RULE 88
Add value
Many years ago I saw Robin Day presenting an episode of Question Time and he asked one of the panel a question. The panellist replied, ‘All I can really do is repeat what I said earlier …’ at which point Robin Day cut him off abruptly, saying, ‘Well let’s not bother with that then,’ and turned to another panellist, leaving the first one stunned.
I was hugely impressed with both Day’s comic timing and – more importantly – the sentiment. Why bother to speak if you have nothing to add? And yet people do, all the time. They repeat what they said before. They rephrase earlier contributions. They say things that are completely meaningless. Why? How do they think this is helping? And why do they think they were asked to contribute ...
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