This week’s prompt: Is it possible to ‘go places’ without ambition?

Many of the Founders & entrepreneurs I speak to (myself included) are working to achieve a big goal. A revenue number, an exit, a certain company size, an award, a lifestyle, or all of these. Why?

Achievement is to ambition what sugar is to dopamine. It’s a real-world embodiment of the thing our brain craves. Ambition, like dopamine, balances on a knife edge between powerful fuel and flammable propellant, between healthy motivator and unhealthy obsession, between the rush and the crash. Ultimately, our ambition is what makes us go out and do stuff. Which begs the question: it possible to get anywhere without ambition?

Meet Jonathan Cohen, ‘France’s funniest man’ and one of the best-known French comedians in the anglophone world right now (add Family Business to your Netflix list ASAP). Cohen is charting a path to the very top of the industry in France. He’s expanded on his improv training & early standup work to star in films and direct shows on France’s biggest cable channels.

The guy’s star is truly on the rise. And he’s got some strong opinions about why. Speaking to Konbini weekly, Cohen revealed he simply doesn’t care where he ends up as an actor and director:

“I don't want a [certain] actor's path, I don't give a damn.

Really, I'll be the actor I become. I don't know what kind of actor I'll be in 10 years, or what kind of director I'll be in 10 years. But in any case, I have no ambition to reach [a certain] point. No, I don't give a damn…I don't know where I'll go.”

This mindset goes against the grain of a ‘996’, ‘what’s your 5-to-9?’ world of hustle, drive, productivity and ambition. Perhaps Cohen’s laissez-faire attitude comes from his professional training in improv, a space that nurtures a resistance to trying to control the uncontrollable. Counterintuitively, Cohen finds deeper success the more he lets go:

“Honestly, the more I let myself be guided by what happens to me, by my current desires, and by all the stuff that isn't predetermined, the better I feel, the more I surprise myself, and maybe the more I surprise the audience.”

For an entertainer, surprising & delighting the audience is the goal. What about for Entrepreneurs? Can this approach apply to a business context? After all, we build brands and companies to give people more of what they need. But I can’t help noticing (in myself and others) a tendency to get bogged down in doing ‘the right things’ in business. The stuff we want to do gives way to the tasks which productivity culture whispers we should do. Economic realities and financial responsibilities are a genuine source of pressure. Most of us can’t afford to play the role of starving improv artist while we await the big time, so Cohen’s philosophy feels scary. It runs counter to the 90 day sprint, the 5-year plan, the vision board, the stretch targets and growth goals we feel we need to stay above water.

And that’s exactly why I’m trying to embrace it, in moderation.

A prompt for you: When was the last time you let yourself be guided by the stuff that isn’t pre-determined, by your current desires? When did you last surprise your audience?