Reinventing your business

Few weeks ago, I heard "Allegria" by Cirque du Soleil (CDS) - the entertainment company based out of Canada. I had never heard the music before and somehow it was powerful. I also tried to recollect something I had read/heard about CDS. The thing which instantly flashed in my mind is that this company had reinvented its business and I had read about it somewhere - Nothing more. I left it at that thinking I should perhaps read more about CDS.

Yesterday I had a nice lunch with a couple of good friends from the hospitality industry. The topic of our discussion was about how hotels compare what the competition do and then try to apply similar practices into their own. It includes customer attracting techniques, sales promotions, cost cutting measures etc. Interestingly business owners also are keen to find out if a competitor in the industry has paid a bonus or increment during these times of recession and act based on that information. None of us who were dining were business owners ourselves but it did not appear logical for any of us to do something like that - in particular w.r.t human potential related issues.

When I returned home I was curious to see if I had any articles or books in my library that spoke about companies which reinvent the business on their own without taking a look into the competition. I browsed though Tom Peters "In Search of Excellence", then went on to read a few pages from "Built to last" by Jim Collins. These books certainly talk about Successful companies and the authors make some extra ordinary comparisons. Somehow, I wasn't happy as I could not relate our discussion for the day. Luckily, I just hit upon CDS while browsing the net and I was absolutely convinced reading about this Canadian company.

CDS was started in 1984 by a group of street performers (perhaps 20 people) who were entertaining people in Quebec city lead by Guy Laliberte. Today, they are a 1 billion $ company with many awards for innovation and have a workforce of over 4000 employees. How did they do it?

During the early 90's the circus industry was declining & every other circus company in town was benchmarking one another and maximizing their share by tweaking traditional acts. These included hiring more famous clowns and more skilled lion tamers, multiple show arenas with 3 rings. It really meant increased costs for the company without altering the audience experience in any major way. Moreover the circus industry was catering to a limited segment of the audience (the Children and adolescent) who were more attracted to the Nintendo's and Playstations. Besides, there were also sentiments rising from animal welfare activists. Circus worldwide began to dwindle and slowly wipe out.

CDS, all this while was least concerned with what the competition was doing. They created a new market with the adult theater customers by offering them an unprecedented experience - the fun and thrill of circus coupled with intellectual sophistication & artistic richness of the theater. They were ready to pay more for such quality entertainment and newer experience. Unlike traditional circus shows having a series of unrelated acts, for example, each Cirque du Soleil creation has a theme and story line, somewhat resembling a theater performance. Although the theme is vague (and intentionally so), it brings harmony and an intellectual element to the show—without limiting the potential for acts.

"The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition" - W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne in their book Blue Ocean Strategy.

I am not suggesting that every business owner, leader must be oblivious of the competition but I just think one does not need to "Be" the competition and mimic every aspect.

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!

"Cross training after Crossing 40" - Learning never stops

I must say that I have returned from a high spirited, energizing visit to the Emirates. Although it has been 2 weeks, Le Meridien Al Aqah beach resort in Fujairah is just so close to my heart that I continue to enjoy this moment now thinking about all the people who made a difference and a great impact on me. I am happy to write this blog about one such person (there are many more). There are two reasons why I begin this blog with him;

1. It's a promise I made to him that the next blog I write in my website - it will be about him.

2. I was more than impressed by his action and genuine effort to help another department in the hotel.

Velayudan (in the pic) is the Chief security officer (CSO) at Le Merdien Al Aqah beach resort. Dedication to his role, respect for the job and honesty are always qualities that I have admired in this man. With due respect to all the CSO's that I have worked with in my life, I have never come across anyone who is so specialized in fire fighting and one who trains the entire team with utmost sincerity on emergency procedures.

You might then be wondering what he is doing at the reception of this hotel. Yes, he is checking out a guest. This man is over 40 plus and has spent many years of his life in hotels with a different perspective (Safety and Security of customers and employees). In my view and also from what I have seen overs the years, "Security and Service mindset" are usually a kind of mismatch. So, I asked him what made him do a cross training at front office and learn Opera - the Front office system to check in and check out customers. He said that at first he just wanted to help the department on weekends when the reception gets crowded owing to 150 arrivals or more and an equal number of departures. Once he started to interact with the customers, he started to enjoy what he was doing. He said that through this exposure he understood his own job better, his perception about people and the way he looked at others changed. Above all, he realized that it takes very little effort to learn something new even when you are 40 plus. Most important thing is to take the first step. I probably have mentioned this before but it applies to this situation again and hence I write it as Zig Ziglar saiys - People who dont take the first step will never take the second.

I interviewed the Front office Manager (FOM) of the hotel later to find out if he felt the CSO's presence as an intrusion to his operation. The FOM was candid to admit that at first he thought it minght be, but now he thinks Velayudan is a great help and god send on weekends in particular.

The General Manager in fact thinks it would be wonderful for all HOD's to go through some cross trainings. A chance to discover oneself as well as a learning experience. But he would never push for it as such efforts are individual and cannot be a forced affair. I think he is absolutely right!

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!