Leadership Without a Script (Or How to Avoid the Platypus Problem)

A platypus looks like an animal designed by a committee of goofballs. Mammal that's aquatic. OK, that's not too crazy. But also… it lays eggs? And it's venomous. But cute. It doesn't quite fit anywhere – so we just shoved it into the 'mammal' category because we had to call it something.

Your last presentation was quite possibly built in a similar manner. Lots of stakeholders and rounds of edits. A manager over your shoulder saying, "let's make sure we word it like this." What comes out has lots of interesting – even useful – parts, but doesn't quite hang together as a thing. Just like the platypus.

There's also a possibility that you made the thing in private, didn't tell anyone what you were doing, just squirreled it away. And then, when the time came, you presented it. Meekly, head down. Barrelling through it until it was finished. This is the "done is enough" school of presentation.

But these aren't our only options. There’s also the eagle. That's the majestic seemingly natural presenter who never needs notes. Who soars. Who holds forth with aeronautic agility and touches down in a tree. Inspiring to watch. Impossible to replicate.

Here's the thing: none of these models helps you or your audience.

Because "get on stage and soar like an eagle" isn't particularly actionable, and running a presentation through a few more rounds of input from department heads (or ChatGPT) isn't going to create a better outcome – just slightly less (or more) awkward platypuses (platypi?).

So what's the actual alternative?

Make moments that matter

The realest moments don’t happen during polished presentations. They happen when people communicate in real time.

It’s a spirited back and forth about budget overruns. It’s a well-crafted presentation telling the story of your department. It’s a sequence of Slack messages calling attention to an oversight and addressing it. 

As you can see, they often happen when things don’t go as planned. When Satya Nadella was launching Windows 10, the demo crashed live onstage. Instead of panicking, he paused, smiled, and said: "That's life. Let's reboot." Then he talked to the audience like a colleague, not a CEO. Without a script. 

In that potentially catastrophic moment, he found the humanity. And trust went up, not down. That wasn't charisma. That’s leadership without a script.

Why scripts make you fragile

Scripts promise control: the rehearsed talking points, the polished deck, the contingency slides for every scenario. The appendix with all the slides you didn’t use, so any questions can be directed back into the deck. 

They don’t deliver confidence, they deliver precision. And fragility.

When reality doesn't follow the plan – and it never does – rigid preparation leaves you, paradoxically, unprepared.

A key stakeholder is late. The product demo glitches. The reporter asks the one question you didn't prep for. If the script holds everything, you’ll freeze when it doesn’t have the answers you need. 

In essence, you’re outsourcing capability. Which doesn’t make you more capable. It also doesn’t make you seem more capable. It just means you made a thing that worked one time. 

Much better is developing your own ability to manage these moments, to raise your own capability and willingness to engage with real life, as messy and unpredictable as it is.

And so, we give ourselves a system that helps us develop the capacity to strengthen our process and our capability. Enter PACT.

PACT: What actually works when plans don't

One of the frameworks I use when coaching leaders is PACT – Presence. Adaptability. Contribution. Trust. These principles help leaders think about what matters, name them, and build the skills to actually deliver value and authenticity. 

Here's what they look like in practice.

Presence: Stop performing and start noticing.

This is the bedrock of almost everything I teach at Dashwell. Because, with all the notifications, information, AI content generation and more, it’s so easy to go the other way: into data bombardment. Or distraction. Or to retreat into our own thoughts. It can be as simple as waiting for the other person to finish talking so we can make our point. 

In improv, we teach the principle of “Yes, And”; of adding to the ideas of others. But in the spaces between statement and response lies presence. The willingness to just sit with ideas, with challenge, with discomfort, with comfort, and just be.

To some it may sound ridiculous, or a waste of time. But it’s the exact opposite. Let’s not confuse ‘doing’ with ‘making progress’. More often than not, the moment you’re in requires you to do less, not more.

It’s why meditation is having such a moment – because the practice of being present isn’t something to take for granted, it’s a skill to work on. And while meditation is valuable, presence looks a lot different when you’re in a meeting or giving a presentation. 

Adaptability: Your prep is only the foundation

You can’t work in real time if you’re clinging to a script. The way to work effectively is to adapt to reality. You don't fight it. You adjust to it.

A few years ago I was teaching a tried-and-true Guardian Masterclass on Public Speaking. As we moved onto a late-morning exercise, I felt the energy in the room shift. So I asked what was going on. A timid hand went into the air, and said “All of this technique is good… but what if we’re just scared?” Many heads started nodding.

So I threw out the planned exercises, because they weren’t ready for what I had in mind. I quickly shifted to some easier, lower-threshold activities to give them some quick wins. 

We got back on track after lunch, more or less, but I had to shift my objectives for this particular group and the day, because the session wasn’t about what I wanted, it was about what they needed.

Your preparation is a foundation to build from, not a script you're trapped in. That's adaptability.

Contribution: Say What's Useful, Not What Sounds Smart

Every moment – scripted or not – is a chance to add clarity or move things forward. Not by saying something impressive or recycling a talking point or restating your ask. More often than not, seeking clarity or naming what’s happening is already a big contribution.

Stop asking: "What should I say?" Start asking: "What would actually help right now?"

Ever been in a meeting where someone named the tension, by saying something along the lines of “I can see we aren’t making progress on X. Let’s agree to align on this later, and move along.” Or maybe they suggested another solution. Or none at all. The key is in addressing what’s really there.

Trust: Show Up as a Human, Not a Spokesperson

Trust is what happens when you show up consistently – present, adaptable, contributing something real instead of hiding behind corporate messaging or an agenda.

When you respond like a human instead of a spokesperson or a walking agenda, people feel it. They trust you more.

A couple years ago I was tasked with leading a warm-up energizer exercise at a team retreat. The issue was, it was the morning after a late-night dance party. I left at around midnight, so I was feeling fresh, but I know many of my colleagues were very much not at their best.

I could’ve adapted the exercise to be quiet and reflective, but I knew that would allow them to check out. I could’ve gone through with my high-energy improv partner exercise, but that would’ve annoyed the hell out of them.

So instead, I took my partner exercise and had them do it by channeling all their grumpiness, their tired-ness, their hungoverness into it. I named what was there in the room and gave them the instruction to lean into it.

As a result, there were lots of laughs, some big high-energy partner work (and some tired pairs half-assing it) but overall, a collective will to overcome the tiredness, not succumb to it, or avoid where we were at physically.

That's how teams develop together – not through following a plan, but through trusting that when we show up and meet the moment, we’re doing exactly what is needed. 

This is how capability grows across a team. That trust compounds. It's worth more than a thousand perfect presentations.

Because when the next crisis hits—and it will—people don't follow polished. They follow consistent.

How You Build your PACT Ability

PACT isn’t a personality trait that some people have and others don’t. It's a practice. Give yourself the space to respond to what’s really happening, instead of following the script. In conversations, notice what the other is really saying, and what they mean.

These small practices compound faster than you'd think. Your team notices the shift.

Trust builds. Unscripted moments stop feeling like threats and start feeling like opportunities.

Your best leadership moments aren't scripted. They happen when reality shows up and you respond with clarity, humanity, and steadiness instead of panic.

You don't need to be an eagle. You just need to stop building platypuses. If you need help with that, book a discovery call. Because done isn’t enough. There’s more for us, if we just make the choice to move toward it.

Get in touch and let's see how I can help you figure out how to turn unscripted moments into actual leadership.