This afternoon I talked by phone to the delightfully named
Professor Cary Cooper (sounding like a cross between two very different Hollywood stars of the past). He didn't even mention to me that he was a CBE. If I had a CBE I would insist that every time anyone addressed me by name that they called me "Richard Herring CBE", but he is more modest. My only award is the Daily Telegraph Worst Comedy Experience of 2005. But you know, that took some getting. So maybe I should insist that I should be called "Richard Herring Daily Telegraph Worst Comedy Experience of 2005" every time I am addressed. I could shorten it to Richard Herring DTWCETTF" but I'd have to explain every time what the initials stood for, so might as well just go for the whole thing.
Maybe I should just get a job on the BBC Childrens' Channel and then insist that every calls me "Richard Herring CBeebie" which might fool a few people with ear dyslexia.
Anyway I was talking to the debonair cowboy (as I imagined him) Professor Cary Cooper CBE about perfectionism and control freaks. I thought that this was probably the condition that I suffer least of out of the five that we're covering - laziness, procrastination, lateness and workaholism being the others (the show begins broadcast on Radio 4 on 4th November at 11am) - but I realised I do suffer from perfectionism to a small degree and have certainly worked with some control freaks in my time. It isn't always a bad thing to want everything you do to as good as possible, but of course it can take its toll on your work colleagues if you are not prepared to delegate at all. Also perfectionism can lead to procrastination, making it impossible to get started because you're too scared that something won't be good enough. As with all these interviews it makes me realise the importance, in business, of treating your employees with respect and making them feel what they're doing is worthwhile, rather than criticising them constantly and making them feel like mindless drones. It should be obvious I suppose, yet many bosses miss out on this. Professor Cary Cooper has his CBE. I have my DTWCETTF. We know we're appreciated and thus get on with our respective jobs of sorting out workplace maladies and writing cock jokes. I don't know what I'd do without my DTWCETTF. It certainly makes my nineteen years in the business worthwhile.
Tonight I was back at the Lyric, but this time in the audience to watch
Spyski, a terrifically entertaining romp mixing up the Importance of Being Earnest with John Le Carre and that bloke who got the polonium in his sushi. You can see the cast in rehearsal
here. It's only on for the rest of the week and it's definitely worth seeing. Peepolykus are an enormously likeable and talented bunch of people and there's lots of silly jokes and clever bits of stage craft and babies in handbags and enjoyable slapstick. It's been a while since I've been to the theatre due to work commitments and laziness and the comparative easiness of going to the cinema. But this was a lot funnier than most comedy films I have seen recently. Strange to think I had been up on that same stage in front of the same set just last night, but I quickly forgot that.
