Last week we talked about a recent innovation by WWE, the organizers of WrestleMania, and how we can apply this in our teams. This week is another lesson from WrestleMania which dates back a little longer.
For a long time in WWE history, they have embraced the professional code of “Kayfabe”. This describes the notion that what is really a staged and choreographed event is made to appear real to the public. It’s the notion of a make-belief reality. The code stretches even outside the ring and includes the stories that are created around the actors. The feuds, the gimmicks and everything else that is narrated about each character is all part of the make-belief world or wrestling. Kayfabe also means that no one would acknowledge that the fights are fake. Kayfabe requires that the appearance of a real fight and a real story is maintained. Breaking this code is similar to an actor on stage stepping out of role and acknowledging to the audience that she is an actor playing a character.
For decades people in the business believed that maintaining Kayfabe is essential to the success of wrestling. A fight in 1995 changed this. One fighter was scheduled to retire after one more fight. His last fight was – so the official story went – against his archenemy, with whom he was in a bitter feud off stage. The plan in kayfabe was that it would be their last face-off. A fight to settle everything for all time.
Because it was the one fighter’s last fight, the other chose to honor the occasion. After what seemed a grueling fight with painful injuries to both opponents, the two fighters hugged each other, celebrated and ostensibly had no injuries whatsoever. They weren’t enemies. They were friends. They weren’t injured. They were performing. The veil was lifted and for the first time it was confirmed to the public that the fights are fake.
After a short outcry, WWE decided to embrace the situation and acknowledge how the fights really work. They turned to honesty in dealing with their audience. What held them back before was the fear of the audience’s reaction: they thought the audience would turn away because it’s all fake. What did in fact happen was the audiences cheered about it and the audiences grew in size. They all loved the fact that it’s all a show and entertainment.
The challenge: customers found something out about the product, that they weren’t supposed to know. Their innovation: honesty. The result: significant growth.
Take the Next Step
Where is an area of your business where you don’t want the customers to know something. This could relate to quality, pricing, production processes or any other information we consider internal or company confidential. Ask yourself if this is really competitive information – or is it something you’d just like to keep under wraps. Be honest: what’s holding you back? Then step up transparency and honesty with your customers.