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the-master-cylinder · 4 years

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Empire Pictures/Tycin Films (1986-1987) “At the time everyone was talking high concept so I said let’s do RAPISTS FROM OUTERSPACE.” Charles Band bought the film released as Breeders as well as Mutant Hunt, which Kincaid shot back-to-back. Director Tim Kincaid was rewarded with a long term, ten picture deal with Empire in which some of the films will be made under his Tycin Films banner and others under Millennium Pictures. The latter will include some bigger budget items. Make them for under $1 million each on 10-day shooting schedules, back to back. Kincaid explained that most of the Tycin features will be produced for direct-to video sales probably through Empire’s own Wizard Video. The remaining films will see a theatrical release.

Although filmed after Mutant Hunt, Breeders (1986) was the first to land on video store shelves aided by a stylish pulp-influenced poster. Though no censors could get at his script Kincaid did have a domestic overseer. “My wife is very much into making sure that women aren’t being ripped-off in these films,” he said. “We had a lot of nudity but we weren’t brutalizing women on screen. Everything is implied. Variety speculated that BREEDERS went out on video because of problems with the rating board, but we had always planned to make it an R-rated film. Nothing has been cut for the video release.”

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The climactic scenes of BREEDERS take place in the monster’s underground lair, where it has created a nest for its victims. Kincaid filmed in a series of catacombs under the Brooklyn Bridge, used by workers who built the structure. There are vast rooms with brick and stone archways, the largest of which is a prayer room used by the men before they went into the depths to work. Kincaid learned of the location from BREEDER’s makeup effects man Ed French.

The monster’s victims were to be seen immersed in a pit of translucent slime actually gelatin. But with the actresses disrobed and immersed, the jello failed to gel. Kincaid was wary of adding the chemicals necessary for fear of harming the girls.

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“The art director jumped in a van and headed for the nearest supermarket,” said Kincaid. “He brought back ten pounds of flour and we poured it into the pit. It worked, but unfortunately it turned it white and gave the scene these sexual undertones that we never meant for it to have. The girls ended up working in the stuff for four or five hours-until 4 a.m.”

Necropolis (1986) Reincarnated “Satanic Witch” from New Amsterdam, circa 1600’s comes back to revive her cult members by sucking the life force out of people.

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Robot Holocaust (1986) Just outside New Terra (whats left of New York City), Neo, a drifter from the atomic-blasted wastelands, and his klutzy robot sidekick arrive at a factory where slaves labor to fuel the Dark One’s Power Station. He meets Deeja, a woman (Nadine Hart) who convinces him to help rescue her father. The father is a scientist (Michael Dowend) who has invented a device that can break the Dark One’s control over the factory slaves. Gathering a motley crew of allies on the way, Neo goes to the Power Station to confront the Dark One’s evil servants.

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Mutant Hunt (1987), which Kincaid calls an adventure film with a science fiction background” finds Manhattan in a state of terror as Z, a mad industrialist, alters a squad of cyborgs with a drug known as Euphoron, turning them into crazed killers. The cyborg’s original creator is imprisoned by Z, but his sister escapes and seeks the help of Matt Riker, a private operative.

Kincaid directed MUTANT HUNT in 15 days, stretching the budget to give it more value and making up the difference by cutting corners on BREEDERS, putting that film in the can in only eight days. Empire is easily the most prolific distributor of genre films and their tactic of using both theatrical and video markets to release their product should enable them to keep a constant supply of films flowing to the fans. This is fine with Tim Kincaid, who seems to get a genuine joy out of making films, even on restricted budgets.

The location is a large industrial type complex, eight stories high and several blocks long. The Army abandoned the terminal more than a decade ago. Today, it is the home of a noisy spice factory, hundreds of dilapidated city buses, and a small, but eager film crew. “There’s nothing like a set that doesn’t move,” says Rick Gianasi. The beefcake actor plays the film’s macho hero, Matt Riker. “This place is fabulous,” he observes.

The same location, with its scores of broken windows and rusty train tracks, conjures up a nice post apocalypse scenario on this windy and cloudy morning. Despite the atmosphere, Kincaid explains that his movie is not set in the next century. “Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt is not Road Warrior or Star Wars,” he notes, but it is in the future, only about six years from now.”

Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt certainly has its share of Fango moments, so don’t get the idea that this flick is simply another science-fiction yarn. The movie’s mutants are actually diseased cyborgs, exploited by an evil genius called Z, who eventually run amuck throughout the Big Apple. Kincaid, while looking around the set and mapping out the morning’s schedule, adds that his film will not take itself too seriously, either.

“It’s sort of-I don’t want to say tongue-in-cheek because that term’s overused-a contemporary adventure,” he explains. “There’s not much hardware, just some lasers and effects. It isn’t knockdown, fall about-funny, but Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt has a sense of humor. The heroes are a happy-go-lucky trio of mercenaries, adventurers for hire who share a kidding camaraderie with each other. It’s a comic strip.”

The first shot of the day, which Kincaid is now planning, will take place on a concrete walkway inside a spectacular atrium that bisects the terminal. Grey buttresses jut out from both sides of the enormous hangar-like structure. Sunshine streams in from a huge skylight above, reducing the need for artificial lighting. To the left of the walkway, New York-based special effects man Matt Vogel peers over the charred remnants of Z’s dummy corpse, the victim of a Vogel pyrotechnic effect from the previous night’s lensing.

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Vogel, who honed his incendiary skills on the pyromaniac horror flick Don’t Go in the House, is also contributing cyborg sparks, various fireballs and assorted gunshots. And included in his makeshift FX lab–actually his very own spot on the floor are boxes of ornaments, Christmas balls. Christmas balls?

“We have this chemical called titanium tetrochloride, ” Vogel elaborates. “When you open it up, slivers of smoke come out. It was once used for skywriting. The smoke is nice, but you can’t contain it. If I put it in a Christmas ball and seal it up, I have a titanium tetrochloride bomb. With a small explosive charge, the ball breaks and tendrils of smoke emerge. The hardest part of my job is finding Christmas balls in September!”

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A few feet from Vogel’s effects “shop” is makeup man Ed French’s cluttered work area where he and his assistants John Bisson and James Chai leisurely paint some cyborg appendages. Later, French will supply an immobile six-foot cyborg “stretcho” arm, plus the diseased facial features for a cyborg duo. French took on a multiple challenge on these dual productions. Not only is he providing the special makeup effects, but Kincaid is letting him direct most of the FX sequences as well. “In terms of directing the special effects,” French reveals, “much of it is up to me. I don’t have any designs on becoming a director, but it is something I’ll have a lot to do with on these films. My storyboards are followed very closely by the editor. They’re very practical in terms of our shooting time. We can’t compete with An American Werewolf in London, but if it’s planned intelligently, we can have a lot of fun.”

French is particularly excited about a mechanical cyborg puppet that both he and Tom Lauten built for Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt. Its enticing features include a blown-away face with missing jaw, but French resists displaying this trophy, explaining that it is so fragile that he prefers to bring it out only when the cameras are rolling. Instead, visitors to the set get to see his chicken-wire-and-foam dummy, an unfortunate body that many crew members delight in kicking.

“This is our generic, all-purpose cyborg-dummy,”French announces, pointing to the abused double. “We took him apart yesterday, and pulled his arm off and had sparking as it came out of the joint. We divide him in half for an operating table scene. He also does some falling. This is body part city. We have an action scene where a cyborg knocks another’s head off, a combination dummy-puppet. We even have industrial strength cyborg blood squirting all over. It looks like anti-freeze.”

Nearby, two of the actor-cyborgs sit patiently while their bizarre crew cut hairstyles are neatly trimmed by the set’s conventional makeup artist Laurie Aiello. With their threatening height and muscular builds, these guys seem perfect for the cloneesque cyborgs, but their haircuts make them look like demented sailor boys. “We knew what we were getting into when we were offered the roles,” jokes Beta Cyborg Mark Legan, one of this production’s chiefly unknown cast. Alpha Cyborg Warren Ulaner doesn’t mind his appearance. “I was in the East Village the other night and my haircut was, more or less, conservative.” Adds French, “The makeups and designs are very stylized and give them a punk-heavy metal look.”

“I was looking forward to playing this kind of role,” says Legan, “because these guys are as villainous as you can get. Warren does a number of nasty things to people and gets a lamp stuck in his eye. Yesterday, I got to tear somebody’s arm off. That’s more fun than saving the girl. For me, the film’s highlight will be when I attack a couple in an alley, tear the girl’s head off and roll it down the street.”

For a production that is supposed to wrap in only 10 days, things are going very slowly on this Wednesday morning. Most of the crew point to the reason: they’re recovering from late night shooting of some extra action stuff to impress Charles Band. Band flew in earlier this morning to get an advance peek at the dailies and, according to French, liked what he saw. Today’s first shot involves a short dialogue scene with the intense Z (Bill Peterson) holding a fellow scientist (Marc Umile) at laser point. Kincaid is an atypical, laidback director who stresses the “please” when he calls, “Quiet, please” as things finally get moving.

“Maybe the pace will pick up suddenly, and it will be rat-a-tat-tat, scene after scene,” predicts the hopeful Ron (New York Ninja) Reynaldi. He plays Johnny Felix, a martial arts master and electronics expert to Riker. He also doubles as Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt’s comic relief and stunt coordinator.

Following the short dialogue scenes, Kincaid readies the next few shots in which the heroine (Mary Fahey, sister of Jeff Fahey), is chased down a dark tunnel. The crew pauses for the sun to hide behind some clouds (day for night). Despite the brief delay, the director remains confident that Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt will come in on schedule.

“I plan my films like any other feature,” he notes during a lunch break. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. What you have to realize is that a Magnum P.I. even though it’s 52 minutes long and they have a bigger crew and bigger budget-goes out in seven days. Everything is carefully planned out in advance and really set up so that we know where we are going. We know how long it’s going to take to shoot each thing and how much time to allow for it. That’s why we’re shooting so radically out of sequence.”

After Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt wrapped principal photography a week later-inserts will be shot soon and Band’s California-based technicians are doing the post-production opticals. Kincaid and company immediately began Breeders, a tale of lustful aliens invading Fun City with sex, sex, sex on their otherworldly minds. Some new crew members have joined this film, along with another batch of unknown performers, including makeup man Ed French. Breeders is shooting in the same underground tunnels.

“I think Breeders is going faster, but I don’t know why,” observes French, while preparing a shot with a grotesque half-alien/half-human baby. “Maybe it’s the script. Breeders is more elementary and straightforward. The style, which is very ’50s sci-fi monsters on the loose, almost dictates what you should do. On Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt, the script kept getting rewritten and getting bigger and more complicated. It’s an action movie with a lot of special effects. We knew Matt Riker would go over schedule a bit since it’s so ambitious.”

French steps aside to talk with his assistant, James Chai, who is lying on the dusty concrete floor for his part in bringing the monstrous puppet to life. The baby alien is appropriately disgusting, with an immense, gaping mouth running vertically down its face. A big, bulging bug eye blinks blindly. French applies some gooey methyl cellulose to its row of razor sharp teeth. Meanwhile, gun toting actor Lance Lewman and stake-wielding Teresa Farley wait for French to call action so that they can battle the crippled beastie. As on Matt Riker, Kincaid lets French direct his own special FX sequences.

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Acting is another experience French is enjoying on Breeders. The occasional actor plays a doctor possessed by the aliens. Eventually, he even turns into one. “It’s really kind of exciting,” French laughs. “There was an eerie moment yesterday. I’m supposed to be hiding this little creature and then let him loose on these people. I was in the shot, so I just couldn’t step out of the scene and check out the creature. I had to stay in character and let my assistant take care of it.”

In a connecting tunnel next door, a couple of production assistants place the finishing touches on the aliens’ “nest,” a squat six-foot-square box made of foam, goo, plastic and some broken glass. The “Gigeresque” nest is where the captive women are taken. Attractive actress Francis Raines, last featured as the first victim of The Mutilator, does not mind wallowing naked in the nest for her upcoming scene as alien breeding stock.

“This stuff is like food preservative,” explains Raines referring to the buckets of methyl cellulose ooze. “It’s not like they hired 40 Ukrainian elephants to spit in there. I go through the pit and transform to become another Breeder. I can’t wait! At least, I keep away from the dirt.

“My biggest scene is where it does its transformation and chases me around this photography studio while I’m modeling swimsuits. He gets me, attacks me, and uses me. The biggest effect occurs when this stomach cord shoots out and grabs me. Its tentacles drag me away.’

French insists that Breeders is not as lewd as it sounds, while Kincaid obviously believes that sex and violence sell flicks. “I’ve always liked the lurid exploitation movies of the ’50s when I was growing up,” Kincaid remarks. “I think the time is right for them to come back, since we’re coming to the end of the wholesome-family-type science fiction that appeals to a wide range audience. Now, we have a big video market for these low-budget pictures. There hasn’t been an audience for these movies in the last 10 to 15 years… until now.”

In addition to “tactfully” filming the alien rapes, Kincaid and French wanted an abstract look for the invaders. French based his designs on a book of insect microphotography. Most of the black-painted Breeders suit lies in sections around his ad-libbed workshop. A separate Breeders insert head is used for close-ups, and includes waving antennae. An alien hand snaps out a line like a frog’s tongue as well.

“The most challenging bit about the whole thing, and what I’m learning the most about, is integrating the monster suits into the film so that it doesn’t look like a monster suit,” explains French during a 4 p.m. lunch break. “I hate monster suits. Everytime you see this thing, we show a little more of it, like in The Elephant Man. First, you see its hand, then its shadow, a partial transformation, etc. It’s all judiciously shot and generally nightmarish. You’re not going to see a guy running around in a rubber suit.”

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Monster suits or not, everyone at Entertainment Concepts is banking that Breeders and Matt Riker: Mutant Hunt serve as the first of a succession of independent New York productions all to be released by Empire… if all goes right.

“Empire has approached us about working with them as an East Coast off-shoot of their production suppliers,” Tim Kincaid reveals. “Their films are shot all over the world, Spain, Rome, California, but they don’t have a group of people to supply them from the East Coast. They like the feel and scenic look of what they’ve seen. We’re hoping it’s the beginning of a series.”

Waldo Warren Private Dick Without Brain (1988) (The Occultist, MAXIMUM THRUST) A cyborg private eye is hired to protect a Caribbean president visiting New York City. Unknown to him, the president’s daughter is in league with his country’s rebels who are trying to assassinate him.

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The History of Empire Films Part Four Empire Pictures/Tycin Films (1986-1987) “At the time everyone was talking high concept so I said let's do RAPISTS FROM OUTERSPACE." Charles Band bought the film released as Breeders as well as Mutant Hunt, which Kincaid shot back-to-back.

#BAND #EMPIRE

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nadziejastar · 4 years

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Did you finish reading that KH3: A Conclusion without a story article? If so, what did you think of it?

I loved reading it. It was a fantastic take on KH3. There was pretty much nothing that I disagreed with.

By the time you leave Olympus, Sora hasn’t learnt how to restore his powers; and the frustrating part is that he never explicitly does.

I completely agreed with this. Sora’s journey in KH3 should have been about learning the power of waking. But even in the scene where he finally does learn it, there’s no real reason why. He didn’t seem to learn anything on his journey.

Even the villains are given no progress – a subplot about Pete and Maleficent looking for a mysterious black box goes nowhere, and Organisation XIII (the primary antagonists) only put in a brief appearance, spouting their usual brand of vaguely ominous dialogue. To compound these issues, the protagonists are ultimately left not knowing where to go or what to do next. Only two hours into the game, and the plot has no sense of momentum or direction.

Yep. The black box thing annoyed me so much. The Organization was also a huge letdown. We don’t get to learn the real reason why Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Luxord joined until KH4!? Something went very, VERY wrong in the Dark Seeker Saga for that to happen.

By comparison, Kingdom Hearts II’s opening was significantly slower paced – to the point that it was a detriment to some players. However, so much more was achieved in a similar space of time; II’s initial hours establish the game’s tone and major themes, as well as introduce a large cast of brand new characters (while simultaneously reintroducing old ones in new contexts).

Yep. I liked KH2′s opening, slow as it was. The prologue of KH2 felt like it had more plot than almost all of KH3.

And this is one of the core problems with Kingdom Hearts III; even if you look past a threadbare narrative for Sora and company while they adventure through the self-contained Disney worlds, there is nothing going on outside of that either. In Kingdom Hearts II, both Riku and Mickey were operating behind the scenes, aiding Sora from the shadows and setting key events in motion. In III, however, these same characters spend most of their time expositing plot points and passively waiting for the big battle at the end of the game – and that can be said for almost all of our heroes.

I also agree. This problem would have been mitigated if every character got their own time to shine using the power of waking. Riku and Mickey could have had a subplot together, showing how Riku got his new Keyblade. They should have saved each other from the darkness.

If there’s a job to do, it’s up to Sora to do it. With a couple of key exceptions, every character apart from Sora, Donald, and Goofy is presented as almost comically useless – yet our protagonist remains the butt of every joke.

Yep. Everyone other than Sora was useless. Aqua needed to save Ven, but all she did was get knocked out in the battle with Vanitas. Ven needed to save Terra, but he didn’t really do anything. Sora did all the work. Lea needed to save Isa, but he did nothing in his fight. He got shoved to the side while Roxas and Xion took over. Kairi saving Sora should have gotten more focus.

The villains reveal that the only way Sora can release Roxas is by giving into the darkness, and sacrificing his own heart. Self-sacrifice is nothing new for Sora (he did the same thing in Kingdom Hearts I to save his love interest Kairi), but this had the potential to be an interesting plot point, as it gives him a selfless reason to be tempted by, and potentially give into, the darkness. But it’s never brought up again.

Yep. Early scenes in KH3 make it seem like the game did originally have an actual plot at one point. Xigbar was luring Sora into a trap, so he’d fall to darkness. But it’s never brought up again, LOL. It’s crazy.

In fact, ‘saving Roxas’ is scarcely discussed until the end of the game (King Mickey telling Sora to “let the rest of us worry about Roxas and Naminé for now”, essentially dropping the subject after only the second Disney world). Ultimately, Roxas’ heart just leaves Sora’s body of its own volition in the final act, making the player’s time here, once again, feel largely pointless.

And yes, saving Roxas was handled very badly. This is because, IMO, saving Roxas and saving Ventus was supposed to be one and the same. There shouldn’t have been a separate “saving Roxas” subplot.

In interviews, Nomura discussed the struggle of dealing with so many characters – even citing the cast size as one of the main reasons that Final Fantasy cameos were omitted[2]. The real problem, though, is that nothing is done to mitigate this challenge.

Yes, exactly. And treating Roxas and Ventus as separate characters only exacerbated this problem.

Upon leaving Twilight Town, the player finally begins their true journey – travelling to various worlds based on Disney properties and beating back the forces of darkness. But there’s no real set up for this; no distinct reason *why* we’re visiting these worlds.

Mm-hm. I think the issue was that we were supposed to learn more about Ansem the Wise’s data in KH0.5. That was supposed to give Sora a quest in KH3: search for the “Key to Return Hearts”. Once that game got cancelled, Nomura had no idea how to write KH3′s story any longer.

So around 3-4 hours into Kingdom Hearts III, the story still lacks a clear sense of direction and purpose, and hasn’t yet established any clear themes or deeper meaning.

Yeah, it’s sad because there was an underlying theme in the Disney worlds: the power of love and its ability to restore what was lost.

Kingdom Hearts III cleverly tries to frame its story through the lens of a chess match between two Keyblade Masters, Eraqus and Xehanort, when they were young. The game even opens on this scene, highlighting its importance. But chess has rules; logic; a clear sense of direction. Kingdom Hearts III’s narrative is akin to two people who don’t know how to play chess. They understand that they have to defeat their opponent’s king, but the rules of how to move their pieces, how to actually reach that coveted checkmate, are completely unknown to them. The characters in this game feel like pieces on a chess board with no rules; aimlessly moving back and forth across a limited space, until both players finally decide enough is enough and agree to bring their match to an end.

LOL. Yep. The fact that Xehanort had “reserve members” showed he had no idea what he was doing.

Stick to your guns – don’t be afraid to explore a good idea, or to develop the plot outside of your main protagonist. When so many previously proactive characters are in play, the story shouldn’t feel so static, or entirely dependent on the protagonist’s actions. The way your protagonist reacts to events and changing circumstances is just as important as the ones they play an active role in creating.

That’s why I liked the spin-offs. KH3 suffered from forcing you into only Sora’s perspective. Even Nomura said that the Keyblade Graveyard should have had everyone fighting their own battles.

Simply put, the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III have no tangible impact on the game’s core narrative.

Sad, but true.

“In the end, although I had a hand in it as well, the flow of the dialogue and the stories of each world were largely handled by the level design team.” While I very much appreciate this standpoint of ‘gameplay first’, as well as the act of involving multiple teams in the execution of the story, these statements do prove my point. Set-pieces and events are one thing, but if there was a specific story to tell – with outlined themes to be explored, character conflicts to evolve, and goals to be achieved; all developed evenly throughout the entire game (Disney worlds included) - you would imagine the scenario would be built around balancing those narrative elements with the individual tales of each level.

Very interesting. The story in the Disney worlds was largely decided by the level design team? Wow.

Despite major villains such as Young Xehanort, Vanitas, and Marluxia making multiple appearances in their respective worlds, they generally just spout off trite exposition and then either disappear or summon a boss fight. Some villains don’t even know why they’re there, while others introduce plot points (such as the Black Box or the new Princesses of Heart) that are never utilised or expanded upon. As the game features at least thirteen main antagonists, these early appearances should have been integral in establishing their personalities, motivations, and the threat they pose to the player (as well as our heroes). In execution, though, they seem like little more than after-thoughts that offer hints of personality, but never go beyond the superficial – and certainly contribute nothing to the main narrative. This, I believe, is because Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t have a story to tell, but was instead content with treading water until its grand conclusion.

Yep. I had no idea why Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord were running around in the worlds. Why are they back? Other characters, like Saix, were given flimsy “motivation”. All in all, the organization members were supposed to be vessels by the time you fight them in the KG. Hollowed out containers for Xehanort’s heart. Victims of mind control who you are supposed to have pity for. But they never felt like it.

Kingdom Hearts III’s meandering and vapid progression during ‘the Disney loop’ supports my argument that the game lacks a complete narrative and was merely concerned with reaching its final act. I believe this is most evident by the way in which the player is made to jump from world to world without any direction or purpose. Consequently, the majority of Kingdom Hearts III feels content to aimlessly ‘go through the motions’, setting a repetitive, humdrum pace and ultimately lacking the sense of narrative depth and genuine value that is integral to a great RPG.

Yeah, I believe there was–at one point–an actual plot for KH3. But after BBSV2 was cancelled, a huge portion of KH3′s plot was pretty much scrapped along with it and rewritten.

Everyone’s heard of the three-act structure; a model that forms the foundation of popular culture’s favourite stories. Act 1 features the setup and exposition; an ‘inciting incident’ to get the narrative moving. Act 2 is the confrontation; a midpoint which challenges the protagonist, pushing them to their limits. And finally, Act 3 is the resolution; concluding the plot, along with any character arcs introduced in the previous acts. While this structure doesn’t necessarily need to be adhered to, I believe it possesses something that Kingdom Hearts III sorely lacked – a midpoint.

Yep. KH3 had no mid-point. Scala ad Caelum could have worked as the mid-point. And it could have been another hub world like Radiant Garden. KH3 probably originally had this, but it was scrapped.

This is especially a shame, as Aqua’s fall into darkness – resulting in a twisted form that externalises all of her loneliest thoughts – is one of the most dramatically compelling aspects of the game. And that’s despite lasting for all of 10 minutes (a decade of solitude and suffering are seemingly erased by a few whacks from Sora’s Keyblade).

This is true for all of the characters that needed to be saved. Nobody really used the power of waking on anyone. It’s was just whack, whack, okay you’re saved.

And this is ultimately the problem with the lack of a true Act 2 – the characters aren’t explored or challenged when they need to be. The narrative refuses to escalate until its final act, at which point it feels like going from zero to sixty in a matter of moments. But during the heat of battle – at such a late stage, and with so many heroes and villains in play (more than twenty) – it’s hard to develop your characters in a way that feels natural. Kingdom Hearts III’s solution is bizarre soliloquies that are completely disconnected from the events around them. Is Sora in the middle of a boss fight with three villains? Well, the other two will disappear while you spend several minutes casually chatting with the third. And while this is partly due to the challenge of giving such a large cast an appropriate send-off, it’s also a direct consequence of the lack of time given to exploring characters and their relationships in the previous 20-25 hours of playtime.

So true. So many characters who had so much development over the series. That’s why they needed another game before KH3. It was probably too much to ask for KH3 to be the epic conclusion as well as dive into everyone’s backstory.

On that note, having some sort of hub – a place, like Traverse Town or Hollow Bastion in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, that the player regularly returns to – can be an effective way to centre your story. It provides a home base, and a recurring cast of characters that can be revisited at any time. This kind of location helps players to feel a deeper and more personal attachment to your world.

Yeah, the game would have been so much better if you could visit RG and interact with the plot-important NPCs.

Put in Kingdom Hearts terms, we might say that the body and soul are here; it’s just missing its heart.

I’ve had the exact same thought.

This essay began with the assertion that Kingdom Hearts III is a conclusion in search of a story; a game without a tale of its own to tell. So far, we’ve examined the material impact; the effect this has on the game’s pacing, its sense of player progression, engagement, and character development. So in this topic, I want to consider the conceptual side of things; the motivations that drive our heroes and villains, the purpose of the events that take place, and finally the meaning intended to be conveyed by the story. Put simply, does the narrative of Kingdom Hearts III have something to say?

Sadly, no. I can tell it was supposed to, though. KH3′s story was supposed to be about the power of love. It was really that simple.

By the time of Kingdom Hearts III, Riku has overcome all of these challenges and been granted the title of Keyblade Master, so it was important to present him as a more mature, capable character, having regained his confidence and developed a clear identity. But ultimately, he just feels bland and stoic in this game. He has no new narrative arc, relatively few interactions with Sora, predominantly serves as a mouthpiece for exposition, and is more devoid of a distinct personality than ever. And for a game which serves as a conclusion to the story so far, it’s essential that our core group of characters, such as Riku and Kairi, reach a satisfying crescendo. The narrative should organically involve them in significant ways, and the challenges they face should provide natural opportunities for growth and exploration.

Sad, since Riku seemed like he did originally have a narrative arc. He got a new Keyblade! But the way he got it was laughably random and meaningless and contributed nothing to his overall growth or development.

As much as I’ve tried to understand it, I cannot summarise Master Xehanort’s motivation in that same, concise way. His initial speech in Kingdom Hearts III implies idle curiosity; he speculates that “If ruin brings about creation, what, then, would another Keyblade War bring?” followed by statements that he wants to re-enact the conflict and simply see what happens. He also wonders if they will “…be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of”, implying that his goal is to test humanity; or at least the current generation of Keyblade wielders. But that’s a pretty flimsy motivation, and it’s lacking any context or logic.

Yep. Xehanort was supposed to have another game to explore his motivations. When you get rid of that, his character just doesn’t work anymore.

And it’s not just the heroes that have this problem. During their death scenes, several of the Organisation’s members (Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Xigbar, Xion, Saix, and Ansem) either encourage Sora or imply that they didn’t care about the outcome; or didn’t even want to battle in the first place. Some have their reasons, but if even one of them had chosen not to fight, Xehanort’s re-enactment could have failed. Much like I described earlier, it doesn’t feel satisfying to overcome a foe who didn’t want to fight, and a war with the potential to destroy the universe should be motivated by much more powerful convictions.

I don’t disagree. But I honestly think this is because none of these characters actually wanted to fight in the Keyblade War. They were supposed to be possessed puppets. Mind-controlled vessels with no will of their own.

Let’s use Saix as an example. What makes a more engaging battle? In canon, Saix had flimsy motivations to be fighting, anyways. He wanted to atone so he was acting as a double agent in order to procure some Replicas. And he wanted look for Subject X. That’s why he joined Xehanort. That’s all the reason he had to fight.

Compare that to a potential backstory with him as a vessel, lacking free will. Isa was a human test subject who was possessed as a teen. His best friend Lea has to fight him unwillingly. Saix is berserk and nearly kills Lea without even being aware of it. But all Lea wants is to save his best friend. I know which one I find more engaging.

Ever since that first game, I’ve been trying to identify what it is that unified these two styles of storytelling – the Disney fairytale with the SquareSoft RPG. And in writing this essay, I finally realised; the secret ingredient, the unifying thread that both franchises had in common, was love. Romance is at the core of almost every classic Disney film, and every Final Fantasy from IV to X was in some way a love story. Seemingly the developers of the original Kingdom Hearts realised this too.

I’m pretty neutral about the Sora/Kairi romance. I mainly wanted Kairi to not feel like a damsel-in-distress yet again. And KH3 definitely screwed that up.

In a way, my problem was the same as that of Kingdom Hearts III’s story. We both spent so much time looking to the horizon, imagining what the future may hold, that we missed out on what was already right in front of us. I will always love and support this series, and its creativity and charm will no doubt continue to inspire my own stories for the rest of my life. But despite not being the conclusion I hoped for, Kingdom Hearts III has freed me from my own obsession with the series’ future. I no longer feel like I’m waiting for something that may never come. Of course, I hope the series gets its story back on track, and rises to new heights greater than ever before! But it turns out that I already got my ending in 2006; and now that I’ve finally realised that, I can finally, honestly say that, as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I am satisfied.

It’s sad that KH2’s ending felt more satisfying. Because KH3 should have been even better than KH2′s ending. KH2 had a happy ending. But in KH3, everyone was there on the beach. Terra, Aqua, and Ven were saved. In KH2, Axel was dead. He had a sad ending. But in KH3, he was human again and even had his childhood best friend back, too. Even Hayner, Pence, and Olette were there. Sora should have been there, too. By all accounts, I should have liked KH3′s ending the best out of any game. But they ruined it with the horrible character development and the cheap cliffhanger.

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heidiroizen · 6 years

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More rare than a Unicorn – gender parity at a venture-backed, deep-tech startup. Here’s how they did it.

One of my most memorable board meetings this year was with Memphis Meats. I literally had to stop the board meeting over one slide, as I had never seen a slide like this in my 20 years as a VC.

And no, it wasn’t about product development or regulatory strategy or burn rate. It was about the company’s newest hires -- five highly accomplished people, all of whom with advanced degrees and significant past achievements in their careers.

And all five were women.

I stopped the CEO, Uma Valeti, right at that moment, to tell him I had never seen a slide like that. And that in turn surprised him, which probably explains in part why Memphis Meats is such a leader when it comes to diversity.

Memphis Meats is a trailblazing company whose mission is to grow real meat from the cells of high quality livestock in a clean, controlled environment. The result is the meat that consumers already know and love, with significant collateral benefits to the planet, to animals and to human health. I’m proud to say they have applied that same trailblazing attitude to growing their team as well.

At Memphis Meats today, 53% of the team are women, and 40% of the company’s leadership positions are held by women. Beyond gender, the team represents 11 nations and 5 continents (Australians, please apply!) and about two-thirds of the team are omnivores, while one-third are vegetarians or vegans. I’ve met most of the team, and I heard all sorts of educational backgrounds: B.S., M.S., M.D., M.B.A., Ph.D. (lots of those). I met parents, brothers, sisters, immigrants, activists, friends, researchers and operators, and I heard 34 different, mission-aligned reasons for joining the company.

Anybody who is paying attention knows that companies and workplaces around the country are grappling with how to build and maintain diverse and inclusive workforces. Silicon Valley is certainly no different – gender imbalance is a well documented problem in tech. Once I saw that slide, I knew I had to dig deeper into what Memphis Meats was doing right. So, I sat down with Megan Pittman, the Director of People Operations at Memphis Meats, to learn more. Here’s what she had to say.

HR: Before we talk about diversity and inclusion at Memphis Meats, we should probably start by defining what we mean when we say those words. What do they mean to you?

MP: We believe that having a diverse and inclusive team happens when you build a culture that’s genuine, welcoming and protected. We don’t have a document that outlines “D&I Policies” here. We didn’t start by looking at our team and saying “wow, there’s a problem here that we need to fix.” We started by committing to build an inclusive company made up of extraordinary individuals. We committed to putting people first, before anything else. We also made the decision to build a People Ops function early, when we only had about 10 employees, so that we could really follow through on these commitments.

HR: I see a lot of companies hire their first HR person when they have 50 or 100 staff. 10 is early! What were some of the changes you were able to make by getting started early?

MP: We’ve curated a high touch and authentic hiring process. After we closed our Series A last summer, we got started on a hiring plan to grow from 10 to about 40 people, and we wanted to do it in about a year. We began recruiting and interviewing immediately!

Pretty quickly, we realized that our interview process wasn’t working very well. We were spending a lot of time with candidates who had amazing resumes, but we weren’t developing unanimous conviction around who to hire. We weren’t being blown away. So we stopped interviewing for a bit and started debugging. We realized that our interviews were too formulaic, and too focused on checking boxes on the job description. We were talking to people who had already accomplished amazing things – in industry or academia, or both – and we weren’t letting them tell that story. So we couldn’t assess their accomplishments, their ambitions and their ability to innovate. We could only assess their resume, and maybe their small talk skills.

We decided to rebuild the process to let the candidates shine. Now, we ask all prospective hires to start their interview day by giving a ~30 minute talk to our team, typically focused on their greatest accomplishments or a topic that they know extremely well. The talks are a great way to see a candidate at his or her best. They provide great context for the 1-on-1 interviews later in the day. And our team learns something new every time a candidate comes in. There have been some pretty amazing light bulb moments and inspiring conversations that have originated because of these talks. Our team loves them – they’re always a hot ticket in our office!

HR: How do the talks connect back to diversity and inclusion?

MP: The talks let us have a really relevant, organic conversation and put the candidate’s resume to the side for a moment. After the talk, we can ask the candidate how they could have done that better, or faster, or cheaper. We can hone in on moments where they did something creative, and learn about their thought process or problem solving strategies. We can hone in on roadblocks, and understand how they motivate themselves through the most difficult moments.

We’ve seen plenty of data showing that companies that hire based on resumes and checkboxes end up with homogenous workforces. Don’t get me wrong – great resumes and hard skills are requirements at Memphis Meats, but they’re the price of admission and not the focus of our hiring process. When we go beyond the resume, and let the candidate shine, and expand the hiring criteria to include self-awareness and creativity and tenacity, we see a very diverse group of people rise to the top. And they happen to be the exact people that we need.

Now that we’ve been doing this for a while, we’re also getting better at writing job descriptions. Our hiring managers now ask “what do we need our next person to bring that our team doesn’t already have?” There is a quote by Walter Lippman, an American writer, that speaks to the importance of this. He says, “When all think alike, then no one is thinking.” Our team is sold on the value of new perspectives, and we’re now thinking about it before we even start to meet candidates. It’s a virtuous cycle.

HR: What happens after the hiring process? Great, you’ve found the person – now what?

MP: We’ve put a number of tools in place to ensure that we can close great candidates and get them into their new role here. For example, mobility platforms have enabled us to not be limited to hiring scientists, engineer or operators in the immediate Bay Area. We are able to comfortably source individuals from top companies or labs – whereverthey are. Switzerland? No problem. Canada? Great! Minnesota? Easy. We offer professionally managed relocations so that we can pull talent from a much bigger pool.

We have partnered with a top immigration attorney so that we can support any qualified individual in obtaining employment eligibility. We have worked with hires on multiple visa applications but one sticks out. We interviewed an incredible scientist who is a French citizen. She is so smart, so hard-working, and so talented. For a few reasons, we realized we would only be able to hire her on an O-1 visa, which is reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability.” The bar is high, and nobody is a sure thing to get this type of visa. We spent months working on the application, and demonstrating her accomplishments as thoroughly and accurately as possible. After more months of waiting, we literally received her visa approval hours before her previous employment eligibility expired. The entire Memphis Meats team celebrated. The room started cheering, we high-fived, we picked up a cake, I probably cried. She has since been named on our most recent patent filing and has contributed in so many measurable and immeasurable ways to our team. She was absolutely the right person to hire and we did everything we could to make it happen.

We diligently pay fair to market wages and make offers that are not based on salary history. We have never requested salary history from our new hires. We prefer to base all offers on the market, our fundraising stage, precedent in the company and level of experience. Period. We take every offer very seriously and will continue to make that commitment to every one of our team members.

We constantly solicit feedback on our processes and look at data. We track the source of our hires: are we relying too much on one company or one local university lab? We track the candidate experience: are candidates feeling respected by us, our process and our timelines? We track our internal rates of diversity. All of this works to discourage complacency in our processes, and ensure that we are constantly aiming to be better.

We took a different approach to benefits compared to many other venture backed companies. We don’t invest our money into dry cleaning and massages and abundant free meals. Instead, we’ve invested in a generous paid family leave policy, and great health care, and a floating holiday policy that allows for religious or cultural differences. People need to be able to live their lives how they choose with a job that supports that without question. We ask a lot of team members so it’s our responsibility to support them in their lifestyle choices.

HR: Many companies start with the best intentions, and compromise those as they grow. How do you imagine Memphis Meats staying the course?

MP: We’ve really made inclusiveness part of our identity. This goes way beyond a D&I policy, which can be easily forgotten or lost in a handbook.

We talk a lot about our “big tent,” which is really a cornerstone of our company. We’re making meat in a better way. You might think we’re out to “disrupt” an incumbent industry or to make consumers feel guilty about what they’re eating today, but the opposite is true. We recognize and respect the role that meat plays in our cultures and traditions. Many members of our team eat meat, and we celebrate that. Many members of our team do not eat meat, and we celebrate that. There’s just no place here for moral judgment.

Over time, that philosophy expanded to cover the companies and organizations we work with, the investors we raised money from, and the language we use. We happily work with large meat companies like Tyson and Cargill. We happily work with mission-driven organizations that work for animal welfare or environmental stewardship. We happily talk to consumers of all stripes. We’ve built a coalition that we never would have expected. We’ve found that everyone we talk to unites behind our goal of feeding a growing and hungry planet. Our internal culture and our people processes are consistent with the idea of the “big tent,” so I don’t think they’re going anywhere.

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ncmagroup · 5 years

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Every additional 10 months an employee stagnates in a role makes the person 1 percent more likely to leave the company.

By John Rampton

Employee turnover is a major concern for employers — no matter the state of the economy. And for good reason. It’s frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive to deal with.

Several studies have found the total cost of losing an employee could range from tens of thousands of dollars to 1.5-2X the position’s annual salary.

The high cost is due to the price of hiring, on-boarding, training, lost productivity, and business errors. Business owners could add to this list of what they have lost besides the employee.

Business owners and supervisors should be aware of the signs that an employee is about to quit. Another study on voluntary employee turnover was conducted by Tim Gardner of Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

Included here is some additional research on the subject. These behaviors can help you identify when an employee is going to leave you out in the cold.

1. No longer commits to long-term projects

When an employee has made the decision to move on from an organization, she’s less inclined to commit to a long-term project. It could prevent her from meeting her departure date.

The employee would prefer to wrap up her current workload so she can leave free and clear.

2. More active on LinkedIn

Jennifer Winter, a career consultant, posts on the Muse. She says that “when you see an employee constantly on LinkedIn, it probably shouldn’t raise any red flags. However, a sudden uptick in new connections, groups joined, or articles shared could be an indication. Your employee is trying to boost his or her social profile–and find his or her next big thing.”

Building new connections on LinkedIn, visiting job search sites, or researching other companies is an indication that someone is ready to quit.

3. Contributes less during meetings

If an engaged employee suddenly becomes less active during meetings, it may be an indication that he or she is leaving. Maybe the person used to provide great insights or contributions.

This is a pretty solid indicator that something is going on. It may be a family or personal crisis, but in any case, you should care.

4. Wants to attend conferences or workshops

Not everyone has the desire to attend conferences or workshops. The employee who has never expressed interest in attending them but suddenly starts to go could just be hoping to strengthen his or her skills or knowledge or might be trying to become more visible.

If there’s someone who previously expressed interest in conferences and workshops but is now indifferent, that could also be a bad sign. Maybe the person’s not interested in developing any new skills or knowledge that could benefit your organization.

5. Is absent a lot

An employee who rarely called in sick or took an extended vacation is now hardly ever in the office. That’s another sign someone’s disengaged. Maybe the person is searching for new employment opportunities, using up acquired time off, or maxing out his or her benefits.

6. Acts more reserved or quiet

Once an employee decides to leave, he or she is going to act more reserved or be quiet during meetings or company activities.

7. Starts taking more personal calls

Does the employee frequently leave meetings or her workspace to take personal calls? That phone call could be her dealing with a family emergency or speaking with another employer.

Don’t make assumptions. But if this becomes frequent, it’s a red flag that something is awry.

8. Was recently passed over for a promotion or raise

An employee who feels frustrated, discouraged, and undervalued may be motivated to look for a job where she feels more appreciated.

9. Is less interested in advancement

Everyone strives for job advancement — remember, it makes a person feel valued. If that goal no longer seems important to an employee, then he’s probably looking for a position elsewhere.

10. Has stagnated in his or her position

According to a great study by Glassdoor, “Every additional 10 months an employee stagnates in a role makes them 1 percent more likely to leave the company. … At that point, they finally move on to their next position.”

11. Has had a major life change

Major life changes shake things up. These include getting married, divorced, having children, taking care of a sick family member, or purchasing a home. Each of these situations can influence whether an employee chooses to stay at or leave your company.

For example, having a child may force someone to look for a job that pays more money. Taking care of a loved one could make a person look for a job he can do remotely.

12. Productivity has dropped

Has your normally productive, reliable, and punctual employee suddenly become less productive or dependable? “Any behavioral changes that point to ‘presenteeism’ — the phenomenon of employees showing up at work without being fully present — are huge red flags” that someone’s going to quit, says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of The Humor Advantage.

13. Work friends are jumping ship

In a study conducted in the U.K., “57 percent of respondents said having a best friend in the office made their time at work more enjoyable. Almost a third stated they were more productive. One in five said it boosted their creativity.”

Six in 10 employees stated that happiness was more valuable than the salary. If an employee leaves a workplace, likely friends there will be following her out the door. In some situations, the employee that left may even recruit friends at the old workplace to join her at her new job.

14. Not interested in pleasing his or her supervisor

Another behavioral change to note is if an employee is no longer interested in pleasing his supervisor. If he previously stayed late or took work home with him and doesn’t do this now, that could be a big indication he wants out.

15. Has friction with another employee

As noted earlier, workplace relationships are important. That’s why if you notice a toxic relationship brewing between two employees, there’s a good chance one of them is going to walk.

16. Avoids social interactions

Has the employee been avoiding social interaction with her supervisor or other management more than usual? It’s another red sign that someone’s ready to quit.

17. Delegates assignments to others

Has one of your team members suddenly started delegating his work to others? Unless this has been authorized by management, there’s a good chance the employee already has one foot out the door.

18. Is not suggesting innovative ideas

When an employee shares new helpful ideas or innovative approaches, it’s a sign she’s engaged. It shows she wants to be a valuable member of the organization.

Has she stopped bringing up new ideas or suggestions? You can be certain she’s no longer interested in the improvement of the company.

19. Is taking longer breaks

Breaks are essential — and required. If you notice that an employee is taking more frequent breaks or longer lunch breaks, he’s likely disengaged. He may be spending that time having lunch meetings with potential employers.

20. Makes exact arrivals and departures

If previously an employee would arrive early, leave late, or be a volunteer for an extra project, it’s a red flag if now the employee arrives and leaves at an exact time or shows up chronically late. Note if he always leaves early–you can be certain that he’s leaving your company.

21. Has started complaining

“If a typically happy and contented employee is suddenly complaining, take a closer look,” the Employers Association of the Northeast states. “Is the complaint about the employer, policies, or management decisions? This is usually a sign that something is amiss. A disengaged employee is likely seeking a new opportunity and may also be spreading discontent among others.”

22. Has just received a degree, license, or certification

Sometimes, an employee obtains a new accreditation to become a more valuable member of your company. But there are other cases. Sometimes an employee is working on or has completed a degree and doesn’t say anything.

Normally, further education is a sign an employee is making himself more attractive for potential employers. After all, why else would he invest the time and money to improve himself when he’s stuck in his current position?

23. Has become secretive

Is an employee exhibiting secretive behaviors at work? Does she block her computer screen? How about covering papers, or keeping her office door closed more than usual?

It could be because she’s surfing job sites or distancing herself from everyone else.

24. Has stopped returning phone calls or emails

“If one of your team members is contemplating resignation, they’re less likely to communicate often. Less email, in-person time, or just in general,” says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert. She wrote the book Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job.

Taylor adds, “The thinking is that to the extent they’re less accessible, they won’t risk being put on the spot. Answering sensitive questions that could jeopardize their job when they’re not yet ready to move.”

25. You’ve got a bad feeling

Science has proved that “trusting your gut” isn’t a metaphor. If you’ve got a sinking suspicion that all is not well with an employee, there’s a good chance that you’re not wrong.

Tips on Preventing Employee Turnover and Improving Employee Retention

Being aware of the signs that someone is about to quit is only the first step. It’s up to you to prevent these behaviors from happening in the first place, by:

Selecting the right people for your organization from the get-go. Use behavior-based testing and competency screening. Make sure a candidate is also a good fit with your company’s culture.

Hiring the smartest people you can find and allowing them to wear multiple hats.

Offering an attractive, competitive, comprehensive benefits and incentives package that includes components such as life insurance, disability insurance, and flexible hours.

Showing appreciation — even a handwritten thank-you note is effective — and celebrating team wins.

Providing opportunities for employees to share their knowledge — for example, writing company blog posts. Provide opportunities for career and personal growth through training and education.

Making the workplace fun and safe — such as having company activities. Address any friction between employees before it escalates.

Involving employees in making important decisions.

Clearly communicating goals, roles, and responsibilities.

Implementing an open-door policy.

Encouraging employees to have friends at work.

Go to our website: www.ncmalliance.com

25 Signs Your Employee Is About to Quit, According to Research Every additional 10 months an employee stagnates in a role makes the person 1 percent more likely to leave the company.

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bakjacconsulting-blog · 5 years

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5 Strategies To Better Manage A Toxic Team

One of the things I actually enjoy doing is working with teams who may not be working to their true potential and sort “the woods from the trees” to provide strategies as to how that team can work more collaboratively together.

I read a recent article by Justin Bariso about opportunities to fix a toxic workplace and thought these strategies were a great first start.

When American business executive Douglas Conant took over as the president and CEO of Campbell's Soup, in 2001, he was faced with a formidable task. "The company's stock was falling steeply," writes Roger Dean Duncan in a profile for Fast Company. "Of all the major food companies in the world, Campbell's was the rock-bottom performer. Conant's challenge was to lead the company back to greatness."

To many, the assignment seemed near impossible. Conant himself described the company culture as “toxic”. According to Duncan, employees were discouraged, management was dysfunctional, and trust was practically non-existent.

Yet, somehow, Conant achieved the impossible. In less than a decade, the company had completed a remarkable turnaround and was outperforming the S&P 500. Sales and earnings rose. Employee engagement went from among the worst in the Fortune 500 to one of the best, as the company won multiple awards.

So, how did he do it?

Conant used emotional intelligence to build trust. He communicated well, set the example, praised sincerely and specifically, and delivered on his promises.

For example, shortly after taking over, Conant began a signature practice: he put a pedometer on his belt, strapped on his walking shoes, and interacted meaningfully with as many employees as possible. "His goal was to log 10,000 steps a day," relates Duncan. "These brief encounters had multiple benefits. They helped him stay informed with the goings-on throughout the company. They enabled him to connect personally with people at every level. They enabled people to put a human face on the company's strategy and direction."

The new CEO also handwrote up to twenty notes a day to employees celebrating their achievements. "Most cultures don't do a good job of celebrating contributions," says Conant. "So, I developed the practice of writing notes to our employees. Over 10 years, it amounted to more than 30,000 notes, and we had only 20,000 employees. Wherever I'd go in the world, in employee cubicles you'd find my handwritten notes posted on their bulletin boards."

Douglas Conant didn't turn around Campbell's fortunes by chance. He focused on building relationships and changing its culture--one step (and thank-you note) at a time.

So, how can you begin turning around a toxic culture?

It all starts with practicing the following behaviors:

1. Get down and dirty.

Think about your favourite boss. Did you care about where they went to school, what degree they had, or even what they accomplished before you knew them? All of this was irrelevant to your relationship.

But what about the hour they took to listen to your problem, and the steps they took to help? How about their readiness to roll up their sleeves, get down in the trenches, and do whatever needed to be done?

Actions like these inspire trust.

2. Show some love.

People nowadays are worn down and underappreciated. These two factors are a breeding ground for toxic behaviour--because when people don't feel valued, they lose their desire to try.

What's the antidote? Sincere and specific commendation.

Train yourself to look for the good in others. When you see something you like, tell the person right away. Set aside time to handwrite thank-you cards. Tell your people what you appreciate, and why.

Everyone deserves commendation for something. By learning to identify, recognize, and praise those talents, you bring out the best in them.

3. Set the example.

Let's say you ask me how to get somewhere you've never been before. I could outline step-by-step directions, draw you a map, even provide details about landmarks to look out for.

Or I could say: "That's not too far out of my way. Why don't you just follow me?"

Nice-sounding value statements, rules, and processes will only get a company so far. If you truly want to affect your culture, work hard to show others your values and priorities, and they'll naturally follow.

4. Humble yourself.

Being humble doesn't mean you lack self-confidence or that you never stand up for yourself. Rather, it involves recognizing that you don't know everything--and being ready to learn from others.

For example, if you're younger or less experienced than colleagues or clients, acknowledge that and keep it in mind. If you demonstrate a willingness to learn, you will display humility and naturally earn respect. In contrast, if you're older or more experienced, show respect by not quickly dismissing new ideas or techniques. Instead, dignify those you work with by asking for their opinions and perspectives--and actually paying attention when they speak.

Humility also means being willing to apologise.

"I'm sorry" can be the two most difficult words to say, but also the most powerful. When you're willing to admit your mistakes, you make a big statement about how you view yourself in relation to others. This naturally draws others closer to you, building trust and loyalty.

5. Be constructive.

After you've done these other four things--and only then--can you begin to share critical feedback.

This is vital because many people find it difficult to hear that they need to improve on something. But if you don't share that feedback, they'll never grow.

If you make sure to gain their trust first--and deliver your feedback with emotional intelligence --they'll no longer interpret your critical feedback as a threat. Instead they'll see it as an effort to help, to make them better.

Remember, it all starts at the top.

If you hold a leadership position, whether you're the CEO, middle manager, or team lead, never underestimate the power of your influence. Every time you get down and dirty, every word of commendation or thank-you note you give, every time you set the example, every mistake you admit, and every piece of constructive advice you give will contribute to building deep and trusting relationships.

And help you turn toxic into thriving.

Want some help turning toxic into thriving? Contact Michelle on 0412047590 or via michelle@bakjacconsulting, or check here to review Bakjac Consulting’s website for more information.

Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Psychologist, Organisational Consultant, Coach, Speaker and Facilitator. As Director of Bakjac Consulting, she is a credentialed Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a member of Mental Toughness Partners and an MTQ48 accredited Mental Toughness practitioner. Michelle assists individuals and organisations to develop their Mental Toughness to improve performance, leadership, behaviour and wellbeing.

#Michelle Bakjac #team building #Mental Toughness

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oselatra · 7 years

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Gift that keeps giving

see that one proposed charter is to occupy a school building leased from the Waltons, a return on a real estate investment, unless the building was given to them — then it's a gift that keeps on giving.

From the web

In response to the May 8 Arkansas Blog post, "Charter assault, fueled by Walton money, continues on Little Rock School District":

I see that one proposed charter is to occupy a school building leased from the Waltons, a return on a real estate investment, unless the building was given to them — then it's a gift that keeps on giving. A charter school proposed for Wiener.

For 400 students, this must be a total public school conversion that would push the current system into bankruptcy. Who thinks this is a good idea?

Going for the record

What is the Walton/Hussman/Murphy endgame? Kill universal mandatory public education and replace it with "privatized" for-profit schools with their company in charge? I just want to know, because their cheerleading for the death of public education puzzles me.

Claude Bahls

A "college prep" K-5? So they're gonna enroll 'em in college at about age 12?

(Yeah, I know on exceedingly rare occasions that's happened here and there, if not in Arkansas to my knowledge.)

So what's wrong with building a good educational foundation for this age group and getting them ready for junior high and high school?

Doigotta

Profit centers expanding in Little Rock. Name them after Einstein, Tesla, etc. They are still profit centers with an education component/distractor.

Maxifer

Look, Little Rock, the only way you are going to get your school board back is by reaching out to the surrounding populous areas of Central Arkansas and voting out the governor.

Sure, increase the turnout in NLR/LR, but get out and support progressive networks in Saline, Faulkner and Perry counties. Offer to help those networks. After losing quite a few elections, they need a boost for 2018. It will flip AR2 and flip the governor.

In response to the May 5 Arkansas Blog post, "Federal health bill would undercut governor's plan for altered Medicaid expansion":

What a convoluted mess the "Obamacare Repealers" or "Freedom for Males Caucus" have made out of their GOP NoHealthCare Plan. They should have expected Donald to be unpredictable and screw up their greedy, revenge plan. These people have lost their moral compass and their humanity if they can purposely let people die earlier than they need to. I am going to push the Arkansas Legislature for "Death with Dignity, or medical aid-in-dying" statutes that would allow certain terminally ill adults to request and obtain a prescription for medication to end their lives in a peaceful manner. That is why I think it would be illogical for the state to spend any more money on stopping the opioid epidemic. It would be the height of cruelty to pass terrible health care plans that will purposely kill off poor and sick people, because you think they are a liability, then sadistically make those people suffer in pain until the end. One good thing the GOP Slash, Cut, and Kill NoHealthCare Plan will do is help Democratic women win more seats in 2018.

ShineonLibby

If the families of !A!S!A!, Rotten Tommy Cotton, Miz Leslie and the like had to endure the same level of health insurance/care that the least among Arkansas Doesn't Work recipients did, that s**t would come to a screeching halt.

Sound Policy

Trump has promised better health care and lower premiums for all. Why isn't he being held to this? The plan of the Regressive Party will raise premiums on the elderly and the poor (they're not called Regressive for nothing). Obama got barbecued for promising something about his plan (keep your plan if wish). But his statement was largely accurate. The criticism was due to people wanting to hold on to their cheap paper-thin plans. Far from being accurate, Trump is just out and out lying. Why is it only the Democrats who are held accountable?

Slithey Tove

In response to the May 5 Arkansas Blog post, "Judge Griffen responds to judicial disciplinary complaint":

So, Sen. Jake Files for a second time makes the news for some questionable loans, not to mention being sued by multiple parties, including the City of Fort Smith, yet no action is being taken by the legislature to look into his conduct?

Wendell Griffen exercises his right to free speech and he is the one impeached by our state legislature?

And if you ARE going to impeach a judge, why this judge? If anyone should have been impeached it should have been Mike Maggio. He admitted he took a bribe. I bet he will still get to receive his retirement. So let's see, what is different about Griffen and Maggio?

Well, they are both male.

They are both lawyers.

They are both judges.

They are both black. Oops, not correct. Maggio is white and Griffen is black.

They both took bribes under the table from Michael Morton. Oops, wrong again. Only Maggio has taken a bribe from Morton. He admitted as such in open court. Griffen has no such stain on his judicial record.

I give up. You all need to figure out why our supermajority Republican House of Representatives is persecuting Griffen, but remained silent during the entire Maggio scandal.

People need to call the legislature and ask them when are they going to hold themselves and their members accountable when they do these bad things. These guys know no shame.

Poison Apple

I do not think there is any chance at all that Judge Griffen will be impeached. The hotheads like Sen. Trent Garner (R-El Dorado) will make a lot of noise, but the reasonable Republicans, and there are several of them in the legislature, know that there is no way an impeachment of someone because of their ideas (or in this case, I guess his ideals) would ever succeed, not even in the poison, racist climate we are currently seeing in Arkansas.

plainjim

In response to the May 11 Arkansas Blog post that Circuit Judge William Pearson of Clarksville, who pleaded guilty to drunk driving and was given a six-month suspended sentence, was reinstate to the bench:

Judge convicted of a DWI — no problem letting them continue to be a judge.

Judge accidentally forgets his child who dies in a hot car and eventually gets to go back to judging.

Judge exercises his First Amendment right of free speech and religion must be impeached and removed from the bench.

In this you see the true illustration of Arkansas "values."

couldn't be better

In response to an Arkansas Blog post on the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's proposal to widen Interstate 30:

A good conservative government should be limited to the minimum necessary to 1) tax the people, 2) redistribute their money to corporations, 3) receive contributions from the lobbyists of those corporations, and 4) portray opponents as hippy liberals.

Ivan the Republican

Gift that keeps giving

#Gift that keeps giving

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