WDW Magazine April 2016 - Disney's Hollywood Studios | Page 110

Gavin - It sure is a giant jump. You were working on Epcot and then some other projects after that,
then how did you get your first project? Did they just noticed you?
Joe - Yeah. Okay, so I had been working with a specific designer–very, very competent,
hardworking, knowledgeable designer–very good mentor, but not a very good speaker. So he’s a
very good artist. This is a common problem with artists. They could be very good artist and not
very good at speaking or talking. It’s a very common problem. The obvious kind of choice that
people make in their life is they develop and they end up being very good as an artist or a designer,
and they just don’t end up being very good as a speaker. So I’m a very good speaker, and so
whenever we have presentations, I would end up being the guy doing the talking. So if you were
the guy doing the talking, you have to answer questions. And once you answer questions, now
you’re in a conversation. Once you’re in a conversation, people are going to ask your opinion.
And so, I become the guy that people are asking the opinion of, because I’m the guy doing the
talking. And that gives me a chance to demonstrate that I have an opinion and that my opinion
is worth listening to. And that begins to get me into other meetings that aren’t related to the
work that I’m doing. And I become a person who can be in a brainstorm. I become a person who
can be involved in creating ideas. Once you’re a person who’s creating ideas, someone has to
take responsibility for getting the ideas don