people respond better when they feel they’ve been heard

Q: Comedy is so subjective. What happens when the team disagrees on what’s good?

A: Our dress rehearsals are up to 35 minutes longer than we have room for in the live show. Sometimes things don’t play, and then the writer is much more open to change and suggestions. You can have the fight beforehand, but who’s right? If we go through the dress and the audience is neutral, then we can start cutting in a relatively ruthless way, because all you’re trying to do is put on the best show out of what you have. At that point everyone falls into line. There’s no longer any real debate. We just execute. We come together and do the show. Creative people respond better when they feel they’ve been heard and had a chance to see how the thing they believed in actually performed. You know, we work in a business where people who don’t know each other kiss when they meet. It’s hard to navigate that, because nobody says, “You’re awful in that part.” There’s a level of truth that comes from the audience. They love it or they don’t.

Lorne Michaels

Interview with Lorne Michaels. Harvard Business Review. September 2013