Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2014/12/09/meg-crofton-to-retire-next-year/" target="_blank"><b>12/9/14: Meg Crofton To Retire Next Year</b></a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Since she oversees DLP as well, that might have an impact for the European resort as well. Judging from many US Disney fan sites, she wasn't that popular among fans. So that retirement might be a good thing.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros She wasn't especially popular, but I'm not sure that her retirement will make any real difference for the way that things work. Her workload will likely be transferred to someone with a very similar outlook for how to run the parks, who is more based in business than operations (though Meg did get her start at the hotels) It will be interesting to see if her position is filled by somebody else, or eliminated after she leaves. It's sort of an awkward job, and was recently created, which makes me think that it will go away when she does
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt She's the president of operations of two massive resorts, which means that her reports are the ones running the parks. She obviously has great influence, but she's way too far up the food chain to be concerned about things like general maintenance and day to day upkeep. In other words, I wouldn't expect much of a change if her departure doesn't trigger a re-org and they simply fill her position with someone else. She's moving to SF? It seems like everyone is moving here.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I agree with Ferret and Dr. Hans. Meg's departure won't likely make much of a difference for the reasons they have given. ORWEN: But her move to SF might make a difference to Dr. Hans. I can just see the two of them, now, getting together on a regular basis. He could be her new psychiatrist. He could find out what makes her tick. He could invite her to lie around on his couch all day long... ORDDU: Over my dead body!!!! Nobody gets to lie on what used to be MY couch--before he was able to cure me...
Originally Posted By oc_dean Not to put your home of SF down Hans ... but after my June trip this year ... the amount of homeless people, and scary wackos walking the streets ... I really thought that was something I'd only see in a movie. It's not good. As for Meg ... I'm tempted to deliver a 'Cynthia Harris pun' ... anyone want to go for it? catch words - retirement, art, family ;-)
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>But her move to SF might make a difference to Dr. Hans. I can just see the two of them, now, getting together on a regular basis.<< In Meg's own words...excellent... <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/boK96qa-zuQ/0.jpg">http://i.ytimg.com/vi/boK96qa-zuQ/0.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: Well fer Pete's Dragon's sake! That old bat looks just like my trampy sister, Orddu!!!!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Not to put your home of SF down Hans ... but after my June trip this year ... the amount of homeless people, and scary wackos walking the streets ... I really thought that was something I'd only see in a movie. It's not good." Homelessness and mentally ill people on big city streets in certain areas is a huge problem in America, and can be a shock to people from suburbs like like Orange County.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^I've spent a large portion of my time in/around several large cities in recent years, and none of them seemed to have the numbers like San Francisco. Most of my time has been in LA and DC, and neither one comes anywhere near the volume of SF. The only city that I've been to that might come close is Seattle I've also been to many countries of varying wealth, and they seemed to generally have things more under control than the US in general
Originally Posted By leemac <<It will be interesting to see if her position is filled by somebody else, or eliminated after she leaves. It's sort of an awkward job, and was recently created, which makes me think that it will go away when she does>> Meg is a beige executive - just lacking anything that could be akin to drive or motivation. She isn't an inspiring leader and lacks any creative nous. She was Al Weiss' protege and she rode his coattails to the summit in the swamp. She is typical of the WDW careerists in FL - born and bred with little experience outside the confines of the resort. The problem is that there is little synergy in FOH operations as the 3 resorts have completely different operating models. BOH ops did see some cost reductions but little else. Al was obsessed with ensuring that WDW won the power struggle within WDP&R which is why he forced the synergy team on to DLR and DLP. It will be interesting to see if George Kalogridis lobbies for the removal of the role so that he can have a direct conduit to Staggs. George is a perfectly acceptable operations guy but he equally lacks the strategic chops to replace Meg. It was very sad that as a company we lack succession planning procedures for P&R. George, Karl Holz and Bill Ernest are now nearing retirement age and there just isn't a wealth of talent below those guys. Staggs has done little to remove the political bickering and in-fighting that Jay used to encourage.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Judging from many US Disney fan sites, she wasn't that popular among fans. >> I've never understood how fanbois reach their conclusions on execs. I can understand how CMs might reach that view - and Meg isn't a people person. She is cut from the same cloth as the other FL execs like Al and Erin Wallace. However I can only presume that fanbois go by the public persona - which is limited for many of the Ops folks - and usually for good reason.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I've never understood how fanbois reach their conclusions on execs." Same here. Not only that, I've never understood why we get so wrapped up in conversations about complex park operations and backstage drama. Being curious about behind the scenes stuff as it relates to the show is fascinating, but I've never had any interest in what today's special is on the employee lunch room menu or formed an opinion about a manager sitting at a desk in some far off corner of the property. There are all kinds of Disney fans I guess.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I would guess that the opinions come from CMs who have some sort of interaction with them, and how they're portrayed from those experiences. In general, the fanboy personas (evil Meg, loveable George, hands-on Colglazier) seldom match the performance of the parks under their reign, or reflect the changes in operations during their time (particularly for Ed Grier who oversaw some important and well-executed changes at DLR but is often characterized as distant and incompetent). I think I have a decent idea of who is in charge of what, but I really have no idea what they're like as people, nor does it really matter from my perspective
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ It's a good point about Ed. The Prez role isn't a PR one - he is supposed to be the operational leader for the resort and therefore should be close to the frontline CMs. They shouldn't be close to the public - several Prezs at DLR have spent too much time trying to spin their own stories with the public. I liked Ed a lot - he was an excellent leader.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>I've never understood why we get so wrapped up in conversations about complex park operations and backstage drama. Being curious about behind the scenes stuff as it relates to the show is fascinating, but I've never had any interest in what today's special is on the employee lunch room menu or formed an opinion about a manager sitting at a desk in some far off corner of the property. << Sounds like a formula used in most Reality TV shows.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I liked Ed a lot - he was an excellent leader.<< I liked the changes that were implemented under his control. It seems like he had a firm grasp on the tiller and saw lots of places to refine and improve the experience Ironically (given his reputation), he's the only president that I've ever encountered out and about in the park. He was in Town Square, watching a performance that I was in from a distance. During a scramble moment in one of the songs, I went over and shook his hand; it seemed like he wasn't quite expecting that! : )
Originally Posted By leemac <<Ironically (given his reputation), he's the only president that I've ever encountered out and about in the park.>> And there's the rub - it seems there is a direct correlation between public visibility and fanboi acceptance. Ouimet used to go walkabout all the time which was very frustrating if you had a scheduled meeting. He was also known to do his own press briefings (typically off-the-record) - although I never quite grasped what he hoped to get out of it. Some imagineers like Baxter have done that in the past to shield themselves from internal criticism. I've heard a lot of senior execs say that the Baxter problem (his inability to work well with others and his distain for his bosses) was best ignored rather than stir up the hornets' nest of public condemnation if he was removed (and he was close to being shoved out on numerous occasions). The public don't have the same affection for administrators so I never understood why Mat spent so much time on his public persona. Worth also adding that Mat was lucky to have a very strong operations leader at DLR. Many Prezs have fallen down by having a weak Ops leader.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>(and he was close to being shoved out on numerous occasions)<< Isn't that what ultimately happened? Or did he see the writing on the wall and realized he should get out while he still could? Although he wrote that lovely letter (that found its way to the public eye), it seemed like his retirement wasn't entirely voluntary
Originally Posted By leemac I've no idea what actually happened - plenty of others seem to have a view on what went down but it doesn't particularly interest me. Tony was a very polarising figure - he was idolised by many of the more junior staffers but many of his peers and seniors didn't like working with him. He just wasn't a great team player which is a tremendous shame as he was an incredibly strong creative - he just couldn't see his weaknesses and therefore surrounding himself with folks to complement his skillset. Instead he liked to be dictatorial.
