Naive and Expert Role-Players

In the public and the private world, we witness naive and expert role-player. Certainly every role-player cannot be an expert. New people come into roles who are fresh and inexperienced in playing those roles. These people can often be very innovative. Sometimes they can make all kinds of mistakes that experienced role-players would not make. Sometimes they have people helping them to correct those mistakes and to become greater and better role-players. Sometimes they are rejected with the first few mistakes in the role and so they don’t have the opportunities to become the experienced and great role-players. Their potential for playing the role is destroyed. Others, we understand the mistakes of the naive and we try to help them so that they can develop into the great people, the great role-players they should be.

We witness this in the acting, political, and public worlds all the time. We witness it with presidents. Some presidents are required to resign, some are impeached, others for whatever reason people witness their mistakes, help them to correct them, and then continue with these people and help them to become the great role-players. Some have the necessary advisors so that they don’t make the mistakes in the first place. This is the same in business.

If you go into any role, you can decide if you want to be a naive role-player, making your own mistakes and correcting them, and/or if you want the advice and consultation of others who have played the role before and many times before.

Those who go into roles and think they are better and greater than previous role-players and that have greater innovations, say in business, often they don’t seek the advice or experienced role-players. They make their mistakes, they correct them, they try not to make the same mistakes again–that is, if they recognize these as mistakes. People that think that othes are greater and better than themselves often behave differently. They seek the advice of these others. They ask them about the mistakes and the potential mistakes. These are the types that accept apprenticeships and accept to be mentors. These are very different types.

We have discussed leading role and supporting role people and the people having a different psychology. Most leading role people, for whatever reason, perceive themselves as better and greater than others in that role. Sometimes they are absolutely correct, sometimes they have a conceit. You must be sure if you are correct, and/or whatever it is just a conceit. Of course, having the conceit is acceptable also if that helps you to get to a level that another person might not even consider. But your understanding must be reasonable and rational. Supporting role people often have the psychology when they go into a career or role that others are better than themselves, say an “Ugly Betty,” who very easily can play a supporting role for people in the TV show. In reality, she might be a leading role person, but she is perceived as a supporting role type and she perceives herself as that. There are many areas in which she is truly a leading role person; some recognize this; others do not.