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Blogs by Gerald Gillis
Dare Not Shrink 9/10/2013 2:48:38 PM
My main character in Dare Not Blink, Dave Paige, by chance meets Paula Markham, a consultant who is also a trained psychologist. At Paige’s request, Paula provides him with the brief assessment shown below only an hour after meeting him. Question: Do you know anyone like Paige? A colleague or former boss? A friend? Yourself? Disclaimer: These are fictional characters. I am not a doctor nor have I ever played a doctor in film, on television, or on the stage.
“Okay, Dave. Like it or not, here’s my take: You’re an insatiable overachiever, the consummate Type A. You’re restless and tireless and clearly ambitious. You’re fair and even-handed, and you’ve built a reputation as a person of integrity. You place value on great results, but you also appreciate great effort, especially the ‘above and beyond’ kind, and you sure as hell don’t abide sloppiness or laziness. Everything you’ve ever gotten in your life—everything— has been a result of your own hard work. You walk into a room and the energy level invariably increases, never decreases. It’s in the way you carry yourself, the manner in which you speak, the eye contact you make, and the distinct impression you give off as a careful, attentive listener, which is far less common in executives like yourself than you might think. You don’t strike me as being afraid of confrontation—to the contrary, I get a certain vibe that you may actually enjoy it, need it, at times, perhaps even often. You don’t like who you don’t like, and you see no reason why they shouldn’t have the benefit of knowing it.
“You’re also conflicted about your failed marriage, since failure is neither a concept nor a result you have much familiarity with. You’re conflicted about being at a point in your career where the seeds of antagonism you’ve planted and allowed to grow in other corporate carnivores may now suddenly flower and reach out for you like a Venus Flytrap, and you don’t quite know what to do about it, which frustrates you greatly. You’re conflicted about remaining with a firm you love, which has been stable and nurturing and comfortable, but now which is none of that, and in fact perhaps even the polar opposite. You feel a sense of loss, not just about your chairman and mentor, but about the mental image you’ve had of the firm for all these years, almost as if it, too, is about to be laid to rest.”
Paula turned her head slightly, trying to gauge Paige’s reaction. “Is this making any sense?”
Paige nodded slowly, seemingly transfixed. It was as if he were sitting on a beach at the water’s edge, only vaguely aware of his surroundings, the rhythmic crashing of the waves, the cool sudsy water washing over his skin, the sand giving way beneath him as the water recedes and giving off the momentary sensation of falling into a hole. “Please continue,” he said softly.
