The Ride of a Lifetime: Relentless Curiosity

Yesterday I received my signed copy of Robert Iger's book, "The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company."

I am reading it, studying it really, because I believe I can learn something from it that will propel me forward in life.

The more I learn the more I believe I grow.

In this book, Iger describes his "relentless curiosity" as the catalyst for his personal success and for the success that Disney has seen, and continues to see, under his watch.

Imagine an educational system that worked to instill relentless curiosity rather than higher scores on knowledge-accumulation tests.

Oh well. One can imagine.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Candace Payne and the simple joy of Chewbacca

Seven days ago just a handful of people knew Candace Payne. And then, one little spark of inspiration led her to post a video of herself trying on a Chewbacca mask on her Facebook account.

The 4-minute clip was filled with her laughing her way through the opening and demonstration of the mask. It was, and still is, hilarious.

Within the first hour or so she had reached 1,000 views. By the time she went to bed that evening, it was up to 1 million. Wake up the next morning and the views topped 20 million.

As of this writing the viewership is well in the hundred million views. And now, she has been on Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, and The Late Show with James Corden (where she even did a skit with J.J. Abrams). The latest is the original Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, reached out to her to invite her family to be his guests at an upcoming Star Wars fest in Dallas.

As she described it at the end of her original video, it is the "simple joys" in life. Candace's one little spark of inspiration has led to hundreds of millions of people around the world taking time to laugh. There's no hidden message behind it, no ulterior motive, no marketing ploy. It was quite simply a window into her moment of pure joy -- and we all get to celebrate it with her, over and over again.

Laughter -- we need more of it.

houston@figment-consulting.com

The Force Awakens

Virtual schools offered education a new hope.

Then, the empire struck back.

The ones I have worked with are returning to their original jedi promise.

However, I believe all virtual schools have the potential to awaken the force within them and revolutionize the educational empire.

houston@figment-consulting.com

The time horizon of change

On September 20, 2011 a Disney blog publicly announced the agreement between Walt Disney World and James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. The highlight of the announcement was Disney's Animal Kingdom would be home to an area devoted entirely to the blockbuster movie Avatar. That was 2011.

Construction began in 2014.

Yesterday I toured Disney's Animal Kingdom and construction was still going on for the area that will be known as Pandora - The World of Avatar. Yesterday was November 19, 2015.

Expected completion date could be in 2017 for part of the land but full completion may be in 2019. If my math is correct 2019 would be eight years after first announcing the agreement.

Right now almost half of Disney's Hollywood Studios is closed off to guests as they build themed attractions around the Star Wars franchise they purchased from George Lucas several years ago. Completion of these attractions is a few years away.

In Epcot construction is underway in the Norway pavilion for a Frozen-themed attraction. Due to be completed in the near future, this new attraction was launched by the blockbuster movie that debuted in 2013.

In today's NOW economy it is difficult to remember sometimes that change occurs at a pace all to itself. In the world of attractions that pace of change can be years.

The same is true in the realm of existing virtual schools. Changing marketing strategies or branding efforts can be done quickly -- hire a new firm with the bright and shiny accouterments and everyone feels like change is happening. Everything has a fresh coat of paint so everyone thinks it is new, yet the cracks remain.

However, the real change required, the kind of change that impacts the students and families, the kind that makes a difference takes a little longer -- this change requires more than a marketing paint bucket.

The obstacle most virtual schools run into when considering this undertaking is they shorten the time horizon allotted for this change to occur. If it cannot be completed in one enrollment cycle then the pain is too much to bear.

The average Disney World guest visits the parks every three to four years. This means a guest at the park in 2011 when the Avatar deal was announced will visit the parks two more times before the new attraction is completed. They will be eight years older.

The difference is Disney understands the concept of time horizon. They understand that short-term pain will be offset by long-term gain.

What is true for Disney can also be true for virtual schools. The current model is broken. It's time to make the public announcement that a deal has been reached and for one virtual school in each state to step up and become the standard by which all others will soon want to follow.

The short-term pain will be offset by the long-term gain.

houston@figment-consulting.com

The snowball effect.

It's easy to predict the upcoming success of Avengers II: The Age of Ultron but many tend to forget the first Iron Man movie was a risk by Marvel.

In early 2014 there were multiple stories about why Frozen was resonating with families and continuing to draw audiences in to watch, sing and enjoy. Yet, there is not one story in October of 2013, right before the release of the Disney movie, that predicted the overwhelming success it would have. This Christmas was inundated with Frozen-themed products but not so much in 2013 because it even caught Disney by surprise, along with the timing of the release.

And, go back in time in the early 90s when animators at Disney were clamoring to be part of the next installment they thought would be huge, Pocahontas. This meant that many junior animators were left to work on the secondary movie in production at the time, Lion King.

Companies, organizations, and even individuals spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out, even predict what will be the next "blockbuster" in their field. Yet, predicting the future is difficult, at best, to do -- impossible is more like it.

What Disney does so well is they plan for what I call the snowball effect. In essence, Disney rolls multiple snowballs down the hill and stand ready for the ones that begin to grow, waiting to take advantage of the opportunities (albeit sometimes slowly).

In 2014 Disney released Maleficient, Big Hero 6, and Into the Woods - each performed well at the box office. Also that year, they released Million Dollar Arm, Planes: Fire & Rescue, Muppets Most Wanted, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day -- each one opened and closed quickly at the box office. However, each served as a small snowball for Disney to roll down the hill and watch for momentum to kick in.

In 2015 Disney will release Avengers II and the next installment in the Star Wars franchise -- each, in my opinion, a snowball effect in that the success tied to these movies is based in large part on the small snowballs that were released at the top of the hill years ago.

However, can anyone right now predict the success of Disney's Tomorrowland movie releasing later this

year? Will it become the next Frozen? Disney is not sure either yet they have packed it up into a small snowball, and they will roll it down the hill and see if momentum grows it -- if it does, then they will kick into gear all of the other facets to take advantage of its success.

What can we learn from this? Yes, it is vital to spend time to determine which snowballs are worth releasing at the top of the hill but do you, as a company, have a plan to take advantage of the growth momentum of that snowball should it begin to gain speed and size?

Have you spent time on What if scenarios to extend the brand? To expand the distribution channel? To increase the awareness and revenue once the little snowball begins to grow?

It is difficult to predict which video will go viral, but it is not difficult to be ready for it should it gain momentum.

UPDATE: Since publishing this blog post this morning, a friend sent along this story from the Disney CFO that provides further evidence of what this post is all about: Disney CFO Outlines Movie Financing Strategy

houston@figment-consulting.com