Lesson #2: Prosper From People And Passion

When Laliberté first went on the hiring hunt for a COO, CFO, and vice-president of creation, he decided to do something risky. He was going to offer them a percentage of the company in return for ten years’ employment. How could he be willing to give up a portion of his baby to someone else? How could he be sure the people he hired would be good for the company in five, let alone ten years from then?

Laliberté believed that if his company was going to profit down the road it was going to be precisely because of its people and their passion. Getting the right people, people who were going to put their all into the company was crucially important for Laliberté.

Once a year, Cirque du Soleil also engages in a hiring campaign to bring new and freshly energized talent on board. For 16 weeks, anywhere between 60 and 70 candidates from around the world are gathered together be tested. Pushed to their limits, Cirque encourages candidates to do things they probably have never done before, evaluating not only their core competencies, but also their values, generosity, teamwork and problem solving skills, and courage. Laliberté wants to hire people who are risk-takers, just like himself. They want people who are passionate and willing to try new things, who are not afraid of the unknown.

Laliberté also insists on hiring people from around the world, creating a staff that is representative of its audience. After all, Cirque du Soleil is now a global phenomenon. To that end, he insists that the core team of staff meet ten times each year. In between meetings, they are supposed to travel to new countries and seek out new staff, people who can help establish new, permanent shows in places Cirque has yet to enter. “We cannot go out and conquer,” says Laliberté. “We need to enroll people that come from those cultures.”

Whatever its size, no company can survive without employees who are energized about their work and the direction it is heading in. That is something Laliberté believes in firmly. He thus makes it one of his top priorities to encourage people to not only believe in themselves, but in their work and their contributions. Collaboration is encouraged over competition. New solutions to problem solving are encouraged, as are the transfer of skills.

To that end, Cirque has also created a self-diagnosis in the form of a Human Resources and Performance Review. Here, five main things are evaluated, namely, “I am creative, committed, responsible, team player, passionate.”

Cirque scours the world for people who will have the ideas and inspiration to take their productions to the next level. Once they have found them, they try their best to keep them energized and creative. After all, says Laliberté, no one single individual makes the Cirque. It is the result of the collective creativity of each and every person behind it. Working together, passionate people can better realize their fullest potentials.



Lesson #2: Prosper From People And Passion

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