I've been watching Scan.me for some time now. I saw Garrett Gee at a Utah Launchup event in Provo a while back and was very impressed with his startup enthusiasm and his ability to make things happen. I've also been vaguely acquainted with Kirk Ouimet.

I just created my own QR code (links to my portfolio site):

Yes, I'm shamelessly entering the current Scan contest right now. 

"Click Here" Problem

If you'd like to learn about that interesting thing, click here.

 Can we please stop the use of "click here" as link anchor text? The use of "click here" is akin to using "push button" as the text on your car's radio station buttons. The only time you may want to use "click here" is if you have no access to formatting and a link looks like regular text. Let me be clear, though, it's 2012 and a link will always look different from body text.

 Instead, you should put the link on the object word you're referring to. For example, I really like bananas and you should go read about them.

Focus in

I've been having some thoughts lately, about my career goals. I've been doing something that college students do--jump from one major to another without really choosing one. I'm doing this with my skillset. I know some will say that it's nice to be a "jack-of-all-trades," but actually trying to become so makes you just that, a jack. First, people don't take you too seriously, and second, you waste a lot of time bouncing from one skillset to the next. Meanwhile, your peers become ever more qualified, marketable, smarter, etc. in their chosen field.

Everyone knows the that "guy" in every company who does everything. He'll design, write code, manage the server, do email marketing, online marketing. This guy is the "super soldier," and though he may be pretty good at most of those things, he'll inevitably fall behind in one or more areas. That "guy" was me at one company and in some respects, it was nice. I had people coming to me from every department asking me to do such and such.

It's time to focus. It's time to become a guru. That doesn't mean I'll leave my interest in other areas behind, I'll just have to turn them into hobbies.

Now for the hard part... deciding what I'm going to do. I'll get back to you on that.

... and this is me atop San Marino. The End. 

What United Airlines Should Have Done

As we were looking at flights today, naturally, we noticed some flights by United Airlines. The first thing that came to my head was the catchy tune, "United breaks Guitars." Indeed, I doubt we'll ever fly with United--and I wonder how many potential customers share our opinion.



United failed in many respects. I learned that they eventually replaced Dave Carroll's Taylor Guitar. But how many people know that? Most only know his side of the story--the side that says that United Airlines breaks guitars.

How much money has United Airlines lost because of a youtube video? I wouldn't be surprised if that video has cost United millions of dollars.

Obviously, you can't put lipstick on a pig

First things first, United should have never broken the guitar. Second, United should have reimbursed Dave's money for the broken guitar after the first call. These are simple actions that could have saved the company lots of grief.

Had I been in charge of PR, this is what I would have done

The day is July 6, 2009. Dave Carroll has just posted his video to Youtube and I notice that it's getting social media traction.

First, I pick up the phone and call Dave. I offer him the deepest apologies I can muster and immediately offer to buy him a new Taylor guitar.

Then I offer Dave a free roundtrip flight to any vacation destination.

I also publicly apologize to Dave on United's Twitter account. I begin having meetings to get an outside consulting firm to help us improve customer service. I also meet about the baggage crew and how loading and unloading can be improved.

I publicly post that I'm performing these actions on the company blog. I even create a catchy infographic that shows how we're changing our baggage handling processes. I say "We're sorry, and we're fixing it."

If it makes sense, I ask him to visit the United Airlines headquarters in Chicago (a free flight to Chicago included, of course) and perform for the Chicago staff. I also offer to pay him somewhere around $20,000 to do the concert.

If he says yes and comes to Chicago, I then get an events team and a video team together. We shoot the entire concert and any conversations Dave has with the staff.

That video goes on Youtube. I tweet the video from United's twitter account.

Come to Salt Lake City, Mozcation!

Let me tell you a few reasons why Mozcation should come to Salt Lake City:

• Salt Lake City houses some very large Search Marketing companies: BlueGlass, Adobe (Omniture), SEO.com, MWI, 97th Floor.
• Utah is a hotbed of smart people. With two world class universities (Univ. of Utah and Brigham Young Univ.) within a short distance of each other, the SLC area is full of many technology/marketing geniuses. Because of a lower cost of living in Utah, many large technology companies have moved offices and even headquarters to Utah: Microsoft, HP, Adobe, Mozy, Ancestry.com, Overstock.com.
• Salt Lake City is the home of the urban outdoorsmen (and women). Because SLC is so close to the mountains it attracts people who seek a culturally diverse, urban home, coupled with the freedom of enjoying the outdoors. Activities within 30 minutes of downtown SLC include rock climbing, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, etc. I'm under the impression that many of you SEOMozzers love the dual lifestyle.
• SEOMoz's SEO tools (there, I gave you a decent link) are loved by the SEO community in Utah.

The Core Beliefs of an Ad Agency

We believe that art is the secret weapon of great business. It is what makes the deaf suddenly hear, what make the blind see. Notice, however that we are interested in making art that serves capitalism. We like keeping score. We like to win. We like the clarity of it. In the end, art combined with business is bigger art. Business combined with art is bigger business.

This was some copy I found on Goodby Silverstein & Partners' Website (not a very usability friendly website, I might add).

I like what they're saying here but I'm not so sure about the equation, "art + business = bigger art." Perhaps if the meaning of "bigger" is defined as "more accessible," I can see how business advertising can achieve this. I would assume that more of the world's population has seen the corporate artwork of Coca Cola and Disney than of Da Vinci's "Last Supper." However, if bigger is supposed to mean better, or more inspiring, well, then they are way off base.

The last sentence just makes me happy. I went into advertising because I love art and design, but I still wanted to make a decent living (not that one can't make a great living working purely as an artist, but I believe it's much more difficult to do so). Can you imagine a world in which business lacked art? It would be like living in a Communist community where all the architecture is stale and synonymous. Thank goodness for capitalism and that it rewards the artistic.

What did you think about the quote, "art combined with business is bigger art"?

If Microsoft really wanted to come back, Steve Ballmer needs to go

Microsoft stock price in the last 5 years:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=MSFT+Interactive#symbol=msft;range=5y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;

Time to buy a Mac for a Designer

I'm finally making the jump from a PC to a Mac. The deciding factor? Money.

I'm a designer with a lot of focus on user experience. You may wonder why I haven't been using a mac all along. Well, Macs are expensive and I've always had a PC. I remember when my dad brought home our first real PC. It was a Dell and the computer box was almost the size of a microwave. Hard drive space? A whopping 4GB. Since then, I've built my own PCs--always getting a nice CPU with extra RAM.

Do I have any affinity for Microsoft? Not a shred. In fact, I've decided that Microsoft's pathetic excuse for a browser, Internet Explorer, is my mortal enemy. I will rejoice on the day that IE officially loses the dominant market share, and I will sing the "Hallelujah" chorus when IE officially dies...

I think a designer can get by on a PC, but a Mac just makes life so much easier--Faster, simpler functionality and interface; no sudden system crashes; no endless system upgrades; and the list goes on. Most importantly, with a Mac, I won't get the awkward looks from people who learned that I was a designer on a PC.

Macs are sleek, beautiful pieces of engineering finesse and artistic design combined into one. It's no wonder that Apple can ask a pretty penny for its products. Because it's Apple.

No Humanity in the Chinese Government, I Could Not Refrain from Posting this

In lieu of the recent Nobel Peace Prize granting to Liu Xiaobo, I did a little more reading about the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The cowardly, corrupt Chinese government will pay for it's crimes against innocent people.

I feel for the Chinese people in their oppressed state. I cannot sit idly and watch a corrupt government of more than a billion people oppress and abuse it's citizens. However, I don't know what I can do to help the Chinese gain freedom. Hence this post. Watch the video below:


The key to freedom for the Chinese people will be information penetration. There must be some creative way, with the technology of our day to penetrate the Chinese firewalls and keyword blocks.

Chrome is just fast

That's my reply to people who ask why I use Chrome. It's faster than any browser I've used, despite what folks say about Safari.

In fact, it's light years faster than Firefox on my laptop. When I go to type something in the URL box and realize I'm in Firefox, I will copy and paste what I've already typed and enter it in Chrome. That's how much faster Chrome is to me... Fast enough that I'll switch browsers in the middle of my query.

Now, you may be asking why I still use Firefox. One reason: Firebug. Sadly, I can't fully give up Firefox until a better version of Firebug (should it Chromebug?) is developed for Chrome.

Inception

Powerful piece of music. Minimalistic--simple melody.

Converting Local time to Unix Timestamp in Javascript

After some thought, I finally was able to come up with a javascript solution to convert the local time to a Unix timestamp.

Basically I used a few main Javascript functions: getTime(), getTimezoneOffset()

The first function (getTime) will convert the time we get from the Date() function, into a UNIX stamp. Unfortunately, when we convert this string, we won't get the local time, but the main UTC.

This is where I had to use getTimezoneOffset(). This function finds out the difference in minutes between the main UTC and your local time zone. I'm going to use the number I get from getTimezoneOffset and subtract it from the UNIX timestamp number I created. But getTimezoneOffset() is in minutes, so we'll have to convert it to the data type of the UNIX timestamp, which is milliseconds. Thus, we'll have to multiply it by 60,000 (60 seconds in a minute, and 1000 milliseconds in a second).

Below is the code I finally used (put this in a script tag):


var theDate = new Date();
var theTime = theDate.getTime();
var localMil = theDate.getTimezoneOffset()*60*1000;
document.write((theTime-localMil));

Race, Gender, Class in the media - How to teach your kids to realize the stereotypes

For my class in Gender, Race, Class in the media, we studied some of the psychological theories behind learning and socialization. As part of our group project, we presented a research paper concerning proper techniques for helping children to be aware of negative stereotypes and how to utilize positive ones.

Jacob Rascon, a member of our group, wrote an editorial about the issues behind many children's animated films, such as Lion King, Cinderella, and Aladdin.

I was fortunate enough to design the editorial for an 11x17 layout:

The Lion King, Disney Princesses, and Rising Above Negative Media Messages
By Jacob Rascon

Remember ‘the circle of life’ in The Lion King? What was that all about? Lions are at the top of the food chain and are therefore naturally better than all other animals—especially hyenas, who deserve their poor circumstance?

That doesn’t sound like the Disney I used to know. Remember when Princess Ariel gave up her voice? Why did she sacrifice that plus everything she’d ever known for a prince she’d never met? Not sure, but hey, she kept her looks...

Read More

Advertising for Queen Elizabeth I

After a little bit of work, we came up with this: 

Text:
Why Queen Bess?

Her Highness Will

• Improve England's Industry and Trade
• Victoriously stop the war with France
• Promote the Arts

How to deal with Millenials in the Workplace

Many companies are already getting a head start on learning to understand and take advantage of a Millenial workforce by hiring consultants or attending management seminars. Extensive research has already been done on Generation Y--they've learned about their habits, values, and interests. In this section we'll discuss what companies are doing now to (1) recruit Millenial employees, and (2) handle some of the management issues associated with Millenial employees.

Recruiting

As Baby Boomers retire, the numbers of people working will drastically decrease. The American Society of Training and Development says that in the next 20 years 76 million Americans will retire with only 46 million to replace them. With this downward trend, companies who want talented employees will have to work harder to find them.

Some companies have already resorted to non-traditional recruiting slogans, such as Xerox's "Express Yourself." The campaign is geared around one of Generation Y's core values--to "develop solutions and change" (Armour, 2005). Because of the campaign, Xerox has been able to recruit top talent from the Millenial pool. Other companies are using different methods like leveraging their workplace diversity. "Gen Y is one of the most diverse demographic groups —  one out of three is a minority" (Armour, 2005).

Some companies, such as Abbott Laboratories in Chicago, are going above and beyond to hook Millenial recruits by "telling them about company benefits such as flexible work schedules, telecommuting, full tuition reimbursement and an online mentoring tool" (Armour, 2005).

In the Workplace

As was stated earlier, Millenials don't make their jobs the most important part of their lives. They seek after flexible schedules and fun activities. Along with many other internet companies, Zappos.com has taken a new approach to the office environment. In order to break up the sometimes monotonous workdays, Zappos has included interesting games and parties. Correspondent Morley Safer from CBS spoke of Zappos' office this way: "Actual work, actually happens, despite goofy parades, snoozing in the nap room, and plenty of happy hours" (Textor, 2007).

Because of the sense of entitlement that exists in the Millenial demographic, Millenials aren't afraid to question authority and voice their opinions. Parents of Millenials have treated their children more as friends and thus Millenials dislike some traditional corporate formalities in the workplace. In order to provide better atmospheres for Millenial employees, many managers are allowing first-name correspondence. Some managers have even resorted to embarrassing activities in order to gain the trust of their subordinates. Motivational consultant Bob Nelson said, "I've worked with managers that have, if we make this goal, they'll shave their head type thing; or they'll be in the dunk tank at the summer picnic. When a senior manager's willing to do that is, it says we're all in it together" (Textor, 2007).

Growing up with no winners or losers, Millenials have difficulties with criticism--especially during performance reviews. Furthermore, Millenials need a lot of praise to keep motivated. One ad agency, Campbell Mithun, has employees complete self-appraisals before supervisors get a chance to interview employees on performance. Campbell Mithun's executive vice president of human resources, K.C. Foley said, "This way, our supervisors can give recognition and provide specific feedback to millenials, as well as have an easier time reaffirming or expanding on growth areas. There are fewer surprises this way" (Stillman, 2006).

Another management issue plaguing employers is how Millenials often change jobs because of boredom. Millenials are steroidal multitaskers. A typical Millenial may have the ability to check email, text, read the latest news, chat with a coworker, and perform the work he or she is paid to do all at the same time. Routine tasks often result in more multitasking behaviors and eventually job changes. Some companies have used stricter technology usage policies but this usually produces negative results with Millenials. One company, Ecolab, found that offering "extra-curricular" work activities for its employees helped to break up routine work. Kris Taylor, director of community and public relations at Ecolab said, "Where some may be overwhelmed to sign up for one more project on their to-do list, we found that millenials jumped at the opportunity to get involved in a special project and were more engaged and excited because they were asked to participate" (Stillman, 2006).

Sources:

Armour, S. (2005, November 8). Generation Y: They've arrived at work with a new attitude. USA Today. Retreived from http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm

Stillman, D., & Lancaster, L. (2006, June). Here Come the Millennials. Twin Cities Business. Retrieved from http://www.tcbmag.com/industriestrends/feature/71261p3.aspx

Textor, K. (Producer). (2007, November 11). The "Millennials" Are Coming [ Television broadcast]. New York, NY: Central Broadcasting Service. Retreived from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/08/60minutes/main3475200.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Is Star Wars Racist?

This essay was written as a discussion of the existence of racial stereotypes  and critical cultural theory in Star Wars. Feel free to leave me a comment. I'm open to debate and comments.

Ideologies, Connotations, and Polysemy in Star Wars: How to deal with race in space

One cannot deny the existence of dominant ideologies inherent in Star Wars. George Lucas' study of archetypes and his world views contributed to the film.

Star Wars clearly denotes an epic science-fiction film. Many light viewers of the films probably only see it, consciously, as such. Connotatively, the film has many meanings. From the viewpoint of this paper discussing race, we see such connotations as who a hero is and who he must become. How must this hero be mentored and by whom? Star Wars also connotates the meanings of good and evil--that there are even specific colors that signify good and evil: white and black. The film also messages about the existence of minorities, or aliens—how they are viewed and what their roles are as either dangerous encounters in our hero's journey or as assistants in helping our hero succeed.

In the original star wars films minorities have very sparse roles. The dominant roles are taken by Caucasians: Luke, Han Solo, Obi Wan Kenobi, Leia, and Darth Vader. Luke is mentored by Obi Wan, who acts as a patriarchal figure. Obi Wan has great wisdom, greater than that of Darth Vader and Luke learns to trust Obi Wan.

The dominant reading from the Star Wars saga speaks of ethical rebellion—that one must stand against immoral rule. Luke epitomizes the archetypal hero who goes from being an ignorant farm boy to a wise and skilled warrior for good. In the story, he and the Rebels stand against all odds in their fight for truth and freedom. Because they fight for good, they ultimately triumph. This notion of the oppressed revolutionizing is the backbone of early American thought.

Another dominant reading is that basic Jedi principles of self-control, consistent training, and a motivation for good, are the preferred principles that can make one become “good” and a hero.

As all artifacts contain potentially infinite interpretations, Star Wars is no different. Synchronic polysemy exists as different audiences view the film. Those of Christian backgrounds idolize the righteous qualities of the Jedi and the Rebels. Protestant faiths apply the protestant, rebellious for good nature of the film to their own faiths. Conversely, those of eastern religions might see the films as mirrors of buddhism, hinduism, and shinto. The spiritualism of some of these eastern religions appear in Star Wars, such as the spirits of the past who frequently visit Luke to offer him counsel. There is no supreme being in Star Wars. Those who die are melded into the Force, which acts as an energy field guiding and moving through all life.

Those of other races will also view the films differently. Anyone who is a minority might see a dominant oppression that exists in the films as well as in society. Minority racial groups will develop resistant readings of Star Wars:

• One can start in a lowly state and achieve greatness only if that person is a white male. Luke becomes the greatest Jedi master in the galaxy while any minority groups, such as aliens and droids retain their roles as supporters of the hero.


• It is implied that minority groups are unintelligent, misfits of society, and criminals. For example, Jabba’s lair represents the ghettos of the Star Wars world. His lair, prinicipally made up of aliens, is filled with criminals running from the law, prostitutes, and drug dealers. Another example is the signification of the noble savage in the ewoks. These side-role characters are technologically and religiously primitive and their principal purpose in the film is to suppor the main characters.


• In the scheme of power structures, “whiteness” is superior to all other cultures. This is apparent in the differences between the dark side and good side of the force. Sith Lords are always dressed in black. Any scenes set inside the imperial vessels use primarily dark grays while the Rebel vessels are white. This black vs. white evidence is most notable by Darth Vadar. Vadar, who dresses in black, has an African-American voice (James Earl Jones). Only at the end when he becomes “good” and Luke removes his mask, do we see his true appearance as a white male.

Note: It is safe to assume that supposed elements of racism in Star Wars were not deliberate on the part of George Lucas. However, our environment affects what we produce. In this way, the surrounding culture during the 1970's dominated the dominant ideologies in Star Wars.

3 Morning Tips to Give Yourself a Delightful Day

While I was in a meeting this morning, @danbischoff related some very wise counsel. He said he'd been thinking about it when he arose for the day. He spoke of the 3 most important things to do in the morning in order to start the day off right and make it a good day:

1. Wake up naturally or to music: If you practice going to bed and waking up at a set time consistently, you'll be able to wake up naturally


2. Don't look in the mirror: When you look at yourself in the mirror, most likely you'll think you're ugly. Just don't let that kind of negativity in by not looking in the mirror.


3. Make your first correspondence positive: Whether it's your spouse, roommate, or a driver on the road, make sure you smile and say something nice.

Understanding each other's time perspective

This lecture really stood out to me. Perhaps my time perspective differs greatly from others.

Professor Phillip Zimbardo talks about different time perspectives (there are 6 different ones): Positive and Negative Past, Present Hedonistic, Future oriented, etc.

Suicides Among Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) Cast Members

In mid-April, Franck, a Euro Disney Chef, committed suicide. As one might be expect from a company with such a family-friendly image to uphold, the news of the suicide was quite controversial. As one blogger noted, “The image of chain-smoking, suicidal Frenchmen may not be quite the image Disney is going for at the Magic Kingdom” (Turley, 2010). Furthermore, this suicide is one of three that have already occurred this year among Euro Disney employees--two of them chefs. The other chef committed suicide by throwing “himself in front of a train after working in conditions which a trade union spokesman called ‘humiliating’ (Roussel, 2010).

Franck committed suicide on the day he was to return to work after a period of sick leave. Ten days after the suicide, a note was found in his home reading, “Je ne veux pas retourner chez Mickey” (I don't want to work for Mickey any more) (Lichfield, 2010). The note only added fuel to the controversy as many earlier voices had already pointed fingers at Euro Disney in causing the suicides.

These suicide incidents have been compared to last year's suicides among France Telecom's employees (Souchard, 2010). In 2008 and 2009, France Telecom dealt with 35 employee suicides and 14 of those are “considered directly linked with the company's managerial techniques – such as pressuring employees to change jobs or giving them work the employees considered ‘devaluing’” (Hall, 2010).

Many workers unions have taken the recent suicide as opportunities to pursue better working conditions for employees. Fortunately for Disney, all but one of the unions, Force Ouvrière (FO), agreed to cooperate on a "social audit" of the parks to assess needed improvements in working conditions. FO would not make any compromises and continue to pursue its own agenda. While passionately condemning Disney for the most recent suicide, the FO website read, “I remain convinced that the tragedy that has happened could have been avoided” (Mboe, 2010). The other unions have condemned FO for "exploiting" (Lichfield, 2010) the sensitive suicide incident.

Euro Disney believes the suicides were not direct results of employment conditions at the resort. Jeff Archambault, vice president of communications for Euro Disney  stated, “We do not accept that either of these tragic events [the suicides] can be directly linked to Disneyland, Paris. But we do recognise that, with the financial crisis, all of us are under increased stress. At home. At work” (Lichfield, 2010).

While many have pointed fingers at Euro Disney’s working conditions as the cause of the suicides, Disney has been working in accordance with French law. According to one report, Disney’s employment practices had been certified a day before one of the deaths (Frost, 2010). Just after the suicide, Euro Disney issued a press release detailing the company's long- and short-term actionable plans to pursue better psychological and physical health among its employees.  The press release also mentioned that the company would analyze current working conditions among its employees--the so-called “social audit” (Manologlou, 2010)

Many have speculated about the effects the suicides and their subsequent press coverage have had on Euro Disney. On a recent poll by About.com, 48% of respondents said the incidents weren't cause for forming negative opinions about the park. These respondents concluded that with such tragedies, specific causes are difficult to pinpoint and that “many workplaces are stressful” (Traub, 2010).

And yet, it seems that French public opinion still holds a bad taste for Disney. Consequently, many Disney employees have been led to find relationships between the poor working conditions and the suicides. One Euro Disney employees, Herve Saumade, a maintenance worker, said, “What we sell is something wonderful. We sell smiles. We sell the happiness of children. We all love our jobs, or what our jobs represent. But in the last few years, there has been a new management approach, which has, in many cases, made our working lives intolerable” (Lichfield, 2010). The FO also accused Euro Disney of a poor management structure that led to too few employees for too much work.

Employee suicides linked to poor work environments conjure many questions to be considered. First, what was the cause of the tragedies? As suicide is such a complex and individual issue, the exact causes will probably remain unknown.

In the case with the France Telecom suicides, after thousands of layoffs, remaining employees became de-motivated or depressed because their job security had decreased. These employees also had to increase their workloads in order to make up for a smaller workforce.

In a May 2010 report issued by Euro Disney, attendance dropped along with revenue while costs remained the same (Manologlou, 2010). Clearly, the current global economic crisis has affected Euro Disney. But an economic crisis will put a great deal of strain on any business. However, when these economic crises arise, how should a company like Euro Disney handle cost-cutting measures like layoffs, higher workloads, and fewer employee benefits and resources? If circumstances allow, this might be the time for a company to cash out its reserves (if it has any) and spend more in order to keep employees and continued benefits. This is not only good for operations, but also good public relations. Perhaps, Euro Disney needs to rely on the revenue of the other Disney parks during poor economic crises situated in Europe. 

This may also be an issue of cross-cultural management styles. Historically, the French have never been wholly gleeful about a Disneyland Paris. In 1992, when the park was first opened, many called it “a cultural Chernobyl” (Corliss, 1992). American Disney executives need to understand the cultural differences of the French working styles. They need to be prepared to accommodate their French employees in ways that respect their culture while still upholding Disney core values. In short, an understanding of culture needs to be reached and compromises to the current system must be made.

While two of the suicides were committed by chefs, perhaps a detailed audit needs to be taken of the food department. Is there a manager in the food department who is running his or her employees into the ground? The said manager may be younger and less experienced than some of the other staff, while the employees who committed suicide were fairly seasoned employees. Many of the unions claimed that in the last six years, a younger management has taken over in the park (Lichfield, 2010).

After the social audit, when and if Disney decides to restructure policies and organization, I would submit that better motivation factors need to be put into place for employees. Promotions need to be made to employees who have worked at the park for long periods of time.

Giving the chefs in the food department more recognition might also help to stem problems of depression and job dissatisfaction. One idea might be to allow the chefs to greet and eat with guests during meal character greetings. Another idea would be to reward chefs who perform admirably the opportunities to create new items for the menu at their respective in-park restaurants.

On a more general, park-wide level, management should allow employees the opportunities to perform more diverse roles, thus breaking up the monotony. An employee who works as a ride operator in the morning, might enjoy the experience of waiting and greeting guests at a restaurant in the evening. Maybe an employee in custodial might be given the opportunity to perform crowd control during one of the shows.

Another future plan for Euro Disney might be to instruct managers to become more mindful of their employees’ stress levels and attitudes. They should be instructed on how to read suicide warning signs among their employees and how to offer them assistance from the proper counseling services. It would also be wise for Euro Disney to hold motivational, team-building workshops. They could hire corporate behavioral trainers to offer motivational lectures and confidence building exercises.

From a public relations perspective, whether the suicides were directly caused by Euro Disney or not, the ensuing negative press can be devastating to an already financially stressed company. It would have probably been less expensive had Disney noticed the warning signs of poor working conditions and deficient management and corrected those problems.

As most companies have already realized, running a large corporation in the 20th and 21st centuries is not all about profit and loss. Providing optimal human resource settings can be a delicate task.

References
Corliss, R. (1992, April 20). Voila! Disney Invades Europe. Will the French Resist? Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975357-1,00.html
Frost, J. (2010, April). Cast Member suicides shock Disneyland Paris family. Retrieved from http://thedisneyblog.com
Hall, B. (2010, April 10). Fresh Probe on France Telecom Suicides. The Financial Times. Retrieved from http://www.ft.com
Lichfield, J. (2010, May 6). The dark side of Disneyland Paris. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk
Manologlou, L. (2010, April 23). Euro Disney Increases Measures Aimed At Employee Well-Being In The Workplace [Press Release]. Retrieved from http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/CORP/EN/Neutral/Images/uk-2010-04-23-chsct-measures-employee.pdf
Manologlou, L. (2010, May 11). Euro Disney S.C.A. - Reports 2010 First Half Results [Press Release]. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/euro-disney-sca---reports-2010-first-half-results-93379954.html
Mboe, G. (2010, April). Disneyland Paris: an Employee Commits Suicide. Retrieved from http://www.eurodif-fo.com
Roussel, C. (2010, April 2). Suicides shock France's Disney park. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk
Souchard, P. (2010, April 9). France Telecom Suicides: Authorities Probe Dozens Of Mysterious Employee Suicides. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Traub, C. (2010, April 2). Disneyland Paris Investigates Worker Suicides. Retrieved from http://goparis.about.com/b/2010/04/02/disneyland-paris-suicides-probe.htm
Turley, J. (2010, April 5). The Unhappiest Place on Earth: Paris Disney Experiences Rash of Suicides Among Complaints Over Working Conditions. Retrieved from http://jonathanturley.org

The Many Faces of Machiavelli

This is Machiavelli

He wrote a book called The Prince

In the book, he tells rulers how to maintain stability and hold power

Many rulers have followed his agenda

Now it's common to refer to the devil as 'Old Nick'

Machiavelli's first name: Niccolo

Below you'll find a vector image of Machiavelli, I created. Move the transparent images, below, over this image of Machiavelli to transform his face into another person. Can you guess the people I've turned him into?

 

Well, you probably guessed it right: Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin.

These despots all learned from Machiavelli and utilized some of his principles in their rule. Napoleon wrote extensive notes about The Prince. Hitler was affected by Mussolini, who read and followed Machiavelli's The Prince. And Stalin kept a copy of The Prince on his nightstand.

For this project, I created a framed image of Machiavelli with transferable Plexiglas sheets showing the other faces.