An Actor's Life in Business

Brososkablog: Leaping Into The Fray

2010-08-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Brososkablog: Leaping Into The Fray
Randy offers a much, much more sober and less acerbic perspective.

Time in Art.

2010-08-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

Having spent a week-long personal retreat in Banff at Interactive Screen 1.0, I have had some opportunities to experience an incredibly diverse range of interdisciplinary art. Admittedly, I have some frustration with some of the art that I experienced. This was more than the "that's not my thing" kind of frustration or rejection that we all encounter at some point. There was a disconnect for me, for some pieces.

First, understand that I have enough communication theory knowledge to make me dangerous, so if anyone has comments to offer that point me in the direction of sources for this area of the ideas presented in this article, please chime in!

At first I thought I was, in fact, experiencing the "I don't get" reaction that is often the case with artwork that is pushing the boundaries and exploring new territories of human expression. Still, this nagging feeling wouldn't go away. Then, during a panel discussion about the nature of art versus design, I began to reflect on my own practice of blending theatre and digital media. I realized that the artist defines a state for their audience.

The challenge for an audience is when they are presented with cues that tell them to expect a certain kind of performance. For example, when an audience is asked to arrive at a certain time, it implies a starting time for a sequence of events that will make no sense if the beginning is missed. If the audience is presented with an opening and closing time, then the implication is that the show has no beginning middle and end. The audience has the freedom to come and go independently of one another.

When artists present work that offer no beginning/middle/end structure when they have set up their audience, even with the most subtle of cues, to expect that structure, they are playing with fire. This can often backfire on the artist and people are left missing the point of their piece. An author would not randomize the pages of a book for effect, why do performance artists ignore the cues they give their audience.

In Banff, I encountered exactly that situation. I attended a piece created by Rory Middleton called "Meet Me in the Woods." In this piece, the audience encounters a musician in the woods. Much like encountering a rare sighting of an elk or deer, the audience is able to observe this musician without the musician's awareness. I had the opportunity to chat with Rory a bit and get a stronger sense of his intentions. I shared my thoughts about perhaps trying to set a range of time rather than setting a start time. That resonated for him because he really wanted to play against the feeling of "setting the stage." In fact, he wanted to turn off a spotlight (necessary because the event occurred at dusk) because he worried the effect made it too theatrical. I am curious to learn if he chooses to offer the time range and what result it has with the audience.

Performance art is a unique blend of the alinear arts (painting, writing, sculpting, etc.) and linear arts (theatre, dance, music). Some performance art places linear art behaviours in an alinear experience.

Time is such an important element in an artist's work. Thinking about the cues that you give an audience as an artist and how you can manage those cues in an effective way is vital. Much the same way an artist might manipulate typeface, colour palette, or tonal dissonance, so too the performance artist might manipulate the subtle messages they send an audience experiencing their work. Intentionally reversing expectations is fine, just be prepared for the ramifications.

Writing Theatre Reviews for Non-Reviewers.

2010-08-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

In light of the recent altercation between non-professional bloggers and professional theatre producers, I thought I would offer up a few tips on how to write a review for those who are not professional reviewers. The challenge one faces is that there is no actual "professional theatre review" certificate or diploma to quantify what exactly constitutes the professional skills and knowledge of a professional theatre reviewer. That said, I have conducted extensive anecdotal research, several field surveys in the gathering places of theatre professionals, and support it with conclusions I have drawn from direct one-to-one interviews with consumers of professional theatre. As you can see, my perspective is well supported and should be taken with great severity and sobriety.

If you follow these simple steps you too can offer theatrical reviews that will avoid nasty acrimonious alacrity and alarm from those you choose to review.

1) Include a synopsis of the plot of the play. Do your research! Make sure you are clear on what exactly it is that you just watched. Don't let your direct experience of the piece fool you into thinking that what you saw is actually what you saw.

2) Praise first! Be sure to identify those who offered excellent performances. Be sure to include at least one main player, because to only single out the less important members of the company can cause serious stress to the crystalline emotions of other members. Comparisons between performers is a surefire way to fracture their tenuous connections. Avoid comparisons at all costs.

3) Make sure negative statements obfuscate your true meaning. When dealing out the inevitable "this sucked" comment, it is always best to wrap your naked truth in a cloak of ornate allegorical rhetoric.

4) Refer to external related (or unrelated) previous performances. These can be references to other productions of the show, or performances by the actors. (NOTE: be careful not to indulge in any direct comparisons, see point 2)

5) Use clever references to academic sounding research. One of the problems a non-professional faces is having to prove that their opinion is valid. The best way to do this is to refer to academic works. Be sure that your references are obscure enough to prove difficult to verify, but still sound smart.

6) Avoid any honest reflection or authentic sounding phrasing. One of the most challenging things a non-professional theatre reviewer faces is the messy aftermath of honesty. It is always best to quell any temptation to place yourself in the line of fire of a defensive artist.

7) Empathize with the artist. Work hard to understand that most artists don't spend time with their audience. They fear an invasion of their privacy and a distraction from their work. After all, if they spend all their time with real people, how could they possibly elevate the stories of the common man to the level required to present on the stage.

8) Be aware of the existing reputation of the actors and the company you are reviewing. If you are reviewing venerated members of the theatre community, be sure to apply a meticulous rigour to your comments to ensure you are not marring this veneration. You are only a non-professional and your opinion is only that of a regular audience member. One phrase amiss and you can topple years upon years of work to build up a house of cards for these players to stand on.

9) Analyze the educational background of the actors. This can provide vital clues to the sanctity of their reputations. For example, in Edmonton, graduates of the U of A's BFA Acting degree tend to have a greater priority to maintain the purity of their craft compared to the MacEwan Univeristy's less pure program. As a result, you can probably be more honest with a MacEwan grad.

10) Reviews should sell tickets. In these times of economic struggle, it is getting harder and harder for theatre artists to earn a buck. As a result, the production quality is always threatened. Edmonton has gotten fat on the high value productions at a relatively low cost. Negative reviews will lead to even lower attendance to the struggling productions. If you want to ensure high quality productions, make sure the mediocre work is well supported.

There you have it. Follow these simple rules and you too can offer reviews that will pass muster with those who have sacrificed themselves to entertain you by showing you a better version of yourself.

Oh, one thing, I am a non-professional rule-writer. I have taken great pains to ensure that my rules have in no way offered a personal perspective, but have been verified through the research methodology discussed above. Any comments on this work that venture into the territory of suggesting that I am a professional, or any direct attacks on my personal reputation will be ignored.

Think Pink! (Daniel Pink that is)

2010-05-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

"...in a moment of youthful indiscretion, I went to law school." - Daniel Pink

I am often inspired by TED Talks. I realize there is a trend for TED bashing and I occasionally participate in such things. I also find that while I disagree with some of what TED has become, I think that the individuals who share their stories and then post them for free are often inspiring and help me re-think. One of these is Daniel Pink's "The Surprising Science of Motivation." This talk makes a case for redefining work, management, and problem solving.

I struggle with management. I am a manager and I despise behaving in managerial ways. I am not a fan of "carrots and sticks" thinking. Much of my success in my career has come as a result of pursuing interests that I would pursue regardless if there was a paycheque or dividend attached. I have been fortunate enough to be able to monetize this kind of behaviour and break out of the mould of "work" that I used to have to do.

Pink's talk reminded me of a great book I once read called "First, Break All the Rules." After I read it, I changed many of the ways I lead. What was interesting was I began to get criticized for being too nice or too soft on those I was leading. Amusingly, even though I was easy-going, work got done, work happened just as fast or slow as it would if I had behaved differently, and I was less stressed out, less contemptuous, and less managerial (with all its negative connotations). Self-serving? Perhaps. I also believe that nobody can be responsible for your happiness, only you can.

So, what is Daniel Pink's big idea? I will summarize what I think he is saying. In today's knowledge economy, extrinsic motivators (carrots and sticks) are less effective than intrinsic motivators (internal drivers like passion and engagement). We are no longer a society of assembly line workers, we are paid to use cognitive skills, and the moment cognitive challenges are introduced to a problem, the efficacy of extrinsic motivators evaporates.

So, what do we do? How do we motivate people? Make sure you have the right people doing the right jobs (figure out what they care deeply about and get them to do that), give them the tools to get the job done without distraction, and get out of their way.

Daniel Pink's ideas reminded me of David Carson's TED Talks answer to the question, "what's definition of a good job?" The answer, his favourite, "if money didn't matter, would you continue doing what you are doing? If you would, you've got a great job. If you wouldn't, then rethink what you are doing because you're going to be doing it for a long time."

Lastly, all of this connects nicely to Nick Nissley's talk at the recent TEDxCalgary. His talked focused on an idea he has termed "narrative leadership." This is the notion that great leaders tell great stories. How these stories are told and what kind of vision they inspire can determine what outcomes are more likely. His example was the term "at risk" in the context of disenfranchised youth. The story of someone "at risk" is to say that they are always on the brink of disaster. Instead, what if the story was about youth "at potential." To tell the story of someone who is "at potential" is the story of someone who might fail once or twice, but because they are have potential, it only makes sense that, in this story, they would continue to realize that potential.

Daniel Pink's Talk - http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/the_surprising.php
David Carson - http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_carson_on_design.html
Nick Nissley - http://www.banffcentre.ca/departments/leadership/faculty/nick_nissley.asp

Growth

2010-05-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." - Mark Twain

I have a friend who is going through a struggle. Her family is more than happy to belittle her ambitions. What a sad thing when your own family can't offer the safe haven from the trials of the world. I have been blessed to have a family who supported me even though some of my choices have been hugely risky and beyond what most would expect a profoundly hard of hearing person to tackle.

Growing up, the idea that I was somehow not the same as all the other little kids in the playground simply didn't happen. In every way I was exactly the same. My only difference was the fact that only heard 20% of what others heard without my hearing aids and with them, I could hear 80% or so, but the missing 20% happened to be the sound frequencies of consonants, birds, high pitched sirens, watch alarms, and really bad speakers. I lived (and still do) in a world of vowels. Imagine a world where everyone talking to you sounded like they had a dental dam in their mouth. Perhaps I should've been a dentist... :)

What amazes me is that, for me, my options and opportunities were limitless. I dreamed of being an astronaut. My family didn't say, "Oh, Owen, you are hard of hearing, you can't EVER be an astronaut." Heck no. My dad packaged up my drawing and designs for a spaceship inspired by SPACE:1999 and sent them off to NASA. We were all stunned when NASA sent back a GIANT package of posters, information cards, and a personal letter encouraging me to continue my studies, work hard and I could be a part of the space program one day. They didn't know I was hard of hearing. All they knew was I was a kid who had a dream and the last thing they were going to do was crush it.

This is why I am saddened when I hear stories about people putting limits on each other. For me, family is supposed to be the safety net that catches you when you fly too close to the sun. For me, family is there to celebrate your victories and help you recover from your wounds.

My kids watched Forrest Gump the other night for the first time. I was reminded what made that movie great. The relationship between Forrest and Jenny is beautiful on many levels. For me, the unconditional love between them make my heart swell. This is what family is. Isn't the world harsh enough? Don't we owe it to each other to just be that safety net?

The next time someone tells me they are going to do something crazy, I will tell them that they absolutely can do it and if it doesn't work out, I will be here for them. I guess that's what Twain was talking about. Why tell a couple of brothers they can't fly rather than cheering them on? Why tell a hard of hearing kid he can't be an astronaut when you can send him a big package of posters and information cards? Why limit someone when you can help them become who they dream to be?

I always tell people, when I am trying to explain empathy, that everyone is a hero in their own story. The next step is to become the hero in someone else's story. When you support, encourage, cajole, cheer or celebrate someone you care about, you take the first step to being a hero in their story. You begin an upward spiral, and you become truly great.

Games as theatre.

2010-05-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Games have always, for me, been a great way to tell a story. What's interesting, is how gaming naturally gravitates to archetypes that can be traced all the way back to ancient forms of theatre like commedia dell'arte. Characters that we expect to see in every form of entertainment can trace their origins back to the archetypes echoed in commedia. And rightly so. Readers of Joseph Campbell will often find themselves seeing the same stories played out over and over across the history of humankind.

What's wonderful about the commedia is that it was improvised. Characters had lazzi that they would perform, but depending on the city or town they were performing in, the various characters would take on protagonist or antagonist nuances. If a town was sympathetic to the plight of il dottore de bologna, then he would be the bumbling kind-hearted professor, who stumbles in at the right moment to save the heroine, or if the troupe was performing elsewhere, the good doctor would become the accomplice of the nefarious Pantalone.

This is where gaming offers some wonderful opportunities to explore this notion of character perspective. Depending on who and how you choose to play, you can immerse yourself in the empathetic perspective of the characters who might otherwise be seen as villains. Sports is very much like this. Edmonton hockey fans have seen their dream team go from top of the heap to the role of underdog. This perspective is very different for native Calgarians who have always seen the Oilers as the evil empire that must be toppled. Who is "right." That all depends. Where are you from?

As an actor, I have had to play characters whose perspective I did not share. It was my job to figure, understand, and empathize with that character. This is a very intense and world-altering thing. What did I get from those experiences? I realized that everything is not as it seems. Good guys are sometimes not all good, and bad guys are sometimes not all bad. I learned that people do horrible things because they think they are doing the right thing. For me, in life, I have learned to let the story play out a little before I begin to form alliances and take sides. It isn't easy, but patience is great for revealing things are otherwise hidden.

Games play an important role, for me, in offering everyone an opportunity to discover the same things I did as an actor. What I would like to see is the game storytellers begin to bring this richness to their work. The Sith are not necessarily evil. It's a matter of perspective. The Jedi are not necessarily good. What if a game featured a Jedi suicide bomber... what if...

From the ashes...

2010-05-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

Well now, never say never. I am officially returning to this blog, and you can thank Empire Avenue for that.

It was really more practical than anything. I enjoy blogging and post on my company's blog (http://www.gurudigitalarts.org) but I don't really have a personal outlet, and it is time that the stuff that I want to personally share is presented separately from Guru's blog. Not to say that the tone of the blog at Guru will change. It's just nice to have a place for more personal perspectives.

That said, I am returning to this blog and all its stuff. I plan to keep to the theme of the thespian perspective, mainly because it is where I tend to bring my thoughts from. I start from the "when I was in theatre" and connect that perspective to whatever I am doing now.

I am working with understanding motivation and what makes people do what they do. I often say, "people are the hero in their own story." I think this is what leads to conflict and tension. One person thinks they are doing the right thing, another person thinks that too. When they realize the things they are doing don't fit together, we get tension and conflict. Simple right?

There is a great deal of talk about empathy. Do people really know what that means? Are people truly empathetic? Empathy can lead to a complete reversal of strategy. Are companies really prepared to do that? Perhaps the courageous ones are.

Empathy is a bit thing, I want to write more on this...

2010-05-06T12:00:00.001-07:00

For EA - EAVB_TSJWKVGYJY

Consolidating and Focusing

2008-02-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

This little blog of mine has been gathering dust, but not due to my lack of blogging activity. I have just come to realize that I am spreading my blogging efforts a bit too thin. I have three right now and I think it is time to consolidate.

So, please visit me at http://www.newglobemedia.com

I am hoping to focus primarily there and keep adding my thoughts on what it means to be a knowledge worker in today's world.

All the best,
Owen

Creative Universe Making

2007-02-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

"I have never found... an enjoyment equal to sitting at my writing desk with a clean new page, a new theme, and a mind awake." - Washington Irving

I have had the pleasure of working in an intensely creative environment these past few months. I make no bones about the talent I am currently encountering in my daily work. It is fun, exasperating, inspiring, exhausting work. I am fortunate and blessed to be doing what I do.

Since last March and more specifically since the middle of November, when the funding finally came in, I have been part of developing a creative property originally called Technosaurs and more recently called the C.I.E. or the Central Institute for Exploration. The project is a creative property that invites tweens to join a secret "kids only" society that is dedicated to exploring the world around them.

One of my favourite tenets we came up with was "seek your own proof." This is such a cool idea and so important to kids growing up in a world that is more and more subtle shades of grey. By combining that tenet with "be respectful of everyone and everything," we are able to encourage our community to not just seek, but also pay attention to everyone around them.

While I enjoy waxing poetic about the ideals behind our project, I also can't emphasize how much FUN it is. The games and the stories we are planning to unleash are cool! I know they are cool because the little kid in me (who is well nurtured, as my wife often remarks) keeps thinking "Oh cool!" I also have two very capable litmus tests who tell me straight up whether something is lame or not. My daughters are both tweens who are merciless in their assessments. I can tell immediately if our team has hit the mark with an idea or not.

Time and again, though, I must take a step back from all of it and think, "does this all make sense?" Sure we are doing cool stuff, but is the world we are creating something our discerning and impatient audience will believe? Is our audience going to suspend their disbelief and buy-in? That moment in Peter Pan when Pan turns to the audience to get them to participate in bringing back Tink is a do or die moment. I think this is the kind of anticipatory anxiety that I have too. Is our audience going to buy-in? I hope so... it is so much fun to play in this place.

Returning to my roots and discovering new growth

2006-08-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

Since beginning this blog, my world has been growing and unfolding in strange and wonderful ways. Since June, I have been involved with and performing a play. This would explain the brief absence of entries I have had. So, I am pleased to be able to resume and share with you some experiences, observations, reactions and connections.

Prior to June, I don't know exactly when, I encountered an old friend at a recording of the CBC radio show "Quirks and Quarks." We were there because my eldest daughter had been invited to ask the panel of experts a question. The Timm's Centre was packed and a fine time was had by all, especially Naomi who had the pleasure of being the only person to say the word "gross "on air as it was a keyword in her question.

After the show, there was a brief reception in the lobby where I chatted with my friend. At one point in the conversation, he inquired if I was still involved in theatre or was interested at all. I replied that his question was an interesting one as I had not had many opportunities come my way to get involved again. Were I to encounter the opportunity, I would most likely embrace it. He told me that he was involved with a Fringe play and thought that I would be a good fit for the cast. He suggested that I get in touch with the director and see what came of it.

I did.

Then I lost the information.

Weeks went by and I got caught up in the activity of my life.

Then I found the information.

I had a feeling I should follow up.

I did.

The audition was the next day. Did I have a monologue. It seems that some memories fade and others are made of a more indelible type of memory ink. One of my old stand-by pieces was still there in my head. So audition I would.

And audition I did. I arrived and performed my old stand-by "Adam", a quirky poem by a farmer poet named Nicholas Biel. I don't normally offer up poems in auditions as they tend to put the make the audience a tad uncomfortable. Theatre directors have learned that "poetry" and actors don't mix well. Adam however is a delightful piece that performs as a monologue as easily as any Shakespearian soliloquy.

In the audition, I also did a few readings. These are referred to as "cold readings" as there isn't much time to review the play or prepare interpretations of the piece. You just read and interpret the words, their meanings and the emotional subtext of the character on the fly. It is a tricky kind of activity and can throw many off their game. I enjoyed the opportunity as the character was one whose thoughts were written directly on the page. I just played it as honestly and openly as I could.

It worked. The director called me a couple weeks later to offer me the opportunity to join the cast. I would play Victor, the oldest brother.

The rehearsal process was unique, but that is another blog post.

After an 11 year break, it seemed I was about to venture back into the bardic ways.

More to come...
Owen

A Logo Story

2006-06-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have recently adopted a logo that expresses a number of things about who I am and the perspectives I bring to a company.

My logo is a globe that appears to be bouncing on a large spring. The tagline I unofficially associate with it is, "I've got the world on a spring." This is a line that feels more like a line from a song (this is a not so subtle nod to Frank Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String") that it does a marketing slogan. I wanted that feeling.

What are the ideas/sentiments that come along with this?
1) I am hard of hearing and it is a self-effacing laugh that I often have with those around me when I inadvertantly hear something other than what was said. It often leads to a mildly amusingly, but often hysterical communications hiccup.
2) This "creative hearing" helps me stay fresh. Ideas are always heard through the quirkiness of my unrealiable hearing. As such, I have learned to re-interpret my hearing in ways that are much like the way Wierd Al Yankovic re-interprets songs.
3) Springs are shock absorbers. Our world, our society, and we ourselves can use a shock absorber from time to time.
4) Springs are random. There are some properties that drive the bouncing of a spring, but if you have ever watched a jack in the box, or bounced on a bungee cord off a platform, you know the sensation of a little bit of uncertainty and random chaos that a spring can provide. Chaos is a wonderfully creative force.

All these ideas play into the logo that I use now. They sum up some key ideals that I wander around with and share with those I work and play with.

OB

The New Game Maker: what companies are looking for in new talent.

2006-06-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

The New Game maker.

This session focused on the skills and knowledge that today's game
developers are looking for in new members for their team. The session
was lead by Ben Sawyer who took on the task of herding the panel
towards the more philosophical aspects of the new game maker. His
goal was not to focus on the technologies and tools that drive so
many of these conversations. Here is what I was able to capture from
the flurry of information that the panel was eager to share with the
audience. Understand that this is my paraphrasing of their comments,
not a direct quote of their statements.

What are the trends you see in the gaming industry?

Greg Zeschuk (BioWare|Pandemic): gap fillers are great, multi-purpose
type of person who can play easily in a variety of areas but also
able to be a specialist... a team player who does one thing great,
but can pinch-hit as needed.

Alan Yu: smaller teams that are more nimble and more innovative,
teams less than 7 seem to be the magic number.

Christopher Erhardt: neat new ideas; average gamer is 29-35 broader
age base; it is getting more challenging for small developers to
tackle new titles on AAA environment, the new game maker needs to use
a whole bunch of tools effeciently;

Sarah Branscom: challenges are about getting content into the games,
resources outside of the game industry to help, communications is a
challenge, potential skill set shortage in areas of communications,
writing and content creation

Amy Bendotti: layering, production team based as opposed to single
person, created more opportunities.

Haden Blackman: interested in how stories are told, simulation based
gameplay is a focus, caused a re-tooling, changing the way that they
think about what a game is

Where is the current state of talent? Where are we lacking?
What new skills?

Greg: Academic background, find a physicist to do game physics,
moving towards more specialized knowledge bases, attracted to a
biologist who codes rather than a coder who knows biology.

Christropher: wants students to have skills that go beyond gaming,
what happens when a person no longer wants to (heaven forbid) be in
the game industry? What transferable skills do they have?

Amy: DigiPen is preparing their students really well for the industry

As a sidebar a discussion ensued around process of game development
and how game developers are meeting the challenges of large team
based projects.
Agile Methodology & Scrum meetings are taking the spotlight in terms
of how teams organize and manage themsleves. One of the panelists
remarked, "I don't know how we ever got by without the scrum."

What can a person do to get attention from potential employers?
Number one: do mods, go do stuff with existing games to show your
passion for the industry.

Future Shock

2006-05-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Future Shock
This panel session focused on how money is being spent by today's
game developers. The comments here are what I was able to glean and
do not represent direct quotes from the individuals named.

$50 M to spend how would you spend it?
Todd: small company, $15M Development, $30M in the bank for interest,
not dictated by budget or time, but dictated by design goals, what do
we want to do, we look at what we want the end result to be and work
back. PC is core base for development. 360 is compelling platform,
architecture is like the PC. have a window into what PS3 devKits. 3
platforms (PC, 360, PS3). Work with Activision,

Ray Muzyka (BioWare|Pandemic): focus, investment in tools,
development of community. Online brand. Immersive worlds, Jade
Empire, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. What are our core competencies?
Story, characters, etc. Long, rich games in order to build depth of
immersion. Build out game engine and focus on community building.
Continuous ongoing support, post-release, continue to support the
iterations of the game. BioWare's mission is to associate its brand
with quality.

Jon: Asian market focus, online games publishing operations
capabilities; mobile, online casual, These games cost about $1M per
game to develop, $50M goes a long way.

Lee: Start with asking "what do consumers want?" Look for trends
evolving, market analysis, portfolio analysis, internal studios work
on what has a high chance of success, market, portfolio, development.
Farm out the riskier projects to external developers.

Management strategy:
Todd: everyone at id is a "doer" let the stars be the stars in what
they are good at and not managers. These "stars" have high level
guidance with the teams, leverage the publisher's skills at being a
producer. Small developer, art, programmers, designers. Make tools
that makes people's time more efficient. The artist's will never be
done. Final artistic task at the end of the process, but managed in a
way that ensures the final artwork doesn't wreak havok with the
engine and codebase.

Ray: gamble is possiblity of the market not being ready to accept the
idea. having more than one focus helps deal with risk. Genre blends.
Multiple platforms...

Lee: there is no silver bullet, everyone is excited about project,
every project goes through stages ranging from excitement to
complacency, a realistic assessment of the game in development cost
compared to the appropriate amount of investment... when do you pull
the plug on a project that is going south.

Console?
Ray: Xbox 360: investment from the publishers needs to... publishers
need to have buy-in and be ready to distribute the title,

Jon: online is based on microtransactions.

Elevation Partners was an opportunity both ways. EP is a private
equity fund.

id is partnering to do a Doom RPG mobile app. Somewhat adversarial
relationship with publisher. Everyone want something more
valuable.... If you have lemons, make lemonade.

How do you feel about the new consoles?
Lee: stay agnostic. Wii is going to have its own market, its own
niche...

Jon: the new consoles cost more and take longer to make new games.
Nintendo DS is blowing away the PSP.

Ray: localization strategy is needed as we look to taking our games
to multiple locales...

What is a casual games?
Jon: 15 minute game play.

What are your thoughts on using Universities for R&D?
Todd: Don't really use for R&D, alot of companies in the area...
Prefer to use people who have experiencial knowledge even on the
amateur "mods" environment. Schools are trying to do real game
development.

What keeps you up at night?
Lee: Development cost. Quality versus cost effectiveness.
Ray: only time I get to play games.

Will Wright Interview at E3

2006-05-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

An interview with Will Wright

Will Wright is the creator of cornerstone gaming environments SimCity
and the Sims through his company Maxis. His most recent creation is a
game called "Spore" that takes the user's exploration of simulated
environments beginning at the micro and through to the macro level.
In this presentation he spoke about gaming trends and the future of
user created content.

Will is trying to create a synergy of biology, chemistry, physics and
astrophysics in a single title. This game focuses on the immersion
experience and plays with a huge set of variables to provide the
level of randomness and chaos that represents the forces of nature we
experience in the real world. Will's experience with game creation
has spanned every level of macro and micro environments ranging from
SimEearth to SimAnts. These titles were true open-ended experiences
that allowed the users to impose their own desire to construct or
destroy the world they created.

Part of the challenge that Wright has faced over the years is
ensuring that the user's mental model of what the game is and how it
should work was consistent and congruent. "The user immediately
develops an expectation of what the game will do and the world they
will experience when they pick that box up off the shelf," says
Wright. The game experience begins well before the game is ever played.

The interview shifted to a production overview and a question of the
optimal development team size came up. The largest team that Will has
work with was around 120 to 140. At this size, many compromises were
made and the effectiveness of the team was questionable. As a result,
the peak optimal team size for Will is about 70 to 75 people. 25% or
less of this team size is associated with content development.

Some points of wisdom that Will shared included (I summarize these
ideas):
- In the absence of good design is bad design, not no design. This
applies the design of game.
- games, like cars, should be designed AND engineered. Don't expect
the player to be willing to learn a whole new set of controls just
for your game.

Perserverance

2006-03-01T06:05:00.000-08:00

"None of us suddenly becomes something overnight. The preparations have been in the making for a lifetime." - Gail Godwin

Funny how some may look at the variety of my various careers, successes and failuers and wonder, "what is this guy doing?" My resume appears to look like a sequence of jobs that would only appeal to an ADHD person. I don't have ADHD. What I have is a desire to actively manage my career. I have a shelf life of two years. Either I am moving up or I am moving out. When I look at my resume, I see a sequence of growth choices. Every job has been a step along my path. I don't pretend to make all the right choices, but even the wrong ones prove to be a preparation for what comes next.

For example, my first foray into the world of work as an Internet professional was at the start of the "boom." The now infamous .com bubble was happening as I made my transition from theatre to IT. I was happy to have a foot in the door on a new career, and everyone else in the game was giddy with the new, fresh world of a wired weirdness. I wasn't out of place. However, my first foray was a bust. I partnered with a person who did not share the same philosophical outlook as I did. He failed me, and I failed him. Did I waste my time? Heck no! This was the first step. It lead to the next step which was an opportunity to build a customer help desk service for a cable provider. The key words here are "cable provider." In 1997, cable providers were not in the Internet Service Provider business and there were no existing models for how a customer help desk for an "always on" cable modem would work. The only metric we had for measuring our success were existing cable television support calls (simple technology with little troubleshooting), or telephony based internet support (complex technology, but short calls due to the inability to troubleshoot and connect at the same time).

I digress. The progress continues. Every step of the way has been some new skill, attitude or knowledge that is building who I am and what I do. So it is with all of us, I think. Each one of us grow, learn, and explore. This doesn't need to be career, some of us see our job as a tool to allow us to be our "true" selves. My grandfather worked his entire life as a custodian in a school. When he retired, he managed to distinguish himself as a wood carver and was quite well known in the Okanagon Valley (his name was Ernie Brierley). Could he have chosen a different path? Yes. Might he have acheived greater things? Perhaps. Was it ultimately what he wanted? I think my grandfather made the choices that he wanted to make. Even if they were choices that he felt forced into. He, on some level, accepted those choices. He loved his family, he loved his wife, he wanted stability and reliability. Did he die happy? I would like to think so.

What he did was persevere. He held onto his dream of being a wood carver for all his life. He was always handy with tools and practical things, but I never thought of my grandfather as creative. His creativity came in the last years of his life. In his own way, he persevered. He kept his dream alive so when the opportunity to persue it, he was able to realize it.

Perseverance is not success. It is not failure. It is neither. It is both. Perseverance, to me, is the doing of whatever that doing is, in whatever capacity you have to do it in. I am a dancer, singer, musician, or athlete. Perseverance is able actually doing those things regardless of the obstacles. I know many people whose perseverance outshines others who have managed to gain fame and fortune doing the same thing.

When we watch someone doing something, we only see the output of their present existence. We don't realize the history they stand on. We don't see the preparation, the growth, or even the starting point. We don't all start from the same place. The next time you decide to criticize, consider this. What is the individual's level of perseverance. Do they deserve your venom or your praise?

This may seem a corny example, but I recently watched some of the "Dancing with the Stars" television series. What amazed me was the fact that this awful dancer was in the finals. He even made it to second place! A much better dancer was cast out by the audience before he was! I had to think on this. It is rare that I am able to see wisdom on television, let alone "reality TV." But here was an interesting story. The audience appeared to resonate and reward this awful dancer because of his perseverance and the fact that he had zero dance training. What they didn't appreciate was the better dancer who had prior training as a girl. She was good, but not as heroic as the dancer who came from nothing and managed to win people over.

Find strength in the joy of doing. Perserve!

- OB

Failure

2006-02-28T22:39:00.000-08:00

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." - Beverly Sills

I have often faced failure. Some failure I have faced in front of many, many people. This is what can happen to an actor. Failure with props, failure with memory, failure with a number of things that can leave most folks befuddled at best and huddled in a fetal position on the floor at worst. I have miscalculated the trajectory of a bicycle and run headlong into a very solid pillar (one of the few on the stage) just before a musical number that I had to sing and dance in. I have had to improvise my way through scenes that just went wrong and all the while keep my audience convinced that what they were watching was fully planned and intended. Even while everything around us on stage may have been failing, they show had to go on... and it did. I am pleased to say that I have never completely lost in the face of some of the most insurmountable odds.

Failure is a familiar tool for me. I was born with a major failure. I have never had 75% of my hearing. This apparent deficit could have been interpreted by my family as a reason to excuse any inability to do certain things. Fortunately, this isn't what happened. My family believed that I could be anything I wanted to be. They empowered me to pursue some of the craziest things. Crazy, that is, for a kid who had to wear hearing aids every day. When I was 8, in 1976, I was determined to be an astronaut. I drew up my plans for a spaceship that could fly into space and then return to Earth like a plane. My dad sent these plans off to NASA. He wasn't going to spoil my dream. I got a whole pile of cool stuff back from NASA including artist sketches of a soon to be launched space craft called the Space Shuttle. I was one of the teeming millions that watched in awe on April 12th, 1981 when that space ship left our planet. I still have the letter they sent. Sadly, I don't have that packet of cool stuff. I think I donated it to one of the schools I attended. The memory of those pictures though are permanently etched on my brain.

So I didn't become an astronaut. I didn't become a Lifeguard, even though I got as far as my Bronze Cross. I didn't become a professional drummer even though I played briefly in a Scottish Marching Band. I didn't even become a famous actor even though I achieved a successful career for almost 12 years and performed roles on stage and television. Sure I have had failures, but were they really?

Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, said "if you want to succeed, double your failure rate." Failure is a tool. Like a hammer, if we don't learn how to use it we will hurt. My perception of failure is different from many and I find myself tolerant where others would not. This is sometimes misunderstood as indifference. Fear of failure is like being afraid of a hammer. Just get your thumb out of the way and you will be fine. Use failure as a tool, get past the idea that failure is somehow wrong or bad or even avoidable and start using it.

It is interesting that childhood is all about failure. Failure to walk, failure to tie your shoes, failure to feed yourself. Children don't stop when faced with failure. They keep on. I think fear of failure is learned. We are taught to fear anything less than success. Even if that success is mediocre and easily won. Most of us would prefer to succeed at something that everyone else succeeds at, than risk doing something that no one else has done and failing.

i cherish my failures as much as my successes. They make me what I am. I embrace them, celebrate them, and share them. There is no shame in it. Even if someone tries to convince you to be ashamed, you don't have to be. The point is to learn from what they have to offer and avoid repeating that pain. We all learned to walk. Why? Because falling down hurt, especially once we no longer had the padding of a diaper on our bums.

Cherishing failure does not mean that the pain goes away. Every failure I have ever had and ever will have stings. Some have longer lasting stings than others, but make no mistake, they hurt. But like all pain, they are also unavoidable and natural. I don't like phrases like, "failure is not an option." Actually it is an option, but what is your pain tolerance? When the pain outweighs the tolerance, the tolerance for failure decreases. Risk mitigation arrives to help alleviate potential failure pain.

So what does it mean to try? Well, real trying is honest and earnest. Half-hearted attempts are intentional failures. They fall in the "why bother" category. You might as well hang up your skates and go home. Invest in your attempts. Invest everything you got. Don't hold back.

Sometimes the flip-side of the coin is our fear of success. We try, we succeed. Oh crap... now what. Now we have to live up to our success. Now we need to practice understanding that success is the same as failure...

OB

Seeing

2006-02-21T22:44:00.000-08:00

"The whole secret of the study of Nature lies in learning to use one's eyes." - George Sand

There is something about the eyes are mirrors of the soul. When I think about what it means to see, I find myself comparing seeing with seeing much like there is hearing and listening. As I was growing up, my parents would sometimes say, "you aren't listening to me." Interestingly, this wasn't a statement that I somehow magically closed my ears (though in my case this is possible; I just turn off my hearing aids). This was a statement that even though I had heard the message, I wasn't tuned into it. I wasn't listening to it. It is a subtle shift. I am not aware of a word in the english language for "seeing" that reflects this same subtlety that is express by contrasting hearing with listening.

Both hearing a listening are active words, you do them at the time that the event is occurring. Seeing is also active. Perhaps this is what drove Sand to choose use the phrase "learning to use one's eyes" where the word "learning to see" would never suffice. The power of comprehension of visual input is all at once survival, entertainment, and meditation. It is the ability to see chaos but to comprehend beauty and organization. Looking at the shape of a cloud we can see that there is huge levels of randomness, chaos, and unstructured disorganization. When we comprehend the shape of the cloud we see incredible tiny actions of turbulence, expansion, contraction, condensation, evaporation, and see the harmony of the whole system.

When I read the book "Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Geick, I was struck by the beauty of what once was completely random and chaotic results from certain mathematical formulae once there was an opportunity to really see what kinds of shapes these things created. They became known as fractals. Mandelbrot and others ushered in the realization that for countless years scientists, engineers and mathemiticians had written these formulae off as "nonsensical equations."

Just because we have trouble comprehending something, doesn't give us the right to shrug it off, rule it out or dismiss it. The same goes for our intuition. Sometimes we have ideas, thoughts, or inspirations that we can't explain. We can't comprehend where these ideas come from. Every single person has them. Some act on them. Others dismiss them as folly. Still others treat them as "holy" or "thoughts put in your mind from the Devil." I place these two last groups together because the interpretation of "holy" or "evil" is really dependent on the perspective. Case in point is St. Joan d'Arc. This is a person whose inspirations were hailed as both "holy" and "evil!" She ultimately died for an ability to comprehend her world on a level that many others could not.

Intuition is a gathering place of the senses. As human beings we are genetically wired to take in all the input from all our senses in order to comprehend our environment. Somehow we are able to go beyond that and move into the realm of intuition. An example is a doctor who is able to comprehend a patients symptoms and is able to offer a diagnosis that is not necessarily a direct result of analyzing the data set resulting from various reports and tests. There are many examples where a doctor has managed to solve a problem through an intuitive sense of what all the data means. Sometimes this gets reported as "well it just didn't feel right" or "I had a gut feeling" or "something was tingling in my mind." I am interested in learning more about the nature of intuition.

Heinlein in "A Stranger in a Strange Land" coined the word "grok." This word means the ability to comprehend something at a level akin to synergy. I have found that I apply "grokking" to an ability to comprehend something even though the data available is imcomplete. We as human beings are also wired to fill in the gaps. "Seeing" sometimes invlolves filling in the gaps or reorganizing the information in order to comprehend it. This can sometimes be very useful and sometimes can lead to unfortunate dismissive behaviour. "This is nonsensical. Discard it," is our brain's way of saying that the observation or input is outside this pattern matching wiring we have. Einstein had trouble comprehending Quantum Mechanics and for many years dismissed it. The theoretical scientist who calculated that 10 neutrinos from the Sun would impact with Chlorine atoms causing them to decay, was unable to have his calculations proven by experimental data for 30 years. He spent most of his scientific career defending what he knew to be true. It wasn't until more sophisticated instruments and new revelations of the characteristics of neutrinos proved that he was right. Just because we have trouble comprehending the Truth doesn't mean it isn't in fact true.

OB

Passion

2006-02-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

"And it will come to the question how much fire you have in your belly." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

As with every creative endeavour, the leader who assembles the team seeks dedicated driven talent. This dedication is often characterized as "passion." The unique spin on this is the middle part of of the first sentence, "... who assembles the team..." Every team I have participated in is based on something that can turn any hot-blooded skinner cold - compromise. Compromise is disguised in many clever ways like collaboration ("I want you two to collaborate on that texture."), direction ("I think that idea needs a little more direction."), and brainstorming ("Let's all get together and brainstorm your idea."). Depending on how this compromise is characterized can make or break the level of passion your team has.

Collaboration, direction, and brainstorming are all valuable tools in the leadership toolkit, but like any tool they can be used for good or evil. The trick is to embrace the creative spirit and encourage the same with your team. What is this creative spirit? An article I read once on unleashing your creativity describes several techniques to enhance your creative thinking. These techniques centre around a return to an almost child-like innocence. Easy to conceive but challenging to do for many.

In my experience, as we grow from child to adult we learn about our environment. Part of that learning includes experiencing pain. Pain causes protective instincts and develops inhibitions. Being teased about your silly dancing. Being advised by a parent that you can't get a job by drawing. These events help us avoid further pain. This can also have the opposite effect for some. The pain is what drives them to excel. They have an axe to grind and something to prove to the world. Both of these can result in a person making their talents a protected and exclusive entity. The challenge is that these talents are now not available for a team. Team passion is all about "play."

I define passion as an ability to sustain an intense enthusiasm. Passion is about the will to suffer the challenges of failures to celebrates the successes. Passion is about approaching each new obstacle with the same enthusiasm and strength of will as the first. Not the previous obstacle, but the very first when you went in with fresh eyes and immense enthusiasm.

Not many people can do this. Not many can look at this kind of activity and maintain that level of innocence. Conventional wisdom says learn from your failures and avoid making them in the future. We are naturally wired to avoid pain. Failure is often painful. But it doesn't need to be. Depending on what you are doing, failure is vital to success. NASA would never have made it to the moon without umpteen failures. The point of failure is to learn.

A fool fails twice at the same thing. A fool punishes first-time failure. It takes a wise leader to understand the power of first-time failure and use it as fuel to drive the passion of the team.

What kills passion? Fear of pain. If failure is punished, failure equals pain. Let's contrast this for a moment. Some say pain means gain. My fitness coach used to drill me with that mantra. PAIN MEANS GAIN! Fair enough, but here the pain is being used as a motivator not as a hinderance. Pain that defeats comes in the form of comments like, "I knew that idea wouldn't work" or "Why did you waste so much time on that?" We all do it. We do it to ourselves and each other. The second a team starts to attack itself, you are dead.

Why do teams attack themselves? Ego. If the team is a group of egoes, it's not long for this world. Even if it is a group of individuals, it is vital that the team think as a single entity where the ego of the team is the shared ego of everyone. One person's idea is not owned by them. This takes a humility and willingness to share that I have not often found. On those rare occasions that I have been privileged to be part of a team that behaves this way, we were unstoppable. In the process we sacrificed our individuality.

Passion is rooted in the Latin "pati" which means "to suffer." Team-based passion is created through the ability to suffer the loss of your individual ego. The trick here is that EVERY MEMBER of the team must do this or all is lost. I sound melo-dramatic, but trust me, the second one individual ego shows up, two things can happen. EIther the team dissipates and you are left leading a group of individuals, or the team ejects that ego and is now incomplete and must go through a process to rebuild and recreate itself. Fact is, the phoenix that rises from the ashes is not the same bird that was consumed by the destructive fire.

Think hard about your willingness to be passionate and your ability to "leave your ego at the door."

OB

Risk

2006-01-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

"And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more." - Erica Jong

Risk is a challenging thing. History is written by the winner. This was an idea that was most poignant when I was reading a delightful book titled, "A Brief History of Everything" by Bill Bryson. Bryson takes time to share not only the souls whose names are taught in schools and lauded by the world for their brilliance, but the obscure and equally brilliant characters who had the same insights, crafted the same theories, but for some cruel reason, lacked the ability to telegraph their message to the world. I learned a lesson here that is a truth about our world. In order to acheive your goals, whatever they may be, you must risk. Sometimes you risk small, sometime you risk it all.

Perhaps the most visceral example of this kind of risk was the birth of our children. I had the privilege of participating in this incredible event. In hindsight, I was really just a bystander. My participation came 9 months earlier. What I marvelled at was the level of risk that my wife had to take. She really didn't have much choice in the matter. That risk was thrust upon her. Childbirth is both natural and incredibly risky. So many things can go wrong. Complications can occur. Death can occur. We were scared.

For me, theatre was all about risk. Every night the curtain went up and the show began, there was risk. Being an imaginative theatre person, it was easy to play out all the possible risks in my mind. What if the audience doesn't laugh? What if I can't hear the music? What if my hearing aid batteries die? What if I trip and fall? What if... What if... What if...

I learned that these "what if" questions I was imagining could either cripple me or empower me. I learned that I could reinforce my doubts if I wanted. These "what if'" questions could help me identify all the reasons not to take the risk. In contrast, I learned that for every "what if" question I could devise an answer and come up with a solution. I could recognize the possibility of failure and meet it head on. I could find courage.

I believe that courage lies in being able to intimately know your fear. I believe that heroes and other brave types are also the ones who know their fear. They don't shut it off or ignore it. They embrace it and dance with it until they are able to channel the energy into action.

Einstein had every reason to doubt himself. Every reason to think that some established physicist might steal his ideas and publish them. He had every reason to keep his insight secret and protected and safe. But he didn't. He risked. Steve Jobs had every reason to be bitter at the company that fired him. He had every reason to doubt that his dreams were technically impossible. But he didn't. He risked. The Dalai Lama has every reason to fear for his life. He has every reason to hide in seclusion and make his teachings exclusive to only those whom he knows he can trust. But he doesn't. He risks.

When I put the risks I face in light of these people and the risks they take. Each of these people: my wife, a great scientist, a great capitalist, and an inspired teacher, all have taken risks that put me at ease with the fears and doubts I have. These heroes of mine inspire me to recognize my doubts and fears. I get to know them well, so that they may serve me in my journey through the risk to the learning that awaits me on the other side of it.

OB

Just do it.

2006-01-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I just finished writing an article about optimism. Let's look at doubt. Doubt is a rationalized fear. I had a very strong doubt of the water when I was 5 or 6. The local swimming instructor at the neighborhood pool gave me that doubt. I had a rather traumatic experience. First, the instructor either didn't know I was hard of hearing or didn't know what to do with me because I was hard of hearing. Either way, the information that was supposed to get to me didn't. This was that everyone was going to jump into the deep end. This was my first day. I didn't know what the heck to do. I had enough trouble with the shallow end let alone the deep end! So, I was put in a situation that I wasn't comfortable with. I panicked. Suddenly my concern grew from a doubt to a deep fear. It stayed that way for several years.

Finally, one day a few years later, my parents announce to me that I am going to go to the local YMCA and take swimming classes. I was not impressed. My initial doubt had grown to a full-blown confirmed fear. Water equals drowning. Drowning equals death. Not interested! I had been in the water. It is a scary place!

Now I was being taken to that same place by my parents who, I thought, loved me. Fortunately, they had arranged with the YMCA an instructor that was prepared to work with a hard of hearing kid who was scared on two levels. First was the aforementioned fear, second was the discomfort at not being able to hear. (I had to take my aids out before going on the pool deck.) The second discomfort wasn't a big deal but it wasn't helping me in the fear department. Over a period of time at the pace that I was prepared and comfortable handling, I slowly got comfortable with the water, then I got comfortable doing things in the water, and finally I started to swim.

What I learned from this experience is best articulated with a "what if." What if I had experienced this calm, easy process the first time? I probably would not have developed and rationalized my fear. Much of the time and energy in those early classes was spent just getting me to overcome my fear. Once I had managed to beat the fear, I was on my way. I went on to take more and more classes and eventually achieved my Bronze Cross. I became an Assistant Instructor and considered going into Lifeguard training.

How often do we allow our doubts to convince us not to do something? The fear of failure. The fear of ridicule. The fear of someone else being able to say, "I knew that would happen." If there is a 50% chance of failure and we have little doubt, it is quite possible we will more than likely take the chance. If the risk is low (or perceived to be low) we will more than likely take a chance. There is very little different between those risks that we doubt or fear and those that we don't. The possibility of failure still exists. "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate." This statement was made by Thomas J. Watson. He was the Bill Gates of the early part of the 20th century. He created IBM.

As I look down the road at the opportunities that lie ahead in my career, I realize that there are some things that are scary. I have my doubts. It is these times that I realize I need to follow the wisdom of my Swimming Instructor. The biggest thing in my way is my doubt. The water didn't change, I did.

OB

Optimism

2006-01-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though limits to our ability do not exist" - Teillhard dy Chardin

I am sometimes criticized for my optimism. I find this interesting because these same critics are, in their own way, optimistic. My entire life is about doing things that "realistic" people would have called impossible. I was born with a 75% hearing loss. I have never had 75% of my hearing. I don't know what it means to hear many sounds that others take for granted. One evening my wife and I were watching a documentary on whistling (we admit it, we are documentary junkies) and much of the show was lost on me. These whistlers were whistling at a frequency that I couldn't hear. My wife was fascinated by this. While she understands that there is much I don't hear, this was a visceral example of what my hearing was and was not.

I have met other people with similar degrees of hearing loss as I have. I am humbled by the fact that my mom was able to teach me to speak even before I was diagnosed with a loss. I am humbled by the fact that I don't have any audible deaf accent. I am humbled by the fact that I have lived my life doing things that many people with full hearing would find difficult, if not impossible.

I received my first pair of hearing aids when I was five. I was about to start Kindergarten and my parents were lucky enough to find a doctor who was willing to pass us on to a specialist who could confirm my hearing and fit me with aids. Amusingly, my mom was too successful. We had a great deal of difficulty convincing the medical community of my situation. I could speak well, I paid attention and I answered questions intelligently. "He'll grow out of it," was the prognosis.

I sing. When I was in Grade Six, I was invited to audition for my home city's All-School Choir. This was a choir that only the best of the city were allowed to join. I made it. I was cast as a First Soprano in the choir. Later, I went on to musical theatre and not only sang, but danced too!

I was bitten by the performer's bug. I loved the stage. I wanted to pursue more. I took acting classes and various mime, clowning, theatresports classes. I was admitted to the Grant MacEwan Theatre Academy, even though at 14 I was technically too young. I eventually was invited to audition for a TV show being co-produced by the CBC and a small theatre company called Catalyst Theatre. I won a principal role and was able to work with some wonderful professionals in the business. Our show went on to win a Special Jury Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and then later, it won the CBC National Prix Anik Award.

I completed High School and decided to pursue musical theatre. I enrolled in the Theatre Arts programme at Grant MacEwan College. This experience gave me opportunities to study voice, dance, acting and work on professional level shows of all types. We produced works by a range of greats ranging from Bertolt Brecht and Eugene Ionesco to Leonard Bernstien and Frank Lerner and Frederick Lowe.

In the middle of my studies, I was cast in two roles during the summer season that would have a profound effect on my life. First was as a chorus member in "Alice in Concert" where I worked closely with the woman who would become my wife; though it took us a further 8 years to get that all worked out. The second was as Candide in Bernstein's "Candide." The musical version of Voltaire's tale of an innocent optimist who is beaten up by a cruel world. I had the pleasure of singing with one of the biggest vocal talents in the world, Iren Bartok. Her voice has illuminated many roles including, and perhaps most famously, Christine in London's production of Phantom of the Opera.

During my professional career as an actor, I had the opportunity to successfully live and work as an Equity Actor (union) for a variety of theatre companies in Ontario. I had an agent, and lived the Life of an Actor. What amazes me is that no one ever told me I couldn't. No one ever said, "don't bother with that, you are hard of hearing and you will just be disappointed when things don't work out."

There are more stories, but the you get the idea. My life has been all about doing things that more "realistic" people would have said no to. I can't help but be an optimist. So much of my life has been about doing optimistic things in an optimistic way. Poets and playwrights wax eternal about love and loss. Has there been loss in my life? You bet! It hasn't been a painless ride. There has been lots of hard work and frustration. Some pretty nasty failures. Those things sting. But that pain pales in comparison to the empowering uplifting and humbling experience of taking risks and succeeding.

OB

Writing My Way to Understanding.

2006-01-13T03:00:00.000-08:00

The devil himself always seems to get into my inkstand, and I can only exorcise him by pensful at a time." - Nathanial Hawthorne

The activity of articulating my thoughts in words is an interesting process of dividing my thoughts from my emotions. The power of the mind to play out entire dramatic renditions of events of your recent or distant past is what makes us humans rather unique. Perhaps other creatures here on Earth have similar things going on in their minds, but I can't find evidence of it. My cat doesn't treat me any differently depending on its recent daydream of my previous treatment of it. This is true of other people though. I do it all the time.

The process to take these dramatic renditions and write them down is both a challenge and a joy. As I work through various events in my work life and try to understand them, I find that the emotion rich environment of my mind can lead to greater drama but less understanding.

In theatre, any play I ever worked on started with some form of a script. From the script I developed a character and built an entire set of fictitious memories to create the illusion of a real life for the character I was portraying. In a funny way, it is very similar to the implanted memories that the Tyrell Corporation put into the cyborg minds of the androids they built in "Blade Runner." By taking these memories off the page and into my head, I was creating an emotionally rich environment for my character.

Writing is the opposite of this. The process of dismantling the emotional landscape from the story and just simply stating the story as I perceived it, gave me to opportunity to reflect and analyze my perceptions that would be nearly impossible in my head. Now my perceptions were separated from the emotions and I could look at these perceptions with a clear eye and find the flaws, gaps in logic, and just plain unfair judgment. Or, I would discover that maybe I was correct in my perception and I needed to look at others around me and do an analysis of them. Ultimately, this process of writing the story helped me find my way to understanding.

Why is this so important to me? I guess because I pride myself on being fair, reasonable, kind, forgiving and understanding. I personally believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This belief is something that is at the core of who I am and how I live my life. So, of course, when I am presented with a person to person challenge, I go into high gear on the analysis. I work hard at finding a common ground. I don't always succeed, but I give it everything I've got.

The devil in my inkstand is my emotional nature and how it can get the better of me. I despise being taken advantage of. I despise seeing others being taken advantage of. I like a good competition when it is played fair and everyone can shake hands at the end. I like to trust my team and I like my team trusting me. I believe that when you get to the top of the mountain you climb down and help others up. I hated the King of the Mountain game as a kid. I played it, but I felt kinda lonely when I was on the top. I wasn't a sissy. I played water polo and lacrosse and rugby...

The point is that we can't rely on our emotionally charged mind to present us with an accurate picture of what is happening in our lives. Ours perceptions are coloured by our emotions. Theatre has been telling the same stories over and over for millennia. Why do we still enjoy them? Because we enjoy the emotional journey. That is what makes us human.

For me, writing is my way of finding understanding. What's your way?

OB

Embracing the Void

2006-01-13T02:09:00.000-08:00

"Something will turn up." - Benjamin Disraeli

Sometimes in my work life I have been faced with voids. The word void here means a big fat "I don't know." In the workplace this can send most people into a panic. Suddenly fear consumes them and they tumble down Maslow's pyramid to the survival mode. I have seen this this panic throw ordinary people into a fight for your life struggle over their position or point of view where they will do anything and say anything to defend their best guess.

What lies underneath the big fat "I don't know," is a small but powerful "I might be wrong." At the core of that "I might be wrong" is a poisonous "I might fail." For many, this is a paralyzing poison. Failure is not an option. Failure is a sign of weakness and in the dog eat dog world of business there is no end of the pain and suffering that can come from being wrong. I exaggerate. But only slightly.

In theatre school and specifically in acting class we were taught to confront this fear of failure. My acting teacher, Ken Brown, used to refer to this as "embracing the void." For an actor this is a very scary place. It is that moment when you have used up all your bits, all your dramatic tricks that you fall back on when you are faced with an unexpected moment. These things happen, and the show must go on. The "void" is the place where you just plain and simple don't know what you will do next.

In these moments, you learn to trust your intuition. You learn to let go of your ego. You become open to new ideas and new possiblities. But before that happens, you must embrace the void. It is chaotic, uncontrolled, and rich in creative inspiration.

In business, teaching, and consulting, I learned to leverage this "embracing the void" thing by realizing that it was okay if I was wrong. I gave myself permission to fail. I also recognized that creative inspiration comes from many places, including other people! By releasing my ownership of my ideas, I discovered that I was surrounded by talent and brilliance. More importantly I realized that I was an equal in that brilliance, not more and not less.

What is sad to watch is a person who's lack of confidence and fear of failure constipates them. Every creative idea they have they must fight for because they are so bunged up, they don't know when they will get another one. Somehow, if someone else manages to come up with something better, that person is now inferior in some way. Sadly too, I have been that person. I have gone through periods of insecurity and fear that have made me fight tooth and nail to protect the precious few good ideas I had.

Part of being able to get past this fear, is the ability to trust. If you are working in a team that is unhealthily competitive or people don't play fair or a manager insists on editing in a brainstorm session, you are likely not going to be able to trust anyone. You won't risk embracing the void. But, if you have a team where there is respect and support. You have a manager who actively follows you, coaches you, and guides you. Taking that leap into the void isn't so scary.

Edison said, "if you want to increase your successes, double your failure rate." Innovation is doing things in novel and new ways. This requires that you throw out your bag of tricks.

Don't worry, something will turn up.

OB

On Writing and Subtext

2006-01-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

"The Soul lies buried in the ink that writes" - John Clare

Something that an actor spends a great deal of time thinking about is something called subtext. Simply put, subtext is the words beneath the words. If you have ever read a script you will see that there is a great deal of room for interpretation. Unlike a novel, where the writer is able to suspend time and imbue character interaction with descriptive narratives that leave no doubt in the reader's mind what the various character's intentions are, the plight of the playwright is to create a script where this extra layer is carried by the performer.

Let's look at an example, "I love you." Depending on the context of the situation, this seemingly obvious statement can be said a variety of ways. The playwright creates the scene and provides the actor with as much background as possible, but ultimately the control of how this line is performed is up to the actor himself. It is what the actor's mind is saying, the subtext, that colours the words that the actor's mouth speaks. It is incredible how subtle yet powerful this is.

I saw this same thing happening in the business organizations I worked in. Email is a fast and effecient method of communication. It is also ambiguous. The reader colours the subtext of the email with their own understanding of the writer. If they perceive the writer to be an inspiring team player, they will colour the words of the email in a completely different way than if they perceive the writer to be a condescending misanthrope.

Combine that with the use of email as a shield for those workers who lack the confidence and trust to speak directly to someone they have difficulty communicating with and you have some serious miscommunications happening in the office. I found myself not only observing this in others, but also in myself. I realized that I was sometimes "reading into" the email subtleties that weren't necessarily there. Suddenly, I found myself drawing on my acting skills to work through these difficult emails.

The first thing I would do is to do what I could to understand the writer. What are they trying to accomplish? What do they think they are saying? Sometimes I would force myself to read the email aloud with a smile on my face. Done honestly, I can discover some nuances in the message that you might have missed. Also, I would take the email to a trusted associate or objective third party and discuss it with them. This removes all the subtext that you read into the email and ultimately can expose perspectives I might not have seen. As I got better at re-interpreting these emails, I found that I was able to more easily work with the difficult person.

On the flipside, I have also found that some people come across very differently in email than in person. I have encountered individuals whose email character is completely different from their face to face character. While their personality might be short and abrasive, their emails are eloquent and patient. In these cases, I often try to ensure that before any face to face dealings I have with them, I re-read their emails to help filter what they say and do in person.

All in all, I have found it is important to remember the power of subtext as a tool for understanding myself and my co-workers. I am no saint, I don't always react well to email and have been known to over-react at times, but my acting skills have saved my butt more than once!

Creativity is Messy

2006-01-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

"Blot out, correct, insert, refine...
Be mindful when invention fails,
To scratch your head, and bite your nails."
- Jonathon Swift

Art is pristine, creativity is messy. The creative process in any vocation is guided by technique. This technique cannot be allowed to hinder creativity. Technique refines and shapes and perfects. Creativity gives you the material to apply technique to. Over the course of my two careers, I have had the privilege of working with some of the most creative people. I like to count myself as one of them. Creativity is a talent but, like any talent, creativity alone isn't enough. Creativity plus technique results in a

What amazed me with the creative process we all followed was how much time was spent building, and tearing down. The creative process was not one of create, refine and finish. It was messy. It was a pursuit of something less scientific and more organic. Singing, dancing, acting, music, fine art. All of the Arts depend on creative talent to take the technique to the next level. The same could be said of sports, science itself, and... you guessed it... Business.

There are formulaic aspects to everything. What people sometimes forget is that the formula grew out of something messy. Even mathematics are messy. A good friend of mine, who is also a mathematician, told me once that a book on mathematics can't be read like a novel. Mathematicians don't start on page one and read to the end. They read and re-read and work and play with the various problems and proofs presented. The highly readable "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson is full of anecdotes of science and its messiness. This is science at its most creative.

One of my mentors taught me many things about being a great manager. This included the idea that you manage the individual. This was further supported in various books on management that I have read. This is messy management. All of a sudden you can't treat everyone the same way. Throw out the Golden Rule! A friend of mine said, I prefer to use the Platinum Rule. "Treat others they way they want to be treated." It really is the Golden Rule framed differently. This is management at its most creative.

A recent issue of "Mind" magazine talks about creativity in an article titled "Unleashing Creativity" (Volume 16, Number 1, page 16). The article discusses how some unique cases of fronto-temporal dementia, a dementia that selectively damages the temporal and frontal lobes. The symptoms are almost a dead-ringer for the reported behaviour of Vincent Van Gogh in his later and most creative years. Others who suffer this dementia see an incredible growth in their creative powers. The article contains a sidebar that describes steps to a creative mind-set. Creativity is not something that is controlled, rather it is something that, as the title of the article suggests, is unleashed.

In today's work world, creativity is essential. Tools and technology have pushed the limits of productivity. To gain that competitive edge, workers must use a high level of creativity to prosper. Every level of an organization must view conventional wisdom with fresh eyes. Ideally, throw out conventional wisdom altogether... but that is another blog entry!

OB

Surrounded by Genius

2006-01-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

"Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour." - Henry David Thoreau

I have been fortunate to work with some of the brightest talent I have ever met. Part of my career included several years as an instructor of New Media and I met a great many talented people. Some I had the privilege of teaching with, others were my students. I have even been able to work with my former teachers. All in all, I have met some people with gargantuan talent.

Thoreau's words resonate for me because I have discovered something. In order to follow your own personal genius, you must first know it. I equate genius with talent. I think most people would agree that those people who are credited with genius in a particular field also had that difficult to define thing that few others have. I don't think I have ever met a genius who wasn't passionate about their field. With every great talent, I have also discovered that they know what they are talented at and what they aren't.

My wife told me about an article she read recently where a painter, who was applying for a grant, was asked to write an essay about his art. His reaction was, "I am a painter! If I could write an essay to inspire you, I would be a writer! Asking me to write about painting is like asking an architect to do a dance about architecture." Follow your genius, but first figure out what your genius is. How many of us are continually asked in our work lives to excel at something we just don't have a talent for?

I just finished reading the wonderful book "First, Break all the Rules." In this book the authors define talent as "a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behaviour that can be productively applied." The idea here is that great workers have something they do that makes them great at their job. Just like the talented artists I know.

While I was working for a telecommunications corporation, I met someone who had a gift for fact gathering and information research. This was a great thing because I have a talent for taking information and organizing it into a cohesive whole. I hate research. I can do it, but I just don't have a passion for it like I do assembling a bunch of facts into a cohesive whole. This couldn't have pleased my co-worker more, because he hated trying to put the facts into a narrative. If it were up to him, everything would be bullet points.

As a result a partnership was born. This is another thing that is described in "First, Break All the Rules." Great managers and great workers don't bother worrying about fixing what they aren't good at, they find a partner who can excel in the areas they don't. Jobs & Wozniak, Gates & Allen are a couple of popular examples of this kind of partnership. In my home city, a hugely successful entertainment computer gaming company, Bioware, was formed by a partnership.

With this in mind, it is possible to not only look for and recognize the genius in yourself, but also the genius that surrounds you. Every person you meet, including the hotel cleaning person, is a genius at something. The authors of "First Break All the Rules." use the cleaning person as an example. They identified cleaning staff who excelled at their job and interviewed them. They found that those people who excelled had a passion for what they did, did it very well, and stood out. They had a "talent" for their job. This can be said of any profession. Lab technicians, real estate agents, call centre workers... you name it, there is a way to excel.

On a personal level, I saw this in action recently. I hired a company to build my garage. They were amazing! The garage was built in one day. I chatted with the construction team a bit, and they LOVED what they were doing. They were motivated and self-managed. They worked so well as a team they behaved like a well oiled machine. When the inspector came to review the work he took one look and asked who built the garage. I told him. He replied with, "they're the best."

It is rare that I meet someone who has acheived genius in an area and isn't passionate about what they do. They know their stuff inside and out. On a technique level, they can dance circles around everyone else, except other geniuses. Da Vinci experimented with different types of paint. Kurt Browning loves the mastery over every muscle in his body where to the point that he doesn't have to think about technique. Talent and technical mastery go hand in hand.

Knowing your talents, recognizing genius in those around you and partnering with those who are strong where you are not or don't want to be. If you can manage to put these things into action, you will be on your way to genius.

Villains in the Workplace

2006-01-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

One of the wackiest things I learned while I was in Theatre School was doing a character analysis of a villain. You see, the best villains are rich, deep, compelling characters that pull you in. Sure you can have your over-simplified obvious stealing candy from a baby archetype. Those are easy. The tough ones are the ones that you really need to get inside and understand. While I was studying, I heard an interview with an actor famous for his villains. His goal was to understand his character so well that he started to see his character as the hero. This was crazy. What do you mean the bad guy is right??!! That is insane... oh! wait... If the villain sees himself as a hero. If he sees what he is doing as the necessary and right thing to do... Bingo! This is what gives nightmare-ish fellas like Dr. Hannibal Lecter more depth than your garden variety moustached, black-cape wearing, "nyah-ah-ah" sniggering and ultimately flat and predictable villain.

What does this have to do with the workplace? Everything! We see villains all over the office. The snide and gossiping co-worker. The overbearing and nagging boss. The aloof and condescending executive. They are all over the place. The nice thing about theatre is that the characters tend to be more exaggerated than real life.

In one of my very first jobs in a private telecommunications corporation, I ran into a villain. This guy was mouthy, smart, snide, rude and a real bully. He was impatient and argumentative and I had to work side-by-side with him. How the heck was I going to survive? I am not the type to go to my manager with every problem. I try to work it out myself. I had to figure this bully out.

I decided to start asking him some questions. I asked him about his school life, his likes and dislikes, his friends. As I got to know him, I realized this guy wasn't a bully. I discovered that he was mouthy because he really cared deeply about the decisions that people were making. I discovered that his lack of patience was because he really cared about the perfomance of the team. I discovered that in his mind, this guy thought he was being the hero and everyone else around him was playing the villain. Suddenly, I could understand him. Because I could understand him. I could work with him.

This work relationship came to a turning point when he and I were working on a project together. We realized that we both had skills and talents that meshed. We also realized that we both respected each other for our individual strengths. As a result, we not only worked together, we had fun working together. A friendship was created. He has since married and is now a father. We stay in touch and I am proud to count him on my list of long-term friends.

I credit my previous experience in the theatre with giving me the ability to remember that people are multi-faceted and not flat cardboard charicatures. By analyzing and thinking about why he was behaving in ways that were villanous to me, I was able to get to know this person that I originally perceived as a villain. The old saying, "walk a mile in another's shoes" comes to mind. By understanding I was able begin to trust him. This had the wonderful effect of being able to change through persuasion... but that is another blog entry.

Not all villains are like this. I have worked for some who I just didn't understand, and others that even though I understood, I couldn't empathize with their perspective. But I still use this technique of trying to understand and then to empathize with those who appear to be villains to me. It often works and is worth it.

OB

Turning Corners

2006-01-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

As I write this post, I am turning another corner in my career life. For the first time, ever, I have been asked to resign from my position. This is a first for me and I am in the midst of navigating uncharted territory. Not to say that I am some kind of perfectionist, it is just that I have been fortunate enough to be proactive and be the "dumper" not the "dumpee." Now for the first time, I am in a transition that I didn't plan for. What a rollercoaster! My emotions have ranged from despair to lividity. I have been concerned and worried about my direct reports and pissed off that they didn't protest and walk off the job in support of me when they found out.

The last time I felt cast adrift like this was in 1994. I had just found out I was about to be a Dad. I went to work to share the news and was informed by everyone there that the company had gone into receivership and I was out of a job. At that time, I was still pursuing my theatre career and I was working part time at an Art Supplies store. It was then that I decided to shift the focus of my career from the arts to business. You can take the boy off the stage, but you can take the stage out of the boy. I was lucky that this shift happened at about the same time that the Internet was starting to take a serious hold in my home city. I took a couple of courses and stepped into Business Life.

What I soon discovered was that my Theatre training didn't leave me. If anything, I was using this experience in "the Business" to survive in business. I was applying my skills and talents for character analysis to learn more about my co-workers and superiors. I was using my creativity to help in brainstorming meetings. I was leveraging my comfort in front of an audience for presentations and I was constantly utilizing my skills of improvisation to handle unforeseen challenges with people, technology and even office furniture.

I am now embarking on an adventure in corporate training. I am going to be tackling a wide variety of topics related to Business Communications. The past 11 years in business has put me in every setting imaginable. I attribute this to the incredible pace that most people in the Internet related field have been allowed to grow. I have worked in private, public, and institution (post-secondary school) business. I began at the entry level (on a Help Desk) and worked my way into management and executive level positions.

Now I want to share the stories from the past 11 years and take you on a trip of an actor's life in business. Think of it as my pot of spaghetti and I am throwing it out there for anyone. Some of these stories will "stick" others won't. Some might inspire and others might make you laugh. Ultimately, I hope you will come away looking at your life in business a bit differently.

OB