Life 1.2 (Beta) Continue With The Presentation

On two occasions during my life and my career I have given presentations to people that were asleep … I told myself I had no choice … the sleeper was not the issue … it was the other sad actors in this two part play that had lost their self respect that branded me …

I was a young department head and was asked to make a very critical oil and gas lending presentation to the President of a bank where I worked … I was joined by the division Vice President as I began my 7:30am analysis … almost immediately the President feel asleep … I stopped, looked at the VP and protested … “the guy is asleep … we should wake him up or leave” … The VP dropped his eyes but said, “continue with the presentation” and for the next hour or so I covered material that was vital to the understanding of risk the bank faced … this information was shared with a man that was unconscious … I should have stood up and walked out ... Maybe I would have lost that job but maybe I would have found out enought about myself so I would have acheived my dreams ...

A few years later I found myself in Washington, DC in the Office of Louisiana Representative and later Speaker of the House (for a few days), Bob Livingston. I had already made well-received presentations at the Executive Office Building adjoining the White House, one at the Organization of American States (OAS) and now was prepared to meet with a powerful Congressman from my home state. As my group was ushered into that impressive congressional office, we where greeted by Congressman Livingston and one of his senior aides. Following a few minutes of pleasantries, I began a discussion of a private bank proposal that hoped to solidify commercial, shipping and import/export ties with some Central and South American industrial interest. The plan outlined an offset to inroads made by aggressive Japanes parties and the Port of Miami. The Congressman dozed off within minutes … again, here I am … I looked to the aide and said something akin to “the guy is asleep … we should wake him up or we should leave” … The aide hissed, “continue with the presentation" … "I’ll tell him what he needs to know” and for the next hour or so I talked to an unconscious man while covering material that meant the world to me … and maybe could have been a critical commercial boost to a faltering business sector in New Orleans.

I know as humiliations go this ranks somewhere between a party foul and being slammed by a beautiful woman at a party but these were critical moments that defined and highlighted some aspects of life for me … So who sold out? Certainly, me. Certainly, the VP and the aide. I still do it and I tell myself I have no choice … no choice … what I do now is not the embarrassment and the humiliation of speaking to the unhearing but it’s the same and it sickens me just as it did in those old days gone by ... I do the inane because I think I have no choice and there is always some poor soul who will say the equivalent of “continue with the presentation.”