"Start With The Pitch"

Formality. I get it. In the business world, we have to be professional. Granted, depending on the company, the meaning of "professional" may loosen. But if you consider the least common denominator, you at least put pants on and spell out full words. 

So this varying degree of formality/professionalism, I've found, creates a smattering of awkward moments in the workplace that I always find myself asking...myself..."Why the hell is she saying 'moving right along' at this meeting?" [Yes. We had an agenda, and she said, "Moving right along"]. But it's other things too, like, "I'd like to take a minute to talk about..." or, "Perhaps we could address..." and so on and so forth (<-- that's another one). I suppose I just don't understand why the "grey matter" gets tossed into a meeting or conversation once we flip the light on in our cubicle. Aren't we all just talking anyway? Don't we have important things to say? 

I once read, "Don't start with the wind up. Start with the pitch." In other words, no one cares about your crappy lead-in. Start with the good stuff! And hell, be excited about it! Show some character. Smile when you talk. Look at people. And for crying out loud, get to the point. If you say "etc", then we assume there is more. Tell us about it. If you say "things of that nature", tell us what nature you mean. If I say, "It's like football, wrestling, UFC, and other things of that nature" I could mean contact sports, male-dominated sports, or the inherent source of hypermasculinty in the United States which directly supports shitty TV like Jersey Shore. 

See?

All I'm saying is, in school, you get knocked for this kind of work. If you put it in a paper, it gets cut out. If you say it in a speech, you're unnatural and underprepared. If your professor teaches like some people run meetings, they're evaluated as vague and not engaging. Of course, I know school is different than the work force. Not all of it is directly translatable. But some of it is. Like grammar. (Don't even get me started...)

Do I have a bone to pick today? Yep. Can you tell? Probably. But I figure being transparent probably won't hurt anyone. All I call for is some balance between embracing professionalism and "starting with the [interesting] pitch." 


AND ANOTHER THING! Jokes. I'm done. Off my high horse. Gonna go make a friend or something...