Are there things beyond the basics you need to know in order to have a successful career? In this article, Damian Kearns discusses 7 words or phrases you can use to avoid career threatening blunders and help you make the most out of every opportunity.
The Keys
Listening, as any shrewd business person or politician might tell you, is a key to success. But responding to what you’re hearing, that’s actually a whole different set of keys. Let’s find out how to turn around virtually any situation before they happen. I wish someone had told me some of this before I had to learn the hard way.
1. I’m Sorry, It’ll Never Happen Again
It suddenly happened. I pulled some cables in the machine room and screwed up big time. The engineer stormed in and yelled at me and I felt like a fool. I started into a self-defensive monologue that was cut short when he told me “I don’t want to hear it. Just tell me it’ll never happen again.” “I’m sorry, it’ll never happen again”, I started dreaming up ways to avoid doing the same stupid thing. And I can tell you, I’ve never removed any patches accidentally from that day to this.
People like contrition, the act of owning a mistake, apologising and making amends. It shows humility and character and it’s also a sign that someone who makes a mistake can learn from it. How I came out of that unscathed is as much a reflection of his character as mine; he used it as a teaching moment. I learned.
2. No Problem
The words “no problem” convey self-confidence and deference all at once. These two words say to your client or boss “I can do this. Leave this to me,” which puts everyone at ease. Since recording facilities thrive on the comfort factor to keep clients, talent and engineers in their seats, that “no problem” utterance is likely the most said thing in our business. As much as anything, it’s a mood setter.
3. Yes? No?
This one’s another case of me trying to explain something to someone who didn’t have time to listen. Also, my educated opinion just didn’t come off as such over the intercom system between the projection booth and the mix stage.
When the mixer came up to gently suggest I keep my answers succinct I learned why. Technical bafflegab unsettles clients (I wish more people knew this). He was on the floor of the mix stage, politically controlling a situation of a machine jumping sprockets and losing sync just fine until I started answering his questions with details. How could I know this? I wasn’t in the room. So we settled on a more succinct approach. I would say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to anything he said unless he asked for details. I even threw in the word ‘Sir’ each time as well, which he loved.
We became good friends and were hanging out having a laugh after a gig one time and said “Why do you call me Sir?” I replied “Every time I say ‘Sir’ in my head it plays out as ‘Asshole’.” That’s when he started calling me ‘Sir’ too. Our coded interactions really gave clients the impression we had nothing but the utmost respect for oneanother when in fact, we just enjoyed calling each other ‘asshole’ all day.
Succinct ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers really work well when no additional information is needed. Too much of an information exchange can and does sometimes sound suspicious to the nontechnical. Best to be brief.
4. I’m Not Sure But I Can Find Out
There were a number of these moments in my career when the success of a project would hang on the inescapable truth that I knew my way around every technical manual in every studio I worked. That’s the job; lots of reading and situational prep. Not every piece of arcane knowledge can or should be retained. That’s why there are manuals, videos and online help forums; why having decent relationships with colleagues and rivals can be critical.
Only months ago, a former roommate of mine from back in the mid 90’s called me to see if I could still remember how to get machine control and timecode generation happening in Pro Tools. It turns out, I could. More than a decade out of use but still those little synapses refused to completely die and it helped my old friend in a jam.
“I’m not sure but I can find out” isn’t a concession of defeat. This statement conveys humility and a willingness to learn; to leave no stone unturned in the undertaking of seeking an answer.
5. I Think It Sounds Great
Just say this, if you’re ever asked about a mix in front of another mixer. Anything else is a declaration of war.
6. Say Nothing
This is, for some people, the toughest of our 7 keys.
I can’t remember the guy’s name but he was kicked out of the edit suites first, then he called another engineer an ‘asshole’ and I don’t mean ‘sir’. I’m not sure how this person persisted at the facility after that but while I was mixing a trailer for a film, this guy was brought in by my boss and seated behind me in the producer’s chair.
That’s cool. I mentioned to him that mixing requires silence from everyone else in the room but he never did stop talking. Fortunately, my boss was in the room during our few heated exchanges and before I knew it, the mouthy intern was out on the street, never to return. If he’d only kept silent, as everyone in the facility had repeatedly requested, he might have had a career. I might have remembered his name.
Quietly watching and listening is a sign of respect for the art and craft of audio and it maximizes the opportunity of being in a room, watching someone work. There’ll alway be time for conversation during breaks and at the end of the day. People miss opportunities all the time because they’re making sounds instead of experiencing the sounds around them. It’s often the case in this business that silence isn’t just golden, it’s a skill. And I’ll go one further: Silence communicates respect.
7. I’m Listening
Hearing and listening are two different things. Hearing is a biological function but listening is to give attention to a sound or action. Let’s call ‘hearing’ passive because it happens all the time. Let’s call ‘listening’ active because it requires conscious effort.
Listening is the final key in this list but as I mentioned at the start, it’s the fundamental key. How hard we listen directly effects how successfully we learn, interact with others, and draw inspiration for our work from the world around us. Listening can also happen without sound, in that, if you’ve read this piece and understand what I’ve said, you’ve listened to me trying to pass along some tips.
Silence (After This)
In the days of nonlinear learning– when we can all watch a video, read an article or visit a support page without first having read a manual or taken any basic skills training- it’s important to understand that technical knowledge is one thing, creativity is another but interpersonal skills are the keys to success. We can’t cherry-pick personality traits from how-to videos but we can read, have a think, and maybe, just maybe, learn enough to understand that when I call you ‘Sir’ I really mean…