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A deeply powerful and resonant piece for the creative soul that lies within.—Alexa Meade, artist
Creative Courage reveals a compelling and original path for our organizations tobecome more agile and to thrive. Its inspiring and inclusive message calls for ourcollective work to become highly creative and deeply nurturing. Creative Courageis transformative.
—Susan David, PhD, author of the #1Wall Street Journalbestseller Emotional Agility and psychologist
at Harvard Medical School
I’ve been a student of great innovators, business tycoons, and CEOs for twentyyears. By far the most predictive leadership quality is courage, particularly when abold new path is needed. Taking decisive action in the face of massive uncertainty can be a lonely experience. Vulnerabilities are exposed. Red flags areraised. Yet creativity demands it. Welby’s book is an absolute must read foranyone aspiring to make an impact in the business world. You’ll not only learnhow to be a better leader, you’ll be inspired to be a better human being.
—Jeffrey Cohn, author of award winning bookWhy Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders (Jossey Bass),as well as numerous Harvard Business Review articles
on leadership and innovation
In Creative Courage, Welby Altidor deftly expands the scope of what we traditionally call creative practice to include those from all callings and walks of life.Drawing illustrative threads from both the personal and professional, Altidorweaves a vision that is not only inspiring, but also provides the reader tools formoving towards imaginative action. Whether on the world stage or the theater ofour own day-to-day lives, Creative Courage can help bring freshness and agility tohow we approach our collaborations with others.
—Lucianne M. Walkowicz, Baruch S. Blumberg NASAChair of Astrobiology, Library of Congress, astrophysicist
at The Adler Planetarium, TED fellow, artist
Creative Courage makes you look at the process of creation in a whole new light!Definitely a book to live by when you want to take your creative and collaborative skills to the next level. Just a great read for inspiring minds.”
—Jon Boogz, movement artist
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When I met Welby Altidor, one of the very first things he asked me was, “Whatare your dreams?” Welby has the gift of tapping right into your loftiest imagination . . . and simultaneously giving you the sense that you just might achieve it.It’s not a wonder. Welby has had backstage access to some of the most incrediblecreative talent on the planet. Written in a deeply personal and thoughtful voice,this book offers readers a chance to feel a part of Welby’s world and find thecreative courage they need to pursue their dreams.
—Deborah Yeh, senior vice president,marketing & brand, Sephora Americas
Creative Courage brings a new ideological vocabulary that can spark epiphanies. Itreminds us that the experience of creation is as important as the result of thework. After all, the journey of creation is what makes our daily life.
—Asinnajaq, curator and filmmaker, Three Thousand
This book highlights the power of the collective genius of true ‘intuition driven’co-creation. It focuses on a three-way interaction—1. A man’s personal story. 2. A man’s professional story. 3. How a man magnificently encapsulates his audience.
If you channel what you genuinely feel from your very essence (not from yourpast story), your truth will show up in the most unexpected ways. A truly brilliantread.
—Duncan D. Bruce, founding partner andexecutive creative director, The Brand Conspiracy & Associates ltd;
author of Brand Enigma and The Dream Café
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CREATIVECOURAGE
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WEBFFIRS 08/11/2017 2:39:27 Page v
CREAT IVECOURAGE
Leveraging Imagination,Collaboration, and Innovation
to Create SuccessBeyond YourWildest Dreams
WELBY ALT IDOR
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Cover image: Vizerskaya/Getty ImagesCover design: Paul McCarthy
Copyright 2017 by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any formor by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except aspermitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the priorwritten permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy feeto the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400,fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permissionshould be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street,Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best effortsin preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy orcompleteness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties ofmerchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by salesrepresentatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not besuitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither thepublisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer CareDepartment within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some materialincluded with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-ondemand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version youpurchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more informationabout Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNames: Altidor, Welby, 1973- author.Title: Creative courage : leveraging imagination, collaboration, andinnovation to create success beyond your wildest dreams / Welby Altidor.
Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |Identifiers: LCCN 2017020718 (print) | LCCN 2017035043 (ebook) |ISBN 9781119347262 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119347644 (epub) | ISBN 9781119347224 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Creative ability in business. | Leadership. | Success inbusiness. | Altidor, Welby, 1973- | Cirque du Soleil. | BISAC: BUSINESS &ECONOMICS / Careers / Job Hunting. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / HumanResources & Personnel Management. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management.
Classification: LCC HD53 (ebook) | LCC HD53 .A428 2017 (print) | DDC650.1–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020718
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For Ella Farber Altidor and the sixteen-year-old misfit hiding in all of us.No one will get your light until you get it.
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WEBFLAST 08/11/2017 2:45:27 Page ix
Kindness
Before you know what kindness really isyou must lose things,feel the future dissolve in a momentlike salt in a weakened broth.What you held in your hand,what you counted and carefully saved,all this must go so you knowhow desolate the landscape can bebetween the regions of kindness.How you ride and ridethinking the bus will never stop,the passengers eating maize and chickenwill stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindnessyou must travel where the Indian in a white poncholies dead by the side of the road.You must see how this could be you,how he too was someonewho journeyed through the night with plansand the simple breath that kept him alive.
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Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.You must wake up with sorrow.You must speak to it till your voicecatches the thread of all sorrowsand you see the size of the cloth.Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,only kindness that ties your shoesand sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,only kindness that raises its headfrom the crowd of the world to sayIt is I you have been looking for,and then goes with you everywherelike a shadow or a friend.
Naomi Shihab Nye∗
∗ “Kindness” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye, copyright 1995. Reprinted with the
permission of Far Corner Books.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xiii
Foreword xv
Preface xix
CHAPTER 1 The Central Problem Affecting Work
Introduction xxi
: The Waron Imagination, and How I Lost My CreativeCourage 1
CHAPTER 2 Care First: Respect Is Not the First Step WhenDisengagement Is the Status Quo 37
CHAPTER 3 Secure Safety: No Safety, No Trust 57
CHAPTER 4 Foster Trust: The Natural State of Silos 71
CHAPTER 5 Play with Danger: When the Stakes Are So HighThat We Just Want to Play It Safe 87
CHAPTER 6 Dream: Spreadsheets Don’t Dream Yet 107
CHAPTER 7 Discover Breakthroughs: The Neglected Area ofHuman Emotions and the Edge of the Future 123
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xii Contents
CHAPTER 8 Grow: What If It’s Not about the Logo? 145
CHAPTER 9 Start to Dance: When Is It Too Late? 163
Conclusion: 50 Percent More 169
Notes 173
Index 179
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T o Ella, for being the amazing dancer of life. To Kat, for being thevisionary of love, space, and pace. To Yael, for being an extraordinary mother and artist. To Annie, Dorcelan, Myrta, and
Wendy, for your faith and love. To the Baulu family, for your art ofhosting and celebrating. To Susan Abramovitch, for practicing law soartfully. To Jeanenne Ray at Wiley, for your patience and support. ToJocelyn Kwiatkowski, also atWiley, and your valiant team of editors, thankyou for your hawk eyes and for being the guardians of the reading flow. ToAdrienne Brodeur from the Aspen Institute, for reminding me to listen tomy favorite podcast, On Being. To Alissa Nutting, for your sense of timeand your generosity in Aspen. To Guy Laliberté, for your business savvyand your creative intelligence. To Danielle Serpica at Wiley, for your rigorand mastery of the process. To my fellow students at Aspen Words,Colorado, for your courage to share that gave me wings. To Michel Rioux,for your love of theater. To the small but mighty team of AspenWords, forshowing me the way. To Jean “Creative Guide at Cirque du Soleil”François Bouchard, for your intuition. To Murielle Cantin, for yoursupersonic ability to see the potential in others and for seeing the talentseeker in me. To John Branca and Karen Langford of the Michael JacksonEstate, for your intimate knowledge of the art and genius of the king of pop.To Bernard Petiot, for your intellectual agility. To Boris Verkhovsky, forbeing a precious storyteller. To Fabrice Becker, for the music. To JamieKing, for being punk rock and for sharing its spirit with me. To Carla Kama,for being real and badass. To MatthewWhelan, for the wet towels of truth.To Joel Bergeron, for having our back and helping us to see the stage. ToCarole Doucet, for challenging and encouraging me to find the questionsinside the questions. To Brian Drader, for connecting words and visions tolife on stage. To Joanne Fillion, for encouraging me to aim for just enough
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xiv Acknowledgments
perfection. To Line Giasson, for your drive to make auditions memorable.To Diane Quinn, for your fearless embrace of the spirit of the Renaissance.To Bernardine Fontaine, for your strength that inspired me, and our family,to be strong. To Jacques Méthé, for your sense of words and story. ToCatherine Nadeau, for your sense of beauty in movement. To MartaRocamora, for your sense of community. To Viviana De Loera, for yoursense of space. To Seth Godin, for Linchpin live in New York City in 2010.To David and Tom Kelly from IDEO, for the creative confidence. ToDavid Allen, for Getting Things Done. ToMarche Soupson, for the almostdaily stroll to get delicious soup for lunch. To Fabrik8 in Montreal, for theoffice space. To Stephanie Malak and Emanuel Cohen, for your keen senseof lines and objects, thanks for the graphs and icons in this book. To theMJONE team, for your resilience, brilliance, and bigheartedness. To everyoneat Cirque du Soleil, your passion makes your audience radiant.
For all of your superpowers and your genius, thank you!
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FOREWORD
W hen I metWelby for the first time, one could say that part of thesetting was somewhat familiar to the world I was creating in thescript of the TV show CSI. There was obscurity surrounding us,
even if we were not in a dark alley. Then the shadowy, tensed atmospherewas sporadically disturbed by shots of light and music, video projections,dances, and incredible acrobatics and by a flurry of activities onstage and inthe working theater, filled with computers, artists, technicians. As I satwith my team at the back of the house, I felt the whole energy of Las Vegasconcentrated inside the performing space where Welby was busy creatingthe show Michael Jackson ONE with Jamie King and a talented team fromCirque du Soleil and beyond.
I grew up in Las Vegas, where my love for music and live stageperformances started. My mother worked at the Riviera Hotel, wherelegends like Bill Withers and the 5th Dimension performed. Music neverstopped inspiring me. So, it was extra special for me to meet with Welby atthat moment. He was in the middle of creating a hit show, although hedidn’t know it back then. That too was familiar; I was catching him as thework was still in progress, in flux, in that fragile and vulnerable place whereyou are not sure if it’s going to work or not, your heart full of hope andcaffeine.
I should know a thing or two about being vulnerable and about dancingwith the unknown. When I first imagined, dreamed, and created the TVshow CSI, nobody knew about me in Hollywood. As a young guy from LasVegas, I was representing in many ways the cliché of the misfit with notmuch more than a dream and a few dollars to his name.
Creating something new that resonates with many is hard. It’s never anexact science although the process is always exacting. And at the core ofthat process lies a subtle, often overlooked question: Can we create
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xvi Foreword
something amazing, innovative, without crushing our soul and the spirit ofour team in the process? Is it inevitable to do great work at a great cost toyou and the team that surrounds you? Is leadership, creative and otherwise,only about sacrifices?
I pitched the idea of a TV script following a team of forensic expertsinvestigating in Las Vegas (and subsequently in New York, Miami, andeven the cyber world!) many times before someone said yes. I had to absorbmany “NOs!” along the way, uttered at times in the most impersonal way,as body blows coming from left and right. I was lucky to meet through it alltalented, visionary, and courageous people who decided to bet on mypotential, starting with celebrated producer Jerry Bruckheimer andacclaimed TV executive Nina Tassler.
I love that Welby explores in this book two concepts that are fundamental to my vision of success. Creativity, of course, and courage. As anartist and an outsider in Hollywood back then, I aimed to break the rules byoffering a different approach to storytelling on TV that changed thestandards and the paradigm of that era. So much so that it inspired ageneration of shows that adopted and were inspired by it. That creativityand thirst for innovation are at the heart of what drives my work, whether Idream of new TV series, Broadway shows, or a celebration of cutting-edgediversity through the medium of comic books.
As a producer, I can never take for granted courage, a quality that iscritical to lasting and impactful success. It’s a mind-set that I have in partacquired thanks to my childhood in Las Vegas, where I learned the value ofrisk-taking. The risk-taker can be reckless of course, mindless or arrogant,but I prefer the courageous ones who—like some of mymentors—never shyaway from taking a chance on the misfits, the odd man or odd woman out.It takes courage to zig when the world zags, but this truism is also at theheart of creativity, innovation, and success.
Since that first day where we met in the theater of the Mandalay Bayhotel in Las Vegas, Welby and I continued to foster a precious friendship,peppered with dreams of collaborating together on projects and mutualsupport, admiration for our respective work and ethos.
Through the last few years, I’ve known Welby to be passionate aboutcreating beautiful live experiences and shows with Cirque du Soleil, but Ialso discovered his passion for improving the way that beauty andinnovation is created. Welby’s obsession covers not only the output ofwork but also the process that leads to its creation. Said differently, he’s
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Foreword xvii
driven to create amazing things amazingly. Fearlessly, he wants to improvenot only the “what” but also the “how” of innovation.
I’ve had the privilege to work with incredible teams of supremely talentedshowrunners, producers, and actors. I know firsthand how much the qualityof our process or lack thereof affects the final product, the story, the result.The way we treat people and the way we find productive ways to worktogether and harmonize our individual styles and beliefs all contribute tomaking our shows and our businesses great—or not.
And for every project and each new milestone, that quest needsreinvention through courage, creativity, and humility. In my industry,we are never completely in control of the destiny of our work. We areconstantly waiting for a yes, for the green light of someone else on theproject on which we are working. Although this is a reality that can’tbe completely erased or contoured, Creative Courage: Leveraging Imagination, Collaboration, and Innovation to Create Success Beyond Your WildestDreams invites us beautifully and convincingly to start by saying yes toourselves and the potential of our dreams.
In that way, Welby’s thoughts represent an expression of what I tried toconvey years ago when I named my production company Dare to Pass. Iinvite you to join Welby’s vivid explorations and in the process, refuse topass on your wildest dreams. Whether you are moving on something new,closing a chapter of your life, going deeper into your current practice, orsearching for the meaning of your next quest, the stories and insights thatyou will discover in Creative Courage will make a difference for you andyour teams. Wherever you are and whatever you do, it will inspire you towrite and rewrite your precious story.
Anthony E. ZuikerCreator and Executive Producer, CSI
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WEBFPREF 08/11/2017 2:48:34 Page xix
PREFACE
I believe that a work culture that supports the growth of its employeescreates more favorable conditions for its brand, its products, its servicesto be and stay relevant. Our well-being, our ability to lead efficiently
and creatively, is connected to the quality of our culture at work. Thatculture can suffer from the tension between the status quo and the need fortransformation. In fact, in every culture, we find forces aimed at preservingthe status quo and opposing energies dedicated to its transformation.
In that potential conflict sits the promise of creativity, innovation, andbreakthroughs. Finding the harmony between these two necessary forces isnot easy, and when one force takes over too radically or disruptively, theother force likely reacts. When the status quo tries to impose itselfresolutely, the war on imagination lives strong, as a state of conflict whereimagination, free association of ideas and the connection of unrelatedconcepts, or diverse teams and people is strongly discouraged, evenpunished. In other words, when the status quo takes over, the war onimagination follows. When the energy of transformation goes too fast forthe people it affects, we are left with incomprehension, anger, and reactionary retraction from the world. We step back into our identities and ourpolitics when at work. I call thesemoments in organizations, brand grabs.Wehold on to a less than optimal, often nostalgic vision of who we are.
The distress between status quo and transformation stems from obviousand obscure reasons. The dramatic advances in computing and one of itsby-products, quicker, more voluminous disseminations of information, isone factor in the worsening of the dynamic and coupling between what’sstable and what’s transforming. This situation challenges almost everythingin our world, from the way we call a taxi, think about mobility andtransportation, to the way that we will consume entertainment in thefuture.
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xx Preface
Consequently, becoming relevant and staying relevant has becomeharder for organizations and brands. As the newest rapidly replaces thenew, the pressure on the bottom line expands, and the need to innovategrows faster while the cycles of discoveries stay practically unchanged. Weknow that we need to evolve by staying agile and nimble. But we also don’twant to lose our identity, our culture, I hear leaders say.
So how can we create or nurture a more innovative culture at work toanswer the call of transformation? How can we leverage imagination andcreativity to make our work more robust and resilient? And how can such aculture help produce relevance inside and outside our organization?Moreover, and more fundamentally, as we face those challenges, do wehave to choose between a high-performance culture that helps generategreat value at a very high human cost, or a nurturing culture that sacrificesvalue, innovation and performance for the integrity of the life inside all ofus? De we have to choose between value and values?
I believe that we can bridge the gap between value and values, betweenhigh-performance and nurturing space for meaningful work. By learning tolead with creative courage, we can help create a culture for our organizationthat’smore innovative andmore able to answer the call of transformation.Atits core, the practice of leading with creative courage offers an evolving andopencycleof seven integrated, incremental practices: (1) carefirst, (2) securesafety, (3) foster trust, (4) play with danger, (5) dream, (6) discover breakthroughs, (7) and grow. Under the umbrella of creative courage, thesepractices that I also refer to as stages or dimensions offer a powerful frameworkthat you can adapt to your reality as you help yourself and your organizationtransform while staying true to your most important principles. Leadingwith creative courage offers support on the path to inside-out relevance foryou and your organization.
