How did he do it, from busking to setting up a top performing arts company with an annual income of 900 million?

After many years, I still remember that scene, standing on the cliff, looking at the endless sea, and the sunset behind me reflected the splendid Monaco casino royale.

Standing on the balcony of the casino, Larry Bate, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, turned to us and said, I used to be a busker with nothing. I have never taken any business training courses to make a living, but I stand here today and pursue my own dreams. ?

At that moment, I was sure that he was a perfect performer.

Performers and artists pursue their dreams, but today greatest show on earth finally disappears. I still think this is a great organization with rich imagination. This is the greatest gypsy caravan tour around the world in this century, and it is also the best innovation of immersive performing arts.

So when I heard that Cirque du Soleil was seeking bankruptcy in this epidemic disaster, I dug up the interview many years ago and made a comeback with everyone to tell about this unique and charming existence.

I sincerely hope that a VR company can buy it and let those beautiful moments remain in our hearts.

Tang Weiwei

When people suddenly found a huge yellow and blue tent in Shanghai, Cirque du Soleil's tent had just been stationed in Korea for more than 60 days, and then it was going to move to Mexico.

Every day, the main work of performers in it is to train, perform, train and perform again. Performers try to maintain a pleasant and relaxed relationship, but fatigue and boredom often spread in repeated migration. Some people get married on the road and even roam the world with their children.

What gives these wandering performers psychological comfort is the unchanging big tent. In many ways, this tent is a comfortable and detached existence.

Cirque du Soleil

This is a unique form of organization. They are the world's top performing groups and excellent companies with first-class creative mechanism and operational experience.

Many people expect to start their own businesses and develop their interests and careers. Such a simple and practical idea is not really realized.

Guy? Guy La Libert? It took him 20 years to become the president of a global cultural company with an annual income of $900 million from a street juggler. For every entrepreneur who has a dream of starting a business, his experience is worth learning.

Cirque du Soleil has a huge performance team, complex nationalities, incomparably fine and numerous installations. They roam flexibly in small towns all over the world, and every actor doesn't care about any trivial matters except performance. Huge box office, powerful and effective promotion, agile and tough market operation strategy, complex and prolific product line? Cirque du Soleil has a complete and detailed global expansion strategy.

Many people regard the blue ocean strategy as a simple innovative concept, but it is not. The blue ocean means that you not only have excellent strategic vision, but also have strong integration ability. More importantly, when you enter the blue ocean, how can you stay in the blue ocean and expand your territory? For a listed company, it is not enough to have only one market segment. You need a steady stream of growth rate and profit rate to support future development.

Cirque du Soleil combines the characteristics of circus, drama and musical performance. Guy? Lariberte had the foresight to discover the unoccupied blank demand in this market. At the same time, he also ensured the financial enforceability of his dream and turned it into concrete products and services.

0 1 the first door: repositioning the strategic focus

I believe we are still in the blue ocean. ? Guy? Lariberte said in an interview. The former fire eater founded Cirque du Soleil at the age of 29. Twenty years later, he owned an international performing arts company with an annual income of $900 million.

(Blue Ocean Market: It represents an industry that does not exist today, and this is the unknown market space. )

He created a new form of circus performance and found the connection point between creative spark and commercial inspiration again and again. Someone used it? Dream territory? In order to describe Cirque du Soleil, Lariberte created a dream territory for thousands of people, and he finally realized his dream.

Lariberte

I used to busk along the street and make a living. Guy, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil? Larry Bate said? I have never attended any business training courses, but I stand here today and pursue my own dreams. ?

Excellent fire eater

1983 Summer performance will be performed in Quebec. Guy? Larry Bate has achieved great success in the financial field, from which he found his creativity and business inspiration.

Circus flame show

Although the circus earned only $40,000 in its first performance, it later brought him $654.38+$5,000 in contract income. They traveled all over Canada until Larry Bette started his first adventure at 1987.

What year was it built? Lariberte decided to take his circus to perform at the Art Center in Los Angeles. The relocation cost the circus all its money. If the performance is not successful, he doesn't even have the money to buy a plane ticket back to Quebec. But this adventure brought the circus into a new field and established the foundation of a company.

The second adventure was in Las Vegas. At that time, the circus made a lot of money by touring. Someone called Larry Bate from Las Vegas and asked him if he would like to perform regularly at the hotel next to the casino. Lariberte agreed, and they rehearsed a new program. The sad and melancholy melody entered the circus performance with happiness as the main element for the first time. This unique style was almost threatened by the hotel to stop performing. Nevertheless, Larry Bate told the hotel owner cheerfully. Open the door quickly, and taxis all over the city will be watching your door. ?

Indeed, Lariberte not only achieved artistic breakthroughs by creating new plays, but also opened up rich cash flow. Now, Cirque du Soleil has set up fixed performance points in several hotels.

The starting point of dreams

Guy? Lariberte was an actor when he was young. At first, he was a folk musician, and later he performed on stilts to swallow fire. His creativity and instinctive understanding of the audience's needs always push Cirque du Soleil forward. At the same time, he has a very calm business thinking ability.

Guy? Larry Bate comes from a middle-class family in Canada. His mother is a nurse and his father is a public relations manager of Alca mining company in France. To his parents' surprise, when he was 16 years old, he announced to his family that he had decided to concentrate on performing arts because he had been addicted to this form of performance since he was in high school. At school, he often spontaneously became the performance representative of the school celebration, from which Lariberte found a fascinating feeling.

After graduation, he became a member of the folk music group La Grande Gueule. I can play accordion, harmonica and sing. ? Music gave Larry Bate his first taste of roadshows.

After dropping out of college, he traveled around Europe and performed street performances. There, he learned the skill of swallowing fire. He is addicted to it, and until now, that exciting, adventurous, but gorgeous and dazzling performance form has always been the main program feature of Cirque du Soleil.

The balance between business and creativity

I can find a balance between business and creativity, and I can also see how creativity breaks through the balance. .

Lariberte has a pair of steel intestines. Its business partner Daniel once said? He dares to knock on any door. ? 1987 was successful at the end of the year, and their performance order was arranged from Santa Monica to San Diego, with a net profit of150,000 USD.

Colombia once extended an olive branch to Lariberte.

Colombia once extended an olive branch to Lariberte. They invited Cirque du Soleil to become part of the company and promised to shoot related programs and movies. In Lariberte's view, Colombia didn't care about his role, but only took a fancy to Cirque du Soleil's program and media influence. Guy? Therefore, Lariberte decided to keep his free status.

He and Daniel started to run Cirque du Soleil independently. They claim that they are free to create, regardless of their decision-making and whether it is necessary to take risks. The idea of freedom gave birth to plays like Ka. The play has earned $6543.8+65 billion at the box office, and no one has ever created a similar achievement.

Under this impetus, they later created more than 20 performances, of which 14 were live performances. 200 1，Gai？ Larry Bate bought all the shares in the hands of his business partner, thus obtaining 95% ownership of the shares.

Business adventure also comes from the core of the product.

Although Larry Bate's personality determines that Cirque du Soleil is inherently adventurous and challenging, it is also an inevitable choice for market leaders to look around for opportunities to expand their territory.

When you are in the blue ocean, do you need to find a reason to stay in the blue ocean? .

My commitment to Cirque du Soleil is to continue to support its creation, as long as I feel obligated to keep it going until I leave. ? Larry Bate said? If we can keep it up, Cirque du Soleil will have a future. If we are too greedy, if we forget modesty and become arrogant, then we put ourselves in danger. ?

Larry Bate is also a poker player.

Larry Bate is such a person who is passionate about life. Someone once said: Will Cirque du Soleil continue with its humanity? One side of human nature is that you like telling stories and try to surpass yourself. ?

This is so much like Larry Bate.

The second door: competitors' attention to alternative choices

James Sonowell, the author of Million Decisions, once said that there are four conditions for good group decision-making:

Suggest diversification? Everyone has some private information, even some abnormal explanations of known facts;

Independent? People will not change their views because of others' views;

Decentralization? No one is forced to do anything;

Convergence? Make individual judgment a mechanism of group decision.

The creative mechanism of Cirque du Soleil is strikingly consistent with these four conditions. Circus' suggestions cover a wide range, including not only members of the creative team, but also performers and behind-the-scenes workers who are touring around the world. They set up a series of ideas every year? Workshop? Convene everyone to speak freely regularly. More interestingly, they also hired many temporary franchisees, who may be artists of a certain genre or inventors of the latest technology. Their joining has given the creative team more imagination.

5C Cirque du Soleil Analysis

However, the independence of the creative team will not be affected in any way. Everyone is responsible for his own part of creativity and production, and there is no possibility of interference, suppression or random tampering in the whole creative process. Everyone who is creative is free to give full play to his talents.

But when making decisions, this process becomes extremely convergent. Lariberte played a key role in the innovation mechanism. He became a standard, a yardstick. Because of his requirements for details and quality, the entire Cirque du Soleil team is running in a state of trembling and treading on thin ice. But this kind of pressure is not from the administrative organization, but a * * * agreement with the requirement of exceeding the limit.

Whether it is a vague creative method or the most dangerous method. Instant delivery? Cirque du Soleil's creative mechanism proves this point: breaking through one's own limits is the only feature of innovation.

Vague instinct

Cirque du Soleil's innovative ways all come from the most urgent practical needs. ? Sometimes even forced. ? Cirque du Soleil? Mystery man? Sean, the artistic director of the crew? Sean McOwan said.

For example, they took the lead in using painting to perform circus. The idea came from Dragon, the earliest drama director introduced by Cirque du Soleil, who brought drama elements into Cirque du Soleil.

The dragon finally decided to use one? Painting? The expression of creativity.

Dragon has found a way out from visual arts. He found that although painting has no language, it can still impress the audience. Circus actors express the meaning of the whole play by painting first and then painting.

The rhythm of innovation

Before the birth of a new drama, directors will discuss the theme and significance of the whole drama with the creative team. The marketing department will bring the survey data of the audience, which will often let them know the hot spots and wonderful fields of people on a particular topic.

None of these can be the complete basis for the creative team to judge.

After determining a story, we will know what their set will be like, study the script under the design of the set, and arrange how to set the actors. These discussions will be completed before rehearsal.

After fully considering various possibilities, the creative team members of various departments began to arrange the training and performance of actors quickly and carefully.

Cirque du Soleil's team is very harmonious

This arrangement rarely leads to unpleasant interludes or unexpected things between actors. ? Michael, another creative director of Cirque du Soleil? Crete said.

They understand the essence of new product creation from the beginning and what the market needs from the beginning. And in the minds of creative team members, they never doubted that they would succeed.

Breakthrough limit

The real premiere has already started. Larry Bate will work with the creative team of the whole company? At present, about 500 people, together with the families of the actors who participated in the performance, enjoy the complete performance.

The team is rehearsing.

His contribution accounts for 10%, beginning with 5% and ending with 5%. This 10% determines whether the performance will be successful or not. ? Cirque du Soleil's creative team members have no doubt about this.

Larry Bate also thinks he is a creative producer, not just a businessman. ? This is mainly to look at the whole process with fresh eyes. Did he explain? I can be objective, because I don't participate every day. Sometimes, I can see that we have deviated from some of our original goals. I think I know the skills to attract public attention, so I often have something to say. If the performance was too poetic, I would say so. ?

To the horror of the whole creative team, Lariberte is not afraid to make major changes at the last minute if the rehearsal effect does not meet expectations. The play Lavric is like this. Every time Larry Bate goes to the rehearsal hall to watch the rehearsal, every actor is nervous and confused. Because it is very likely that Larry Bate will decide to cancel a performance at the last minute or ask to rejoin a new acrobatic project. Perhaps the most exciting moment is the opening night. That night, Larry Bate will finally approve all the performances and then strictly implement the content.

The landmark of the circus, the huge tent.

For the creative team, Lariberte's ideas and changes are the ultimate implementation standards, and the initial performance time is also an unchangeable golden thread.

What creative people can do is to be infinitely close to Larry Bate's requirements under the constraints of time and cost. This is their goal.

At least 500 meters away from Cirque du Soleil, the taxi driver said to me: You mean the big blue and yellow tent in the distance? ? I look around, really, although there are trees and tall buildings all around, I still can't hide the dazzling colors and huge canopy.

Every night there will be a carnival in this tent, and every day it will be as quiet as a pantomime.

In Cirque du Soleil, people prefer to use it? Are you happy? A way to achieve coordination.