Guy Reams (00:00.814)
This is day 291. A clown show is a clown show.
Pretend for just a moment that you are the leading act in a circus clown show. You are fully aware of what people find funny, how they react to exaggerated antics, and the impressions they form while watching the interlude between main events under the big tent. You know how to get them to laugh, how to poke fun, how turn awkwardness into comedy. Your band of misfits, your fellow clowns, are nothing if not consistent. They come across exactly as you would expect, overdressed,
overly dramatic, a bit chaotic. You worry, you wring your hands, you obsess over every detail, timing, props, facial expressions. But when the show is over and the audience flies out, there's not much you can do to change what they remember. You were a clown show. A good one, perhaps, a bad one, maybe. But what they remember, what sticks in their mind is that they saw a clown show and that's it.
The truth is, the leader of a clown show would never try to pretend to be something else. He knows what his role is, what his troupe is meant to do. There is no illusion. There is no attempt to shift genres or redefine the audience's expectations. Any effort to make that act something it would not be would be futile. It is, after all, a clown show. This metaphor has been circling in my mind for a while now.
came into sharp focus a few weeks ago when I watched one of my children present themselves to a group of adults, hoping to win their favor for a job or internship or something of that nature. I remember cringing internally. thought they should not have said that or they shouldn't have written that or they should not have, they shouldn't wave their hands like that. I worried that they were going to give off the impression of a child asking for something beyond their reach, but that impression was entirely accurate.
Guy Reams (01:58.146)
They were a young person, relatively inexperienced, trying to take their first steps into the working world. No matter how much coaching I might have given, no matter how polished their words were, or how they fitted into their outfit, the underlying truth was clear. They were a beginner, and that was what the audience perceived.
A few months ago or a few months earlier, I had a small team pitch me an investment opportunity. The idea was intriguing, AI tools to automate marketing tasks. The pitch was professional, the presentation really sleek, slick. But the deeper I listened, the clearer the reality became. There was no product yet, no software built, no proprietary algorithm or patented method, just an idea and a team of college age founders looking for funding.
Their real goal? To pay themselves salaries so they could work on this full time. They dressed the idea in business language. They talked about scaling, market opportunities, customer segments. But the substance remained unchanged. They were asking for money so they could afford to keep building. No matter how refined the pitch, the truth of the matter would not be hidden. I have been part of many organizations in my life.
for-profit companies, non-profits, small startups, large corporations, boards, association, volunteer groups. And there's one consistent reality that I have encountered every time. No matter how much effort is spent on optics, you cannot conceal the true nature of an organization. You might manage to fool someone for a moment, but not for long. Eventually the truth emerges, it always does. Even if you're a master communicator,
an expert strategist, someone with impeccable timing and finesse, you still have little control over the impressions others form. That is because those impressions are largely built on prior experience, personal bias, and subconscious judgments. You might influence 1 to 5 % of all that. If you're exceptionally good, maybe I'll give you 5%.
Guy Reams (04:08.697)
but that still leaves 95 % of the impression formation process completely outside of your control. So what is the lesson in all of this? Stop trying so hard to fool people. Instead, direct your energy toward telling the truth. Be honest about what you are, who you are not, and where you are headed. When someone's impression naturally aligns with what is true, your job becomes very easy.
When it does not, trying to force it will only waste time and money. Tell the truth. Tell it well. Let that be enough. The truth, told plainly and with conviction, may not impress everyone, but it will always outlast pretense. In a world obsessed with crafting the perfect image, the real power lies in being comfortable with what you are and where you stand.
When your actions, your message, and your purpose are aligned with the truth, you don't need to manipulate impressions. You become clear, and clarity, more than charisma, more than cleverness, is what people remember. So be less concerned with playing the part and more focused on living the part. The world may still see a clown show, but at least it will be an honest clown show.