Reel or Real? Does it Even Matter? Life Lessons From the World of Acting with Aditi Taylor
“Theater is the art of looking at ourselves”, (quote by Augusto Boal). Nothing rings truer in my humble opinion. The more I have reflected on this, the more I have realized that my experiences in theater have helped shape a big part of what I am. At the early age of five, my parents put me in amateur acting school. Throughout school and undergrad college, I grew up performing on stage and continue to nurture this passion even now. What I learnt in theater, has been incredibly translatable to my professional and personal life. Here are a few lessons I picked up along the way.
“You must place yourself inside the mind of someone whose viewpoints are otherwise foreign to you.”
1) Preparation and Perspective: - Preparing for a new role on stage is very much like preparing for a new personal or professional opportunity. You have to understand the character you are portraying/job you are doing and who your audience is. Be it a new job/position at work, a project or a social/community engagement, it is critically important to recognize the needs and expectations of the role you are playing. Often the persona and characteristics of the role or the situational underpinnings of the professional project you are undertaking are quite different from your own. This means that to truly capture the essence and portray the character in a believable way, you must place yourself inside the mind of someone whose viewpoints are otherwise foreign to you.
“Only if you understand the big picture will you be able to help carry the team to the finish line. ”
2) The Big Picture: - When you are on stage facing a live audience, someone will invariably forget their lines, I have too! It’s natural for that to happen, but therein lies the value of understanding the ‘big picture’. While rehearsing, don’t just focus on your own lines; prepare for the entire presentation instead. Because, you never know when you may need to jump in and ad-lib! Theater fosters a strong sense of team commitment, which is equally valuable in professional life as there are often situations that require one to jump in on completing a deliverable when teammates/colleagues are unable to. Only if you understand the big picture will you be able to help carry the team to the finish line. Understanding how all the pieces fit together versus your own siloed view helps promote a great sense of team allegiance and accomplishment.
“If you are not confident in yourself, how will you convince the audience of the character you are presenting or in your professional life your contribution and the value you bring to bear?”
3) Confidence and Conviction: - It takes courage to put yourself out there, in front of a live audience, and make yourself vulnerable to be critiqued by the public. When you are standing center stage, bright lights on you, eyes locked and hundreds of people staring right back at you, there is an ethereal adrenalin rush! Theater imbibes in you the skill of weathering high pressure situations. It’s a skill that in my professional and personal life has given me the courage and confidence to keep stepping out of my comfort zone in order to move forward. Confidence builds conviction and vice versa. If you are not confident in yourself, how will you convince the audience of the character you are presenting or in your professional life your contribution and the value you bring to bear?
“Come hell or high water, the show must go on…no excuses! ”
4) The Show Must Go On: - Last but not the least, THIS is the quintessential learning from theater! Once you commit to something, you must go all the way in. Come hell or high water, the show must go on…no excuses! Theater teaches you to not confuse interest with commitment. If you are interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. If you are committed, you simply accept no excuses! This to me has been the biggest and most infallible lesson from theater.
Bio: Aditi Taylor is a Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer in the asset management industry. In her current role, she provides oversight of enterprise risk management, identifying and evaluating potential reputational, operational, financial and regulatory impacts and relevant mechanisms for risk mitigation. Previously in her career, Aditi served as the Partner/Principal in Deloitte Advisory LLP where she spent almost 19 years working on various consulting engagements across multiple global companies. Aditi holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Bentley University, MA and a Bachelors in Economics from the University of Mumbai, India. Aditi has been active in the New England community serving in leadership roles for various community organizations, including as President of the New England Marathi Mandal and the India Association of Greater Boston. In 2014, she was inducted in the Boston Business Journal’s class of ‘40 Under 40’ Leaders to watch for as well as recognized as Boston Business Journal’s ‘Leaders in Diversity’. In 2015, she was honored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of the ‘Ten Outstanding Young Leaders’. Most recently, she was recognized by the India New England News as the ‘Most Versatile Leader’ in 2017. Aditi currently sits on the board of Tech Goes Home (TGH), a nonprofit organization that brings free digital skills training, discounted new computers, and home internet access to those without, which has proven especially important in the move to reducing digital disparity during this pandemic.. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Boston University MET and teaches Advanced Enterprise Risk Management. Aditi lives in Westford, MA with her mom, husband and two sons.