McArcDes said:
There ARE WDI Creative people, and Creative Dept. are ALL imagineers... And certainly
NOT Buttkissers... If you leave the Imagineers be, they develop great things...
Greetz!
Not only have I read the editorial on the downfall of WDI by "Tom Morrow" on the SaveDisney web site but I have actually worked in the WDI office at Epcot. The corporate culture the the artical about WDI on SaveDisney is very acurate. I have seen it with my own eyes, and heard it from others at WDI. For example, when I was at WDW between this past Christmas and New Years I took the time to have lunch with a friend that happens to be a manager at WDI. He told me how since I had been there nothing had changed and how the guy who had been both our boss when I was there had tried to throw him under the bus numerous times and it was because he was hanging on to his job by a thread and did it to make him self look better. It was that way when I was there and it is still that way now. The corporate culture at WDI has been sliding to the side of the bean counters for a long time. The freedom to be creative is severly restricted when no one wants to spend any money to create something completly new. Look at SGE. That is nothing more than replacing the alien anamatronic with one of stitch and adding robotic arms for the laser cannons. I have heard so much disappointment over this attraction that it is not funny.
I wanted nothing more than to be able to have my career there. It was my dream. I got an internship and I thought that it would be a great leap forward in achieving that dream. Some people dont ever get that far. I did, I was lucky. I did my best while I was there and on my exit review sheet there was a question for my boss asking if he would hire the intern (me) if he had a position available. He said that he would. I still have that paper. The thing is, positions never become available. They fill them from with in or use outside consultants to fill them. They pay outragious amounts of money per hour for these consultants on the premis that they can get rid of them at any time. The people with power hold on to that power with a death grip, there is no loyalty you are only as good as your next job, nothing you have done in the past counts no matter how long you have been there.
My post was meant to be a bit sarcastic, I know there are still some very creative people at WDI, but unless you want to pucker up and go with the group you can never get anywhere. It is very sad to say that but I know it is fact not fantasy, though I wish it were.
As for what the entire WDC needs as a CEO? Walt once described his job as being a bee that flew from one flower to the next spreading pollen. The pollen being the creative ideas and ideals that were present at the time. He did not care so much about how much things costed, he cared most was that he produced that best family entertainment around. He felt that if they did then the money would follow. Quality first, money second. The current thinking at Disney is: Money first, Quality second. Also, as it has been pointed out, Walt did not run the company by him self. Roy mainly delt with the business end of the company and Walt the creative. That is what the WDC needs now.
What concerns me about Iger is that he never seems to get involved in anything. If he is going to be sucessful in bringing the company around then he is going to have to take a stand on things! He cant just sit by and hope it all works out. He cant just sit by and let his "decentralized" management take the company where ever they want then we would have a company that had no direction. He has to have some say in what is going on. He should not micro manage the company becasue that causes gridlock. The best model he could base his administration on would be a parent. He needs to be there to keep a direction and guide the different parts of the company to where they need to go. He needs to be there to settle, negotiate, rein in, encourage, nurture and prepare the company as a whole. That is his responsibility. He needs to help set the vision for the company as a whole and for all the individual parts. If he just stands by and does none of those things, we are going to be looking at our worst nighmare in a few years. Mark my words, if the company weakens to much we will be looking at a buy out and that could lead to the company being dismantled rather than kept as a whole. That would be tragic.
