FEAR OF LOOKING THE FOOL: HOW CLOWNING CAN MAKE US BETTER LEADERS

The Risk of Standing Out

Many of us are familiar with that anxious voice we hear as we raise a hand in a meeting. Or the sensible voice that intervenes just as we are putting on that daring outfit for an important work event and tells us, “act smart, dress down, stay quiet. You don’t want to look the fool.”

If this fear sometimes causes us to suppress creativity and withhold bold ideas in everyday situations, think about how much harder it is—and how much greater the consequences—when bold leadership is required. In fact, the fear of looking the fool may be so powerful that it prevents us from even trying. The risk is simply too profound.?

A commonly cited remedy is “feel the fear and do it anyway.” But what if we took this a step further and embraced the source of fear by looking the fool directly in the eye? How might channeling our own natural foolishness to connect, build trust, and even inspire the same in others?

We are hard-wired to blend in. Standing out in a crowd triggers the danger warning light in our brain. Evolutionary biologists suggest that social anxiety is an adaptive trait developed by early humans to minimize the risk of rejection from a community that provided protection from the elements, hunger, and deadly foes. We could not afford to express our individuality when the stakes were so high.

But for those who truly want to make a difference in the world, the natural leaders, creators, and change-makers, this is a problem. If we wish to promote creative solutions and imotivate others toward challenging goals - that is, to lead - we cannot afford to stay in our comfort zones safe from risk. This article is an invitation to embrace the fool (or its contemporary iteration, the clown) in all its glorious stupidity in the name of powerful leadership.?

The Truth About Clowns

In his trademark clown act, the diminutive figure of George Carl ambles innocently onto the stage in an oversized suit. Cheerful yet a little bewildered, he finds himself behind a microphone stand, which towers above him. He tries to adjust it, bangs his head, traps his fingers in the stand, and then gets in a tangle with the cable. He tries to calm himself by folding his arms, but they won’t stay in place. A thumb gets trapped in a buttonhole, the whole jacket comes off, and when he wrestles it back on, one of the arms is too long.

Like most clowns, Carl turns a situation that is all too familiar, and most of us fear - looking like a complete idiot in public - into comedy gold. It is funny precisely because it is the thing we are so desperately trying to avoid. When we see a clown failing to maintain the standards we have so assiduously learned, for a few precious moments, we experience the pleasure of release, of seeing the rulebook torn up, and laughter flows along with the sense of relief that it is him and not us up there.

But it is not only the gift of laughter that Carl gives us. Clowning has the potential to transform because it allows us to see the ridiculousness of what we are afraid of in our own lives. As we laugh at this grown man wrestling with a stubborn microphone stand, we connect on a deep level with how we too get tangled up in our judgments and fears and fail daily to achieve our potential for brilliance. As the scale of personal worries is put into a new perspective, we also may feel an opening to greater expansiveness, an invitation to stretch and lean into risk.?

Also sometimes known as professional fools, clowns have a long and illustrious history of making us laugh and challenging us to grow as leaders. While in the US (and elsewhere), clowns have descended to the level of Halloween scare costumes, in many cultures, the clown’s willingness to speak truth, physical prowess, and selfless risk-taking make them deeply revered figures in the community. Many clowns, court buffoons, and fools have also enjoyed a robust relationship with community leaders, functioning as conscience, mirror, loyal supporters, and fierce critics. The good news is that we don't need to step into George Carl’s oversized shoes or even take a clowning class to leverage some clownish wisdom in our own lives and leadership roles.

Letting The Fool Lead

As I researched the social impact of clowning in South America for my doctorate (yes, I am perhaps the only true clown doctor), I met a man who is infamous in Colombia for having merged clowning with leadership in shocking and effective ways. Antanas Mockus was mayor of Bogotá 1989-95. A serious, bearded man with an impish smile, Mockus perhaps first rose to infamy as rector of the National University when he pulled down his pants and bare his buttocks to a group of aggressive rioting students on campus (look it up on Youtube).

In addition to getting married in a circus tent and dressing up as a superhero during his election campaign, Mockus became known for his arrestingly creative and risky policies that relied on his own willingness to look the fool. When there was a water shortage, Mockus appeared in TV ads, taking a shower and turning off the water as he soaped, asking his fellow citizens to do the same. In just two months, people were using 14 percent less water, a saving that increased when people realized how much money they were also saving because of economic incentives approved by Mockus.

On another occasion, he enlisted an army of mime performers to patrol the streets instead of traffic police, leading to a 30% reduction in vehicle-related pedestrian injuries in the city center. And he tripled the city’s tax revenues by asking people to pay 10% in voluntary additional taxes.

Transgressive, seemingly foolish, and yet extremely purposeful, Mockus relied on a combination of shock value and self-deprecating humor to win people over to his agenda of social change. Just like George Carl and most clowns, he was able to see problems from a new and peculiar perspective that shook people out of their own fixed way of seeing things and inspired them to take action. There was significant personal risk involved. He was willing to look the fool in ways that most of us could ever dream of doing.

Clown Lessons in Leadership

Our powerful resistance to looking the fool, in our own less dramatic ways, limits our potential as leaders as we can avoid risk at the cost of valuable impact. Breaking the rules, challenging conventional wisdom, speaking the truth, playing with failure, and standing comfortably in our own skin are all core attributes of clown practice that can galvanize our leadership.?

Start Playing Big: In the beginning, our instinct is to play small. In rehearsal with executives, we test the bounds of excess and exaggeration, sometimes leaning into ridiculousness. What we find together time and again is that the line between acceptability and ‘too much’ is often much further away than they think. How many times do we sell ourselves short because of a fear of how we will be perceived? How much more powerful could we become if we allowed ourselves to express freely and fully the thoughts and feelings we are having? There is risk involved, but the payoffs can be exponential.?

Playfully Challenge the Status Quo: Clowns treat a rule as an excuse to play. Breaking rules is not the point, but rather showing that rules can be arbitrary, or sometimes solely our own. The key to clownish rule-breaking is the playful, non-attached attitude with which it is done. Like children, they (and we, as effective leaders) bend or break rules in order to test and learn: Is this a helpful rule? How does it serve me? Why? If leaders cannot address the ‘why’ behind rules and conventions, they will not be able to persuade people that change is a good idea.

Let Yourself Be Seen: When we are afraid of looking foolish, we have a tendency to push exciting messages, stats, or achievements out in front of us as a shield. In doing so, we re-direct attention away from ourselves, cutting off the potential for powerful human-to-human connection. The distraction of data, for example, becomes a barrier to influential connection. What audiences love to see is you, freely embodying all that it means to be human, flaws and all. Being vulnerable and generous enough to let people see you is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal.

Acknowledge the Truth: The focus on protecting yourself leaves your audience in the shadows of your focus. As a result of being unacknowledged, they disconnect from what you need them to hear and feel. Clowning is also about giving voice to the unspoken truth, feeling, mood, or the elephant in the room. The surprising lesson we learn is that when nobody else is brave enough to say it, acknowledging the truth is a tactic that will win you respect and admiration. On many occasions, it will allow the conversation to move on or the mood to shift.

The fear of looking the fool keeps us safe, but greatness rarely happens in safety. Become friendly with the fool within you. Clowning is a process of coming to know one’s whole self and then learning to express that essence for the delight or benefit of others. Moving from certainty to vulnerability and from there to connection and playfulness, our own foolishness has much to teach us and those we lead.

Author: Barnaby King

About the Author:

Barnaby brings two decades of knowledge and expertise in performance research and practice to his work at Stand & Deliver with clients like Vifor, Cisco, Genentech and Apeel. He is dedicated to helping leaders inspire powerful action in their teams. He is motivated by the joy and fulfillment people experience when they get to embody and express their truest selves.

Combining his performance background with his teaching experience, Barnaby has developed tools to support our clients in developing their ability to manage their mindset in high-stakes situations and to connect with audiences in a way that engenders trust.

He holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is the author of Ridicule and Resistance, a study of the social impact of circus arts in Latin America.

About Stand & Deliver:

Stand & Deliver is a consulting and training firm that primes organizations for high-performance communication and leadership.

Through customized curricula and signature programs, we address the skills that move teams toward growth, transformation and innovation. Our faculty combines experience in business, education, arts and entertainment, and health and wellness—part of a sophisticated approach that helps organizations bring big ideas to the world.