Dear Auntie Sam,
I was rejected. I was told that the HBS Show auditions were going to be as Equitable, as Touchy-Feely, and as much about Airtime as all of my classes have been during this first year. Instead, I showed up and found I was being Auditioned As Part of a Group and was being Hooted At by a different group. How could they Audition Me with a group? “My group” I was told were my fellow Aspiring Performer peers and the hooters were the Rarefied Writers of the Show.
I had No Opportunity to show them the full range of my true abilities in the 5 minutes of airtime they gave me to share with 3 other people. I’m used to the HBS system of taking the first half hour in a class to Formulate My Comment, then to spend another half an hour Polishing My Delivery and then finally Lobbing In My Two Cents just when the Professor is about to do his class wrap-up. If it ain’t broke, why should I fix it?
I Watched the HBS Show As A Spectator tonight and it brought back the whole nightmare rejection of my audition. I should have had the Lead Role in the Show-I mean who judged that Nadia, Aman, and Margaret Can All Sing & Dance? I can tell you-it was the Same Loser who decided that I Can’t for some unknown reason. Luckily, I have another year over which I can seek to seek recourse for my wrongful victimization of not having been cast in this year’s Show. But I’m not sure what I should do . . .
Love,
Cast Out of the Spotlight
Dear Cast Out of the Spotlight,
My sympathies are fully with you. HBS does indeed not provide a forum for people not up to scratch. Survival of the Fittest-that seems to be the motto here at HBS-which would seem to explain why you were simply passed over for this year’s HBS Show. Don’t blame your frustrations on Nadia, Aman, and Margaret. Blame instead the fact that Acting and Singing Classes Are Not a Part of the Required Curriculum. If HBS claims its objective is to create “future business leaders,” should not those leaders Also Possess the Ability to be Superlative Actors to Simulate Their Way out of Shareholder or Management Jams?
I think you ought to choose a Far More Lofty Goal than merely to be cast in next year’s HBS Show. You should actively round up members of the faculty such as Professor Sull who were HBS Showstoppers in their time to introduce a Module on Acting as part of the Term II Entrepreneurial Manager course. Being an actor is clearly essential to Being a Great Entrepreneur. And let’s be very clear, even though the day of the dot-com may seem to have passed momentarily, HBS graduates a cadre of Leaders and Entrepreneurs-it transforms the Employees that pass through these Hallowed Halls.
Yours,
Auntie Sam
Send in your problems to Auntie Sam at harbus@hbs.edu
