Episode 155 – No One Briefed The Gorilla – Prepare Then Let Go

Yesterday, Sir David Attenborough turned one hundred years old.

No one alive has done more to make ordinary people like me fall in love with the natural world.

A man with a microphone and a camera crew and an extraordinary gift for telling stories that made you feel you were right there, in the rainforest, on the ocean floor, at the edge of the volcano.

I have been thinking about what made him so different. And I keep coming back to one thing.

It wasn’t just preparation. It wasn’t just passion. It was what he did when the moment stopped following the plan.

Many leaders I work with are excellent at preparing. They craft their message, rehearse their delivery, anticipate the questions. And then something unexpected happens in the room. A question they didn’t see coming, a conversation that shifts direction, a moment that the agenda didn’t account for.

And they freeze. Or worse, they ignore it and keep following the script.

Today’s story is about one single afternoon in Sir David Attenborough’s life that became one of the most watched moments in television history. It nearly didn’t make it to air. And it holds, I think, two of the most important lessons a leader can carry into any meeting, presentation or conversation.

Here is the link to the longer video sequence: https://bit.ly/DA_Go

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Our website has a video version of this story.  https://storyworks.in/storybanks/

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