Geo’s Media Blog (Are You Competent?) New 12/14/20

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When my friend Tim Moore recently wrote about the four levels of competency, it managed to take me back a couple of decades. (Damn I wish I could write like him)
At that time, I was spending some quality time studying with Mike Vance, the Dean of Walt Disney University (pictured above) which was where I first learned of it.

Before learning about the four levels of competency, I used the formula of, Talent + Science = Art.
If the air talent was gifted, I taught them the science part, or if they were too mechanical, I attempted to teach them creativity. However, when I added the competency test, it forced me to figure out just what I was dealing with.

Unconscious-Incompetence You’re stupid, but you don’t know it.(Tough to coach)
Conscious-Incompetence –You’re stupid but you know it.(very coachable)
Conscious-Competence You know you’re not stupid. (tough to coach) First, you have to get their permission and as they tend to be arrogant, you also have to appeal to their intellect by staying at least one new secret ahead of them.
Unconscious-Competence You don’t know why you can do stuff, you just can. (very tricky to coach) These folks are usually a little paranoid and spend a way too much time worrying about what they’ll do if they lose their talent seeing as they have no idea where it came from.
In fact, all of us have some unconscious competency in us, like knowing how to ride a bike or tying our shoelaces, but we have no idea how to describe it.

Unfortunately, many gifted people are in this category, so I try to push them towards the science part while teaching them creativity, which you can learn.

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

Was Lincoln the first President to lie when he said, “To help finance the Civil War, I’m implementing a temporary income tax? However, when the war is over, I’ll rescind it.

While America waits for FDA approval, Britain and Canada are already distributing the new vaccine to combat the Corona Virus. Meanwhile, the FDA managed to find the time to take a four day weekend over Thanksgiving, bless their hearts.

Hey ladies, no matter what your therapist says, sometimes it is your fault.

Speaking of the ladies, have you noticed that the latest words for no are, “Oh, that’s so sweet, or you’re sweet?” But then again, as they say, any words other than yes  mean no.

Do you find it as interesting as I do that the only people who are in favor of tax loopholes are the wealthy, the rich, and the government? What’s that you say grasshopper, “The reason the politicians don’t shut down the tax loopholes is because they use them too.”

We all can create new memories.

Hillary was much better at debating than Biden but she lost the election anyway.

Is it true that to have peace, we have to prepare for war?

In some situations like your family being in danger, sometimes the law is inadequate.

When you let pussy guide your career, pretty soon, both your career and the pussy are gone.

Winners wrote the history books, but now it appears as though some losers are trying to rewrite them.

The script is everything.

Your vision is clouded by what you already believe.

When you praise a performance, you make two people happy, you and the performer.

What counts is what you know, not what you think.

Once you buy their product shouldn’t you be exempt from their hounding?

COMMENTS
Jed Duvall: George, I am not so certain that the U.S. is more divided than ever. In the early months after 09/11/2001, this country was remarkably united.
What has changed since the defeat of George H.W. Bush in November 1992 is that both political parties have polarized to an extent not seen since 1841-1876 and 1965-1976.
I think most Americans want to do the right thing most of the time, but instead, we focus on the truly evil (10 %) and the vocal who want to be loud in opposition to something, anything. That doesn’t mean that the remaining 80 % are sheep; it just means that the loudest and most visible mouthpieces in our society draw attention to bad news (and there is always a lot of it) rather than focus on the millions of random acts of kindness that happen every day.
Nobody will listen to “good news” talk radio in significant numbers (Remember Jim Hilliard’s favorite talk show host, Herb Jepko on KSL-AM and WIBC-AM in the mid-1970s after Bob Morrison died ?), and few people want to listen to “G”-rated rock music approved by Tipper Gore. (Interesting, WIBC was so strong then that even Herb Jepko and his snoring callers did not torpedo the ratings !)
I wonder if a political consultant would advise a national candidate today to be like Ronald Reagan: Be upbeat, be concise and memorable and look for the best.
Mr. Hilliard was always sending me quick notes to find for and get Gary Todd to do more positive SMILE stories to counter-point the hard-news that came out of Fred Heckman’s news department.
Then there was my favorite Jim Hilliard WIBC announcers meeting where he explained why Doris Day was America’s Sweetheart and why Johnny Mercer wrote the credo for WIBC: “You gotta accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative and don’t mess with Mr. In-Between”!
Poor Nat Humphreys left the meeting wondering if “Que Sera Sera” was going to be in a Power rotation! (No Risk No Reward)
Geo: Well said, Jed, but then again, Mr. Humphreys had Sally Franklin waiting in the wings to comfort him.

Martin Taylor: George, I appreciate both stories, although Sandy’s is nearly heart-breaking. Being a native of the greater Philadelphia region, you caught my attention by mentioning WFIL.
BTW, I totally agree related to traveling … when you’re 85, it’s now or never, so – while I want to do the long-distance rail trip, we haven’t planned it yet – my “travel companion” and I have taken two multi-week road trips and looking to see where to head next.
Geo: Thanks for the read, Martin, and as the King sang, “It’s Now Or Never.”

 

One thought on “Geo’s Media Blog (Are You Competent?) New 12/14/20

  1. A good friend of mine whom, a native Hoosier, is retired from Paramount Pictures where he was the director of licensing film and TV properties . My friend got me really interested in the history, people and creative process of making movies and TV programs. As someone who did not study film, but did TV, I never realized how many movies (hits and bombs) were written and rewritten by several writers before production began (and sometimes, while the production was in progress). Given the number of movies that never make back their production costs (most of them), it proves you are absolutely correct that “the script is everything”. I wonder how many radio and TV people lavish extra time and attention to what they are going to say and present ?

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