Bill Capodagli – one of the “40 Hottest Business Speakers on the Association Circuit”

http://meetingsnet.com/associationmeetings/trends/changing-booking-focus-1001/index4.html

Tucson Unified School District - Seize the Opportunity and Put on Your Superman Cape!

Technorati Tags: Tucson Unified School District,OMA,Innovate the Pixar Way,Educational Reform

As an author and management consultant, I have had the distinct pleasure to research and feature the Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) student achievement program in my latest book, Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground. The program is unique, a sort of “test case” for TUSD…and recently, I’ve learned that the administration is wavering in its support of this wonderful arts-infused curriculum.

I am not a professional educator, yet I am passionate about educational reform in our nation. Over the past thirty years, I have studied dozens of innovative educational programs. My work takes me to numerous countries where I presented the innovation, customer service and leadership principles of both Disney and Pixar to thousands of educators. My message has always been consistent: the business community must get involved in their local educational process for two reasons: one, because the public school system is not preparing students for the business world; and two, the public school system is not working!

Consider these statistics: U.S. businesses spend $3.7 billion on remedial training for high school graduates entering the work force; 33% of all incoming college freshmen need to take some form of remedial mathematics or reading education; and our national high school graduation rate is 69.2%. We are not only failing to provide an adequate education to our children, we are failing our teachers as well. 50% will leave the profession within their first five years.

Rather than adopt innovative teaching methods such as OMA, most school districts are throwing money at the problem, hiring more special education teachers, and labeling disruptive children as ADHD for which they recommend drugs. Since the vast majority of classroom environments are boring, dull and unimaginative, who is REALLY to blame for the disruptive behavior? For decades, it seems that most schools support teaching on auto-pilot! Insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results.

The Tucson Unified School District has a chance to really make a difference in the lives of students. Lucky Tucson…most school districts do not have such a wonderfully Pixar-style vision of collaboration and arts integration. You have the opportunity and privilege of supporting OMA, a proven innovative approach to education that not only addresses the important fundaments of reading, writing and arithmetic, but also the fine arts of music, dance, opera, and art.

I hope and pray that the U.S. will soon realize the urgency for creating a brand new educational system. I have not yet seen the new documentary Waiting for Superman, but I have read many of the reviews and feel it will enlighten more citizens about our educational crises.

Tucson has a unique opportunity to put on that Superman cape and show the rest of the country how to make the educational experience exciting, thought-provoking and magical. Will you leap tall buildings with a single bound or will you be like most other school districts that will sit around and just “wait for Superman?”

HRM TODAY FEATURES INNOVATE THE PIXAR WAY

Technorati Tags: Bill Capodagli,Pixar,Pixar Culture,Innovate the Pixar Way

HRM Today; feature article; Pixar’s Eight Beliefs that Create a Culture of Passion; October, 2010; http://www.hrmtoday.com/featured-stories/pixar%E2%80%99s-eight-beliefs-that-create-a-culture-of-passion/#more-26787

BILL WILL BE WRITING A QUARTERLY BLOG FOR HRM TODAY!

Pixar President Ed Catmull Coming to Michigan!

Ed Catmull will be speaking during the 2010 International District Export Council conference “Capitalizing on America’s Export Advantages in Green and Innovation”

Technorati Tags: Pixar keynote,Pixar,Bill Capodagli keynote

being held in Detroit from Oct. 24-27.  For registration, go to www.decconference.com or call 248-975-9600.

Ed will speak about innovation and educating business owners on export opportunities.

Bill Capodagli Speaks at FAE Centro Universitario

www.gazetadopovo.com.br/posgraduacao/con

Bill Speaks in Curitiba, Brazil on October 5, 2010 – Article translated from Portuguese to English via Google Translator

06.10.2010 | 00:01 | Breno Baldrati
Communicating by errosRSSImprimirEnviar emailReceba news by celularReceba boletinsAumentar letraDiminuir letraOnze films, eleven hits and, for many, a few classics. The history of Pixar, producer of animated films like Toy Story, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, it should serve as inspiration for Brazilian firms, the American consultant Bill Capodagli, author of Behind the Scenes at Pixar. He did talk yesterday on the first day of October. Mondays Management, done by SAF University Center. To Capodagli, who studied three Brazilian companies to prepare for the event, the great lesson of the Pixar executives to the country is the "fun atmosphere." He said in his research, rarely a Brazilian official described his day job as fun. "Sometimes you have to do crazy things with his team's work," he says. See key excerpts from the conversation with Gazeta do Povo.
In the book, you said quite Pixar's philosophy of encouraging employees to see the world through the eyes of a child. What this means for a company?
As children, we dream about anything within the reach of our imagination. There comes an age when we start thinking more like an adult, and creative thinking is limited. Pixar allows its employees to develop this time of childhood imagination. I think most organizations would do this.
How? What are the incentives for that to happen?
There are several ways, and they are listed in the book. One of the crucial things that organizations should teach is improvisation. Teaching employees to react to a stimulus in the right way. The question is not what my boss would like me to say now, "but talk about his true feeling about a given subject. Create an atmosphere of fun is also important. John Lasseter [a key Pixar animators] says that a lot, "one works hard here at Pixar and many, many hours are committed to produce an animated film." But he points out that employees also have much fun, and is so that creativity flows.
The two founders of Pixar, Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, the book says, believe that "art is a team effort." What makes Pixar and how companies can improve working together?
The greatest thing about teamwork is collaboration. All members of a team are as important as everyone else. Ed Catmull says that it is often questioned about why Pixar always have great ideas. He always replies that he agrees, arguing that you can give a good idea for a mediocre team and they can spoil it. Likewise, you can give a mediocre idea to a good team and they can turn it into a great animated film. He believes it's all a matter of having a good team and all members have responsibilities, even small ones. The main thing is to make everyone feel they are contributing to the success of the final result.
This also has to do with the autonomy of employees?
Yes, the continuing directors making the decisions, but everyone can give a two cents. Another most important thing that you see on Pixar and does not happen much in other organizations is transparency in decision making. There they are made of a clear and transparent to all the employees.
And why do companies have so much trouble with this question of transparency?
For decades we have promoted leaders who carry that image of being the toughest, who make things happen. The youngsters come on the market and seeing it begin to imitate. At Pixar, this cycle was broken. Companies need to understand that this business model no longer serves the world today.
His lecture speaks specifically of how Brazilian companies can learn from Pixar. In his research on the companies here, what most impressed him?
I researched three main businesses: Embraco Bematech and Neogrid. In Embraco, one of the interesting things I saw was the company's collaboration with universities. They work to prepare students for the real world, not to the world of textbooks. And 40% of new hires come from these partnerships with universities. In Neogrid, one of the things they do very well is the communication of their objectives. Many companies put their mission and values to employees, spend time to define them, but do not internalize these issues. The mission and values become just words on paper. In Neogrid, they have regular meetings to reinforce these values and mission of the organization. Companies need to do that anymore. We can not implement a value in just one meeting. You have to constantly reinforce the idea.
From what you observed, what companies here can learn from Pixar?
Creating an atmosphere of fun. I think that no employee of the companies I've heard described his day job as fun, except the research team and development of Embraco. There, in the "park" as they call this area, employees are even encouraged to spend several hours a week on projects that may not even have any relation with the company's product lines. I think having fun.
How to create this fun environment?
You have to let it happen naturally. Do some crazy things and strange with your team also helps. One thing that Pixar does is lead staff for a ride once in a while. For example, take them to an art gallery and then make them think about how art is like the product they sell.