Take your work seriously (without taking yourself too seriously)

The other day I was catching up with my friend John Garrett. Despite being separated by roughly 14,000 kilometres, John and I are kindred spirits I think. We share a number of passions, we share political intuitions, we work with similar clients, and he’s absolutely hilarious…

(That was an attempt at a joke, but I’m not sure if it worked. It woulda worked if John had done it, he’s literally a professional comedian. If I could be one tenth as funny as John some day, I’ll consider my life a success. Anyway, I digress…)

We were chatting about professionals (lawyers, accountants, consultants, analysts, yada yada), and John noted the somewhat paradoxical necessity to take your work seriously, without taking yourself too seriously. I nodded so furiously in agreement I almost headbutted my webcam.

It feels particularly pertinent to understand this distinction when it comes to presentations and public speaking. The fact is, presentations are a performance, and performances are supposed to be entertaining.

Now, I’ve seen plenty of presentations by professionals who seemed resolutely committed to proving you can talk uninterrupted for 45 minutes without being even slightly entertaining at any point, but that doesn’t mean those people are right! 😂

Whenever you speak to an audience, you’re performing. But when you take yourself too seriously, it’s incredibly difficult to entertain. In a somewhat perverse reversal of your intentions, taking yourself too seriously actually makes it harder to achieve your commercial goals.

The key, then, is to take the work seriously, but lighten up about yourself. Speak seriously about the topic, and jovially about yourself. Be discerning with regard to the subject, and playful with regard to yourself.

Not everyone will be as entertaining as John. Indeed, if you’re a mere mortal like me, we may never reach such heights no matter how committed to the craft we are. However, if you truly respect your audience, and the opportunity cost of bringing them all together to share a synchronous experience with you, you should take the project of providing them with an entertaining experience very seriously indeed.

And, to do so, you might just need to lighten up a bit.

I think we can agree I have serious forehead lines...