In this age of corporate competitiveness, 93 percent of up and comers are continually seeking new and innovative ways to get noticed by the boss.
While memorizing mission statements and stepping outside of comfort zones were popular in the early 2010s, more US workers are turning to the “yank the tablecloth off the table” trick. That’s where you suddenly stand up during a fancy business function and surprise everyone by yanking the cloth from under the china, silverware and glasses.
Nora Wilkerson, a marketing executive in Nashville who credits her last two promotions to her mastery of the trick, says she’s gotten it down to a science.
“I’ll call everyone to attention and propose a toast to our host,” she says. “When everyone has raised their glass I simply grab and yank.” Obviously, she says, the objective is to do the trick without breaking anything. Wilkerson claims to have accomplished this 171 times, with only one failure.
“That got me sent to the Ashtabula office for a couple years,” she says, “but overall the strategy has worked very well for me.”
According to business behaviorist Dr. Noel Parmentier of the Balicom Institute, 65 percent of US workers promoted in 2019 had employed the trick at least once. “It’s all about innovation and risk taking,” he says. “And of course, not breaking anything.”
Wilkerson stresses that one should complete five successful practice yanks in a row before attempting the trick at a business function.
“If you fail more than twice at an actual event,” she says, “then it’s probably a good idea to re-think your strategy.”
