Expo2020Dubai is in trouble.

This is, arguably, Dubai’s last shot at credibility in the world of Destination and Themed Entertainment. Globally and historically, Dubai is known as much for the “biggest” and the “newest” and the “most”-est as it is for Grand Announcement followed by Failure to Deliver.

Massive projects have been announced and launched, grand models photographed, hands shaken and press released; then these projects often disappear. Grand Openings are announced, the original published Opening Dates arrive and pass without reference and, more often than not, if the projects do actually open, they often open weeks, months and even years late; often still unfinished and incomplete.

The world knows this.

In private, non-public conversations between professionals, worldwide, about the prospects for Expo2020Dubai, conversations are as much along the lines of, “…let’s see what Dubai does with Expo…” as they are voicing the question, “…do you think that Dubai will be actually be able to pull this off?”

And this is a legitimate question. The world is skeptical, and rightfully so.

As of this writing, much of the same dysfunctional dynamics are in place at Expo2020Dubai that prevailed at Meraas / Dubai Parks as far back as 2012 and 2013. These dynamics have very publicly resulted in extremely late openings of projects that are still incomplete when they open. Despite repeated recommendation on the part of consulting experts in these fields, warnings were ignored and advice dismissed, systems were not streamlined, input was not embraced at the appropriate times and result is that the parks have opened late, incomplete and over-budget.

Motiongate in particular has opened…late and incomplete…to reviews that range from lackluster to downright scathing, and appropriately so. This writer visited the park as it opened to discover only a fraction of the rides and shows operating at all, and those in operation fall far short of anything approaching World Class.

The two rides experienced, “Ghostbusters” and “Hotel Transylvania,” are straight-out embarrassing. Vast open and empty spaces between disconnected vignettes drain the energy from one scene to the next; creating an energy- and intrigue-free experience of what amounts to a showcase of some pretty cool scenery…but the absence of continuity renders the entire experience lackluster and boring.

What is sad about this is that some exceptionally talented and skilled professionals designed and built these attractions. Hampered by inexperienced Corporate officers who lack an understanding or failed to give priority to the importance of Story and the critical quality of seamless immersion in creating Experience and seem, instead, to be focused on shaving budgets to the detriment of actual Experience; these creative and technical professionals found themselves handcuffed to unrealistic expectations, uninformed timelines and deadlines and a critical absence of understanding of the craft of Creating Experience.

And, to be completely frank, many of the “experts” – mostly white guys of a certain age with “pedigrees” from the School of Disney and Universal who are on the verge of retirement – seem to come to the UAE more interested in a well-paid “last hurrah” than the integrity or ultimate success of the project for which they are responsible. Caving to the unrealistic expectations and unmeetable deadlines levied by clients who have no understanding of the business does not support a finished product of which one might be proud…nor one that will be profitable.

IMHO, it is the responsibility of these individuals to hold the line on unrealistic expectation and educate the client rather than kowtow. This responsibility seems not to have been fully embraced.

That being said; another critical facet that impedes success in large-scale projects in the UAE is a deeply-ingrained fear in the Emirati culture of Losing Face. These are in many cases exceptionally intelligent people who are handicapped by a fear of not being seen as knowing everything about the project(s) for which they are responsible.  Somehow, the value and honor of taking advice and being willing to hear facts that may not fit with original expectation is absent in many an executive suite.

Note: It’s okay to not know; it’s okay to change one’s mind when presented with facts and experienced advice that contradicts original decisions. It is even honorable to acknowledge having learned something.

Insistence on things such as unrealistically short deadlines, an ignorance of the importance of the soft-edged creative in the hard-edged design and architecture, across-the-board budget cutting without a sense of how such action affects the substance of the project – all things that came into play in the shortfall and negative experience offered by the Motiongate project – is what undermines the best of project intentions.

Thus, the money that has been spent on such projects has been effectively wasted, as the unfinished spaces, the gaps in individual Experiences, Rides and Shows seriously undermine and diminish the quality of the product.

IMG World is it’s own example. In April of 2014, IMG announced in the local and worldwide press that IMG World was going to open in November of that year, and was going to “rival Disney” (a preposterous projected rivalry, in and of itself). The boastful announcement was met with worldwide cynicism; as one photograph of the unfinished structure was all anyone needed in order to know that the park would not open in 2014, at all.

This continued; with successive announcements of opening dates that came and went without comment followed with several announcements for an Opening that never took place…and the doors finally, quietly opened in mid-2016 to a vastly underpopulated cavern. The destination hasn’t yet been host to a crowd anywhere near capacity; yet they’ve just announced a second gate.

Ferrari World, too, is a prime example. Opening late, incomplete, over budget; it has taken six years for that park to begin to show fiscal health…and they’re not out of the woods, yet.

The world sees and remembers these things.

The world is watching Expo2020Dubai.

Expo2020Dubai must open on time and complete.

The world will arrive on 20 October 2020 and expect the promised perfection. The Expo cannot open a month, a week, not even a day or an hour late.

Sheikh Mohammed has decreed that the Expo site must be audience-ready six month’s out; by 20 April 2020. As of this writing, there is virtually no chance of this happening; not if the vision of a cutting-edge, lush, never before seen, exciting new paradigm and evolution of the Expo Experience is to be realized.

The absence of experienced and knowledgeable leadership at senior level is impeding the work of the Department responsible for all the live components of Expo2020 and affects the reputation of that department throughout the UAE and in the industry, worldwide.

This knowledge and experience gap is such that it affects not only the ability to accomplish key tasks and run the department efficiently and effectively; but it adversely affects the national and global reputation with respect to credibility and, more critically with respect to valuable human resources, appeal as a place to work.

World class designers, producers, entertainment professionals will not want to work in an unsupportive environment.

The agency and vendor community in the UAE, while anxious to partner, collaborate with or work for Expo2020, is as a community vocally trepidatious about engaging with EXPO as the process is cumbersome, confused and amateur.

Communication

Information is of greatest value when it is shared.

Seeing to it that the Architects and Builders, Operators, Designers and Experience Designers share the same meeting table, creating and engaging in a dynamic, ongoing conversation, discussing and exploring thoughts, concepts and options as spaces and venues are developed and prior to projected “finalization” of a Master Plan will inevitably save massive amounts of time and money.

It is key to remember, too, that such a Master Plan is only “successively final;” as many things can, must and will evolve and change as new creative ideas come to light and new technologies become available or are developed specifically for the Experiences envisioned at Expo.

The fact is, as well, that the architects and designers, builders and planners generally want to know what’s being envisioned as the actual experience in the places being designed as they are being designed. These professionals want to design and build toward vision…thus, they need to know what is being envisioned.

The architects and the Creatives should be Friends!

Collaboration is Key

Design being undertaken in a vacuum of actual creative concepts envisioned for given spaces and places will result in either;

1. decisions made as to power, space, utilization and flexibility that will limit the possible experiences and productions that can be effectively mounted in those spaces, or
2. when and as cutting-edge and groundbreaking creative ideas for Experience and Show are presented, accepted and embraced; expensive and time-consuming post-construction retrofitting of spaces and infrastructure may be incurred in order to accommodate the Better Idea.

Possible Resolution:

• Casual, conversational information sharing should be encouraged at all levels between departments; sowing seeds of inspiration and inspiring collaboration throughout.
• Inter-departmental lines of communication should be open and supported such that when any of these principals has an idea or question, s/he can contact any of the others, directly.
• Regular, inter-departmental “touch-base” meetings on design and what is envisioned to take place in that design, with the site map on the table and all parties standing around it, are critical. In-depth, ad hoc follow-up conversations can be scheduled from this meeting between the immediately-involved principals that will likely result in evolution of design and the breaking of new ground in Experience.

Free, inter-departmental communications at all levels will enhance and speed the momentum of the entire project and empower all teams to embrace responsibility for achievement and meeting the goals of Expo.

Most Important

My admiration and respect for Sheikh Mohammed is no secret to the readers of this site. I embrace his vision for Dubai and want to see it materialize and prevail. It is my fervent hope that Expo2020Dubai is a spectacular success; that it opens on time, breaks new ground in the context of World Expos, shows the world that Dubai can, in fact, deliver on this most grand of plans and realize His Majesty’s vision.

It’s going to take a brutally realistic realization of the inherent cultural dynamics of the UAE that directly impede the path to envisioned success. Simple things such as relentless commitment to deadlines, clear and open communication throughout organizations, the taking of sometimes bitter-truth advice and the seeking of solutions that work will be the core of a successful initiative.

With that, there must be resistance on all fronts to the inclination to placate Power and acquiesce to the un-doable.

Embrace the lesson so publicly offered by the failure of projects such as Motiongate to deliver on promises of Guest Experience and Opening Dates. Bring close those who tell the truth in the face of potential wrath, those who stand for quality, those who can teach while collaborating with the brilliant-yet-inexperienced.

DubaiEXPO2020, as described in the vision statements, has the potential to be a spectacular showcase for Dubai and the UAE and to change the way Expo’s are created and presented; challenging, changing and evolving the form and format of the Expo phenomenon.

To accomplish this; eschew those who acquiesce to Power when Power asks what is not possible…find and gather those who love what they do, who know how to accomplish what is envisioned, share what they learn and know, are committed to quality and nimble collaborators.

Listen to them. Take good advice and put distance between the project and the Yes Men.

And with that, I’ll probably never be allowed in the UAE again.

[As it happens, “IMHO : Creating Compelling Experience” is still a free download from the Apple bookstore and iTunes. Free. Read it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/imho/id555219645?mt=11 ]

First to Work: Dubai

You remember…

Walking down the street in Paris, early morning, passing a bakery and being enveloped by the light, buttery aroma of warm croissants wafting through the doorway. Turning, entering, eyeing the slightly steaming trays of fresh baked delicacies as they are being placed into the display cases; one caught your eye.

Pain au Chocolat!

Must…have…

Standing in the brisk morning, leaning against the stone façade of the bakery, lifting this fluffy, flaky, melted chocolate-filled treasure to the lips, inhaling the sweet, lush, steamy aroma and then biting off that first morsel… Powdered sugar coated your lips as warm, viscous liquid chocolate flows onto your tongue; the entire experience was heavenly, and you said to your companion, “mmmm, this content is delicious!”

“Content”?

———————————————————————————————————

Content.

This morning I received this email:

Hi, my name is <redacted> and I am a content-manager. If you are interested I would love to write a post for your website that I think your audience would really love.

I have a list of content titles I can send you and if you like any of them I will write a blog-post of about 500-1000 words including images and video.

 The more high quality and relevant links we get the more Google loves us right?

 Please let me know if you like this post idea or if you would like me to write about something else and I can get started right away.

Best Regards 

<also redacted> | Content Manager

———————————————————————————————————

A “Content Manager”?

What does that even mean?

As though one can simply put a dollar into the slot marked “Cats & Dogs,” “Summer’s Over,” “Underage Drinking” or “Managing Creativity” and out will come Content That One’s Audience Will Really Love.

———————————————————————————————————

Let’s roll this one back and stop calling Art “Content.” It’s demeaning; it lacks dignity.

This one’s been on my mind for awhile.

Do we say, “wow, that video content was excellent!”?

Does a writer of story say s/he “creates content”? (And if s/he does, how does that affect self-image and billing rates?)

Calling creative work “content” flattens it, implies that it’s interchangeable, existing simply to fill a box and that it’s the box that has value when fundamentally it is what’s in that “box” that offers value.

Throwing writers, storytellers, architects, filmmakers, lighting designers, set designers, producers, actors and all the other professionals who collaborate to create something meaningful together into this ambiguous catchall basket of “content creators” seems to me to be dismissive. Commodifying. Thoughtless.

There’s a lot goes into that to which Some Business Sorts refer as “content” – similar to sales people referring to “units” whether they’re speaking of automobiles, tickets, desk sets or fur coats…”units.”

Especially in our own industry; let’s refer to one another as the hard-working, sleep-deprived, creative artists, artisans, craftspeople and technicians we are.

You are a filmmaker, an editor, an experience designer, a creative director, a producer, a costume designer, a set designer, a choreographer, a storyteller of myriad possibilities. Neither accept nor be guilty of tossing off and applying labels such as “content” or “content creator” unless you’re talking about corn flakes…

…and I’ll bet the people who make the corn flakes don’t refer to themselves as “content creators” either.

Words are important. Let us use them wisely and well to communicate, enlighten, honor, respect.

IMHO.

“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Read, shared and quoted throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, it can be found in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link.

Corn, wheat, missiles, architects, experience designers…none have much affect on the world around them when kept in silos.

It’s not until taken from the silos and mixed with other things that they become effective and able to fully realize potential.

Hence Collaboration.

The Destination Entertainment and Experience Design communities began to experience a learning curve long ago, beginning with a now-anecdotally legendary design for retail success but entertainment disaster with Horton Plaza  in San Diego in 1985.

The was the first example of Jon Jerde’s “Experience Architecture” experiment-that-became-an-industry; the five-level shopping mall that changed one industry and launched another. [Interestingly for we connoisseurs of SciFi, er, geeks, his concept was based an essay of Ray Bradbury, “The Aesthetics of Lostness.”]

Comprised of twists and turns, cul-de-sacs, ramps and walkways, colonnades, archways, sudden drop-offs and multicolored façades at odd angles with one another; it became a “must-see” magnet for creators and designers from all facets of the themed entertainment, retail and architectural design industries. It changed the world of retail in many ways and opened many-shaped doors to what have become vastly new practices and approaches to customer experience across many industries.

Horton Plaza was, financially, wildly successful and is credited with revitalizing downtown San Diego.

It was through the failings of this place, however, that the beginnings of a decades-long detente between architects-builders and Clients-Operators were born.

There were built-in “stages,” performance areas, entertainment-friendly plazas (not many, but some).

There were also no backstage areas or physical access to said stages; no power sources, dressing rooms nor places for them… There were walls that would make good projection surfaces but no camouflaged or otherwise designed-in audience gathering areas of any size or configuration…and, again, no power sources.

Any “entertainment” support had to be brought in and temporarily retrofitted into the space – expensive, ugly, and often hard on the space and façades.

How’d this happen?

Easy; the architects were working in a vacuum (or “silo”), assuming they knew what was needed to support all these “fun” things the more or less imagined would “activate” the spaces and attract audience-shopper-diners. These assumptions were made innocently enough; from the perspective of professionals who were in this context more audience than creator of anything experience other than static.

This is not meant to denigrate the architects. As a profession, they are amazing, visionary creators of building, façade, space. Without the knowledge of what is envisioned for within and around those building, though, the most beautiful structures can become unusable, inefficient, ineffective…falling short of vision only out of absence of information.

Remember Exploration of Assumption? We’ve talked of this, before, many times.

We all assume, all the time; what others think or need, what their motivations might be, what they might plan for a given space…all without actually engaging with them, because….we think we already know!

But. We don’t.

…and neither did the architects of Horton Plaza.

What this experience did, though, was get some people thinking; spurring the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA)  to initiate conversation with and bring further into the the active theming community these brilliant architects and structure designers: to lobby for ongoing conversation between and among all facets and factors involved in the end-use of these structures being designed, as they are being designed, so that what actually becomes designed evolves through the process to something even greater than was envisioned at the outset.

Collaboratively Designed Experience

It wasn’t easy: there was resistance. The architects tended to be protective of their work – and appreciably so, as we all so often experience the egregiously detrimental effects of input-by-ignorant-client. (You know who you are; no names being named, here…but we all remember you.)

Most all creative people tend toward protection of their work; as it is so often threatened by ignorance (oh, and budget). The exciting thing is that, with courageous, sensitive, inspirational leadership and teamwork, all are likely to come out the other end with an appreciation of an enlightened, collaborative process that has yielded an evolution in the way theme parks, shopping malls, retail experience is resonantly, compellingly designed.

There has been a lot going on during these decades of evolution. Not only the TEA and this one, cited group of insightful architects are responsible for how Experience Design can now work; but scores of organizations and hundreds if not thousands of creative and technical professionals have awakened to the immense value realized in quality of experience and actual dollars-and-cents yield of a well-organized, collaboratively-designed experience.

Joe Pine III & James H. Gilmore articulated what was up and launched worldwide conversations and conferences with their first book, “The Experience Economy;” Gregory Beck, founder of The Experience Architecture Forum at Harvard University (<ahem> where we have twice presented), has passionately and continues to contribute his vision and energy to this evolutionary collaboration.

Margaret J. King, Ph.D. and Jamie O’Boyle of The Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis  have been instrumental in offering the cultural, psychological and sometimes physiological rationale contributing to refinement and focus of design process in the creation of destination experience.

The outdated, mid-century model of successive, departmental silos as steps to creation of a Destination Experience is Dead (or should be). Finally seen for the inefficient, excessively costly process that it is; one that yields experience that is less than envisioned and more expensive than projected…it is evolving out of existence.

In most parts of the Experience Design world, this outmoded method has been eschewed for something far better.

Hub-and-spoke design, wherein architects design spaces without ongoing dialogue with those charged with creating experience within it, is cumbersome (which is expensive), time consuming (which is expensive), confusing (which is expensive)…and expensive. Handing off a “completed” space design to creatives responsible for filling it will do one or more of the following (expensive) things:

• limit the possibilities for what can be created within the space due to the absence of specific resource, space, flexibilities,
• call for the space to be re-designed when a great idea that requires specific support is presented to the Powers that Be,
• call for the space to be redesigned due to the existence of emerging technologies and techniques of which the architects had been unaware.

…and so on. All expensive options in the face of effective collaboration from the outset and throughout the process.

For examples of the stunningly vast amounts of money that can be wasted and the additional months and years of time expended as direct result of the absence of collaborative information sharing; one need look no further than right here in <redacted>.

Being Fair to the Architects

Further, the absence of collaborative communication from the very start shortchanges the architects, themselves.

Sharing creative vision for the space being designed can profoundly affect the design itself even and and sometimes only through mere nuance: the simple placement of a door, the angle of a wall, and extra meter of space moved before design is complete can vastly improve design, audience appeal, flexibility and potential.

This stuff excites the architects; inspired by the options shared, they want their designs to function as much as they want to maintain the integrity of their designs.

People gotta talk about what they are doing and what they see taking place in these spaces before design is “locked”…as it is rarely if ever actually “locked” until the doors finally open. However, every change taking place after that first “locked” costs money (often, a lot of it).

Even the best architect-designers aren’t always aware of what’s going on in parallel industries or in other locations of their industry or practice. The Experience Designers, being by nature immersed in connection with audience, might possess information that can profoundly affect – even if only in nuance (which can in and of itself be exceptionally powerful) – the resultant design.

Anecdotally: 

A few years ago, on behalf of the TEA, we partnered with Doug Barnes of The Season Pass podcast in a special presentation to Imagineers at Walt Disney Imagineering’s “ID8” conference. Entitled “Beyond the Berm,” we shared a collection of Destination Experiences currently (at the time) installed and running throughout the world beyond the Disney berms.

These men and women were blown away by some of the amazing theme park and expo experiences we shared with them that were bringing in audience of the tens of thousands each week. Most had not heard of Sentosa’s Crane Dance , The Big O Show in Yeotsu, Korea or any of the dozen or so Experiences we shared with them.

This benign ignorance makes sense, as they had had their noses close to their own drawing boards for great swaths of time, if not through entire careers. It’s easy to not know what’s happening outside one’s sphere when one is busy making one’s own magic (or Walt’s).

If you are responsible for creating a Destination, if enthralling an audience such that they are compelled to return again (and again?) to that Experience created under your purview is your goal; then getting everyone to the table at the outset and seeing that relationships are forged for collaborative magic, throughout your organization, is critical.

Rather than restricting pathways and hierarchies – barriers – between departments; encourage webs and networks, informal information sharing, exploration of vision… All your people will be more inspired and excited, and the end result will very likely exceed expectation, be designed (and delivered?) on time…and far less money will be wasted.

As the inarguably successful Tina Fey put it when asked how she achieved her success and has remained a Player for so long and so effectively, “In most cases, being a talented boss means hiring good people and getting out of their way.”

So. There it is.

IMHO.

“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Find it in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link.

Right under our noses, I believe that a market has been growing and coming of age which may not yet have become aware of itself…

• Amazon: July 5, 1994 22 years
• eBay: September 3, 1995 21 years
• Google: September 4, 1998 18 years
• Paypal: December 1998 18 years
• Salesforce: February 1999 17 years
• LinkedIn: December 14, 2002 14 years
• Facebook: February 4, 2004 12 years
• Twitter: March 21, 2006 10 years

and the grandfathers:

• Microsoft: April 4, 1975 41 years
• Apple: April 1, 1976 40 years
• Oracle: June 16, 1977 39 years

For those of us who expend our talents in creating experiences that yield emotional connection to mission, product, institutions of legacy and the revivifying of corporate culture in the context of convention, meeting and corporate theatre; I see an opportunity herein to craft new approaches to finding or creating in-house emotional connection between the employee body and the company.

These are different companies than the DuPonts and the Pfizers, the General Mills, the Procter & Gambles, the Coca-Colas and the Fords… These companies burst from a new gate; immediately setting themselves apart from companies and corporations of the past not only with the iProducts and platforms they represent but with an ethos and ethic based on an inherent iconoclasm and a new business world.

The Pride in and connection with these companies shared by employees and builders was based in the newness of the business oeuvre, itself. Whereas, historically, employee bodies found exhilaration and pride in joining a Legacy; now it became the newness of the culture of these corporations – the breaking away from how it was, before – at the core of the connection. These teams could, should, did and do take great pride in doing and building something not seen before in ways not done before for markets being created, daily.

Heady times of the New Gold Rush.

Though, here’s the Thing. These companies that have been being perceived as “new” are now more than a decade old…some more than two decades. Viewed through the lens of Moore’s Law, these eCorporate Cultures are well into their Legacy Phase.

How to tell that story and keep the connection between employee teams and company vivid, compelling, inspirationally alive?

Compounded with that is the way millennials, millennial-adjacents and millennial-friendly’s (that’s we silver-foxes who have managed to remain in touch with our inner nerd and able to mix freely within this New Order…) consider and hold their connection to the companies that pay them.

I say, “companies that pay them” as this New Order doesn’t look at “working for” a company in the same way as people did, generations ago. There is an ethos of partnership, of independence and choice, of personal value and, frankly, an expected level of individual and even self-respect that is new in the workplace. Not only would today’s under-35 workforce not succeed and likely be miserable in the corporate environments of a few decades ago; they would not be interested in participating in those environments in any way, at all.

So, good on ‘em.

Now that these corporate cultures and environments are not new, anymore, and are rather a set of constants in a universe of constant change; these corporate cultures and the language and experiences used to communicate said cultures must evolve into new forms and messages in order to remain relevant and compelling to these New Minds. These philosophical, introspective, semi-cynical aspirants.

We all must evolve.

Business leaders must embrace the fact that irrespective of corporate philosophy and the current histories of “rah-rah” annual inspiration meetings and conferences aren’t resonating with their employees as they may have, decades ago. (To be fair, some do get this…Oracle comes to mind.)

New Era Business leaders have the opportunity to embrace a Moment of Evolution for their own approaches to employee inspiration. The entire paradigm (omg: did I just use that word?!), the entire approach to employee connection and commitment stands to be reexamined and retooled for a new world of business.

The new Legacies are of ongoing invention, successive innovation, successful evolution. There is no room for complacency or status quo; it’s all about forward movement.

What is the Opportunity? 

I believe this is a Moment for the Business Leaders of today and tomorrow to partner with we Story and Experience Crafters from theatre, themed entertainment and gaming to collaborate on the form and format of the periodic, quarterly, annual meetings and completely deconstruct, examine, build and reinvigorate the formats to appeal to and inspire a new breed of thinkers and doers.

These two populations ought to reach out to one another to collaborate on revivifying the Sales Meeting, the Conference, the Annual Anything Your Company Does. Bring in the Creatives, the Writers, the Creators of Compelling Experience who can build you forums in formats that connect with your most valuable resource and increase their energy, inspiration and value.

Take it out of the executive suites and bring in the explorers. We can all kick some ass, together.

IMHO.

As luck would have it, “IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” the eBook is still a free download from iTunes for Mac OS and iOS. So, some of the best things in life actually are free!

People know when they are hearing a Lie.

They know.

They may not know that what they are hearing is a Lie, but they know something’s amiss. At a subliminal, virtually pheromonal level, something just doesn’t seem to fit.

The longer the Lie remains told…the longer the absence of Truth extends and the more woven into the teller’s tale that Lie becomes, the more undermined becomes the credibility of the teller.

Thus, now is a good time to eradicate a fundamental Lie for which I am responsible.

The Real Reason I Left Dubai.

In 2014, when the company under whose auspices I was consulting for Meraas in Dubai parted ways with Meraas, I was offered an excellent, Executive Position at Meraas in order that I might continue with the project. And by “excellent,” I mean pretty darn good.

I declined the job.

In the face of the resultant chagrin, consternation, confusion (and ultimately rancorous burned bridge) of the Powers that Be at Meraas, the reason I gave them – that I’d love to do the job, but remain as a consultant to the company rather than become an employee – just didn’t make sense.

It didn’t make sense; because it wasn’t true.

More money, health insurance, living and travel allowance, all the benefits of working for one of the biggest companies in the UAE were offered me and I declined; saying I wanted the “freedom of consultancy” and the “security” of position and reporting structure inherent in a consulting  contract.

(I know: that sounds like bullshit…because it is bullshit. Yet that is the story I attempted to sell.)

Ultimately, my sense (since confirmed) was that the declination was taken personally and I was dismissed as any sort of viable option; subsequently and repeatedly rejected for subcontracting opportunities for having taken action that was nonsensical and offensive.

I remained in Dubai for another 18 months or so, seeking to build a freelance business with Show and Event agencies; a few of which opened conversations with me in exploration of full-time positions.

Again, my response was that I’d rather remain freelance and only take on projects for which I am especially qualified; therefore circumventing the perceived need to do work I didn’t particularly like in order to justify my part of the overhead.

Again with the bullshit.

The fact is that; in order to work for a company based in the UAE, one must apply for and receive a Resident Visa. Part of that process is a blood test.

It is illegal to be HIV+ in the UAE.

Not only would I not be granted said Visa; I would have immediately been deported due to the status of my blood, once the results were in.

Having HIV is a Very Big Deal in Dubai, and flying under the radar on successive 30-day tourist visas is not only illegal in and of itself; but exerts an insidiously powerful stress on an individual. Knowing that a visit to a doctor could result in deportation – thus fearing everything from car wrecks to kitchen accidents – offers a deep-seated unease and distressing absence of simple security that can be profoundly draining and affect simple day-to-day activities and relationships…and attitudes.

Relationships.

That’s another thing. One cannot share this extremely important and personal fact with one’s closest friends, with people who care for one and for whom one cares, as the knowledge begets responsibility to report said fact. Far too much unfair pressure to put on a friend or on a friendship.

Ergo, one carries all this secretive pressure inside. Alone. Fearing even to email or SMS to anyone anything that could possibly alert Any Conceivable Censors (not that emails are scanned or anything, over there) to the fact of one’s illegality.

Then, there is the problem of obtaining one’s meds. Once my contract with the US-based company for which I was working was gone, so were my quarterly trips to the US; rendering me unable to pick up my quarterly supply of the critical drugs that had kept my status at Undetectable for so many years.

These drugs can’t be mailed or shipped and are technically illegal to bring into the country; they can only be smuggled. (Fortunately, middle-aged white guys don’t find their bags being searched, so often.)

As it unfolded, I had to go without my meds for the final six months I was in Dubai. I could not monitor my blood, of course, and had no idea what the effect of ceasing the protocol might be on my own health.

You want stress? I’ll give you Stress…

So, I came home.

[Note: Fortunately, within six weeks of returning to San Francisco and access to medicine, I am again completely undetectable; a testament to a foundation of years of rigorous attention to the protocol.]

So now, the previously-unasked “…how come everyone who goes to Dubai makes a ton of money except for you” question has an answer.

This is why I came home; for access to full health care and to work from here. Still working everywhere but necessarily selective about where I can work and to where I can travel while so much of the world still operates under archaic if not draconian laws – based in fear and ignorance.

Whither a solution?

This anecdote, though personal to me, is of importance to our entire industry.

I dare say that there are scores if not more expat employees faced with similar dilemma throughout the world.

This is an issue that I believe the officers of our industry – operating as Global Business Citizens – are beholden to employees to address.

Recently, I was offered a dream job. A massive spectrum of responsibility for a set of IP’s that I heartily embrace – work that speaks to my barely post-adolescent fanboy id as well as my type-A Creative Producer / Project Manager self.

I wanted this job; but…it represented 18 months in Malaysia.

While the rules in that part of the world aren’t as severe as those of the UAE in this respect; the fact is that the laws on the books provide for rejection of HIV+ individuals for residential visas. To be sure; these laws are selectively applied – with White and Western Privilege holding great sway. But, the laws remain in place.

It is apparently quite easy for Western Professionals to remain under the radar in Malaysia, as long as doctors are selected carefully; but it is still against the law. With such laws on the books, any change in local or international political relationships could alter the level of enforcement.

Again; absence of security begets absence of freakin’ security.

So there’s that: and the legal / logistical obstacles and hurdles inherent in actually, dependably obtaining meds in Malaysia.

I was completely open with the Director for whom I’d be working, who was offering me this job; candid about my experience in Dubai and the concern I had for security of job, residence and medication. He was aggressively supportive and bent over backward to make this work.

The problem being that ultimately, despite all conceivable workarounds, it is technically illegal.

And babe, “technically illegal” remains illegal. I simply do not want to “go there.”

Further, were I to have taken the job, I would have had to:

• Carry an additional (to the company policy in Malaysia) insurance policy in the US in order to cover and obtain my meds in the US. My protocol are not even yet available in Malaysia. This could cost me as much as an additional $600 or $700 a month.
• Get myself to the US at least every three months, if not every 2 – depending on what my insurance would support – in order to get the meds. This is not something for which my employer would (or should have to) pay.
• OR
• Have a friend pick up my meds, get those meds to someone who works for my employer and is traveling to Malaysia to carry and smuggle through customs. Illegal.

See where we’re going, here?

The hiring company, the LGBTQ organizations in Malaysia and HIV communities in that country all were encouraging to me in that there are ways to “make it work.” None of them are entirely legal.

This, IMHO, is a conversation to be had at Corporate / Government levels. This is not a problem for individual employees, prospective employees and the informal local networks of hiring officers, managers and co-workers to manage via some sort of Underground Railroad.

It’s a big deal. There’s no telling how many employees or prospective employees throughout Asia, Arabia and beyond are working with, through or under this anxiety-producing dilemma…or are simply not taking the jobs due to the risk.

Money talks. 

As business is growing exponentially in these parts of the world, we call upon our business leaders to not only be aware of this but to address it in negotiating contracts with foreign governments; right there on the list with taxes, sanctions, land and water rights, and all the other little legislative favors that are effected at city, state, regional and national levels.

There is plenty of research, plenty of data and there are plenty of doctors available to accompany your accountants and lawyers and executives to these meetings. Take some along with ya. Get this cleared up.

So. That’s why I came home. Certainly willing and still seeking to continue to work all over the world; just not willing to flout local laws in order to do it.

IMHO

[As it happens, “IMHO : Creating Compelling Experience” is still a free download from the Apple bookstore and iTunes. Free. Read it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/imho/id555219645?mt=11 ]

There was a time when one could do business in pretty much any part of the world and just… “do business.”

Paying virtually no attention to the politics or culture of the contextual nation or region, a company could build a Thing, offer a Service, Consult and Advise, all with little to no attention being given to what might be going on outside the walls (or berm) of whatever Project was being undertaken.

Business was Business.

It ain’t just business, anymore.

Business, anymore, is Geopolitical, and rapidly becomes Personal to anyone who may take issue with where virtually any Company chooses to do Business.

The world is smaller than ever and growing even smaller: while the power of the web seems to continue to be vastly under-appreciated by a significant majority of Executives-over-50; who may embrace the power of marketing and advertising via social media while not seeming to fully grasp the two-way dynamic that is now at play and growing ever stronger.

As powerful as social media can be in promoting a project; that same dynamic can just as quickly and effectively blow fatal holes in it.

No amount of enthusiastic, positive advance publicity from a Marketing Department can prevent the entire world from knowing the actual realities of a project or installation once the doors open and the smartphone brigade sees and experiences the truth. If the experience is fantastic; the world will know that. If, on the other hand, what is presented is sub-par, incomplete or oversold…the world is going to know that, too, in a matter of hours.

If it isn’t well-realized, fully articulated, complete; they simply will not come.

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It is critical that we be educated; aware of every context into which we delve. For anymore, our customers, audiences, target demographics and even ambivalent bystanders can rapidly and exponentially mobilize either in support of or rally against an issue or operation that catches attention.

The culture of the world is evolving; more and more people have become aware and embrace the interconnectedness of all global cultures. National and international borders begin to become socially irrelevant as our eyes and ears are everywhere. Issues that businesses and corporations used to be able to ignore – seen only in back pages of newspapers in brief notes accompanied by grainy photographs of tiny bands of activists going up against a Goliath; these can and do become international causes célèbre in a matter of days…or even hours.

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As the world becomes smaller, too, and more inured to the presence of Westerners; less and less leeway is granted to the myopia of the WEC (Western Executive Consultant). Irrespective of the decades of knowledge such a person might carry when parachuting into another culture to advise or manage a project; awareness of the nuances of the culture into which one is parachuting is imperative to that person’s effectiveness.

A massive body of subjective experience can be as much an obstacle to success as it might otherwise be of value…simply due to a concomitant failure to study, listen, observe and ask long before exercising authority or issuing edicts and orders. We all must become trusted members of the teams we join or lead before we can be effective. The way it’s done in Orlando/NYC/Paris/London may well simply not work in Dubai/Shanghai/Mombasa/Delhi.

Frustration with this is irrelevant. This is fact. Embrace it or fail…publicly. Countless accomplished professionals are handicapped or simply fail from not having taken the time (and by that, we mean something measured in weeks and even months in situ) to learn the lay of the proverbial land; falling victim to aforementioned subjective experience.

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Almost every place in the world that has allure for business development and tourism also has its dark secrets. Factors that association therewith can undermine the support a company might otherwise assume; suddenly finding itself the target of negative press simply for doing business in a country that at some level violates global, public trust.

SeaWorld learned a profound lesson in the mishandling of the “Blackfish” / Shamu debacle. Ultimately, it would seem that the global iVoice was heard; sparking an evolution in the mission and programs of this iconic destination and company. It’s certainly ironic that a company that was founded in no small part on the basis of conservation and protection came, decades later, under fire for some of these same, related things.

The world has evolved. In this case, so has SeaWorld.

SeaWorld, however, is not an anomaly. Rather, it is a harbinger of what is coming. Candidly, IMHO, Zoos are of the next institutions in line for global scrutiny. Anecdotally, we’re aware of growing numbers of people who don’t go to zoos anymore, because, “…they depress me.”

Many zoos and rescue organizations are ahead of this curve and are undertaking evolutionary courses; many more are not. We might offer that it is not out of the question for international movements to grow, calling for the return to native habitat for any animal larger than a meerkat.

Just sayin’.

These are things to which it might be worth paying attention. Publicly. The world is watching us all, seeking transparency; whether we think that is appropriate or not, this iWatchdogging is a fact, a phenomenon that stands only to grow in power and acuity of scrutiny.

Best be aware and prepared.

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On Preparation.

Businesses now must be aware of myriad cultural practices and legalities that may not otherwise be on the radar. This may or may not affect the business decisions a company might be facing; it can, though, have positive impact on policies and procedures and prepare marketing and public relations departments for dealing with such things as they eventually fall under public scrutiny.

It is not up to any of us to dictate to others how and where to do business. These are situations to be evaluated and decisions to be made, case by case, business by business. The point is that it behooves each and every one who does business abroad to simply be aware of the context; then make one’s own decisions.

There was a time when Business could be willfully ignorant of social and cultural contexts. That time is now past.

Of powerfully encouraging note is what just took place in our own country.

After North Carolina passed one of the most hateful pieces of legislation in history, removing protection against discrimination – indeed, codifying such discrimination – from LGBT people in their state; several high-profile companies took profound and swift business action.

Disney, Paramount, The Weinstein Company, PayPal, Fox, Miramax, Lionsgate…and by the time this is printed, probably many more will have pulled their projects and products from North Carolina.

Even “Wicked” can no longer be staged in that state. Nope; not even on a University Campus.

Business have taken political action in support of What’s Right.

Too, this is for us an issue entirely within our nation’s borders; thus these are stands that have been taken “in-house.” International is, while another issue, not entirely unrelated.

Best, then, not to be blindsided. A blind eye will not serve one.

Global warming; Sustainability; Women’s Rights; Minority Rights; Worker’s Rights; LGBT Rights; Basic Human Rights; Animal Rights; Capital Punishments; Beheadings; Inhumane Punishments; Stonings; Crucifixions; Throwing people off buildings; forced female circumcision… Some of these subjects are extremely difficult to accept as even happening; but they are happening.

For instance:

• Saudi Arabia continues to behead and even crucify adolescents, non-violent protesters who are rounded up, tortured and killed by the government without a word to their families. It is not unheard-of for the families to learn the fate of their children after the bodies have been dumped into a mass grave. Salon.com
• Women adulterers can be and are sentenced to death by stoning in Abu Dhabi, while the men are subject to lashing. Khaleej Times
• After the contracts had been signed and work was well underway for the infrastructure and site of the Olympic Games in Sochi, President Putin’s government-sanctioned thugs began kidnapping LGBT kids, torturing them on video and posting those videos online.
• The UAE has a policy of deporting HIV-positive expatriates. This can put any number of employees at risk; likely sending them into that closet in order to keep their job and maintain the confidentiality of that personal information.
• China asks arriving passengers to attest to HIV status before the flight even lands. What might this portend for your HIV-positive CFO if s/he has answered that question candidly?
• Honor Killings: Women in India who decline a proposal of marriage can risk death or disfigurement through acid attack.
• …and then, there’s Guantanamo.

Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse. Be aware. Be aware of the audience you have. Protect your teams and their welfare.

Being aware is our responsibility.

Business is Personal.

IMHO.

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“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Find it in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link.

Sure.

Boycott the Oscars.

Don’t go.

Tell your friends not to go.

Tell everyone to ignore the show.

Have an “AntiOscar” Party and black out the broadcast.

That’ll show ‘em.

That’ll fix their wagons, dammit.

Lower the Ratings!

Cost them Money!

Hurt ‘em. HURT ‘em. HURT ‘EM!

…or…

Perhaps, you could do something with powerful, positive impact.

There is a Higher Road.

You could use the broadcast to make an indelible, irrevocable point.

You would go.

You would wear White.

You would support your friends and colleagues who are nominated. Show them support, wish them well, applaud and acknowledge their accomplishments and contribute to the specialness of their night as they would applaud you were your name called.

In doing so, you would co-opt the Oscar Broadcast and have your point seen by millions watching the broadcast from around the world.

You would carry white flowers, wear a white tux, a fabulous white gown, drag around a fierce, white boa.

And every image of the Oscar broadcast would be a Sea of White.

Every shot of the audience, every on-camera interview, every Presenter, every One To Whom The Oscar Goes would be wearing white.

The White Oscars.

“Mommy; why is everyone wearing white…?”

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Boycotting the Oscars is not the answer.

Now. Especially now; is the time to show up.

While your absence might be felt, your seat would be filled.

Your presence, however, will be seen and felt and documented and last for as long as digital memory exists.

I offer that this is an opportunity to support the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in ramping up the evolution that has been far too long in coming.

Rather than damage and destroy, perhaps have a powerful and positive, immediate impact.

Build.

——————————————————————————————————————-

Two parallels from our recent history come immediately to mind:

• The 1980 Summer Olympic Boycott
• The introduction of the AIDS ribbon

The US boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow made a very big point. It also punished an entire Olympic Generation of athletes who had focused their entire lives on that one moment.

America’s absence was certainly felt. No gold medal winner could truly know that s/he was the best in the world, because we weren’t there to compete. The laying down of arms to compete as comrades on the level field of play that is the foundation of the Olympics was absent. The wins were not complete; and for most of the worldwide athletes in 1980, that was their only shot.

The full glory and experience of victory was taken from them.

When the red AIDS ribbon first showed up on the lapel of Jeremy Irons at the 1991 Tony Awards, it launched a far bigger conversation. By Oscar time in ’92, the number of presenters and recipients on television was substantially greater and it made a huge difference in national and international awareness of the problem…frankly, it made the problem acceptable to discuss in contexts and forums that had been silent, before.

This quiet and undeniable activism on that carpet and stage by those who were stepping up, those who were concerned about what our government was not doing, those who were losing friends, partners, family to the plague…

…rendered that act Immortal.

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So.

Immortality?

Or home on your sofa?

Absence?

Or truly making a powerful, compelling, irrevocable and indelible statement, en masse, that moves this institution along?

Support your friends and colleagues, support the Academy in the necessary evolution.

Look fabulous, be powerful, step up.

That’s the way to go.

IMHO.

#OscarsSoWhite

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“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Find it in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link.

From an RFP issued by the Dubai government:

“1.10 Rights of the Department

Without limiting its rights at law or otherwise, the Department may:…

…(i) allow or not allow a related body corporate to take over a proposal in substitution of the original service provider.”

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What these words mean, in RealSpeak and in practice, is that in Dubai the “Client” can legally accept a full proposal (Intellectual Property) from Company, Agenda or Principal “A” then simply hand that proposal, concept or even a full show to Company “B” for delivery as though it were an original IP of Company “B”…virtually bestowing ersatz authorship and ownership through politics, prejudice, or whatever private reasons the Client may have.

This can be, and is quite knowingly, done with neither the knowledge or agreement of the creator of the IP (“A”) and with absolutely no remuneration to said IP creator.

This is neither acceptable nor ethical business practice.

Moreover, in the eyes of the rest of the world, this unethical business practice is subject to severe legal action, fines and penalties.

In the UAE, the vast majority of agencies and production houses have for years found themselves held hostage to these practices; practices that pervade the culture at every level.

Ongoingly discussed behind closed doors, over coffees and dinners and throughout virtually every gathering of professionals in these industries; these practices are rarely if ever called-out for the unethical practices they are for fear of blacklists and worse. Professionally, this is reprehensible.

It would behoove these agencies (and freelancers) to support one another in not participating in such bid-competitions; to eschew even the possibility of their work being co-opted through some sort to favoritism and given to another without appropriate compensation.

It is not inconceivable, with a transparent system and process, for the “Client” to gather one or more vendors to collaborate ad hoc for a production that might benefit from the strengths of such a consortium.

It is also not inconceivable for “Clients” to nurture relationships with a small number of agencies; using each for the products and productions for which their body(ies) of work best suit.

It is further not inconceivable that agencies be hired based on their history, principals and body of work rather than subjecting numbers of them to invest vast sums of money in pitching in a vacuum.

There are myriad ways that this process can be evolved; all of them with integrity.

While there are some cultures, and parts of some cultures, in the world that still ask for pitches and proposals for creative and design work; be it entertainment, architecture or most anything in between, the best work is done, the most resonant and compelling experiences created, through the contracting of an individual or agency to collaborate with the client in developing concept, project, show or spectacle.

That’s how the Big Boys do it.

The development of a creative concept is expensive; both in terms of hard costs and human resources, costs can run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands and beyond, depending on the scope. The professionals who build these presentations put their hearts, sweat, and long hours into crafting a presentation to communicate a concept, show or idea. To then hand that work to another vendor to deliver is, quite frankly, theft.

It may be legal, it is unethical.

If, perhaps, concerns exist as to delivery on concept, perhaps an examination of the body of work behind the contributing principals of the most desired concept. If the client believes a partnership or consortium of vendors might better deliver a given show, building or product; ask for that partnership. There are myriad solutions to Doubt that do not embrace dismissing the creatives of the original work.

Respect.

It is imperative that any client respect those who have been asked to offer solutions. Ethically, any idea, show, drawing or concept presented by an individual or agency belongs to that person or agency until the client has paid for it. The entire system must be respectful of all participants in it, else the authors of that system cannot expect to be respected, themselves.

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In the unique context of this part of the world, a place where thousands of years of culture are embracing the opportunity to evolve quite rapidly not only into participating membership in the modern world but, in fact, into a position of leadership…of iconic leadership, in the vision of Sheik Mohammed; there are bound to be roiling and obstructive currents as the confluences of custom, culture, philosophy and – in this particular conversation – business practice crash into one another.

It makes sense that there would be missteps as anachronism moves toward making reality of grand vision. It will take assiduous acuity, focus and humility to bring deeply-ingrained practices into alignment with the rest of the world; especially if the idea is to lead.

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In four years of working and living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, what has been most striking has been the startling undercurrent of cynicism expressed by professionals across the ExPatriot spectrum toward the manner in which business is done.

“Well, that’s Dubai…” can often be heard in the above context. Corporations, institutions and agencies of every size and specialty regularly encounter (or participate in) concept theft; it’s almost part of the Cost of Doing Business…a regular risk.

One comes to know which agencies are most prone to accept IP created by others and can begin to decline to participate in bid processes that include such companies. If the field ain’t level, few want to play.

Until recently, the general population of Creative Individuals and Agencies in this part of the world have been hesitant to call-out the perpetrators of and participants in such under-the-table practices. To be the whistleblower is rarely the most secure position; and in a country where so many contracts and projects originate from so few places, such calling-out can result in significant drying-up of work.

The doors must remain open in order to pay employees and keep families fed.

This, though, is changing… In order for this part of the world to be Respected by the rest of the world – beyond grand curiosity and opportunism – the UAE must deliver. And, in that delivery must conduct business as the global leader to which Leadership aspires for Dubai to be.

There are many businesses and business leaders in Dubai and the UAE who are committed to conducting business respectfully and responsibly.

Most notably, the International Live Events Association (ILEA), has been working diligently in this area in espousing and advocating a strong code of ethics in the context of respect for creative work, creativity and, most critically, the intrinsic and necessary value of respect for ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) in the bidding and development processes. This organization advises, nurtures and strives to set examples of globally-accepted business practice; as they know that in order to be respected, an individual or agency must be respectful.

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Sheik Mohammed has a beautiful, well-articulated, clear-sighted vision for Dubai. Brilliant professionals from all over the world come – beckoned by glistening towers and tales of visionary projects that will make the UAE a worldwide destination for decades to come. What many of them have found on closer inspection is the visionary dream is often undermined by dissonant agendas, founded in self-interest or borne of ancient custom of taking advantage and “winning” over collaboration to best result, that can ultimately obstruct the vision of His Highness and deplete the patience and creativity that abounds here.

Many of those who have come here to create and help build, to help realize the vision, end up devolving into cynical business people who’s primary interest is just to make big money and get out “…before the next crash.” This tragic dynamic is borne of what seems almost a purposeful absence of integrity in business practice and lack of commitment to quality in delivery of projects, spectacle, architectural iconography or essential destination experience.

While Dubai is known for massive projects of great vision; the sad (and rarely acknowledged) fact remains that not one of these projects has ever been completed as originally announced, on time or on budget. Many do finally open, still incomplete. Some simply never open. Yet, there is no acknowledgment of these failures.

To fail to acknowledge failure is to fail to learn from it.

This is the Humility Part. Whether it is Pride or some other thing that stands in the way of Learning, there seems a cultural resistance to acknowledgement of lack of practical experience and the need to address and embrace that lack on the part of intelligent and aspirational principals new to these industries: not as a failing, simply as opportunity to learn without losing face.

This would make for far more successful consultancies, were the advice of experienced professionals not resisted when said advice doesn’t seem to align with predisposition.

Reality rocks.

It seems as though an executive force of such truly bright though inexperienced new professionals may stand between Sheik Mohammed and his vision; people who are inexperienced in the responsibilities they hold, yet too proud to be seen to seek advice, too proud to be seen as “learning,” too proud.

Time and again, the word of the Creative or Production professional is dismissed because – despite foundation in study, experience and fact – the “budget” was created in an unrealistically dictated vacuum.

One cannot buy gold for the price of sand…no matter what one wishes to pay, the object or project will cost what it costs.

Very public projects on the ground in Dubai, right now, are being cut to virtual ribbons as money has dried up. What the experts, early-on, asserted that these projects would cost is what they are turning out to be costing; but the money is not there. And, the money is not there due to budgets being shaved and cut with numbers designed to please a client, not to build a project.

This is a pronounced lack of respect for the actual thing being built and the people who have committed their professional lives to the Creation of Experience or the Making of Place in any of these contexts…and to the audiences who will be coming to Tweet and Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook and Blog about their experiences at the very moment they are having them.

The best leaders in the history of the world have led best by knowing and acknowledging their own weaknesses, by gathering knowledge and surrounding themselves with people with relevant experience…and then heeding those who know more about what needs to be known.

Taking Picasso’s paints from him and handing them to another is not going to yield a Picasso. If the best is what’s wanted; the best needs to be paid for, planned for, organized and the source must be respected.

The best athlete in the world isn’t going to quibble about the cost of her equipment; she’s going to find a way to pay for the best, then expect that equipment to support her.

Asking for a bespoke suit, made on the cheap and in a hurry, is going to yield a cheap suit.

Respect.

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So, what happens to the vision?

Addressing and eliminating these obfuscatory dynamics can smooth the way for Dubai to fully rise well above the level of a new place of curiosity and financial opportunity and truly become the New, World Power and Destination that is envisioned.

Dubai and the UAE currently enjoy being the glamorous debutante on the world stage. Pretty, sparkling, shiny, new and led by a visionary father-figure; businesses, professional consultants and short-term residents flock to the country to participate in building this.

Yet the ultimate manifestation of this vision, the results of this gold rush, stands to be overshadowed and is being risked in a very real sense by what might be seen as centuries of “Barter Mentality” that marries Pride to Getting the Best Price; leaving the quality of Guest Experience – in the case of the industries of show, event, theme park & Expo 2020 destination experience building and place-making – as potentially dismissible, expendable and often not even a part of the conversation.

Unless and until what may be considered unethical business practices in the rest of the world are removed from the codes and conduct of Dubai and the UAE, the rest of the world will see this place as a place to make money – as an opportunity for gaining and taking advantage; of playing an ancient bartering game with little regard for quality of product…

…but there will be no Respect for Dubai in that equation.

If Respect is sought; the Act must be cleaned-up. There is a beautiful future to be built. Let us make it so.

IMHO

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“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Find it in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link.

L’s and G’s: today, a personal, extremely compelling experience…

Late at night on December 6, 1991 (actually, early on the morning of December 7), I was driving home from a wrap party for the film on which I had just finished working.  I was very unhappy about my situation in Los Angeles and very drunk.  Though not in the habit of driving under the influence, I was “just going home.”  At approximately 40 – 45 m.p.h., I ran straight-on into a utility pole.  My face went through the windshield (I also wasn’t wearing my seatbelt — major evidence that I was greatly inebriated), my right knee was broken and my right hip was dislocated.

I have only the briefest of memories of being cut out of the car, and no memory of the actual impact, nor of the trip to the hospital and entering the Emergency Room.

I do have memory of about five or ten minutes in the Emergency room; my lacerated face was bleeding all over the place, and an intern was having me remove my contact lenses as I was lying on a metal gurney.  They popped-out into my own blood, and I never saw them again.

I awoke the next morning, all bandaged-up and, for the following week, continued to spit-up blood — lots of it — and was unable to keep anything else down, even water would come back up.  I continued to complain, all week, that I was having trouble breathing.

I was uninsured at the time, and the hospital was reticent to do anything for which they might not get paid.

Someone, I still do not know who, had telephoned mom (from whom I’d been estranged for years; since coming out) in Sacramento and told her I was in the hospital.  She did not even know who it was that telephoned.  She called me early in the evening, saying that she would be down on Saturday.  I told her that, if she was coming, she had better come right down, for I was not sure that I was going to make it until Saturday, the way I was feeling . . .

That evening, my breathing became so belabored that the doctors finally — begrudgingly, as I was uninsured and all liability — sent me back downstairs for another round of tests and X-Rays.  Stretched painfully on a cold slab, having inhaled some concoction of radioactive isotopes or some such, I heard the technician gasp, “OH…’

I said that didn’t sound so good; he said he’d let my doctors tell me. They wheeled me back to my room where I was met by three anxious surgeons…

Lo and behold, with this test they discovered severe internal damages: the impact of the wreck caused my stomach and large intestine to rip a 9.5-inch gash through my diaphragm, folding my esophagus and collapsing my left lung.  They broke this news to me immediately, with looks of panic on their faces: and informed me that they could not even wait until morning to operate — it had to be done immediately.

So, at one a.m., they operated.

Prior to that, as I was outside the O.R. awaiting surgery; I sat in the bed feeling somehow calm and centered, and very terrified.  The doctors were at various points of the room, contacting the surgical team and having them come-in for the Emergency surgery.

In my mind, I spoke to Terry – my partner who had died of AIDS a year earlier – as I sat there, wondering to him if I was about to see him again.  I realized that all the things in my life left un-done and unsaid were immediately moot; my life could very easily end over this night.

Asking for a piece of paper from an attendant nurse, I wrote down who would be responsible for my funeral, what I wanted done with my ashes, stuff like that.  Then, as the surgeon passed-by me, I asked him to take the paper and — if I didn’t survive — to give it to my friend, Chris.  If I did survive, then I asked that he just give it back to me.

I expected him to say something like, “Oh, don’t you worry, you are going to be O.K.; we’re going to fix you right up!”  What he said, instead, looking me steadily in the eye was, “All right.”

ALL RIGHT!!!?  Needless to say, I was at that moment profoundly impressed with the seriousness of the situation.

They wheeled me into the O.R., and I noticed that one of the surgeons had Santa Claus pants on, and was very cheerful.  The anesthesiologist has a big-ol needle ready for me.  I looked at the team and said something like, “Well, good luck, guys . . .”  The surgeon looked at me, funny; I said, “…well, you’re doing the work!”

I was thinking as I went under, “what if this is my last conscious thought?”

I survived.  I was in intensive care for ten days following surgery, and was released from the hospital on the 23rd of December.  Mom was there the entire time, from around 8 in the morning until 9 or 10 at night.  We had some pretty good discussions during that time; and I no longer had this burning need to make her understand me or my life.  It was all pretty-much beyond her, anyway.

[She died in 1995.]

I had a cast on my leg and crutches for about eight more weeks.  I lost about 50 pounds by the end of January, though have managed to replace them since then.  I went to court for the transgression on the 24th of January, went to jail from January 31st to the 4th of February.

Briefly, jail was another experience in absolutes.  (“The Slammer” The Good Men Project)

I was sequestered in a room with 60 beds and 90 men.  Slept on the floor for the first two days, in an upper bunk for the rest of the time.  One of my crutches was stolen.  There were three gangs; two black and one Chicano.  Much violence.  The guards had taken my painkillers, letting me know that the doctor would replace them.

Unfortunately, the doctor wasn’t available until the 3rd of February, so I was taking over 30 Tylenol each day to dull the pain.  I was one of only 6 or 7 White guys there.  There was an attempted murder on one night; they were throwing this guy so hard against the cinder block wall that I could feel the vibrations, 20 yards away.

I had nightmares about it for a long time, afterward…

I was released from custody on the 4th at 7:30 a.m., and flew to San Francisco on the same day at 2:00 p.m. to begin consulting work for The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.  I spent the next five months in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. assisting in the re-creation of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the International Display that took place on October 9, 10 and 11 of that year.

During the time I was down, and especially when in the hospital, I was overwhelmed by the number of people from whom I’d become disconnected and for whom it was important enough to come to see me.  Scores of emotional meetings, people from San Francisco, calls and flowers from all over the country.  The outpouring of love was stunning.  Mom kept asking, “Who are all these people?”

As I recovered, I was most deeply moved by the love I was receiving.  “If all these people love me this much,” I thought to myself, “why don’t I?”

My life and the way in which I live it has changed much.

With that experience, I took a lot of pressure off of myself to succeed in any pre-set time period.  I returned to doing more of the live Experience Creation production for which I was already known.

Since, then, I daily recommit to saying what I think, adhering to integrity, telling people for whom I care that I do care for them each time we part company; for one never knows when the Last Time might be.

There is rarely a doubt among peers, friends and colleagues as to what I believe is true. I pretty much communicate it all.

If I leave a mark on this planet; it will have been my inability to remain silent in the face of wrongdoing, deceit, dishonesty. There is always a price to pay for speaking out – truth to power – and I have often paid it; though with that comes the inner peace borne of knowing one’s integrity is intact.

If that’s all I have when I die, that’s enough.

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“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Find it in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link.

At the 20th Anniversary of Dubai’s Global Village, new permanent façades have risen in the desert.

A Woman Walks Into a Bar…

It’s a nice place, akin to The Algonquin or Sardi’s in NYC. Lighting is soft but not dim, piano playing in the background, dark wood details and an atmosphere of history and good living.

She sits at the bar and orders a martini. Quietly thoughtful, she listens to the music and sips…

A man approaches.

“May I sit here…?”

With a smile, she says, “…it’s a free country…”

“John…”

“I’m Alice.”

They chat a bit. He makes her laugh. The place is about half full and their conversation is private; looks convivial. They are clearly comfortable with one another.

“So, Alice…” says John, “…you are enchanting. If I gave you a million dollars right now, would you spend the night with me?”

“Why John,” she quietly gasps; a little shocked, a little flattered, even a little excited. She looks down at her drink and plays with the olive for a moment. Her eyes rise to meet his and she says, demurely, “…yes.”

“Good.” He smiles.

A few moments pass in comfortable silence as they look each other in the eye and take a sip of their drinks.

John: “How about a blow job for a hundred bucks?”

She slams her drink onto the bar, “Just what do you think I am, John?!”

“That has already been established,” he replies, “Now, we’re just haggling over price and deliverables.”

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Does your word have a price?

Business is personal. One’s personal integrity and reliability are essential components of Reputation: especially in theatre and show, destination entertainment, theme park contracting, creation of spectacle…frankly, pretty much any business where deals are made between one individual and another, between an individual and a company or group, between groups, between companies.

We spoke of this in the context of Leadership, just two posts ago…

Once your word is given, can s/he to whom you have given it depend on the commitment you have made? Will you meet that deadline, deliver that production, carry that weight as promised? Word given and hand shaken: are you stalwartly reliable such that concomitant decisions can be made with the concrete knowledge that you will see to it that the job to which you have committed will be done to spec and on budget or better…handling any and all eventualities with confidence and professionalism?

Yes?

Good!

Good: as in fields where bespoke teams are built for specific projects and productions, one ultimately has only one’s reputation for dependability, for integrity and honor to keep one known as reliable.

When I know and recommend such people to other producers and directors; I describe the individual as, “…s/he will hold onto the rope, as would a mountaineer…if s/he says s/he’ll see to it, s/he’ll see to it. You can depend on that.”

Of course: there are certainly sudden, unique and extreme times where one finds one must relinquish the responsibilities one has accepted. These occasions generally involve death, deportation, incarceration or some physical damage rendering one incapable of delivering.

There is a way to handle that, and the way is this:

• Replace Yourself… before you alert the client. Responsibility for the duties taken-on, weeks or months before, cannot with integrity be handed back to the client for resolution when these are responsibilities you have embraced.
• When you inform your client, have your qualified and vetted replacement briefed and ready; your responsibility is smooth transition and seeing that your position is covered.

This is a function of Professionalism.

There are other, less unique times when A Better Offer Comes Along.

Now, it’s another question and context, entirely.

• Are you one who will bail on the job to which you’ve guaranteed yourself, or
• Do you keep your agreement and refer the new gig to someone else?
• Do you hold onto the rope or do you bail?

This is a function of Integrity; of the value of your word.

At the end of the day, one must be complete with the reputation built for oneself by one’s own actions.

• Do you want to be known as excellent at what you do, a solid leader and team member, reliable and honest?

Or

• Are you good with being known as good at what you do, but you might not see a project through if something better comes along?

There are plenty out there who have made careers without always seeing projects through. I believe there are more, better thought of, for whom their word is their bond.

Is short term financial gain more important than a reputation for reliability?

Your call. At the end of the day, it’s you and the mirror.

IMHO.

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“IMHO: Creating Compelling Experience” is a free downloadable eBook on the tenets and methodologies we use to…create compelling experience. Find it in the iBooks app on any Apple device or in iTunes at this link. .

IMHO – Sharing What I’ve Learned is my regular blog; you’ll find plenty more opinions, there…!