City a few years ago, but the new venue is truly amazing. The theatre is built in what used to be an old work shed with a raised platform in the back. It has been transformed into an elegant Victorian parlour, with 50 theater seats in elevated rows facing the stage. There is plenty of wing space, a nice backstage area, and excellent lighting and sound capabilities. It is a delightful, intimate space that is perfect for the performance of magic and mentalism, as the famous writer and amateur conjuror Charles Dickens himself used to do for his friends. So charming is this wondrous venue that it has attracted some truly excellent performers. I am honored to have trod the same boards that have recently featured Bloch himself as well as Harry Anderson (of Night Court fame), Bob Sheets (a master comedy magician – more about him later), and many other skilled magicians and mentalists. Outside the world of magic, the theater has also hosted excellent musical acts and recently featured the off-Broadway hit Zero Hour, written by and starring Jim Brochu, who garnered Helen Hayes and Drama Desk awards for his amazing portrayal of Zero Mostel. This little theatre, a “hidden gem” according to many writers, was a dilapidated work shed that became the site of truly magical experiences for audiences because Rich Bloch saw beyond what it was to what it could be… and set about realizing that vision and revitalizing that property. As was recently reported in a cover story in MAGIC Magazine, this is only the beginning – the theatre is soon expanding to include a close-up magic performance gallery and a cafe’ in another building on the property. “This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in.” — Charles Dickens On Friday night, Bob Sheets came to see my show. Bob is a skilled close-up magician and comic stand-up magician. He is also very knowledgeable about the art of theatrical performance; he is a longtime student of famed Broadway performer Bob Fitch, whom I’ve also been privileged to know and get occasional coaching from. (I remember seeing Fitch as Rooster Hannigan in Annie back in the original Broadway run!) After my performance, Bob Sheets hung around until the crowd was gone and then joined me onstage. He shook my hand, congratulated me on the show, and then gave me perhaps the most valuable gift a performer can receive: honest, constructive feedback from a credible, helpful critic. Bob saw my performance, complimented me on the things I did well, and helped me see places where I could improve what I was doing. Some concepts were simple and easy to execute instantly; others will require more work. But I trusted him to be honest and constructive, and I really appreciated his candid opinions on what I was doing well and what could be improved. To be clear – Bob emphasized that the show was good, I was good, and I would never have to worry about doing a “bad” show for an audience. He also complimented the construction of the show and my writing, which he considered excellent. The question he posed was – how can it get better? How can every moment get better? How can everything the audience sees get better? How can what I say be presented more effectively? As a performer and communicator, these are crucial elements for me. Of course, beyond the “knowing” comes the “doing.” As Dickens said, it is a world of action. Because Bob was willing to be honest with me, and because I was willing to listen to Bob and take action, he was able to help me work on my performance in much the same way that Rich works on the theater itself. Bit by bit, day by day, show by show. Take away what detracts. Add what is needed to give more impact or a better experience. Never settle. And before you know it, you’ve converted a work shed into a theater, or a good performance into a great one. It takes an outside perspective to evaluate the reality of a performance. Outside eyes are vital to the performer’s ability to improve; it is nearly impossible to do sufficiently honest self-assessment. If you want to revitalize what you do, get some “vital eyes” looking at you. Where are you getting an honest, credible outside perspective on your work?
