But enough about me, How did you like my last movie?

Mark wanted to meet for lunch. His idea, he said, was to learn more about my background and experience. “Bring your portfolio and/or samples of your work,” he said “I know you like to write since I’ve read some of your stuff but I’d like to know more.” Naturally I was flattered. I am my favorite subject. I am happy to talk about myself. I’m not sure Mark is fully prepared for what he’s gotten himself into. He assures me that he is. The result was a three hour monologue.

I’ve had an interesting career journey. The things of which I am most proud do not fall neatly into those pithy but memorable mnemonic devices that business coaches recommend. I could certainly engineer such disingenuous statements as “I managed the strategy and execution around this product launch for the wholesaler segment that resulted in over $2 Million in sales in year one,” or “I lead corporate communications for a architecture/engineering/construction firm, earning over 3 million dollars worth of media exposure, that resulted in new business wins of over 100 million dollars for the company,” but in my heart I know my efforts are never that solitary. In fact I don’t believe anyone can honestly claim that their greatest successes can accurately be described in such definitive terms. Maybe a sales manager can get away with a claim like, “I improved sales performance by 83% in my territory,” but  doesn’t that tend to discount the efforts of manufacturing, distribution, customer service and operations? Come on. No man is an island. Furthermore, isn’t is a bit unfair to the previous territory sales guy who managed to keep the company in business during the economic downturn in spite of lackluster sales numbers?

“I’m looking for threads in your career journey,” says Mark as he enjoys his hamburger at the sports bar/tavern we chose for this meeting. “One thing I notice is you are about strategy and execution. You have solutions and you know how to get it done.” Very nice. Thanks for listening Mark.

Net-Net. I’m happy to tell you where I’ve been and share career highlights. It takes about three hours. Or, even better, let’s talk about your biggest marketing challenge and invest three hours brainstorming ways to improve your chances of out-thinking your competition, earning market share, delivering value and improving profitability.

Docents visit Chrystal Bridges (AR)

Robert Indiana LOVE sculpture

Three Questions…

During the weekend of November 9, 2012, 39 members of the Laumeier staff and docent team traveled by bus to Bentonville, Ark., to experience the first anniversary of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The best thing about the trip was travelling with Laumeier Docents and Friends, experiencing the wonderful indoor and outdoor spaces at Crystal Bridges, looking at and talking about the architecture, the setting and the art collection. Sharing our knowledge, experiences and responses with each other—it’s what we love! The trip to Crystal Bridges is one of the continuing education opportunities offered to Laumeier Sculpture Park active and honorary docents; it’s also an opportunity for new recruits!

Fieldtrips to other museums, to view collections and observe other docents in action, offer both educational opportunities and camaraderie. The Crystal Bridges Museum itself is site-specific architecture at its best, fitting naturally and jubilantly in the landscape. Although we had read about the museum and shared articles, including the celebrated purchase of a Rothko painting—the value of which is rumored to be from $25 million to $57 million—we were all blown away by the magnitude of the collection and the building itself.

We toured inside and out, enjoyed the Crystal Bridges Documentary Film Public Premiere in the Great Hall and hiked the trails. A few of the Crystal Bridges docents and staff visited St. Louis during the 2011 National Docent Symposium and graciously returned the hospitality with their “Greatest Hits” tour. My greatest hits tour would have included personal favorites, a smaller sculpture by Jackie Ferrara, reminiscent of our Laumeier Project, 1981, as well as work by Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Ursula von Rydingsvard and James Turrell’s, “The Way of Color,” 2009—worth getting up 45 minutes before sunrise to see!

I enjoyed the exhibition, “Moshe Safdie: The Path to Crystal Bridges”! Would love to tour Safdie’s earlier buildings, especially “Habitat 67″; what a different approach to public housing compared to our current discourse about the Pruitt-Igoe public housing disaster showcased in Juan William Chávez’s “Living Proposal: Pruitt-Igoe Bee Sanctuary, 2010-2012,”on view at Laumeier through January 20, 2013.

What I liked least about the trip was there was not enough time to thoroughly enjoy the collection—which means I will have to go back!

What would I have changed? Definitely scheduling more time to look and explore on our own the life-long learning opportunities across every bridge, yes every bridge, at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art!

– Clara Collins Coleman, Curator of Interpretation

This post by Clara Collins Coleman originally appeared in Laumeier blog in November of 2012. I was on this trip and enjoyed the place thoroughly. 

Rothko No. 210/No. 211 (Orange) 

There was an Old Man from Nantucket

There was an Old Man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
His daughter, called Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

- Anonymous

Moral Entrepreneurship

You stand on a street corner and you hear a screech and a crash. You turn quickly and you see the crushed fender, a mother and child and the driver of a pick-up truck. You are an eye-witness but in point of fact you really don’t know what happened. If you are a member of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) you might jump to the conclusion that the driver of the pick-up truck has been drinking. If you are member of the local chamber of commerce, you might insist that this accident would have been avoided if a traffic light was in place at that intersection instead of a stop sign. If you are a misogynist you might automatically assume the fault lies with the woman driver. Maybe texting is to blame for the lack of careful alert driving. Maybe someone was smoking pot. Maybe the child should have been in a car seat. It was an accident!

Children are needlessly struck down at their elementary school. A tornado strikes with almost no warning. Patrons of a movie theater are assaulted and indeed terrorized resulting in a death toll. A citizen is killed by a commuter train as a press photographer helplessly photographs the impending doom. In each case the news media, influenced by floods of social media input, desperately tries to make sense of it all. Twitter blows up. Controversy ignites. The news windows are filled with righteous indignation and shoulda coulda woulda speculation. Special interest groups shape stories of how things might have happened differently. It’s almost silly. We are overloaded with information and yet we still don’t have the facts. The power of crowd-sourcing suggests we ought to have a POV on guns…on video games…on drugs… alcohol…on safety…on security…on diet, exercise, health, fitness… The list goes on and on.   

Gadflies and Moral Entrepreneurs who take it upon themselves to persuade us to make policy from particular moral viewpoint really like to seize the day. Isn’t it sad these horrific events have to happen to trigger such activism to make the world a better place? Isn’t it a shame crime that it seems to take images of the horrible to incite political action? I wish we would all take just a moment to remember the dead, aid the wounded and pray for innocent victims everywhere. And, of course, take measured steps to understand ways to mitigate the worst in the future.  

Morgan's rules for managing MarCom

1. DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO.

2. FINE TUNE ROUTINE.

3. BE DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT DEADLINES.

4. HAVE A BIAS FOR ACTION.

5. ONE COMPANY - NOT AN ISLAND, NOT A SILO.

6. BE A DRIVER OF BEST PRACTICES

Sporting News Goes Digital

The Sporting News, an American-based sports magazine which was established in 1886 and became the dominant American publication covering baseball so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball" and it eventually covered MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA men’s basketball and football and occasionally other sports.

Today, Sporting News is owned by Charlotte– based American City Business Journals, a subsidiary of Advance Publications. However, after years of existence as a weekly publication, the magazine switched to a biweekly publishing in 2008. Then, in 2011, it was published in print  only monthly. December 2012 rolls around and the magazine announced it would go digital-only  in 2013.

The proud tradition that began in St. Louis and was nutured as a unique brand for 127 years, The Sporting News is now going digital. This, of course, is consistent with the overwhelming trend. Daily newspapers, magazines and printed material in general.    

Sundance on Track

“Quiet on the set,” the director calls out from behind the camera. “Now Sundance, I know it might feel awkward but I need full frontal nudity from Destiny, our pole-dancer in this tracking shot and therefore you cannot be so close in. The camera will naturally foreshorten things and you will only be in the frame for 4 seconds.”

Sundance was thrilled to get the call from the casting agent who pulled his 8X10 glossy and bio from the stack of local New Orleans characters. As an adult continuing education student at the community college, he’d been making straight A’s in Theater Performance Methods, Acting for the Stage and Improvisation. He was a natural and a character actor to be sure. It was one of his instructors who encouraged him to apply as an extra in this film.   

“And roll sound. Action.”

“Oh, for crying out loud Sundance, we can’t have you method-acting differently on each take. What’s your motivation? Puhhhhlease. Your motivation is to gently place the folded bill on the hip and allow Destiny the opportunity to turn, shake a little bit and smile. That’s it, for Christ sake! Now let’s see if we can get it right this time. Do you need anything from the craft service? Somebody get Mr. Sundance some peanut M&Ms before we roll again.”    

“Destiny, I know that’s not your real name but I like it. Are you getting tired?  Because you have been running through my mind all day. Ha Ha Ha. Are you from New Orleans? You know I have only a short list of credits since I started acting professionally. All this business of showing up at a particular place and time…And the waiting. My acting teacher, she’s a 35 year old version of Julia Roberts, only prettier. Well, she said I really need to treat this like a job. Maybe she’s right, the time I’ve spent with you today has been a real pleasure, I must say. Want an M&M? Never mind …the director and camera crew are coming back.”

“Oh Jesus. Can someone from wardrobe get Marlon here another T-Shirt. Is it that hard to eat M&Ms?”

Fictional account of something entirely possible in the world of Sundance Morgan.
Blog: Bunker Mentality
Post: Sundance on Track
Link: http://morganstudioeast.blogspot.com/2012/12/sundance-on-track.html