I hate having to go straight back to work after a pitch presentation.
You’ve worked late nights and weekends.
You’ve had emotional highs and lows that have tested and ultimately strengthened relationships with colleagues.
And, despite being physically drained, you collectively manage one last adrenaline-fuelled summit push for the presentation itself.
Afterwards, all you want to do is to come down gently over something long and cold or something large and red.
The new business equivalent of a post coital cigarette.
It’s really tough if you have to go straight back into the thick of it. The to-do list that has been put on hold can’t be held any longer.
You actually feel cheated.
Imagine how that feels if your whole life really is a pitch, or a continuous series of pitches with no time for gentle come downs.
That’s what I took from this video of President Obama’s address to his campaign team.
Yes it’s emotional.
Yes it’s heartfelt and sincere.
Yes it’s unscripted.
Yes he cries.
But it was the last few seconds that really struck me.
I think he really wanted to stay and chat. To bask in the glory of the moment with his team. Maybe have a cold one.
But he can’t.
He switched it on for five minutes. And then, just as quickly, he has to switch it off, be swept out of the room and get into character for his next pitch.
He spends his life creating moving moments, but he never gets to hang around to enjoy the moment himself.
Rather him than me.