I'm an Actor

In Stephen King's The Shining (1980), Jack Nicholson portrayed writer Jack Torrance. In preparation for the role, Nicholson drew upon his own experiences as a writer and slept short hours to help remain in an agitated state during the shoot. On the set, Nicholson always appeared in character, at times causing his co-star Shelley Duvall to be genuinely afraid of him, which critics stated as a great contribution to the overall artistic outcome of the film.
In the cine drama Taxi Driver (1976), Robert De Niro lost 30 pounds, took firearm training, and religiously studied the behaviors of taxi drivers; he also would give people a ride in between filming breaks while remaining in character.
For the not-so-celebrated 2005 psychological thriller The Jacket, Oscar-winner Adrien Brody asked the crew on set to store him in the drawers of the morgue until they were ready to shoot, where he also remained once the cameras stopped rolling. Brody wanted to fully grasp the character’s despair and his intense anxiety, and spent hours being locked in a straight-jacket in order to get into the character's psyche.
Now imagine an actor who just becomes unable to break character forever. Is it still an actor or has just technically become his or her character for posterity? More importantly: Where am I going with all this?

There is so much nonsense and bullshit going around workplaces and organizations of every size, so many pointless fads and practices, so many shallow charlatans with power. I have called this in a previous article a “sinking force” of sorts. I said there that great products “mask” or counterbalance such force by bringing good business which makes companies to push forward regardless of all that humbug.
You cannot just blame lack of critical thinking as the explanation why such force reveals itself. “People are stupid” is too simplistic of an explanation.

People are not stupid. They—we—do realize that those in power have the means to spread stupidity across the board, and they do realize that the power imbalance is too strong to be overcome. So, instead, workers get “into character” and decide to play along. Oh, sure, you want a spreadsheet in Excel 2007 with made-up numbers you want to hear so I can get the project to continue? Sure thing, love. Ah, yes, another strategic planning report which we all know is absolutely decoupled from reality? There you go, boss. A Gantt chart full of unrealistic milestones? Here it is, chief. Soon, we might find ourselves performing 24x7 and unable to break character. Some might commit to their “corporate-loving” personas—often without realizing it— so much they become the necessary buffoons every court must have.
Amongst the crowds of robotic performers, there are those who are immune to the kool aid, who refuse to pretend and fight the reigning baloney from the dungeons. The unsung heroes. Ironically, while being the most important asset any organization can have, and the main reason why the whole thing is still standing, they are usually ostracized and flagged as “difficult”. Of course, who wants to have someone not following the script during a play?

In “Are you lonesome tonight?”, Elvis sings:

The world's a stage and each of us must play a part