The spark of passionate profitability

I bought "The Spark" at the Brussels show of Cirque du Soleil because I wanted to get a glimpse of what is actually happening behind the scenes that makes Cirque so exceptional. While reading it I found more than information about the backstage.

"The Spark" is easy to read and provide a few interesting pointers on the way Cirque creates, chooses and grows talent and operates on a day to day basis. Through the eyes of a sports agent called Frank Castle, who gets to spend some time as part of Cirque's people, the reader discovers interesting practices and a philosophy that delivers almost without fail. From people who push the limits of what is feasible in a show to those who will be passionate about the way idas are implemented, the book provides a good collection of human characters, all of whom I would love to meet and interview some day.

Here are few of the gems I collected while reading the book and I think they can be good inspirationin many areas of life:

"We are so determined to stick to our comfort zones that we learn to live with disappointment as long as it's familiar and safe."

"Our fears hold us back, make us fall short of our goals. Only by taking risks can we hope to accomplish the extraordinary."

"The greatest danger is not falling but getting comfortable, of reaching a certain altitude and putting the show on auto-pilot."

"I've learned topay attention to detail - first of all, because my life depends on it, but also becaus doing so means aevery night will be a little different."

"It's never my failures that I regret, it's the things I pass up because I'm too scared, too safe."

"If you want to live fully, you have to trust."

"At Cirque, you have to touch the crowd every night. To do that you have to find the little peral inside yourself and give it to the audience. When you are teaching someone, you help them find it and share it with the audience. And when I see them find it and share it with an audience, I feel I've achieved something.
Think about how pearls are made - from a grain of sand, an irritant."