| “Could I do what, Mindy?”
“Could you lead a 200 person sales team in ‘Simon Says’ and get that down to one winner?”
“Mindy, you know I lead people in improvisation games at conferences and teambuilding. ‘Simon Says’ is a totally different thing. Why are you asking me?”
“Because I have hundreds of speakers and entertainment acts in my book, but not one that does this request from my client. And it just seemed like something you might be capable of.”
“How much would it pay?”
“[insert figure here that made my jaw drop]. For twenty minutes.”
“When would it be?”
“Three months from tomorrow.”
[pause]
“By then, I’ll know how to do it!”
I read and watched everything I could find about Simon Says. I sought out groups willing to let me try the game out with them. I actually got pretty darn good.
What I couldn‘t find was a corporate angle for why we were doing it. Yes, it was fun and competitive and made everyone laugh, but it was just energizing, interactive entertainment. Not a bad thing, but nothing more. Thankfully, that was exactly what the client wanted, which is unusual, and the event went surprisingly well for a first time out. I added the video to Youtube and my website and thought little of it, never expecting to hear anything about it again.
Years later, in 2014, I got a call from an organization I didn’t know, specifically asking about the Simon Says video. This new potential client, Keith, president of his organization, thought the main guy who famously does Simon Says at national events was over the top for his liking; Keith liked my more laid-back tone.
I asked him, “Why Simon Says?”
Keith said, with a smile I could hear through the phone: “You’ll understand when you hear my introduction for you.”
Imagine my shock, backstage, when the following is what I heard come out of the president’s mouth:
So how many of us think we’re good listeners? A few? Yeah, Todd? Okay. You know I think I’m a good listener but Nancy and Keisha and my wife Janelle all seem to think otherwise …and they tell me fairly often.
So, since I consider myself a good listener − and I’m told otherwise − I thought that some of you might be in the same boat. So…we called in a professional.
That’s right. We leveled the power of [their organization] to bring you the foremost expert in his field. A man who works with Fortune 500 companies to develop the listening skills necessary to bring out the absolute best in all of us.
Now, once again, I appreciate the fact it’s Monday morning. It’s 8 am. I get it. But I really need you all to dig deep this morning. I need you to look within yourselves and absolutely participate. So, to all our members here, please help me welcome Mr. Milo Shapiro.
I’m pretty clever, but I never saw that coming! Not only had he pulled a serious lesson out of the game Simon Says, but he did it in such a creative way that had everyone intrigued as to what I was going to say to follow that. Including me! I walked out, shook his hand, and winged the following (abridged), albeit not fully the truth:
Good morning! So Keith referred to me as one of the foremost listening experts in America! I guess in a way I sort of am, but right now I’m just someone at a conference like the rest of you thinking, “It’s 8 am and the last thing I want to think about is listening, let alone doing it. We’ve only had time for one cup of coffee, for crying out loud, and he’s going to talk about listening???”
Like most of you here, I’m an entrepreneur. In part because I was tired of having bosses I had to listen to and make sure I listened carefully. But I quickly learned that my listening had to be better than ever. Listening to clients, listening to support staff, listening to all those people who knew better than I did how to run my business, website, social media, and marketing.
So what is it that I do?
How many of you have ever seen the show, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Well, I’ve been performing improvisation since the early ’90s, and the biggest parts of success in improvisation are commitment, cooperation…and listening.
So when Keith contacted me, I went through all the exercises I could do, and he said, “You know, they all sound good, but do you have one that focuses specifically on listening skills?”
I said, “We could play Simon Says?”
He said, (gasping with delight), “Simon Says!!!”
And after a laugh from the audience at that, I explained the game, got them going and fourteen minutes later, we crowned a winner. If you’d like to see the video clip of that event, featuring Keith’s intro, click here.
Since then, I’ve passed along a modified version of that same intro to other introducers and everyone loves it. All because the client saw the value in my fun more than I did that time!
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