Parkour – new lessons

I was watching this TV programme the other day called “Jump Britain”. It was a documentary on Parkour. I didn’t know what Parkour was – I hadn’t even heard of it to be honest. Since then I’ve googled and found that it began in the 1980’s (in France) and blossomed through out the 90’s but has hit it’s peak in 2004. I’m not sure how to adequately describe Parkour (pronouced par-kor) . It is like a revolutionary version of gymnastics and acrobatics – but taken out of the traditional “gymnasium” and put into the sprawling urban environments. Actually there is a very nice summary on the South African Parkour website that does it more justice than I could. (http://www.highlanders.co.za/parkour/about/).

So what has all this got to do with business? Well, a few things struck me while I watched the program. Today’s youth is taking yesterday’s discplines and creating something new. We see this kind of revolution everyday actually – but what I don’t see is business keeping up. If I think about it – so many businesses are using the same delivery mechanisms and channels that served them well in the past because they satified consumer expectations at that point in time. But if I just look at Parkour as an example of what is energising and captivating todays market … then I see some serious gaps in the way companies are trying to do business.

Another interesting thing about Parkour is that there is a philosophy to it – which says something else to me – it says that this generation are not looking for something shallow … there needs to be something more substantial.

On this doco that I was watching, Sebastien Foucan (one of the initial French founders) said something which I thought was worth noting down at the time. He was discussing doing a jump and he said that doing a jump on your own was very different from doing the same jump with a mate. He said when you do the jump on your own you are just that little bit more afraid. He said that in Parkour you need to stop and look inside yourself and ask what is it that you are afraid of? Only then can you master the jump. Sounds to me like the kind of advice all leaders should heed.

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