David Sedaris:
The power of personal connection.
In many ways, creating classes at MasterClass was the best job in the world. You get paired up with a luminary, dive into their body of work, then collaborate with an internal and external team of expert specialists to bring a beautiful online course to life.
I directed author David Sedaris’ MasterClass, which was a dream for me as a fan of his—I got paid to read (and reread) his hilarious books.
When David came to talk to the team at MasterClass one morning in our office in San Francisco after his class had been released, he discussed what he enjoyed about the process of being an instructor. “I get interviewed a lot and it’s clear to me that the interviewer hasn’t actually read what I’ve written. But Gabe actually read all of my books.”
“Of course he did,” thought everyone in the room. “That’s his job.”
But it struck me then that researching someone’s work and craft has a deeper impact on the work than just helping you understand how they do what they do.
It also engenders a personal connection—a degree of respect that’s impossible to fake—and it’s that respectful connection that helps an instructor reveal more of themselves in the teaching process than, perhaps, they ever have before.