Thank you for auditioning for COPORATE TRAINING VIDEOS ROLE: ROBERT

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Christine Walker
5 years ago
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Thank you for auditioning for COPORATE TRAINING VIDEOS ROLE: ROBERT Please prepare: The full packet that matches your Character Number or is most correct for you based on your Nationality.

1 Thank you for auditioning for COPORATE TRAINING VIDEOS ROLE: ROBERT Please prepare: The full packet that matches your Character Number or is most correct for you based on your Nationality. You do not need to be off book but should be familiar with the material so you can give us the best character read possible. The style of this work should be honest and real and a bit heightened. Think Law & Order or any crime/law based TV show. These characters are all well educated and smart and have a strong sense of self. If you are coming in for the foreign language roles and will be speaking Cantonese, Mandarin or Hindi, please see the extra script pages with sample lines to demonstrate your language skills. These events will be presented LIVE so the best approach for vocal work is theatrical and not TV/Film. INSTRUCTIONS: Be sure to bring your picture and resume, otherwise we will not have one in the room! DRESS: Business casual but definitely well dressed and well groomed/styled. Show yourself off as the business-person you can be. Please note that auditions will be recorded so other members of the Creative Team can view them. Thanks so much! W S Casting

2 2. Cultural Fit Kenji: There are two finalists for a job. Both have performed exceedingly well on the technical assessment, so it s down to the interview. Try to interview them in a way that maximizes the chances of acquiring the best talent. BEAT 1 VO: You re Robert an SVP. Samuel and Daniela are your two final candidates. Prompt: How do you want to interview the candidates? Two buttons, More Formally, and, Less Formally, pop up. Samuel & Daniela are displayed as thumbnails in the corner. BEAT 2 [If viewer chooses Less Formally ] Less Formally (Samuel is charismatic and relaxed throughout.) Hi, I m Samuel, great to meet you! Nice to meet you too, Samuel. Thanks for coming in. So, I see you went to Harvard undergrad--what house? I was in Mather. No kidding? I was in Mather as well. The best thing about living in Mather is... SAMUEL (at the same time): SAMUEL (at the same time): Hong Kong? You don t have to look at it! You don t have to look at it! Did you ever go out to the masters (Laughs) A few times. Those scorpion bowls are lethal! Absolutely. In any event, I see from your resume that you wrote your thesis on cryptos in That s some impressive foresight.

3 Prompt: Thanks--I know you re working to help organizations implement blockchain, and I d love to be part of that. I m not a crazy libertarian, but cryptos do bring out my inner Ron Swanson. Ha! I m glad I found another Parks and Recreation fan. Love that show. Thanks, Sam, we ll be in touch. Great, now let s bring in Daniela. Less Formally Daniela is charismatic and animated. Hi, I m Daniela, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you Daniela. So, tell us a little about yourself. Well, I have a masters in CS. I m really interested in AI. I decided to devote my career to AI the day WATSON won Jeopardy. [has heard this before] That s great. What application of WATSON do you think will be the most promising in the future? Well, as someone who is involved in the Latinx movement, I think WATSON could be incredibly influential in detecting taste trends in the Latino community. [not going to touch this with a ten-foot pole] Um... ok. (looks at her resume) I see from your resume that you grew up in Phoenix. Do you still have ties there? Yeah, I lived there until I moved to New York. Which I loved, but it s just so expensive. I lived in a one-bedroom apartment with four roommates, (she laughs). [finally connecting] You re telling me. I lived there after college and only lasted a year! They both laugh. (smiling) Well, thanks so much for coming in. Thank you. I m really excited about this opportunity. I hope to hear from you soon! SUPER: What would you like to do now?

4 Button <Hire Samuel> <Hire Daniela> <Interview Them More Formally> [If they choose <Interview More Formally>] BEAT 3 Hi, I m Samuel, great to meet you! Nice to meet you. So here at the firm we pride ourselves on restlessly reinventing our company and ourselves. Can you give me an example of when you reinvented yourself? Sure. I was initially interested in going into politics. But I had a slow burning crisis of faith in our political system. So that s when I got interested in Bitcoin. Everyone thinks I m some kind of genius for seeing the boom coming--but my interest wasn t so much in the financial returns, but in the idea of a currency independent of government regulation. <Robert is scoring the answers to these questions in real time> Prompt: Terrific. We also having a practice here of treasuring wild ducks, meaning that we are independent minded. When was a time when you ran against the crowd?. I feel like I just answered that question. Cryptos. Uh, ok. This can be a pretty intense work environment. How do you manage your time when you have a plethora of competing priorities? Well, I can t say I have a system or anything. I meet most of my deadlines, and I can t say I ve ever gotten complaints about my time management. Thanks for your time, Samuel. It was really a pleasure. Ok, let s bring Daniela back. Samuel exits and Daniela enters. Nice to meet you. So here at the firm we pride ourselves on restlessly reinventing our company and ourselves. Can you give me an example of when you reinvented yourself? Well, I used to really downplay my Latinx identity. But I ve come to embrace

5 it as something about who I am. As someone who s bicultural and bilingual, I really think I can add value to the firm in the ten countries in Latin America where you have a presence. <Robert is scoring the answers to these questions in real time> Terrific. We also having a practice here of treasuring wild ducks, meaning that we are independent minded. When was a time when you came to your own conclusion about something that others might think was outlandish? I often get challenged for putting too much faith in AI--versions of how can you trust a machine to decide whether you would save the child or the painting from a burning museum? But of course the point of that question is that human beings struggle to answer it as well. I believe artificial intelligence could also encompass moral or emotional intelligence. Wow, I have a million follow ups to that, but I m going to stay on track. This can at times be a pretty frenetic place. How do you manage your time when you have a bunch of competing priorities? Well, I m a huge fan of David Allen s Getting Things Done. I adhere to the two-minute rule, keep a hard landscape on my calendar, and then keep all my tasks on index cards in my inbox to review every week. Thanks so much, Daniela. Thanks! BEAT 3 SUPER: What would you like to do now? Button <Hire Samuel> Button <Hire Daniela> Button <Interview them more Informally> If the viewer choose to reinterview, have an alternative introduction play to the scene, where the candidate says Thanks for having me back.... When you choose to hire someone a prompt comes up. Prompt: You ve hired Daniela! / You ve hired Samuel. END 1 : (plays if you only interview both candidates informally) KENJI: So you ve hired your candidate. You probably have a good sense of their

6 personality, but do you have enough to really be confident in your decision? Unstructured interviews lull us into a false sense of security. We love to engage in them, but a slew of studies show us that they are unreliable. In addition, when you leave interviews unstructured, individuals tend to rely on similarity bias, the bias toward those like themselves. Such bias means that the demographics of the organization tend to replicate themselves. Here we saw this when Daniela didn t get a response to her interest in Latinx issues. Please try again. END 2: (plays if you only interview both candidates formally) KENJI: Nice job, you chose a qualified candidate. Structured interviews are recommended for meritocratic hiring. Here you (and Robert) adopted the best known practices--you asked pre-determined job-related questions, you asked the same questions in the same order of both candidates, you assigned scores to the questions and scored them in real time. But formal interviews are not a silver bullet. For instance, candidates might feel that the interview was too chilly or sterile, in which case you might not be able to recruit the candidate you ultimately chose. To see this, please try again. END 3: (plays after you ve done one round of structured and one round of unstructured interviewing) KENJI: Now that you ve seen both styles of interviewing, you see that each has their benefits and pitfalls. The best known practice is to use structured interviewing as much as possible. When unstructured interviewing is still necessary, you should use it knowing that you re incurring a cost. So one way to do this would be to start with the close-ended interview, to close the book on the scores, and then to engage in open-ended interviewing. Shopping Cart: Jason Dana, Robyn Dawes, and Nathanial Peterson, Belief in the unstructured interview: The persistence of an illusion, 8 Judgment and Decision Making 512 (2013) and sources cited therein. Iris Bohnet, What Works: Gender Equality By Design 139 and passim (2016). 3. A Common Language Kenji: You are about to drop in on a meeting. See if you can make the meeting run as smoothly as possible. BEAT 1

7 Shopping Cart: Emilio J. Castilla & Stephen Benard, The Paradox of Meritocracy in Organizations, 55 Administrative Science Quarterly 543 (2010). Eric Luis Uhlmann & Geoffrey L. Cohen, Constructed Criteria: Redefining Merit to Justify Discrimination, 16 Psy. Soc. 474 (2005). 8. Retiring Personalities Kenji: Introverts make up about a third of the population, yet, leadership has been dominated by the extrovert ideal. While this sometimes comes up among Asian-American employees, it is in fact an issue for all introverts within an organization. This is Eric, a recently promoted Director and natural introvert. His boss has told him in order to move up the leadership chain, he needs to be more extroverted. Choose which behavior to portray for the best possible outcome. BEAT 1 ERIC encounters Robert. Hey Eric, how s it going? Prompt: How do you want to behave? Two buttons pop up, <Introverted Eric> and <Extroverted Eric>. Extroverted Eric (forcing extroversion) Hey Robert! Everything s going great! How are you? How about those Eagles? Oh, I d love to talk to you about presentation skills. I m thinking of delivering a process presentation to my team and I d love to learn your methods! His life bar goes down way. Wow, I ve never seen you so exuberant. Thanks! I m trying to be more extroverted, per Amir s comments. (He

8 forces a laugh) I m already exhausted and I just started this morning. Tell me about it. I ve been at it for years. But you re not shy at all. Being an introvert isn t the same as being shy. After a meeting or presentation, I need some down time in order to function. Oh wow, I thought introversion was mostly an Asian thing. In China the saying is, The loudest duck gets shot. Ha, well here, The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It s not the best model for leadership. You should talk to Amir about it. Introverted Eric Life bar stays high. (speaking softer and more naturally) Hi Robert. I m doing Ok. Just trying to figure out how to adapt my personality to the leadership model here. Amir mentioned I should be more outgoing and confident, but that s just not my style. I m naturally an introvert. Ha. Me too. Really? But you re not shy at all. Being an introvert isn t the same as being shy. After a meeting or presentation, I need some down time in order to function. Oh wow, I thought introversion was mostly an Asian thing. In China the saying is, The loudest duck gets shot. Ha, well here, The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It s not the best model for leadership. You should talk to Amir about it. BEAT 2 Prompt: You re about to lead a team meeting, how do you want to lead? Two buttons pop up, <Introverted Eric> and <Extroverted Eric>. Extroverted Eric

9 <If this is the second time you chose extroverted, a message will pop up that says.> Warning, your life bar is dangerously low. We cut to after the meeting. Eric looks exhausted. His life bar is depleted. Great meeting Eric! I ve never seen you so outspoken. I m glad you re taking my advice to heart. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. It s really taxing, It s just not how I naturally am. I totally get it. I wasn t raised that way either. But in this country, leadership requires more extroversion. I had to adopt a more outgoing style to get to where I am. Wouldn t it be better for the firm if we nurtured different leadership styles instead of celebrating only the loud, outspoken leaders? It just makes sense for us to bend toward the company rather than having it bend toward us. Introverted Eric We cut to after the meeting. His life bar remains high. Hey ERIC, can I talk to you? Sure, what s up? I know I mentioned it before, but if you want to become a VP you need to be more outgoing. Own the room. I hear you, but that s not who I am. I m not naturally that way either. I had to adopt a more outgoing style to get to where I am. But I didn t write the rules, in this country leadership requires more extroversion. Wouldn t it be better for the firm if we nurtured different leadership styles instead of celebrating only the loud, outspoken leaders? It just makes sense for us to bend toward the company rather than having it bend toward us. BEAT 3 Prompt: What do you want to do?

10 The two buttons pop up, <Advocate> and <Assimilate> Advocate Actually, I think the company should bend. China has tech companies. And those companies have leaders. They seem to be fine Yeah, but we re not in China. Robert overhears the conversation. the Super: Super: Sorry, I couldn t help but overhear. Actually, some of our most famous leaders--from James Madison to Abraham Lincoln, were introverts. Fair enough, but I need to give Eric realistic advice. I m not trying to boil the ocean here, Robert, just trying to get Eric promoted. I respect that, but as leaders at the firm, we re the ones that have to change culture. I want a company that has both kinds of leaders, where people can choose the style most authentic to them. Anything else is a colossal waste of time. Thanks Robert. Amir, maybe we should get something formal together to present to HR? I m on board with that. 6 months later. Amir, I just wanted to thank you for your support. I can t believe I m already leading my own team. I hope I can be a mentor to others like me. Without Robert, I don t think I would have had the courage to do it. Great job. Optional <play again button> Assimilate Yeah, I guess. I just find it totally exhausting. But if I want to lead a team, I m willing to make sacrifices. Robert overhears the conversation.

11 Super: Sorry, I couldn t help but overhear. Actually, you can lead as introvert. Some of our most famous leaders--from James Madison to Abraham Lincoln, were introverts. Fair enough, but I need to give Eric realistic advice. I m not trying to boil the ocean here, Robert, just trying to get Eric promoted. Thanks for having my back Robert, but I need to adapt to what the company needs. I m just one person, no need to change the entire company culture. We re two people. And at least a third to half of the company is likely introverts. But anytime you need someone to back you up, I m always here. Ok thanks, but I think I can manage. Six months later Hi Amir, I wanted to see you because I m submitting my resignation. This just isn t working. I feel like I m someone I m not. Not to mention, I m just wiped out. I ve taken a position at another company that s more open to different leadership styles. Optional Play Again button. KENJI: Introversion is one of the new frontiers of inclusion. In 2012, Susan Cain wrote the landmark book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can t Stop Talking. In this book she makes three simple observations. First, she notes that one third to one half of the U.S. population can be classified as introverts. Second, she observes that introversion and extroversion likely have a genetic substrate individuals can stretch their personalities in one direction or another, but only to a limited degree. Finally, she notes that introverts have many valuable including the creativity, persistence, and focus that flow from more time spent alone. Indeed, a separate study has shown that introverted leaders can even be better team leaders of proactive employees. For these reasons, we should be highly skeptical of a workplace that requires all of its leaders to be extroverts. In organizations, Asian American individuals often bring up the bias against introversion, given that their cultural upbringing can favor introversion. However, the population affected is much broader, and includes many people in the otherwise dominant group: straight white men. Organizations should reflect on how to create more leadership scripts so that some leaders are celebrated for being good orators and others are celebrated for being good listeners.

12 Shopping Cart: Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can t Stop Talking (2012). Susan Cain s Ted Talk: Adam Grant et al., Reversing the Extraverted Leadership Advantage: The Role of Employee Proactivity, 54 Academy of Management Journal 528 (2011). 9. Separate Spheres Kenji: When a terrorist attack or race-related tragedy like Charlottesville occurs, we re all affected at work. But many of us are unsure of how to respond or if it s even appropriate. Kevin and Robert are trying to navigate how to behave at work the day after a tragedy. Use the toggle to see how things things play out differently when they re covering and when they aren t. Two buttons <Cover> <Uncover> will appear on the screen. Viewers can toggle over at any time from one to the other.. Cover Uncover (Uncomfortable) Have a good weekend? KEVIN: (slightly upbeat) Yeah (awkward pause) So we ve got really fast turnaround on the Watson Customer Care implementation. Capacity-wise, how are you feeling? What an awful weekend. KEVIN: (Clearly bummed) Yeah. It s just such a terrible tragedy. I feel awful about it, so I can t even imagine how you are feeling. KEVIN: (clearly distracted) Fine. I can focus on the delivery. I m always excited to lead a project like this. (Pause) Ok, Well, if you need any help with it, just let me know. I know this is a big project. KEVIN: I can t even focus. What happened was like Charlottesville and Newtown times two. I m scared for my kids to grow up in a world like this. Well, if you need to talk one on one just let me know. I know it s hard show up at work after such a terrible tragedy.

13 Shopping Cart: Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can t Stop Talking (2012). Susan Cain s Ted Talk: Adam Grant et al., Reversing the Extraverted Leadership Advantage: The Role of Employee Proactivity, 54 Academy of Management Journal 528 (2011). 9. Separate Spheres Kenji: When a terrorist attack or race-related tragedy like Charlottesville occurs, we re all affected at work. But many of us are unsure of how to respond or if it s even appropriate. Kevin and Robert are trying to navigate how to behave at work the day after a tragedy. Use the toggle to see how things things play out differently when they re covering and when they aren t. Two buttons <Cover> <Uncover> will appear on the screen. Viewers can toggle over at any time from one to the other.. Cover Uncover (Uncomfortable) Have a good weekend? KEVIN: (slightly upbeat) Yeah (awkward pause) So we ve got really fast turnaround on the Watson Customer Care implementation. Capacity-wise, how are you feeling? What an awful weekend. KEVIN: (Clearly bummed) Yeah. It s just such a terrible tragedy. I feel awful about it, so I can t even imagine how you are feeling. KEVIN: (clearly distracted) Fine. I can focus on the delivery. I m always excited to lead a project like this. (Pause) Ok, Well, if you need any help with it, just let me know. I know this is a big project. KEVIN: I can t even focus. What happened was like Charlottesville and Newtown times two. I m scared for my kids to grow up in a world like this. Well, if you need to talk one on one just let me know. I know it s hard show up at work after such a terrible tragedy.

14 KEVIN: Thanks, I appreciate that, but everything is fine. I ll organize a kickoff meeting and rally support from the team today. DEEPALI (Overhears): Did you say you re going to the anti-gun violence rally? KEVIN: Thanks, I really appreciate that. Actually, I d like to leave early to show my support at an anti-gun violence rally downtown today. DEEPALI (Overhears): Did you say you re going to the Anti-gun violence rally? KEVIN [Extremely Uncomfortable] No...We were just talking about rallying people to embed Watson into the client s call center. DEEPALI: I ve got a pretty big workload. But I m sure I can rearrange some things. (Long pause) Ok..well, I ll reach out to you if we need extra help on anything, but I m sure we ll be fine. KEVIN: Great. Also, Jessica, if you re interested I could use some help on the Watson Recruitment presentation. I m feeling a little... off today. DEEPALI: Definitely, Anything I can do to help. KEVIN: (unenthusiastically) Great. See you later this afternoon. KEVIN:Yeah, if you re interested in coming, the more support we can show the better! DEEPALI: Oh, great! Also, I don t know if you know this, but I lost a daughter to gun violence, so what happened this weekend really affected me. I understand. Let me know if there s anything I can do to help. Also, I m going to arrange group transportation to the rally tonight. KEVIN: Great. Also, Jessica, we should look into starting a firm support group. I know a lot of others have been affected by the shooting that happened this weekend. DEEPALI: Definitely, Anything I can do to help. KEVIN: Awesome. See you later this afternoon. KENJI: Managers often struggle with whether to have conversations about national events. They worry about whether it comports with professional norms, their ability to navigate sensitive and potentially inflammatory discussions, and the distraction it will cause from work. However, they also recognize that the failure to do so imposes a significant covering demand on their employees.

15 We have both the motive and the opportunity to change our habits here. As Belle Ragins has noted, life spillover from events outside work can have major effects on workplace morale and performance. While the instance she studied was an economic foreclosure crisis, she underscores that terrorism and other threats could have the same impact. We should also note that with issues like race, the workplace presents a distinctive opportunity to have the conversation. As Cynthia Estlund has shown, the workplace stands out for true integration of a polity that has become, in recent years, more segregated along lines of race. If employees cannot have the courageous conversation at work, they may not be able to have it all. Shopping Cart: Belle Ross Ragins et al., Life Spillovers: The Spillover of Fear of Home Foreclosure to the Workplace, 67 Personnel Psychology 763 (2014). Cynthia Estlund, Working Together (2003).

Thank you for auditioning for COPORATE TRAINING VIDEOS ROLE: AMIR

Thank you for auditioning for COPORATE TRAINING VIDEOS ROLE: AMIR Please prepare: The full packet that matches your Character Number or is most correct for you based on your Nationality. You do not need