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How Tom Hanks can double your leadership potential
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Captain Phillips
Sure, his best work may have been in Bachelor Party or Bosom Buddies, but Tom Hanks has done alright for himself.
With the release of his latest flic Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks is working the publicity circuit. The Chicago Tribune did a Hanks feature & he shared some of his insights on acting.
Two comments in particular resonated with me.
“All of acting is a battle against self-consciousness.”
- Tom Hanks
When I enter Spanish mode, I’m a bit of a different person.
In a way, I’m acting.
Not a fraud, mind you.
Probably more like Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld. Sure, he’s acting in the show, but he’s not working too hard at it. Jerry the character and Jerry the person are pretty similar.
In Spanish mode, I’m more out-going, more gregarious, more active. I flail my hands more. My voice fluctuates more. I make more of a scene. I’m not exactly a shrinking violet to begin with, so this type of behavior isn’t too far off.
The volume is simply cranked up a notch.
Part of this I do consciously. I need to forget to be self-conscious. When a tall, skinny redhead wanders up to a drywall crew full of Mexicans and starts speaking Spanish, it becomes a one-man show fairly quickly.
It takes a while to let the Spanish-speakers process what’s happening. Then a bit longer for them to engage. That leaves me on a potentially awkward and lonely island for some time… if I choose to think in those terms.
It is a battle against self-consciousness.
And I won't lose.
“The job of an actor is to forget that he’s in a movie.”
- Tom Hanks
Red Angle recently completed a custom Zero Energy State (aka Lockout/Tagout) video trio in English, Spanish & Polish for a Client. After the Spanish version was deployed, I received a call.
“The guys liked it. They were surprised at the humor. It got some laughs. But they thought you sounded like a game show host sometimes….”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Did the game show host keep their attention?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. It held their attention the whole time. The guys were talking about it afterwards. That doesn’t happen with most my training videos. Whatever works.”
I don’t purposely create Lockout/Tagout training videos with the role of “Game Show Host” scripted in. It just emerges. I forget I’m a tall, skinny redhead recording Spanish audio over a Safety video. And I think the overall product is better for it.
What about you?
How does your self-consciousness hold you back?
The hard part of Construction Spanish isn’t the learning.
We can teach you what you need to know in a few weeks.
With this knowledge, you can double your leadership potential as you manage & lead Spanish-speakers – not just English-speakers.
No, the learning is the easy part.
The hard part is overcoming self-consciousness and putting yourself out there.
Being strong enough to be vulnerable.
Forgetting to take yourself too seriously.
Sometimes you gotta sail The Love Boat before becoming Captain Phillips.
