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Case Study: Louis the Child – Providing Sturdy Solutions

Salvador A. Perez

Rosen College, University of Central Florida

HFT 3395: Entertainment Technology & Innovation

Professors Dave John and Lauren Sigmund

April 4, 2022
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Louis the Child – Providing Sturdy Solutions

One of the most important things that is required of anyone in a position of leadership is

problem solving skills. Some other leadership skills and practices may come to mind, such as

accountability, responsibility, emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, risk

mitigation, and time/task management, but problem solving rightfully earns it place among them.

A manager/leader who cannot problem solve efficiently is a boat with a hole in its hull.

Therefore, if one was placed in the situation Account Executive (AE) Juliana Stern was during

the preparation of the Louis the Child: Euphoria tour, is it important to be fast on your feet and

even quicker in your head. This paper will go over what should be done if one was in the AE’s

positions, dealing with the emotions of those present on the LED Crown project, ways the

situation could have been avoided, if the acquisition of a back-up LED Crown should have been

accounted for, and other back up plans that can be created in this situation. It should be noted,

proceeding on from this point, the actions proposed are the authors opinion on how to best

handle the situation present in the case study.

The first thing to do in this situation is to accumulate all the information available from

everyone in the crew and involved in the show planning process. In Juliana’s position, one

should start with ensuring the safety of everyone on the crew and in the building. Ensure that no

one was harmed by the LED Crowns short circuit/electrical fire and move to ensure that no one

is or will be in a position of danger. Immediately afterward find the source of the problem, ask

the necessary questions. Why did this occur? Was this truly the result of the LED Crown not

being able to deal with the power or a result of error on our part? Is the LED Crown still

functional? Was any other piece of technology hurt in the event? Continue onward until you feel

you have enough information to work with, be conscious however that this analysis must be
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extremely quick as time is short. Once you have completed your analysis and no one is in

immediate danger, then one can move on to the problem solving.

Immediate thoughts that come to mind on a solution moving forward is not to lose out on

the investment. Though the LED is likely not functional and should no longer be powered, is

there a way to utilize the shape(s) of the Crown or its individual panels (if it was a multiple panel

build) to make the stage design more interesting? Is it possible to shine light on the pieces to

make artistic reflections or shadows? Is there any alternative creative way to use what is present

to enhance the design of the show? In 4 days, it is unlikely that there will be enough time to fix,

reship, or repair the Crown without any major additions to the budget or risk of danger to the

crew present. Therefore, the focus should be on finding any safe alternative use for the Crown

before marking it off completely for use. If no alternatives are found try changing perspectives

and if nothing can safely be done, then and only then consider the LED Crown a loss.

When implementing proposed solutions, one must come to deal with possibly the most

difficult part of any leadership role, the human element of emotions. Failure and anger in

particular are very hard emotions to deal with alone, let alone help another person process. In this

specific case study that goes double because of the amount of time, hope, and anticipation that

the Lighting Designer, Christian Jackson, put into his LED Crown idea. One should approach the

situation pragmatically and with great care/empathy. To aid in easing Christian’s mind you

should inform and involve him in the problem-solving process, allowing him to work toward a

solution and not give in to his negative emotions just yet. Provide hope and solutions where there

are problems, lead with a positive mindset that shows all that this setback is not a failure, not yet

at least. Encourage collaborative, hands-on, and safe work that relies on rapid prototyping as

well as an innovative outlook. In this process reaffirm the statement that failure is okay but
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giving up is not an option, not until everything has been tried. With this approach even if the end

result is failure, the crew and the AE can truly say that they tried it all, feeling accomplished in

their efforts and learning from their mistakes. What is most important here is providing a feeling

of guidance and calming the minds of those who are working on the project. In this effort, the

aim is to ease the anxiety and stress that rears its head when a problem this big presents itself this

close to a hard deadline.

Next should be consideration for how the situation could have been avoided. The first,

and most obvious, solution is quality checking and communication along the process of the LED

Crowns production. Whoever was acquiring or leading the idea of the LED Crown, in this case

Lighting Designer Cristian Jackson, should have maintained consistent contact with the provider

of the LED crown. Christian should have asked that the provider either:

• Allow him to test the product during and prior to the completion of the creation

• Verifiable proof that hard testing of the product was done on their end prior to shipping.

This would have allowed Christian, and/or the providing company, a chance to ensure the

viability of the product outside of the assurances of word or calculations. Everything may seem

fine on paper/theory but that unfortunately does not always appropriately translate to the

confines of reality.

A question that can be asked to the AE in this situation is “shouldn’t you have accounted

for failure and purchased a back up LED Crown just in case?”. While the question is reasonable,

an AE could aptly reply “it was not possible due to budgetary restrictions” or “it was not a

necessary expense that should have been accounted for”. It is important to keep in mind that in

this situation the LED Crown was not necessary, but instead a piece that Christian thought
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“could add additional theatrics to the performance” (John & Sigmund, 2021). This implies that

the client did not request this, but it was instead an additional expense all in the effort of

enhancing the guest experience and impressing the client. This effort though valiant, engaging,

and unique was ultimately an accessory rather than a necessity. Thus, though a good

precautionary measure for standard equipment, it should first be analyzed if purchasing another

LED Crown was a financially viable action according to the given budget of the show. If budget

allowed and the client agrees, then proper care should be given to duplicate the creation of the

LED Crown.

Other back up plans that could have been utilized besides purchasing a back-up Crown by

Juliana, or someone in her position as AE, are numerous however the best three ideas will be

provided below. If planning for the worst, possible back-up plans could be:

1. Ensuring that the crown could be multi-purpose, allowing for it to be built in with other

uses. For example, maybe being reflective, fireproof, modular, having a frame that can be

used in other ways, etc.

2. Having another big effect or stage pieces planned into the budget (e.g projection

mapping, dancers, other LED walls with different effects, or a unique set of moving

lights with special effects).

3. Planning to redouble efforts on the programming of the technology present to try and

provide a perfect show to offset the perceived loss of value the Crown provided. This

should be the last case scenario only executed if there is no solution found in the prior

two plans.

In summary, the problem presented during the preparation of the Louis the Child: Euphoria

tour is one of the many problems that can happen in any show/tour prep. In these scenarios it is
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paramount that good leadership qualities are practiced, maintaining productivity and efficiency

throughout the entire encounter with the given problem. In this specific case it is essential that

first and foremost safety is practiced before engaging in problem solving, that everyone’s

emotions are used positively in order to generate a creative solution to the problem, that thought

is given on how to avoid the situation before it happens in case it ever arises again, and that there

are multiple back-up plans available to give guidance/direction in the event that there is a

problem.
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References

John, D., & Sigmund, L. (2021). Louis the Child: Problem Solving on the Fly . Orlando:

University of Central Florida - Rosen College of Hospitality Management.