Action theatre vs real action

Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore

I’m Johnnie Moore, and I help people work better together

The guys at PSFK are running an article by me about what I call action theatre. Meetings often get trapped into empty rituals that appear to be about generating action, but actually get in its way. Often in the middle of lively conversations someone will say something like “Well all this talk is great, but it won’t mean anything if we don’t have some actions!”.

It sounds sensible enough, but abstract talk about the importance of action can be really unhelpful. As the article says

It seems as though someone cares about action, but really, it’s just theater. Just urging action is like entering a room, rolling your eyes, telling everyone how untidy it is (by which you really mean, how untidy they are), and then leaving without picking up any litter.

You can read more here

Share Post

More Posts

Ghost lights..

feeling the power of presence… and what it really means to ‘read the room.’

Singing on the subway

What I learned singing to strangers on the subway, and why emotional connections matters even more in a hi-tech era.

Bunny Bunny

A funny game illustrates what we may be missing in many of our meetings

More Updates

Emotional debt

Releasing the hidden costs of pent up frustrations

Aliveness

Finding the aliveness below the surface of stuck

Johnnie Moore

Rebooting

James and I are off to Reboot 8 in Copenhagen this afternoon. Last year’s Reboot was excellent and I have high hopes for this one despite being part of the

Johnnie Moore

Interactive Circus Act

Sig contrasts three schools of marketing – The MBA, The Circus Act and The Conversation, and comes down in favour of an Interactive Circus Act. You’ll find me sitting next

Johnnie Moore

2gether08

I spent yesterday at 2gether08 and thought it was great. It had a lot of the elements that make Reboot a success: a good venue that feels down-to-earth; lots of