The general manager was a balding yuppie adulterer with the absolute worst taste in co-defendants, who never convinced anyone to respect him, though he tried long and hard. He was a shallow snot-nose punk kid pushing forty begging for a fat lip. This was my first management role model. I tried to get into the spirit of the event. What I was learning about human beings I had either missed or ignored before.
People are bundles of balancing acts, emotional and rational, spiritual and physical.
I had removed from my team captain persona the gregariousness and mirth that make me who I am, as if those traits were inappropriate in leadership. I was becoming one guy on the job, another guy everywhere else. I seized on this revelation like a stick shift and slammed it into overdrive. Within days I had the happiest team in the contest. You see, I was too busy making people laugh to concentrate on sales goals and contest rules.