Years ago, I traveled to Indiana to work with a morning show there. It didn’t take long to spot the fundamental weakness of the show – the guy was basically just allowing his female partner to be his live “laugh track.” And the Content was weak to begin with, some lame ‘prep sheet’ type of stuff and what he thought were jokes.

The problem was, she was much better than he was.

She had a great voice that pulled you in, she could sound any age, was very smart, and could make you laugh with real stories and comments, not just jokey lines. The guy was pretty lazy, which showed as we met for the first time after they got off the air. He literally leaned back in his chair, plopped his feet up on his desk, and asked me, “Why should I listen to you?” Hmmm…

So, we then started to work. As always, the first step was to point out something that they did well. Then we went over the first one or two things I wanted them to work on. The female partner paid attention. The guy didn’t.

After two days of coaching and listening, their boss asked me over lunch for my initial assessment. I told him the girl was a terrific talent, but that he would probably end up replacing the guy. He asked why, and I boiled it down by asking him, “If a new listener heard them for the first time today, what is there to come back for?”

I only cite this example because if the morning guy had actually wanted to listen, he would have realized that it’s SO EASY to sound good…

5 steps:
Learn what you do well.
Learn what you don’t do well.
Learn what valid Content is.
Root for your teammates.
And resist letting your ego take over the show.