The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture
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Know Where You Are
O K, PROFESSOR Boy, what can you do for us?”
That was the greeting I received from Mk Haley, a twenty-sevenyear-old
Imagineer who was given the job of babysitting me during my
sabbatical at Disney.
I had arrived in a place where my academic credentials meant
nothing. I became a traveler in a foreign land who had to find a way to
come up with the local currency—fast!
For years, I’ve told my students about this experience because it’s a
crucial lesson.
Although I had achieved my childhood dream of being an
Imagineer, I had gone from being the top dog in my academic research
lab to an odd duck in a rough-and-tumble pond. I had to figure out how
my wonky ways could fit in this make-or-break creative culture.
I worked on the Aladdin virtual reality attraction then
being tested at Epcot. I joined Imagineers interviewing guests
about how they liked the ride. Did they get dizzy, disoriented,
nauseated?
Some of my new colleagues complained that I was applying
academic values that wouldn’t work in the real world. They said I was too
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