A Decent Proposal

NEOM KSA

Years ago, I was contracted by GMAC (the Graduate Management Admissions Council) to deliver their annual conference and awards ceremony. At my first meeting with this new client, in their Reston, VA HQ; I stood before them, thanked them for the privilege and challenge of bringing this annual experience to new levels of engagement and information sharing, and then said…

“Full disclosure: I believe I must share with y’all, going in, that as a Creative Individual, I believe that the MBA has done more to undermine the quality of Experience in this country and the world than any other single group besides Lawyers.”

…and we talked briefly about it. In my experience up until that moment and many times in the years that have followed; MBA’s with little or no actual experience in the world and industries of Entertainment, Themed Entertainment and Experience Design seem to attempt - simply put - to corrupt the creative process by pulling apart all the components and cramming them into a spreadsheet.

Though their purpose certainly isn’t to “corrupt;” the net effect of the benign ignorance of these impressively-educated degree-holders very often needlessly dampens the creative energy on which our industry depends. The experience or project is often protracted and slowed, sometimes rendered even more costly, the experience diluted and monies wasted.

Magic is unquantifiable, IMHO; and so much of the process of creative development, ideation and design, the creation of experience with powerful emotional engagement and community-building cannot effectively be boxed, ranked, deconstructed and quantified.

Some of it can, not all of it. There must be a way.

A decade ago, I was part of a week-long charrette, gathering of 200 hand-picked creative people from all creative disciplines and arts around the world. We were brought to Dubai to ideate, “blue sky,” and lay creative groundwork for a massive, several-kilometer square destination festival. 

Produced by one of the “Big Five” Blue-ribbon consulting firms, pedigrees were all impressive, hopes were high and the vision vast. 

The red flag for me was the fact that of the corps of young MBA-wielding representatives of our corporate host - though they’d been in situ in Dubai for 6 months to a year by then - had virtually no experience of the country and limited experience in place-making, destination experience, theme parks… When asked whether various cultural destinations within an hour or two of Dubai had been vetted or benchmarked; responses were pretty much in the negative. 

So. It was what it was; though I believe the gathering could have been so much better,  a more productive, more creative crucible.

But the consulting staff simply were not invested in the industry, nor aware of how different an animal is a theme park and all its components and like experiences. To them, this seemed simply another project. 

Brilliant and smart people they were, but I think blinded somehow by their own formulae and matrices, systems, charts and methodologies. 

What I discern, anecdotally, through my 30+ years in the business (and years of listening to the kvetching at mixers and in boardrooms); is that vast amounts of money are spent in the relationships with these companies as project after project comes down the line. 

And, while in theory I do not question the potential value of these consultants; without the actual, hands-on experience of building experience - from cocktail napkin to concept to ideation to design to production, installation, opening and beyond - a crucial and valuable piece of the process is missing. 

A lot of money and time are wasted, and no small amount of quality and resonance is value-engineered out of the finished product, through the armies of the benignly ignorant MBA.

My point, and the reason I’m writing this piece, is that I see a solution to this paradigm.

In these (and many other industries) an individual is not considered “senior” until they’ve seen at least one project through from ideation to opening. One may have “worked on” several disparate projects, performing one or two of the same functions in each one. That’s not it.

One needs to be at the table from the beginning, helping shepherd a project from the idea to the reality. In the trenches, sleeves rolled-up, addressing and solving the unexpected and unstructured problems, making compromise when necessary, leaping the hurdles and jumping through hoops - all the while protecting the integrity of the vision - in order to really know the job and with that, the lifeblood of the industries.

If you ask me (and you haven’t…but if you DID), I would say that the smart way is to embed a corps of Consultants in a project from the beginning…as education. To learn it, before they are credible consultants in it.

I think…that the smart Massive Consulting Firm (MCF) would be wise to deploy 60 to 100 of their young, aspirational consultants into the industry for 18 months to two years of apprenticeship. Small teams placed in myriad, disparate companies who might welcome them and they can see, experience and learn what the process actually is before levying advice.

To be clear; they would remain on the payroll of the MCF while learning from us.

This would make them vastly more valuable as employees of the firm and as consultants to the industry. And, when they return to the Corporate Fold, you - the Massive Consulting Firm - could have an entire department versed and conversant in the real work of entertainment design; putting context into consulting. Legit.

My recommendation would be to partner with a global organization of Experience Designers and Owners…such as, oh, the Themed Entertainment Association ( teaconnect.org ). With over 1600 member companies in four primary divisions (Eastern North America, Western North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific), it is the largest association of creators in the world. 

I do not represent this organization. I have been a member for more than 30 years and have been hearing anecdotes and complaints about the aforementioned benign ignorance and the costs and frustrations thereof for about that much time. 

I’m just saying that y’all should maybe talk.