I’ve told this story before. This blog post from 2018 (Preparing to be bold in the moment) is likely the most complete version.
It was a clash with the Off-Broadway director of the original musical I was stage managing thirty minutes before the curtain was set to rise on the final dress rehearsal before opening night. Tony was panicking that we weren’t going to be ready and generally getting in the way of the controlled chaos happening on stage and in the wings. I told Tony that it was my stage at this point and he was free to fire me at 8:30 if the curtain didn’t go up then but to get off of my stage now. (I might have phrased things less politely). Tony left in a huff. The curtain went up on time. I kept the job. The show was a success.
Many people spend a lot of energy fretting about what might go wrong. Tony was certainly one.
My brain seems to work differently. Maybe it was growing up with six younger siblings. Maybe it was studying probability theory. Maybe it’s tied to the ADD I didn’t know I had. Regardless, I don’t spend time contemplating and enumerating things that might go wrong.I work with a high level plan and adapt to things as they unfold. In larger settings I surround myself with highly capable partners. So far that’s worked pretty effectively regardless of the actual mess that occurs.