What Don Draper and Jenna Maroney Have in Common
How two popular TV characters embody the Performer vibe.
Friends, this post represents a milestone. It’s the final post covering the final of four vibes: The Performer. Leading up to this finale, I introduced the big idea and discussed how the Performer responds to extrinsic motivation. Then, I covered how many of us wear “masks”, which are a kind of performance that helps us fit in the backstage and front stage of life.
To finish the series, I’m getting more concrete and discussing my own connection to this vibe and sharing a couple of examples from TV.
We All Perform
We are all a mix of vibes. The Natural, Analyst, Feeler, and Performer are all part of us to different degrees. I am no different.
Years ago, Sachi and I discussed motivation and what drives us. She concluded that I’m motivated, in part, by recognition. I don’t deny it. I respond to extrinsic rewards and think about the front stage of my life. Does this mean I’m an archetype of the Performer vibe? Probably not.
Sachi is much less of a Performer. She’s more motivated by accomplishment, which doesn’t depend on the validation of others but on her own motivations. It comes from deep within her, and she works for it. This intrinsic motivation is part of her everyday life, front and back stage.
People with a more dominant Performer vibe are unique because their default setting is oriented around making an impression that may differ from who they are. For them, life is performance-oriented, and every situation can be tuned for maximum attention. This is an authentic part of who they are. There is also a real part of them underneath the show, but they are sometimes left waiting in the wings.
Let’s take a look at some extreme versions of the Performer vibe. In both cases, we see people who are driven and talented. They are experts in their fields, but lean heavily on surface-level attention.
Don Draper - Mad Men
Few figures in popular culture exemplify the Performer more than Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) from Mad Men. In the show, we learn he is literally an imposter, building his life on someone else’s identity.
Draper began life as the illegitimate son of a prostitute. He grew up as a poor farm boy named Dick Whitman. When a commanding officer named Don Draper was killed beside him in the Korean War, he took Draper’s dog tags and assumed his identity. From then on, “Don Draper” was a performance, a mask that hid his true self.
On the surface, Draper seems to radiate the Natural vibe. He is confident, charming, composed, and effortlessly cool. He has money, women, business deals, and all the trimmings of success. But that’s the frontstage. Backstage, his life is hollow, and he knows it. He drinks too much, sabotages relationships, and wrestles with the reality that he is not Don Draper at all. People could one day discover his secret.
“The reason you haven't felt it is because it doesn't exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.
Draper’s story is the Performer’s trap: dazzling in the spotlight, withering in the shadows. Extrinsic validation sustained him, but he never found the intrinsic authenticity to make him happy.
Jenna Maroney - 30 Rock
Jenna Maroney (played by Jane Krakowski) is practically a parody of the Performer Vibe. In 30 Rock, she is a sometimes desperate entertainer who will do almost anything for attention and applause. Being attractive and talented, you might think she’s confident and secure.
This is not the case. She is so focused on the front stage and extrinsic rewards that her back-stage life is virtually non-existent. Everything is an act, and it’s a natural way for her to be.
“I know the Tony rules because I’ve been petitioning them to add a category for living theatrically in normal life!”
"Oh don't be so dramatic. That's my thing, and if you take it away from me I will kill myself...and then you."
In quiet personal moments, we see that she’s insecure and deeply worried about losing the spotlight. Performance is such a powerful part of her identity that she’s not sure who she is when she’s not wearing a mask.
These are extreme examples I’m using to make a point: some people are motivated by attention and become skilled at getting it. Extrinsic rewards make them happy, but when the vibe is too strong, they struggle with the reality of who they are, and people around them may wonder if they know the true person inside.
Good and Bad
I realize this perspective on the Performer vibe isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. And I stand by that notion. Like all the vibes, the Performer balances good and bad. Within the two extremes is a sweetspot, where we perform and respond to applause, but do so with a secure sense of ourselves.
Coming Up
Next, I’ll put the vibes to work. You’ll see that the magic of vibes relates to how they work together and represent a new lens for thinking about our fellow humans. Stay tuned!