{"id":577,"date":"2015-03-18T06:54:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T13:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=577"},"modified":"2015-03-18T09:50:13","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T16:50:13","slug":"the-elephant-in-the-tearoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=577","title":{"rendered":"The Elephant in the TEAroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"579\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?attachment_id=579\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2448,1559\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 5s&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1426617940&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.15&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.033333333333333&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"cropped\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped-300x191.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped-1024x652.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-579\" src=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped-1024x652.jpg\" alt=\"cropped\" width=\"584\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped-1024x652.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/cropped-471x300.jpg 471w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is the eve of the annual <b>TEA Summit and Thea Awards<\/b> Weekend; arguably, the most Important annual event in the Themed Entertainment Industry. At this moment, hundreds of members of this community-slash-industry, The Themed Entertainment Association \u2014 Production and Creative Executives, Writers and Technical Experts, Inventors, Project Directors, Artists\u2026\u2014 are aboard flights and headed to Disneyland for two days of seminars, iconic speakers and intensive networking: all to wrap up on Saturday night with an Awards Night of Glamour that almost rival\u2019s Cinderella\u2019s Ball.<\/p>\n<p>(Almost\u2026that movie was art-directed to within an inch of it\u2019s life; was it NOT?)<\/p>\n<p>The <b>Best of the Year\u2019s Work<\/b> is acknowledged, awarded and celebrated over this three-day show-and-tell at the highest of levels. And while the stages are filled with What Has Been Built This Year, the conversation on the floor is about Who is Building What, Next Year.<\/p>\n<p>After all, it\u2019s all about the business of The Business\u2026and everyone wants to be a part of it.<\/p>\n<p>Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that.<\/p>\n<p>As hands are shaken and awards are given, amidst the congratulations and the laughter and as \u201cwould you believe it\u2026\u201d anecdotes are shared; there exists, on the periphery, a vibrant conversation on this business that this writer has been attempting to bring into the foreground for a couple of years, with little success.<\/p>\n<p>It has to do with self-awareness, responsibility for the business &amp; for business best practices, and the obligations inherent in leadership.<\/p>\n<p>To be more direct:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>We, as leaders, are responsible<\/b> for how we and our peers represent when working in other countries.<\/li>\n<li><b>We are responsible<\/b> for delivering the best possible product irrespective of context or client.<\/li>\n<li><b>There is no excuse<\/b> for delivering substandard work; we can and are morally obligated to encourage our colleagues and peers \u2014 and competitors \u2014 to maintain the highest standards.\n<ul>\n<li>The other side of that is calling out those who do deliver poor quality work. Such work harms our industry and, not so subtly, affects those of us from the same country as s\/he who delivers poorly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>We can be <b>Ambassadors of Best Practices<\/b>.\n<ul>\n<li>This includes how to treat laborers well and the financial value of that philosophy.<\/li>\n<li>This includes the concept of Green-ness and awareness of resource consumption.<\/li>\n<li>This includes plenty of other stuff\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>We pay the price for conduct unbecoming<\/b>; whether such conduct is intentional or inadvertent.<\/li>\n<li>That being said, <b>we can be responsible for<\/b> maintaining, within our industry, awareness of negative trends that can (and have) become virtually cliche and we should support methods of eradication and enlightenment to\u00a0said trends and actions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are areas of paramount importance to any industry doing business out-of-town; from across a state line to beyond national borders, across oceans and most especially across language barriers. What we\u2019ve learned at IMHO, anecdotally, is that the response to any article posted or podcast presented on these subjects unwaveringly result in significant spikes in metrics and in online and offline response\u2026especially from the Next Generation of professionals currently stepping into place.<\/p>\n<p>Many in our industry are hungry to discuss and be positive influence in these and related areas.<\/p>\n<p>This is heartening and encouraging and, imho, well worth heeding on the part of institutional leadership in any business or industry.<\/p>\n<p>Conversations on these subjects are taking place everywhere; kitchens and patios at parties, over cocktails, over dessert at dinner, over lunch on job sites, at picnics. While we\u2019d like to see Consciousness Conversations such as these taking place as part of the Official Agendas of both TEA and IAAPA; until then, we offer this\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>An Open Agenda for Casual Business Conversation.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">After you\u2019ve asked, \u201chow\u2019s the family\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Perhaps you can chat about these\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b>Diplomacy 101: Condescension Communicates<\/b><\/p>\n<p>To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, <i>You might be a racist if\u2026<\/i> you\u2019ve ever said the words,<b> \u201cThose people\u2026\u201d<\/b> and followed with some generalization applied to what a given population or demographic will or won\u2019t do with regard to maintenance or upkeep to your design or production.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>That is a racist comment, full stop. It could be sexist, too, depending on who says it and when. Whether or not some of one\u2019s best friends and colleagues are also members of that group, and whether or not one is at all comfortable with the fact that one may be just a little bit racist does not alter reality. Not even with a magic wand. Be aware of it, guard against it, nip it in the bud and freaking acknowledge it when one sees it in oneself. We\u2019re only human; most of us aren\u2019t perfect.<\/li>\n<li>IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT \u201cTHEY\u201d WILL DO WITH IT when the project has been handed off. There is <i>nothing<\/i> that excuses \u201cdesigning-down\u201d to a population or client. Our job is to do the absolute best work possible, to prepare the receiving client to manage and maintain in the most efficient, best possible way, and hand it off. Period.<\/li>\n<li>Nothing mitigates that obligation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\u201cThose people\u201d aren\u2019t stupid. \u201cThey\u201d are just as smart as the rest of us and, while there may be an absence of knowledge in our areas of expertise, while there may be a virtually crippling lack of experience or failure to grasp certain concepts with which we Westerners may be almost inherently (or culturally) familiar; this does not mean the mind across the table or desk from you is not just as sharp as yours. Maybe even smarter, as you are probably speaking your native tongue which may be the other person\u2019s third, fourth or fifth language.<\/p>\n<p>BTW: <i>condescension crosses all language barriers<\/i>; it is readily recognizable on an international scale. We\u2019ve seen respected companies lose massive contracts due to the overt condescension expressed from the Home Office over too great a time. Just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><b>Integrity 204: These Ain\u2019t Your Daddy\u2019s Press Releases<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Used to be, development companies could issue a press release and make promises and predictions about a project. Those releases would be picked up by industry or mainstream press and repeated. People would read them and consider them to be truthful, make assessments (and, in our case, plans to visit or participate) and do so. Showtime would come and people would travel from far and near to see this thing and, having been told nothing different, would embrace what they experienced as exactly what they\u2019d read it would be\u2026trusting that this is the best, possible experience without even thinking about it.<\/p>\n<p>Research on past predictions would entail dusty back room and microfiche. No more.<\/p>\n<p>Now, It\u2019s all google-able. If we say, today, that our park will be the utmost in immersive guest experience; those words will be there to fuel expectation on Opening Day\u2026and today\u2019s Opening Day Expectation is far more sophisticated, more aware and certainly more critical of failure than those of generations past.<\/p>\n<p>As such, it follows that our Industry Press is bound to report the Actual as zealously as were the Predictions reported.<\/p>\n<p>We, as an industry, ought to be policing ourselves on a casual, offline, \u201ckeep your act together, brother\u201d and \u201chere\u2019s the best way to do\u00a0it\u201d basis. or\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b>It\u2019s Your (Financial) Ass 233: Social Media Will Bust You<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Day One &#8220;Opening Day:&#8221; 4- and 8- and 10-hour flights land, the doors open and thousands of Tweeters and Instagrammers and FaceBookers and YouTubers and Snapchatters eagerly flood through your gates or to your box offices.<\/p>\n<p>And if, on said Day One, what is delivered falls short of what was promised;\u00a0<i>Social Media will<\/i> <i>Cut You Down\u00a0<\/i>before the day is out. The reality will be everywhere, the reviews will be legion, the message will be \u201cdon\u2019t come!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Business and Management Skills 455: ExPat Agony<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, back at Disney\u2026\u201d or \u201cWhen I was at Universal\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Do. Not. Say. This.<\/p>\n<p>DON\u2019T say it.<\/p>\n<p>Seriously, Just don\u2019t say it.<\/p>\n<p>This talk even bugs the other alums in the room. Pretty much everyone has worked for one or the other or both the Big Boys by now. Just can it. One is\u00a0making NO friends with this name-dropping and one is definitely making one\u2019s own job significantly harder\u2026probably more so with the other alums witinin earshot than with the rank-and-file who probably just think the speaker sounds arrogant and old.<\/p>\n<p>Unless you are <strong>Joe Rohde<\/strong>. Then, you can say anything you want.<\/p>\n<p>As an Expert Expat, one has been brought in because of one\u2019s experience. There is NO question that Disney and Universal generally do it best, have some of the best processes and procedures and offer great models for approaching a given project.<\/p>\n<p>Though, do notice the specific words used in that previous sentence\u2026<\/p>\n<p>They do not offer the ONLY way to do anything, nor always the ONLY BEST way. Do not lose sight of the fact that even these Big Boys have learned massive amounts from massive mistakes made and as a result have evolved their own processes and philosophies from Paris to Hong Kong to a virtually millennial evolution in the approach to Shanghai that is hurtling toward realization.<\/p>\n<p>What one knows from experience in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo or wherever is a great <strong>beginning<\/strong> to learning the process of doing it &#8220;here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As Expatriate, Western \u201cExperts\u201d; we are brought in NOT because we already know the answers. No, we are brought in because we are assumed to have the ability to discover and CREATE the best answers&#8230;if we want to do the best jobs, that is.<\/p>\n<p>And how do we create these answers? By applying our bodies of knowledge and experience to <b><i>what we learn before acting in a given, new context<\/i><\/b> and using our judgement with that experience to craft original approaches to the cross-cultural work we now do.<\/p>\n<p>The courses we take, the processes we apply, the way we build and create may look very similar to ways which he have learned work well in other contexts. But, if we parachute in and begin to apply without first truly investigating and learning the lay of the land, where the cultural rifts and gullies are; we are shortchanging ourselves, our clients and ultimately our audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Finally:<\/p>\n<p><b>Graduate Level: The Burden of White Male Privilege<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Last thing. If you are a Middle-aged White Guy (or Gal, but not so much I think); just don\u2019t forget that you are truly burdened with exhaustive and sometimes exhausting Privilege. Such privilege will certainly get doors opened, elicit deference and favors\u2026 It is also a powerful barrier to hearing the Truth when the Truth needs to be spoken. You can be feared, as many believe they can lose their jobs by offending or even delivering bad news.<\/p>\n<p>This can threaten the quality of an entire project. Important information can be missed or hidden.<\/p>\n<p>Such Privilege obligates outreach and mitigation by those privileged. It is the responsibility of the privileged to alleviate the fear of candor and to invite initiative. It\u2019s a big job; and many a powerful executive from the west has failed without comprehending why.<\/p>\n<p>Talk to everyone. Learn their names. Ask about their families and their work backgrounds. And LISTEN. Chances are you\u2019ll be blown away by what and who you learn is on your team.<\/p>\n<p>So. Talk amongst yourselves and perhaps, next year, we can get this conversation onto the dais.<\/p>\n<p>IMHO.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>IMHO &#8211; Creating Compelling Experience is a free download for iOS and OS X from iTunes and the iBook Store. Free.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is the eve of the annual TEA Summit and Thea Awards Weekend; arguably, the most Important annual event in the Themed Entertainment Industry. At this moment, hundreds of members of this community-slash-industry, The Themed Entertainment Association \u2014 Production and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=577\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2oSuI-9j","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}