And... SHOW!
Four times a year, my merry crew of PR operatives at GE Capital produced live TV shows, broadcasting from no less than three international sites. The 76,000 employees scattered in far flung time zones would gather in theaters to view the program. Our chairman always opened with, “Good morning, good afternoon and good evening”. He’d then interact jovially with staff in whatever city he happened to be, despite his being utterly unjovial in real life. Chatting with employees in a hall in Leeds, England, for example, Mr Big, an American, had just learned the word verger, British English for a layperson who helps to organize services in Anglican churches. He thought himself a dab hand at comedy and, when he ad libbed a joke about a guy on the verge of a sexual conquest, the room of 300 Britons went dead silent. Such were the joys of live TV with self-important Harvard MBAs. There was, however, one staple of the show that always got a sure-fire laugh.