Main street window for Meg Crofton?

[The Empress Lilly]

I encountered Meg multiple times during DCA's relaunch in 2012. As far as I know, it was one of only a handful of times she ever stepped foot in the Disneyland Resort theme parks she supposedly oversaw from a high level as part of her position, a position, as @TP2000 pointed out above, so useful that it has since been eliminated.

I've never seen someone so disinterested, so detached on what was an extremely momentous occasion for their line of business. I'll never know to what we can attribute her meteoric rise in the company, but very little good came of it and while I'm sure she's a lovely person, she is not deserving of the parks' highest honor. She is well known in Central Florida for philanthropic work, which is wonderful, and I know she has had health struggles, which is unfortunate. I wish her the best as I would to any decent human being, but that doesn't change the fact that Main Street windows are to denote those who have left some kind of profound legacy on that park. Meg Crofton has left no such legacy on Walt Disney World. She's just a suit who stuck around long enough and didn't rock the boat.

I wonder if the window-touted "Leadership Development" skills Ms. Crofton possesses were used to affect the incredibly low morale amongst cast members in the park where her window is placed? Did she "mentor" the managers and low level executives who contribute to a toxic culture by treating their front line Cast Members as sub-human automatons?

Did you know the Disney princesses have numbers to hit? In some locations, each performer has a count board on display in the backstage area so that their guest counts for the day can be monitored. It's not Cinderella's job to create magical moments and instill lifetime brand loyalty through the highest quality interactions. Cinderella has a scripted PhotoPass procedure to follow that includes signing a 90% profit margin autograph book and ensuring a certain amount of "candid" poses are hit before the final posed photo is taken. I assure you, any "magical moments" are at best, the performer risking a reprimand by taking more time with a guest than allotted and at worst, accidental at Walt Disney World in 2015.

I wonder if Ms. Crofton had any leadership tips for Cinderella.

I wonder how many of the thousands of working poor employed at the Walt Disney World Resort got to benefit from Ms. Crofton's vaunted qualities. Although, leadership development isn't one's chief concern when you're living out of a motel and are on the precipice of being fired whenever your child is sick. Perhaps Ms. Crofton mentored the executives behind Disney's antiquated, inefficient and costly attendance system.

It's lovely that Ms. Crofton was congratulated on her undeserved honor at the California Grill with a free multi-course five star meal. Perhaps she and Mr. Kalogridis took time out of their party to mentor some of the wait staff. After all, Kalogridis started as a bus boy at the Contemporary so many years ago. Look at him now! Is that career path still available for a bus boy at the Contemporary in 2015?

We all know the answer to that question.

People like Meg Crofton are not to be lauded for their "achievements" in business. Business leaders like her and her superiors in Burbank profit on an unsustainable model that pursues profitability at all cost. Their first and only priority is shareholder value. Their cast members are not a priority at all. They don't even make the list. The guest experience is a false ideology to which nothing but lip service is paid.

Sad and bizarre.

Let them paint that on the window.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Someone throw a rock at it.

I Think we have someone who can help...

 

[NelsonRD]

Box checked....

 

[ford91exploder]

I encountered Meg multiple times during DCA's relaunch in 2012. As far as I know, it was one of only a handful of times she ever stepped foot in the Disneyland Resort theme parks she supposedly oversaw from a high level as part of her position, a position, as @TP2000 pointed out above, so useful that it has since been eliminated.

I've never seen someone so disinterested, so detached on what was an extremely momentous occasion for their line of business. I'll never know to what we can attribute her meteoric rise in the company, but very little good came of it and while I'm sure she's a lovely person, she is not deserving of the parks' highest honor. She is well known in Central Florida for philanthropic work, which is wonderful, and I know she has had health struggles, which is unfortunate. I wish her the best as I would to any decent human being, but that doesn't change the fact that Main Street windows are to denote those who have left some kind of profound legacy on that park. Meg Crofton has left no such legacy on Walt Disney World. She's just a suit who stuck around long enough and didn't rock the boat.

I wonder if the window-touted "Leadership Development" skills Ms. Crofton possesses were used to affect the incredibly low morale amongst cast members in the park where her window is placed? Did she "mentor" the managers and low level executives who contribute to a toxic culture by treating their front line Cast Members as sub-human automatons?

Did you know the Disney princesses have numbers to hit? In some locations, each performer has a count board on display in the backstage area so that their guest counts for the day can be monitored. It's not Cinderella's job to create magical moments and instill lifetime brand loyalty through the highest quality interactions. Cinderella has a scripted PhotoPass procedure to follow that includes signing a 90% profit margin autograph book and ensuring a certain amount of "candid" poses are hit before the final posed photo is taken. I assure you, any "magical moments" are at best, the performer risking a reprimand by taking more time with a guest than allotted and at worst, accidental at Walt Disney World in 2015.

I wonder if Ms. Crofton had any leadership tips for Cinderella.

I wonder how many of the thousands of working poor employed at the Walt Disney World Resort got to benefit from Ms. Crofton's vaunted qualities. Although, leadership development isn't one's chief concern when you're living out of a motel and are on the precipice of being fired whenever your child is sick. Perhaps Ms. Crofton mentored the executives behind Disney's antiquated, inefficient and costly attendance system.

It's lovely that Ms. Crofton was congratulated on her undeserved honor at the California Grill with a free multi-course five star meal. Perhaps she and Mr. Kalogridis took time out of their party to mentor some of the wait staff. After all, Kalogridis started as a bus boy at the Contemporary so many years ago. Look at him now! Is that career path still available for a bus boy at the Contemporary in 2015?

We all know the answer to that question.

People like Meg Crofton are not to be lauded for their "achievements" in business. Business leaders like her and her superiors in Burbank profit on an unsustainable model that pursues profitability at all cost. Their first and only priority is shareholder value. Their cast members are not a priority at all. They don't even make the list. The guest experience is a false ideology to which nothing but lip service is paid.

Sad and bizarre.

Damn I never knew that face characters now have a quota to fill, That's so far out of whack with the Disney I grew up with that it leaves me gobsmacked, Yet I have no problem believing it based on WDW's myopic focus on 'metrics' and the belief that everything can be reduced to numbers and peformance can be managed by computer like the call center manager who had their operators hang up on customers before the magic 2 minute mark .

He looked GREAT yet the escalations manager who had to fix all the problems he created looked like a incompetent. The problem with simplistic metrics is you always get what you measure.

 

[ford91exploder]

There are members who could run the entire resort better than current leadership.

@ParentsOf4 comes to mind immediately.

 

[French Quarter]

It's their window. I suppose they can decorate it any way they want to. Disney is not a democracy.

 

[Nmoody1]

Last I heard OMD is soon to be closed and replaced by Meg Crofton: One Woman's Dream.

And everyone else's nightmare!

 

[Garfield]

I guess this is Disney's version of a participation trophy they hand out to all of the kids now?

 

[lazyboy97o]

So when does Paul get his window? Surely he is deserving since he really initiated the business plan under which Meg thrived.

 

[Kman]

Meg Crofton has literally devoted her entier working life to the company but you geniuses on this website clearly know better than her.

...this means nothing. I guess I don't follow all things Disney as closely as many folks on this forum but I can say that experience and years of service do not equate to a job well done or competence. I know of several examples in my personal experience where experience does not necessarily mean the individual is a quality employee. Unfortunately, many companies, all governments and the vast majority of unions (both private and public sector) buy into this myth to either their own or the taxpayer's detriment. As for Meg Crofton's personal situation I couldn't say however I was just addressing this comment.

 

[TP2000]

So when does Paul get his window? Surely he is deserving since he really initiated the business plan under which Meg thrived.

Bravo. I was waiting for someone to dig up Pressler.

Meanwhile, in Orlando, the third work week of the new fiscal year is about to start and Meg Crofton's old position is still unfilled. How are the parks even able to open each day without all that Leadership Development and Mentoring?

 

[disney4life2008]

I wonder who paid for their dinner at California grill?

 

[WDW Monorail]

There are members who could run the entire resort better than current leadership.

This is by far the most ridiculous statement I have ever read in the 9 years I have been a member here. The pompous attitude of memebers who THINK they know anything on this site is beyond unreasonable.

 

[lazyboy97o]

This is by far the most ridiculous statement I have ever read in the 9 years I have been a member here. The pompous attitude of memebers who THINK they know anything on this site is beyond unreasonable.

So if nobody here knows anything, why should your words have any merit? You have yet to actually say anything of substance, just empty condemning.

 

[wm49rs]

This is by far the most ridiculous statement I have ever read in the 9 years I have been a member here. The pompous attitude of memebers who THINK they know anything on this site is beyond unreasonable.

Well, perhaps not the entire leadership, but at the very least Meg....

 

[French Quarter]

I wonder who paid for their dinner at California grill?

Who cares? Disney isn't a charity or a government agency! If they want to ball up dollar bills and light the fireworks with them, they can. There is a really weird ownership that some of you take over the place. We are the customers, not part of the business.

 

[Andrew C]

So if nobody here knows anything, why should your words have any merit? You have yet to actually say anything of substance, just empty condemning.

There are members who do have certain expertise in specific areas... @ParentsOf4 is the example others have used. And I appreciate those members for sure.

But then there are also members who come across as having "expertise" in all areas. The "I have experience in everything from monorail maintenance to annual budgets to commercial plumbing to ride design and maintenance to resort and hospitality management" crowd. These individuals irk me and sometimes hurt the cred of those who have actual expertise.

 

[lazyboy97o]

There are members who do have certain expertise in specific areas... @ParentsOf4 is the example others have used. And I appreciate those members for sure.

But then there are also members who come across as having "expertise" in all areas. The "I have experience in everything from monorail maintenance to annual budgets to commercial plumbing to ride design and maintenance to resort and hospitality management" crowd. These individuals irk me and sometimes hurt the cred of those who have actual expertise.

Well this thread is all about how someone from human resources was suddenly put in charge of a massive theme park and hotel complex, and then several theme park and hotel complexes across two different countries.

 

[Andrew C]

Well this thread is all about how someone from human resources was suddenly put in charge of a massive theme park and hotel complex, and then several theme park and hotel complexes across two different countries.

Yep. I am aware of this....

 

[njDizFan]

Who cares? Disney isn't a charity or a government agency! If they want to ball up dollar bills and light the fireworks with them, they can. There is a really weird ownership that some of you take over the place. We are the customers, not part of the business.

Actually as share holders we do own part of the business