Has your pride made you do something you regret?

Has your pride made you do something you regret?

the Moscow Circus was in town

this was in London

and the BBC were doing a special live TV broadcast

it was the middle of winter

and my friend Leigh Wayper was a junior sound recordist

he’d been assigned to this program

it’s the rehearsal day

and his job is to hide behind the ticket booth

and get the sound effect of people buying their tickets

this was part of the big opening sequence

where they followed a couple as they

got their tickets

got their ice cream

walked past the juggler

and into the big tent

so Leigh has sit hidden behind this ticket booth

he’s freezing

and he’s looking at his watch

15 mins

30 mins

45 mins

an hour later he pops his head out

and there’s no one in sight

they’re all back in the warm van having tea and biscuits

but no one told Leigh

anyway Leigh got his nose all out of joint

and the next day he sees his supervisor

and says next time the circus is in town

leave me out of it

about a month goes by

the supervisor said to Leigh

another circus program has come up

are you interested?

Leigh says told you once

told you twice

not interested in circuses

well that turned out to haunt Leigh for the rest of his life

because this was 1969

and the circus was

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

and he had a lifetime of regret

all because his pride was hurt

you know the saying

pride comes before the fall

is as old as the bible

and there’s a reason for that

Has your pride ever got in the way of your clear thinking? What do you do to protect yourself?

#change #motivationalspeaker #keynotespeaker #leadership #storytelling