# A Lesson in Performing By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-01-07 One time in high school my history teacher asked me why I wasn't taking notes during his lecture. My snarky teenager reply was that I didn't need to take notes to get a perfect score on the test later that week. After some predictable back and forth, I bet him with no stakes that I could ace the test without taking a single note. A week later, he hunted me down in another class to tell me that I had aced the test, and we had a chat about how it won't always be like this, the importance of respecting authority, etc. Fast forward a few years later, and I'm meeting with my boss during a college internship. He's telling me a bunch of things that need doing, and I'm not taking any notes. He stops mid-sentence and asks me if I'm writing any of this down. My slightly less snarky and college-student reply was that I didn't need to write down the tasks as I could remember them all. He insisted that I take notes so he knew I had captured everything. I obliged and wrote down mostly incomprehensible scribbles for each thing he told me from this point onward. This boss eventually promoted me and sent me to client sites as an intern without supervision. While on-site, I was instructed not to advertise that I was still an intern. At this point, I began to learn the importance of the performance. My teacher and boss didn't actually care about my notes - they cared about whether I was doing what was expected. Good students take notes and ask questions to ace the test. Good employees diligently write down requests in a serious manner and cross them off publically for the manager to see. By all accounts, I was a good student and employee. I aced the tests. I managed large accounts at a high level of performance. Yet I wasn't playing the part as expected, and I was called out on it both times. Clearly, outcomes weren't all that mattered. How I played the role seemed to matter just as much, and it's a big part of any "successful" career. This is the tragedy of stereotypes, compliance, short-term thinking, low-effort management, and organizational systems. How much energy and time is lost by playing the game this way? Could we achieve a 20-hour work week by eliminating unnecessary performances and meetings? I think it's highly probable, but know that how you play the game is just as important as the outcome. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Games]] [[Authority]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Paradigms]] [[Organizational Analytics]]