STOCKHOLDERS’ meetings for corporations as well as village associations and civic clubs allow voting for the incoming directors of the board to be assigned to a designated person “by proxy.” This allows members to vote even when absent from the meeting.
The use of an alter ego too has become a social necessity for busy and in-demand personalities. The supply of high-profile subjects is not only limited and changes with the political tide. Rumors of replacements can become reality once a once-distant event takes place. Why does the highly desired celebrity (or “has been”) need to show up if someone else can take his place to read his message?
Action movies employ doubles or stunt men to fall off moving trains or jump off tall buildings and get set on fire as a substitute for the main star. The use of stand-ins is intended to protect the lead actor who has the less physical job of looking suave and delivering lines to seduce leading ladies.
The proxy (from the Latin word, procurare — to attend to) makes an appearance on behalf of someone more important, usually a boss he cannot turn down. Organizers of events are too polite to show overt displeasure at the absence of their original guest. (Has he been abducted by Martians?)
A substitute, however inadequate, must still approximate the level expected by the host. If the important man cannot attend, he just doesn’t send his driver in a suit to take his place. His substitute must still be of high enough standing, preferably considered important in his own right in another area (say, art critic), and properly attired.
The proxy is introduced as a “worthy representative,” even when he is unknown. He is even seated at the head table, with nobody talking to him, except the waiter. (Sir, cold or hot water?) When delivering his assigned speech, the proxy prefaces with an excuse for the intended speaker’s absence. The proxy assures the audience of the invited guest’s ardent desire to be present at this convention. He fell into a severe depression when the doctors informed him that he could not attend. (So, here I am, whether you like it or not.)
The flimsy excuses can detract from the message of the speech if anybody still cares to listen. Anyway, the representative proceeds bravely on with the speech, speaking confidently in the first person as if he were himself the absent one. He inserts his own warm-up jokes at the start. (I see you expected to see someone more recognizable addressing you. Anyway, I wrote this speech.) The quicker the stand-in gets off the podium, the better — are there any questions?
A proxy feels uneasy with his assigned role. The reception line expecting a VIP to arrive is surprised by a grinning substitute. (Sir, please register at the front.) When the organizers release a photo of the event to media, the stand-in is identified generically as a representative of the one “not in photo.”
A spokesman is a different kind of alter ego. He speaks for his principal. The opinions he expresses and the responses to questions from the floor reflect those of the person or company he represents. This process is meticulously rehearsed beforehand to come up with an agreed narrative. What a spokesperson publicly espouses may be at odds with the opinions he privately holds. He may even be asked to comment on an issue he has not discussed with his principal. (Until all the facts are in, we cannot comment on this issue.)
Substitutes of any kind are viewed with some discomfort. Should you ask them what happened to the original designated speaker?
Sending a substitute only calls attention to an obvious absence. It sends the message that this event is not worth the original invitee’s time. Even the proxy is uncomfortable ending up as a consolation prize, a gate crasher who must dine behind somebody else’s place card, a living disappointment to the host who does not bother to hide his displeasure. (When did you join the company?)
Maybe the alter ego can himself send a regrets message and simply not show up. Of course, this will displease his boss… but probably not the ones who invited him in the first place.
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
