The Elevator Speech

A glorious morning in Wapping: the sun is shining; it’s nice, for once, not to be sitting at home in elasticated clothing; and I’m lolloping happily back to my desk with a latte when, between the third and upper ground floors, something awful happens. One of the most awful things that can ever happen to anyone in an office in fact: a senior executive enters my lift.

Sharing an elevator with a boss is always a stressful business: the impulse to minimise potential disaster by saying nothing clashing violently against the impulse to say something fantastically witty. But it is even more difficult during periods of management upheaval, such as The Times is currently experiencing, when these contradictory urges mingle with an overwhelming desire to fall to one’s knees in tears, pleading not to be fired.

Not that you’ll relate to this if you’re from the US. American professional development experts have long advised workers to handle such situations by calmly launching into an “elevator speech” – a monologue designed to paint oneself in the best possible light…

Read atTimes Online