Cirque du Soleil

Thomas J. DeLong; Vineeta  Vijayaraghavan

Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2002 (Revised October 2002)

Cirque du Soleil

by Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

Abstract

Retaining talent is an issue for any company whose success relies on the creativity and excellence of its employees. This is especially true for Cirque du Soleil, the spectacularly successful "circus without animals," whose 2,100 employees include 500 artists--mimes, clowns, acrobats, gymnasts, musicians, and production professionals. Managing a company full of creative people is a juggling act in itself, between keeping its artists happy and pursuing a successful strategy for attracting more business and talent.

Keywords: Retention; Employee Relationship Management; Business Strategy; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Culture; Entertainment and Recreation Industry;

Format: Print

12 pages

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Citation:

DeLong, Thomas J., and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan. "Cirque du Soleil." Harvard Business School Case 403-006, July 2002. (Revised October 2002.)

Greg James, a global manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc., sets out to meet with his entire 43-member customer implementation team spread across India, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America to resolve a dire customer system outage as required by a service agreement. Rather than finding a swift resolution to the rapidly escalating customer situation that motivated his trip, he finds himself facing distributed work, global collaboration, conflict, and management issues that are threatening to unravel his team.

Book | 2020

Teaching by Heart: One Professor's Journey to Inspire

Thomas J. DeLong

The best teachers are leaders, and the best leaders are teachers. Teaching by Heart summarizes the author's key insights gained from more than 40 years of teaching and managing. It illustrates how teachers can both lift people up and let them down. It proposes that the best teachers are also leaders, and the best leaders are also teachers. In examining how to lead and teach, renowned Harvard Business School professor Thomas J. DeLong takes the reader inside his own head and heart. He notes that, as teachers, we often focus more on our inadequacies and missteps than on our strengths and unique talents. He explains why this is so by dissecting and analyzing his own experiences—using himself as a case study. The book's goal is to help readers learn about the intricacies of teaching and managing and to impart lessons about how teachers can create a unique teaching atmosphere. To do this, the author analyzes the process of creating a curriculum, preparing for an 80-minute class, managing the 15 minutes before class begins, and evaluating the nature of the teaching experience after the session concludes. Along the way, he connects specific classroom behaviors with leadership issues—in organizations, in teams, and in personal relationships. He also asks—and answers—some provocative questions: What happens on multiple levels when I teach or lead—with me, students, or professionals? What am I thinking and feeling as I process what students are thinking and feeling? How are my internal conversations affecting how I teach and lead? How do I manage my biases, including having "favorite" students? To what extent can I use teaching methods in the arena of management? Throughout Teaching by Heart, DeLong discusses why empathy and authenticity matter. When teachers embrace this mindset, students have the opportunity to have a unique learning experience. Teachers and managers will learn how to create moments of transformation for students.

Whether you're a university professor, a student, a business leader, or just someone fascinated by teaching, this book will instruct, entertain, and—hopefully—inspire.

Keywords: Teaching; Leadership; Attitudes; Management; Business Education;

Citation:

DeLong, Thomas J. Teaching by Heart: One Professor's Journey to Inspire. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020. View Details

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Katie Hood, CEO of the One Love Foundation (One Love), a group dedicated to the prevention of relationship violence, had grown the organization's base of funding support to $6 million by 2017 and broadened its mandate to include relationships across many demographics. But questions about how best to deploy their funding loomed, as well as divergent views on the pace of growth the organization should target. One Love also needed to develop better metrics by which to measure its success. This case explores Hood's plan of action as she aims to bring One Love to greater scale.

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Cirque du Soleil

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