With the worldwide success of Feld Entertainment, it’s hard to imagine a time when Chairman and CEO Kenneth Feld wasn’t accomplishing all of his goals. Still, he credits his greatest learning experiences to the things that didn’t go so smoothly.
“Success comes as a result of failure in many cases, many times,” said Feld during his keynote speech at SEVT, Nov. 21. “There is a lot to be learned from what goes wrong, so that hopefully you’ll prevent the same thing from happening again.”
He spoke to the absolute basics of what his company does: making shows and selling shows.
The biggest lesson that Feld learned from the letdowns is to be adaptable and fearless.
“One thing that never exists in our company is fear: we have no fear of change,” he said, adding that the company has needed to be flexible in order to last as long as it has. Feld Entertainment’s Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey’s reaches 145 years in business in 2015, having been through two world wars and every economic cycle. It has survived and thrived because its ownership has understood the consumer and been able to adapt to changing times. The success has come from the ability to embrace the unknown. “And if I have fear of change, I’m going to do everything I can to hide it from everybody else, I’ll tell you that much,” he added with a laugh.
“If you want to get ahead you have to have no fear,” Feld advised the crowd of students and industry professionals. “You have to understand what you know, what you don’t know, and use everyone to learn everything you possibly can.”
The recent offering of Marvel Universe Live represents the most expensive investment the company has ever made in a new show or new production. Feld said the company takes educated risks, never getting stuck in the obstacles or hung up on the past but, instead, always moving forward.
“We look ahead and we’re trying to create something that doesn’t exist, but the most important thing is we’re trying to build a franchise for the future,” Feld said.
Through all of the risks, successes, and occasional difficulties, one thing that has never failed Feld is the live entertainment industry.
“This industry will always be there — it will change and it will be different, but there’s never, never a substitute for live,” he said. “If you’re there, your heart will beat, the adrenaline will flow, and that’s what it’s all about.”