Chasing Failure : Learning for Corporates from the Circus

The monthly meeting of NHRD Bangalore, planned for August 2018 promised to be novel and exciting. The notification read "Corporates have got a lot to learn from the circus"-come and understand about adapting and learning from failures.The very idea was intriguing. What can corporates learn from circus seemingly an entirely different field? The latter has its focus on entertaintment while the former is symbolized by serious executives discussing figures. Further, I was enthused by the fact that the speaker was Mr Stefan Haves, the world renowned creative director representing Cirque du Soleil, the pioneer organization that combined circus and theatre to great advantage.

Stefan started his talk by calling attention to the similarities in the challenges faced by a circus professional and  an HR person, both of whom work with human beings who are complicated, smart and unpredictable. They go through emotions of anger, isolation and depression. He said that as director, he has to ensure that his artists are in a state of happiness to perform irrespective of their existing temperment. Keeping the temperature of the room great for everybody, is an important objective for the artistic/creative director. He needs to constantly check the temperature of the room and take corrective action. "Comedy is possible only if everyone is having a good time.". Charlie Chaplain was so successful not because he was a creative genius but because he knew how to keep his team energetic.

The speaker said that his style was to collaborate with the artistes, seek their ideas and incorporate them suitably in the narrative. This is in sharp contrast to the approach of some directors in cinema like Mr Adoor Gopalakrishnan of India,who insist that even the slightest movement of the artiste should confirm to their bidding. Creativity and innovation is the life blood of  arts and the entertainment industry. Stefan said that at Distney the employees are encouraged to have 'blue sky' time when they can come up with ideas, seemingly wild and impractical  without the worries of financial constraints. (Blue sky thinking is business jargon for a sort of brainstorming or analysis that is uninhibited by the cruft and complexity of tedious and confusing reality- open to all creative ideas regardless of practical constraints).

Similar approach is adopted at Cirque du Soleil where employees are told " We want you to dream and not be bogged down by constraints of money". The internal talent is encouraged to experiment with clowns, set, costume, designing. Time is provided to relax and muse back and forth. Employees came up with innovative ideas such as a 30 foot shoe with 12 persons to tie the laces. All this empowers your people who feel "heard at a creative level." Stefan exhorted corporates to consider this form of empowerment of allowing people to dream freely in the company without any constraints so that they no longer feel like a cog in the wheel.

The speaker said that for his company what was most important was "How everybody felt as part of the team?"during the process  . It is not so much about being the 'most amazing circus' in terms of money generation. It is about giving employees a part of the process and the opportunity to share their view points with any level of the organization.

Chasing Failure: 

"I don't run away from, but actually embrace failure" declared Stefan. He explained that it is not about not ever failing, or falling down but being able to get up and continue  the journey. The first step here is not to be ashamed of failure.  When a person is ashamed, he tends to withdraw and does not want look at others in the eye. In life, you win some and lose some and this is a reality which is beyond your control. So occasional failure, is to be accepted as natural. Replacing shame with acceptance and taking action to move forward is "chasing failure". This involves  guts, looking at each other, and relying on your intuition to get out of the failure. "Failure is the pilot light that helps you to come out of a situation" (Pilot light is a small gas burner kept alight permanently to light a larger burner when needed, especially on a gas cooker or boiler). 

Stefan said that his organization Cirque du Soleil chases failure as a matter of policy/ philosophy. The owners get bored easily. When the company gets something right, instead of basking in the success, they want to to try something else. Many successful shows are retired to start new ones.Today, the organization has over 15 shows running world wide simultaneously. However, the initial journey was not easy. The original circus concept was reinvented (a circus with neither a ring nor animals) and making it attractive not only for kids but a wider audience. Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. Shows employ continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. 

The company had no competition for 35 years.It experimented with many innovative ideas such as using  music of Beatles rock band and shadow play; Beatles did not appear live on the show .The show was a big success while another about Elvis Presly failed. The company, however continued with its policy of 'chasing failures'/ trying out new things.The post mortem of  the projects provided insights- "What did we learn from that? What can we do differently?" 

In the last part of his talk, Stefan shared his views on the changing times and his take on life in the digital world we presently live in. He described the present generation as a "Generation of lost skills". According to Stefan, the emotion/skill of empathy is sadly lacking in the digital world. People are able to see some one fail and walk away dispassionately without the feeling "Hey,that is me!" Empathy is most essential for a healthy community. 

If they have a problem with someone, the internet generation is unable to confront that person, even to ask-"Hey, what are you guys talking about me?" . They don't know how to handle pain or unpleasantness. They avoid unpleasantness and prefer to open a browser to distract themselves.The human element is being left behind.  This approach  has proved to be detrimental to one's  personal well being. As everything is done at a very fast pace, there is no time to warm up. Young people mask their real personality on line, projecting themselves as very aggressive,  not ever getting upset and denying failure. The real personality in day to day life on the other hand, could be very vulnerable and lacking in confidence. There is a need to bridge the gap between the two personalities.

According to the speaker "Being shy is being selfish". Although this may not be by intention or design , the shy person holds back and tends to be selfish with his/her humour, intelligence and in many other aspects. People need to just let go and be themselves without inhibitions. Today, there is a spiritual vaccum.Human beings after all, are not just robots playing around with plenty of data. Breathing seperates a human being from a robot. It is important to pause before an action and allow your intuition to guide you to the perfect way of doing, which may not be necessarily logical. Stefan concluded with the statement " There is a child in all of us - asleep in some of us but still alive! "  Awakening that child would make our life a lot more fun and worthwhile, both at work and in our personal lives.

It was clear at the end of the session that corporates indeed have a lot to learn from the circus whether it is with respect to empowerment of employees or keeping their energy levels high at all times or having an easy and spontaneous work environment without inhibitions. We had the good fortune of having  a performer as the speaker of the day which meant electrifying energy in the room right from the word "Go". The whole session was filled with spontaneous laughter and a lot of fun.

The good news is that Stefan is willing to help individual companies by extending customised solutions to their issues. He would provide this service in India through Mahindra SSG. Stefan shook hands with each one of us as we were going out and also handed over the business card of Mr Manish Advani, Head Marketing & Public Relations of Mahindra SSG (Special services Group). Those interested can contact Manish by Email- manish.advani@mahindrassg.com or over telephone- +91 2240903232 and +91 9820085094 (mobile).