Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 >> Even EAs have to bill their time to projects now. Everyone is looking for a WBS code to charge time. It is a busted model - WDI should be a sunk cost of WDP&R<< <<I can't agree more with you Lee. Just because lawyers and accountants have clients and matters to bill to doesn't mean that it translates to a R&D group.>> Doesn't it kind of creep you out that they think this is the business model you should use for an organization that created a new industry based on doing things that had never been attempted before? Don't want to sound like a fanboi, but seriously ... billable hours? Creatives working like lawyers, excuse me while I go clear the vomit from my mouth ... >>That doesn't mean there isn't excess - Lasseter's pointless roadtrips for CarsLand on route 66 is one example. How pointless is it to have a roadtrip to see the real Route 66 when you only intend to reproduce the movie's version?<< <<.rolls eyes. .snickers. What more is there to say, again, selfishness, indulgence. I can't imagine in the sixties these Disney legends having to bill hours or going on junkets to the caribbean.>> It was a different world ... but I'm tired of hearing how we have to do things differently now. To me, that means accepting less in anything and everything in life. It's the 21st century ... we may not have flying cars, but why can't we all have jobs, healthcare, travel on roads that aren't falling apart to modern high speed rail stations that wisk us from place to place ... UGH!!! ... OK, why can't we just have Disney theme parks that attempt to be as good as they were 20 years ago? Is that too much to ask?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 >>>>Tom very well could be a breath of fresh air, but I have learned through many years of my life to not be so quick to appoint a new hero in any company. Tom very well may champion some great reforms, but he also might miss out on some opportunities or carry his own negative issues.<<<< <<I'd like to believe this as well... he seems to have a good outlook and operational aspect to the parks. However... why is he now in this roll after being in the CFO spot? Also... why is HE getting to dictate what happens with Rasulo's spot? Can anyone (Leemac?) attempt to answer this? I think the answers would be telling to any changes and "restructuring" he'd institute. Because, honestly, it looks like Staggs is being displayed and set up in these positions to achieve a certain effect and look for perhaps both his future (CEO?) and the company. >> Very good questions, Explorer. ... It's all very strange ... unless ... unless ... nah, that can't be it (well, maybe it can but you'll have to wait for a new thread to hear that ,,, perhaps, a goodnight 'kiss' to LP and 'oh, blank, you gotta read this' start to Monday morning from Main Street to Wall Street to Flower Street to Buena Vista Street).
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 >>>>He seems like such a plesant fella ... the kind of guy who probably sings Menken on the way into the office.<<<< <<You mean.... "Life is an adventure Even though we have no map Let's go seek out treasures Believe in the compass of your heart" CAN YOU JUST SEE IT NOW?!?!?! lol>> I wish I were there right now ... Chandu ... here, kitty kitty kitty ....
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Very good questions, Explorer. ... It's all very strange ... unless ... unless ... nah, that can't be it (well, maybe it can but you'll have to wait for a new thread to hear that ,,, perhaps, a goodnight 'kiss' to LP and 'oh, blank, you gotta read this' start to Monday morning from Main Street to Wall Street to Flower Street to Buena Vista Street).>>> I look forward to that one.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Also... why is HE getting to dictate what happens with Rasulo's spot? >> <<Staggs has no operational experience of running a business unit - he moved from strategic planning into the CFO office. His 2 year assignment to WDP&R is to make his ascent to the President role more palatable to the board. He will then effectively be Iger's number two and CEO-in-waiting.>> Two years ... so you're saying he'll be out of the role by early 2012 after the 'restructuring' (bloodletting?) is completed? <<The fact that the Company hasn't had a president/COO since Iger held the role himself is yet another indicator of poor corporate governance IMHO.>> I would agree, but since when does Disney or any large American corporation really care about governance issues? They only come up when pesky stockholders or the occasional reporter brings it up. <<Rasulo is looking for employment elsewhere - he has reached as far up the Disney ladder as is possible. If he wants to be CEO or COO he needs to move. Sadly he can't find anything that he wants or anyone that actually is willing to give him what he wants. He has burnt so many bridges that even prestigious headhunters like Heidrick & Struggles won't touch him as a client. I like to see it as karmic payback. ) >> I find that interesting considering JR's substantial pay increase that came with his PROMOTION and the fact Iger seems to like him (as much as it is possible for Bob to like anyone). I've never gotten the feeling that a title or being 'the man' was important to JR. He seems much more interested with the bottom line ... namely his. And he ain't hurting there these days. <<At the risk of starting old arguments, and to be fair, everyone is entitled to change opinions with experience comes wisdom, right? ... but I seem to recall you weren't so down on Rasulo for years when many of us were sounding the alarm.>> <<Very true. He became far worse when he moved from DLRP to Burbank. He was actually a good manager at DLRP - I guess that is as far as he should have gone.>> If I recall correctly, his tenure at DLP was only viewed as a success from the bottom line perspective. In the short term, he improved finances (by letting the place rot, reducing entertainment etc ... you know, taking away from the product to pump-up the numbers) and he got the second gate, the worst in Disney history by a large margin, completed for less than half the cost of a nice cruise ship these days. If you want to call that a success, then I guess you're right.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>For over a quarter of a century two CEOs have done everything possible to squash any attempts by the board or shareholders to have a proper succession plan. There is no internal candidate except for Staggs. Absolutely none.<<<< So why is there this large cloud of doubt about Staggs getting the position? Like you said, it would seem he's being groomed.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>Very good questions, Explorer. ... It's all very strange ... unless ... unless ... nah, that can't be it (well, maybe it can but you'll have to wait for a new thread to hear that ,,, perhaps, a goodnight 'kiss' to LP and 'oh, blank, you gotta read this' start to Monday morning from Main Street to Wall Street to Flower Street to Buena Vista Street).<<<< Word on the STREET is that things might be a bit more obvious than we think, honestly. LOL
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>I wish I were there right now ... Chandu ... here, kitty kitty kitty ....<<<< But are you staring at a computer screen just WISHING HOPING AND DREAMING and living vicariously? If so, someone is upset with you... Hah.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer <<<Two years ... so you're saying he'll be out of the role by early 2012 after the 'restructuring' (bloodletting?) is completed?<<<< Out of a roll... and on to a new one? Is the Age of Iger over already?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Here's a question for you that I can't answer - how on earth did a woefully average imagineer in Bob Weis get brought back to WDI? And he gets to walk off from DCA and into the Shanghai job? Truly incredible. Someone that has no grasp of master planning or menu planning (all three Disney Studios Tours being Exhibit A - thankfully we only ended up with one of his designs). I can only guess that he has some dirt on someone.>> C'mon, you're the official un-official 'LP WDI Insider' ... only YOU can speak to the special brand of lunacy that comes out of 1401Flower, like zits on a fanboi. I don't know Bob well enough to comment on his talent level. But since DCA is being turned into The Disney-MGM Studios meets Disney's America meets any/all classic Boardwalk projects Disney has considered since the early Eisner years, one can easily see why Bob would be perfect for DCA ... as for Shanghai ... yeah ... um ... ah ... I was a bit surprised. After all the back and forth with China, you'd have thought Disney would have wanted an all-star team working on this project because they seem to have trouble building parks these days. With a stable that includes the likes of Tony Baxter, Tom Morris, Joe Rohde and Tom Fitzgerald to start with, it seems like they are setting themselves up for yet another massively troubled park ... only this time they really can't eff it up. They want a Disney Channel in China. They want to get more penetration on Studios releases. They want to be able to step up CP and have China crack down on all the counterfeiting ... they can't have another HKDL fiasco, yet it sure seems like they are heading in that direction.
Originally Posted By Lee hisownself >>I look forward to that one.<< Don't. If you knew what direction Spirit's line of thinking was heading...well...it might keep you up at night. Troubling, to say the least...
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>If you knew what direction Spirit's line of thinking was heading...well...it might keep you up at night.<<<< I didn't get a wink last night!! Parking Lot epiphanies go a long way. LOL
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<After all the back and forth with China, you'd have thought Disney would have wanted an all-star team working on this project because they seem to have trouble building parks these days. With a stable that includes the likes of Tony Baxter, Tom Morris, Joe Rohde and Tom Fitzgerald to start with, it seems like they are setting themselves up for yet another massively troubled park...>> Which begs the question once again: is Disney planning on pushing these Imagineers into Retirement Land over the next few years, like they did Delaney and Rothschild? Is that the real reason these four were passed over for heading up Shanghai, because Disney quietly knows that they'll be long gone before the new park even opens? Nothing these senior Glendale execs are currently doing is groundbreaking, nor stuff that can't be accomplished by more junior Imagineers with less experience and lower compensation. What is Disney doing here? Waiting for the clock to run out on their current contracts, and giving them nothing but creative crumbs to busy themselves with in the mean time? Baxter is the oldest of the bunch. His contract was renewed in May 2007. If he announces his upcoming retirement between now and next spring, we'll pretty much have our answer. And I would expect Rohde to be next after DVC Hawaii Five-O opens. Bob Weis was most likely chosen because the other senior execs are going to be let go, one by one, over the course of the next few years. This might not be the case, but I can think of no other logical explanation for why these senior WDI execs are doing practically nothing to earn their high end six-figure salaries.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Don't. If you knew what direction Spirit's line of thinking was heading...well...it might keep you up at night. Troubling, to say the least...>> Lee, I've past the point of no return. I just don't care anymore. Nothing Spirit says will frighten or surprise me.
Originally Posted By Christi22222 ^^^Okay, now you're just throwing down the gauntlet! lol! Spirit is going to have to try it now.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>If I recall correctly, his tenure at DLP was only viewed as a success from the bottom line perspective. In the short term, he improved finances (by letting the place rot, reducing entertainment etc ... you know, taking away from the product to pump-up the numbers) and he got the second gate, the worst in Disney history by a large margin, completed for less than half the cost of a nice cruise ship these days. If you want to call that a success, then I guess you're right.<<< Yep, even though I do defend much of WDSP and in the main prefer it overall to DHS, Rasulo really was the catalyst for my current ambivolence/disgust of DLP. He started to really rip the quality out of the place, and frankly, I would rather see it close than be in the state it currently is. Grrrrrr.
Originally Posted By Bolna >>>Staggs has no operational experience of running a business unit - he moved from strategic planning into the CFO office. His 2 year assignment to WDP&R is to make his ascent to the President role more palatable to the board. He will then effectively be Iger's number two and CEO-in-waiting.<<<< <<This is what confuses me. No operational experience.... but he's been given the head of the WDWPR? Now he's supposedly restructuring Rasulo's kingdom? >> Confuses me a lot as well. Also, since he started in strategic planning - my memory might be wrong there, but I seem to remember that that group was considered to be rather "evil"? - why are people suddenly expecting him to turn around and undo what Rasulo implemented? Wasn't he on board with Rasulo's decission as well in a way when he was CFO?
Originally Posted By leemac <<Wasn't he on board with Rasulo's decission as well in a way when he was CFO? >> TWDC CFO doesn't sit on the board of directors - just the CEO. The CFO is a member of the management team and would have been involved in decisions made by that group.
