''I noticed a very dangerous insect on his lapel...''
In January 2005, Eric Cantona, a gifted, French footballer, then playing for Manchester United, launched himself into the crowd at a thug who had spent minutes hurling the most vicious abuse at him. He had had enough. He had been spat at, mocked, insulted and he’d reached his limit. For his crime, he was arrested, charged with assault, found guilty and fined by the courts, after an appeal to overturn his 2-week prison sentence. The hooligan went free.
In a passing moment I’m often struck about how namby pamby we corporate speakers are. We assume that we must be polite to our audiences, engage them, involve them and pander to their every whim. Whatever they do to us. I’m not suggesting the full ‘Cantona’, but what would you want to do about-
- Late arrivals- oh that’s fine, find a seat, I’ll start again.
- Mobile ‘phone calls- ‘I’ll just take this outside…’
- Side discussions- ‘Oh we’re just talking about a meeting we were at…’
- Hostile questions, crap questions, leaving early, using laptops and on and on.
A stand-up comedian wouldn’t put up with it would he or she? An actor would object (Daniel Craig stopped a recent performance in New York to ask for an audience member to be removed when his ‘phone went off). So why do we put up with it?
