Trial Lawyer & Computer Scientist
Houston, Texas
Joined December 2019
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I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Adam Christing, a humorist, keynote speaker, and author, to talk about the power of laughter, connection, and storytelling.
Adam has spent four decades performing more than 4,000 humor presentations for CEOs, Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits, and high-stakes audiences around the world. He is a member of Hollywood’s iconic Magic Castle, has worked with David Copperfield, authored The Laugh Factor: The 5 Humor Tactics to Link, Lift, and Lead, and is the CEO of Clean Comedians®, a business that uses humor to bring people together rather than driving them apart.
Adam is more than just a gifted public speaker and performer. He is a student of human nature. In our conversation, he explains how comedy works psychologically, why humor diffuses conflict, how it disarms resistance, and how it allows leaders to deliver truth without putting people on the defensive.
Adam also offers a brilliant blueprint for anyone who speaks publicly. Executives, trial lawyers, entrepreneurs, military leaders, and educators, can all benefit from Adam’s crash course in how to grab an audience’s attention and keep it. We break down how great presenters prepare, how to deal with nerves, why silence is so powerful, how to tailor your message to the room, and how storytelling can transform information into impact.
Along the way, Adam tells stories about joining the Magic Castle as a teenager, bombing on stage, learning from masters like Johnny Carson and Winston Churchill, and discovering that audiences do not want perfection - they want presence. He also explains why the boundaries of “clean comedy” actually make comedy more creative, why leaders should practice humor like a skill, and why audiences always root for the person at the microphone.
This episode is about leadership, persuasion, communication, and how to connect through humour. It is also full of laughs.
I invite you to listen to the full conversation and learn how humor can help you become a better leader, speaker, and storyteller.
And now I give you, Adam Christing.
brianbeckcom.com/laughter-an…
Abdul committing the equivalent (in the athletic world) of recklessly accusing someone of stolen valor.
Little man syndrome; Abdul has no idea what he's talking about. Proud to say, as Pete's dad, he was an absolute star on the court in HS. Captain, all-conference, all-state player...earned! We parents cheered him on, yes. That's what families do-support each other. #Envy makes him bitter.
Brian Beckcom Lawyer retweeted
The Brewers were ripping good luck cigs prior to each game of the World Series 😂😂
🎯
Weil object lesson for young lawyers:
There is one thing that gives you value as a lawyer, and it’s not the name on the law firm door or the people you partner with. It’s that when someone has a complex, life-altering problem, they pick up the phone and call YOU.
EVERYTHING else is fungible.
Find other people to work with who (1) have this quality and (2) you like to be around.
Reading real books is a cheat code
"People ask me how I got my career, how I did anything, and I will flat-out tell you I outread the motherf***ers."
"If you want to think better, you have to start by reading more."
"I realized very early on I wasn't the brightest guy; I wasn't the best at all that stuff, but I was willing to read three or four or five times the amount as anybody else was willing to read."
What a loser
"I'm aiming for 100,000 pieces of content a day by next year." This is what it takes to win in content fellas. Time to 10x volume. xitter.gq/garyvee/status/2115262…
The description of how you “participate in (Chinese) politics” is the perfect illustration of a stagnant, bureaucratic, communal system designed to produce the most mediocre possible leaders.
Democracy, for all its faults, is anti-fragile (generally speaking) (easy to remove bad leaders) which means it allows for more tinkering and experimentation, more adaptability, more flexibility and evolution.
我很愿意认真回答这位德国朋友的疑问。
你的第一个问，其实是在说，由于中国是一个威权政府，因此人民在政治上不受认真对待。
这个命题本身就是错误的。威权政府，并不意味着人民不受认真对待。民主政府，也不意味着人民就受到认真对待。
新加坡是威权国家，菲律宾是民主国家，难道新加坡人的处境，不如菲律宾人吗？中国是威权国家，印度是民主国家，难道中国人的处境，不如印度人吗？
你的第二个问，你的发问本身并不严谨。不能笼统地说，中国人没有政治自由。这个问题要分两个维度来讲。
1、政治参与自由。
从这个维度讲，中国任何人有参与政治的自由。中国人都有权利申请入党、考公务员。筛选规则与民主制度不同，但不等于中国人没有参与政治的自由。
中国制度与民主制度的区别在于：
民主制度下，一个人只要有钱，可以在任何时候参与政治。就像川普一辈子没有从政，老了突然想要竞选总统，他就可以参选，而且成功了。
但在中国，任何官员都必须从基层公务员做起。一个人无法因为有钱，就能一步登天当上高官。
这种制度的好处有：
A、公平性。
中国有大量的高层领导人出身平民家庭，如胡锦涛、温家宝、汪洋、李强，等等。像习近平这种红二代，反而是个意外。
B、专业性。
任何一个高层领导人，都必须经过几十年不同级别岗位的历练，他对国家各个层面的情况的了解，以及他的治理经验，不是一个企业家、一个明星，或者一个未治理过一个城市的议员，所能相提并论的。
C、远见性。
由于领导人不受制于短期的、非理性的民意，因此可以规划长远的发展战略，并以唯一执政党确保该战略的长期、有效的实施。
D、政策不受资本干涉。
你选择从政，就不能从商。你选择从商，就不能从政。这样一来，资本的归资本，政治的归政治，资本无法干涉政治。
2、政治权利自由。
当然，中国制度有其“表面上”的代价。为什么只是“表面上”的，后面再说。先说这种代价。
代价就是中国人不拥有谩骂政府、抨击政策的自由。我们可以批评政府，但必须在一种就事论事的理性语境中。我们不能喊“习近平下台”或者“共产党下台”。
我们也不拥有全民选举的自由，建立政党的自由。
这些“代价”为什么只是表面上的，可以从一则寓言说起：
一农场主临死前问儿子；猪抱怨饲料太差，牛报怨活太重，鸡报怨窝太脏，怎么办？ 儿子说：“喂好饲料，干轻活，清理鸡窝。” 农场主摇摇头说：你啥都别做，给他们选票，让它们选择你或者你媳妇管它们，让它们以为这个家是它们做主。
这个寓言让我们思考，作为人民，我们要的是什么？我们要的其实是更好的生活，而不是选票以及骂政府的自由。
回到开头那个举例，新加坡缺少很多民主国家所具备的政治自由，但没有人会认为新加坡人受到压迫。
这就涉及到自由的定义，自由到底是什么？
按照罗斯福的定义，自由包括：言论自由、信仰自由、免于匮乏、免于恐惧。
在我们计算一个社会的自由度时，我们计算的是自由的总量，而不是单项自由的含量。
举个例子，很多非洲国家拥有选票和骂政府的自由，但人民生活贫困，出行只能靠双脚。我在中国，生活富足、商品丰富、服务便捷、社区安全，我坐3个小时的高铁可以抵达一座大城市，我也有经济条件时不时出国旅游。
你认为非洲人自由，还是我自由？
诚然，中国还有很多人口，在物质生活上并不自由，但这是经济发展不充分导致的，不是政治压迫导致的。一个贫穷地区，无会因为给你民众选票和骂政府的自由，他们就变富裕了。
因此，当你谈自由的时候，你要计算自由的总量，不能单看一项自由的有无和多寡。你也不能将经济问题，归咎于某一项政治自由的问题。
坦率讲，我觉得你们的民主制度，已经病入膏肓了，中国人并不羡慕你们那种制度。
Brian Beckcom Lawyer retweeted
English language proficiency is important. Understanding the risks and how to operate and function in the country you live in is important.
Uber Dallas guy Couldn't communicate in English. 80 degrees and he didn't understand turn the air on. He drove 55 in a 70 the whole way. Four cars blew their horn because he wouldn't maintain our lane. Every exit only sign he waited until the very last minute until he could see everyone merging couldn't read the signs.
This guy is an accident waiting to happen. Now...imagine him in a 80k lbs truck.
For context I investigate crashes and testify in court on human factors and driving, etc., I train drivers, commercial and non, EVOC, Motorcade, AAA, NSC and Smith system with every license and Endorsement possible...this guy crashes in the next 90 days I'd bet my life on it. What is happening to licensing standards in this country? – at Highland Park, TX
Brian Beckcom Lawyer retweeted
This girl is an embarrassment to A&M. She doesn't know her history (she transposed "1876" as the year A&M first admitted black students--that was the year the university was FOUNDED).
Texas A&M's mascot is a dog named "Reveille." She enjoys status as the highest ranking member of the Corps of Cadets. Texas A&M is a Senior Military College (exact same congressional mandate for military training as The Citadel, VMI, Norwich, etc.--TAMU didn’t admit our first "nonreg" (non-military) student until 1965--only 2 years after integrating women and minorities in 1963 (and the civil right act passed in 1964).
Reveille became A&M's mascot in 1931, over 30 years prior to the civil rights act and integration. She gets her name from what the cadets who took her in so dubbed her after the mutt they picked up to care for after a car accident got excited to hear the morning bugle call (a tune known as "Reveille). A dog becoming the mascot for my Fightin' Texas Aggies had literally nothing to do with elevating a dog over black people, and I'm disappointed that she'd even think to go there in her misguided thought process.
I'm not calling her dumb, but she should also know that Texas A&M discontinued affirmative action admissions back in 2003 (a point of fierce pride for me, as I was accepted in 2006). And the school's black and hispanic admissions GREW even faster than those at texas university in austin. Grew with minorities who EARNED their way in, rather than simply checking a box on the school's diversity metrics. She'd do well to honor that legacy by applying critical thought to her incorrect stance asserting black people or minorities cannot be racist. Her feeble "prejudice" rejoinder doesn't follow, either, as prejudice based on skin color is literally racism by definition.
youtu.be/wTM8uc6IZKA?is=6DBn…
There’s really only one answer to a question like this in any well-run organization, and that’s “the best players play,” or some variation of that.
I’m increasingly concerned that this isn’t the core messaging/philosophy
Marcel Reed on the A&M staff warming up Brady Hart: "I really wasn't aware if my leash was short or not. It's up to me when my name is called to go out there and play. If they decide they want to go with Brady, I am right behind him, supporting him because I know how good of a quarterback he is as well."