“I am the character you are not supposed to like.”
– Alan Rickman, British-born actor, who died earlier this week
Hans Gruber. Severus Snape. Those characters fit the bill. And Alan Rickman was one of the great character actors of our time. Character actors aren’t leading men and women, they’re integral parts of the story, but they’re flawed and hard to figure and they make the story possible because of what they bring out of the rest of the cast.
In business, some people are destined to be lead actors and some are put here to be character actors. And, just as in the screen world, in business character actors aren’t leading men and women, they’re integral parts of the story, making the story possible because of what they bring out of the rest of the cast.
How much of our time is spent rehearsing for parts we’re not meant to play? How much of our time is spent forcing a role in which we aren’t comfortable?
Difference making comes down to understanding the part we are to play, and nailing it, much the way Alan Rickman did on the screen. (Here’s a really cool obituary from this morning’s Wall Street Journal.)
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