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

Storyboarding the enrollment process

The storyboarding process was developed by Walt Disney Productions in the early 1930s. Today, Walt Disney and Pixar (along with other animation companies) continue to utilize the storyboard process as one of the first steps in the movie development.

A storyboard provides a visual layout of the movie, and allows animators to reconfigure, redesign, and re-imagine scenes and stories before proceeding to the next stage of development. Perhaps moving scenes around, or adding elements will move the story along, or prevent combustion points in the story. Perhaps different camera angles will add to the story.

Storyboarding has proven so beneficial and successful that even theatrical plays utilize it. In addition companies have begun to use storyboarding for the sales process, customer conversion process, and other operational processes that can be visualized.

Over the past few years I have taken several companies I have consulted with through the visual storytelling to help uncover combustion points for customers, to rearrange the experience that streamlined the process and enhanced the experience, and simply to confirm that the current process needed only tweaks in order to improve.

Recently I have had the opportunity of storyboarding the enrollment process for several virtual schools I am consulting with on a regular basis. In doing so, it helped identify a path forward that dramatically improved the customer experience.

Seeing something visually can lead to alternatives that would otherwise remain hidden.

Try it for yourself. Take time to storyboard your enrollment process from a visual standpoint, and see for the first time what has been hidden before your eyes.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Why did Tomorrowland bomb at the box office?

My family and I went to see the Disney movie Tomorrowland yesterday (sounds funny when you say it). It had been on our radar since we first heard it was coming out. And, even after all of the negative reviews, and the narrative that it bombed at the box office, we wanted to see it.

For us, it was one of the best movies we have ever seen -- not because of the acting, or the visuals, or the actors and actresses involved. That was not our purpose in seeing it. We were attracted to it for other reasons.

So, why did it bomb at the box office? According to others it was a myriad of factors that included:

* Secrecy is not always a good idea -- the premise of it is hard to explain in a sentence or a 30-second ad because of the story's complex mythology.

* George Clooney is not a box-office draw -- the King of Hollywood doesn't sell tickets in proportion to people's fascination with him.

* Tougher-than-expected competition -- Poltergeist, Mad Max, and Pitch Perfect 2.

* Memorial Day openings are not a license to print money -- Not even a four day window can save a poorly made movie.

* The "select" Thursday preview -- only 701 theaters offered the movie on Thursday evening out of 3,972 venues overall on Friday.

Other articles seem to share the sentiment of this one in some form or another. They place the failure on marketing, Clooney, competition, or some other idea related to the script or quality of the movie itself.

I wonder though if they could be wrong? Perhaps they have missed the real reason why it did not meet expectations at the box office?

Perhaps the real reason it was not accepted by the masses could be found in the movie itself. As I sat there watching it yesterday, it occurred to me during one pivotal scene -- I bet this is why the public turned away from it. I caught myself contemplating the subtle difference this movie has when compared to the others -- one that is difficult to accept when one is not ready for it.

houston@figment-consulting.com