Something’s Coming…

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I have neglected you, this month; for that, I do apologize…

The past few months, my involvement with a few educational and institutional initiatives has ramped up and taken more of my time and focus than I’d expected. It has also given me the opportunity to experience and share experience with scores of nearly, newly, and recently graduated students looking to enter these industries that create themed entertainment and compelling experiences, worldwide.

There is so much talent, out there; YOU are so much talent, out there. Clear-eyed dreamers with vision with the skill to manifest what is imagined and the talent to push the envelope of creativity as well as that of design, production…imagination.

We’ve been calling it, “NextGen,” we could almost call it, “ThisGen.”

My sense is that these young men and women are ready to get their hands on the future; to learn, to apprentice, to teach as they learn, to create, install, manage. They are ready. In five or ten years, most of “” will be working with tools that do not yet exist, building experiences currently beyond “realistic imagination” (whatever THAT is…I just made it up and already feel limited by it…)

It is well worth noting the plethora of what might have been considered “magic” at one time, what was written as fantasy by the sci-fi writers of the 50’s and 60’s, what may have been seen as part(s) of a distant, idealistic future just a few decades ago, is now simply called an “app.”

(I mean, seriously, tap my phone twice and get a cab in 4 minutes? Like THAT’LL ever happen…)

These young people, you “ThisGen’s,” are already beginning to change the industry, even as they approach and explore it. As Drivers, we need to be preparing them to take the reins without “ownership;” teaching and sharing what got us to where we are and what we experienced along the way – mistakes made, lessons learned – while not limiting them with our own Vision. They … you … have the opportunity to listen, look and learn from us old’ns (I hate being a part of that, but there you are…) with open minds; knowing that the “everything” you know, simply by being young and smart, may not be everything there is to know for you to realize dreams that have not yet been dreamt.

Your dreams.

We want to help, we need your help; your aliveness, your ridiculously unrealistic visions that will become facts and their own legacy in the decades to come. To my peers, I offer the above as contribution to things I see already being realized in the context of our businesses. I’m seeing an intergenerational partnership being formed and forged that is unlike any we’ve seen. The evolution of technology and thought, humanity and vision that we ride into the future has supported an openness of collaborative harmony that is exceptionally exciting in what it portends.

So, rather than a full column, today; I’m suggesting you read an article by Clara Rice that was published in InPark Magazine, this last week. It’s actually an interview of me, and she makes me sound far smarter than I am…which is what teamwork is all about, right?! In it, we address some of what is on the minds of much of “ThisGen”…

…and, the biggest question: Freelancer or Employee?

I offer you this, and have much more to say on the Freelance versus Employee conundrum, which I shall reserve for August.

http://www.inparkmagazine.com/nextgen-kileozier/

Please read this; it’s better than I could say it, myself; imho.

Feel free to download, “imho,” the free eBook for iPad, containing the first 20 chapters in this blog and the basic methodologies that are the foundation for my approach to creating experience, along with some interactive content and galleries.