Anyone who has seen the film the Incredibles will understand the meaning of my title. If you haven’t, the film is about a family of superheroes. During the story, Mr Incredible is told by the designer of his new super-suit that, no matter how cool it looks, a cape is a bad idea. She then goes on to recount numerous stories about how other heroes had been sucked into jet engines, dragged into tornadoes, fired off into space and so on because the cape got caught up in the hazard. When I saw Madonna fall on stage because of an elaborate cape at the Brit Awards, I am slightly ashamed to say I yelled “No capes Daaarllling” at the screen.
For anyone (and I doubt there is anyone left) who didn’t see it, Madonna began to sing wearing a long, elaborate cape, which then became entangled and pulled her over. Since then of course the internet has gone into overload with jokes and photoshopped pictures. Including many featuring the clip from The Incredibles.
For a celebrity like Madonna, who has a reputation for being so precise and composed at all times the incident must have been a real shock. For most of us, that fall down the stairs in front of millions would have been a crushing event. 10 seconds later she was back on her feet and, more to the point, she was performing again.
There are two things we could potentially learn here.
Firstly, the elaborate cloak is a magnet for trouble and so is any over complex approach. Take, for example, a CV. The reader wants the information in easily read sections. The personality of the writer should be in there of course, but overly flowery language and overblown claims of experience have no place in a CV. Keep them clear, simple, easily read and to the point. Of course, you should describe yourself in the best light and highlight achievements but leave the long capes and elaborate performances out of it because you will probably end up tripping over it.
Secondly no matter how well you rehearse, no matter how carefully you plan for something it may still end up with you falling over. When you have done your research, you know your job, you are perfect for the role, and you perform well at the interview, but still don’t get the dream job you wanted. It can be a real blow to your confidence. This is when you need to do exactly what Madonna did at the Brits. Bounce back to your feet and carry on the show. Try to treat each knock back as a learning exercise and move on. The important thing is not that you fell over but that you got back up.
Madonna learned a valuable lesson about the use of long capes. I very much doubt that she will ever make the same mistake again, and that is most the important thing to take away.