Tourism officials told to think out of the box

Author, business consultant and motivational speaker Simon T. Bailey told Kansas tourism leaders on Monday that they must find new ways of looking at and addressing their challenges.

Serving as the keynote speaker for the three-day Kansas Tourism Conference at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel, Bailey outlined some of the theories and methods explored in his newest book, “Release Your Brilliance,” and explained how they could be applied in efforts to reach tourism goals.

“Everything that Kansas travel and tourism needs to succeed is inside each and every one of you,” Bailey told the group.

A major key for extracting it, he said, is not being constricted by past practices.

“Sometimes we do what we always have done because that’s what we always have done, and we never see the future,” Bailey said. “The great tragedy in life is having sight and not having vision. When we have fresh insight we can envision a brilliant future.”

In order for individuals to be creative visionaries, he said, they need organizations and a society that encourage it.

“If you’re in an environment that does not recognize brilliance, you will do just enough to not get fired,” Bailey said.

The author alluded to the findings of Harvard professor Howard Gardner to illustrate how individual brilliance and creativity can be quashed.

Gardner’s research showed that through age 4, almost all children perform at genius level on intelligence tests. But by age 20, only 10 percent still were at that level, and in their later 20s, only 2 percent tested that high.

Schools, parents and society in general emphasize conformity with good intentions, but “conformity robs us of our creativity,” Bailey said. “Gradually, we come to believe that we are capable of fewer and fewer things.”

To successfully engage in creative thinking that yields fresh conclusions and direction, Bailey said, the first task is identifying the real challenges and posing to oneself the correct questions.

“The quality of your questions will determine the quality of your thinking,” he said.

Bailey, who worked for the Disney Institute and Disney Resorts, urged the attendees to think more creatively about the true role of their business or agency. That role is more than selling a product, he said. It is about identifying “the emotional outcome” desired for the customer.

He cited his former employer as an example of a company that knows the importance of emotional outcomes.

“Disney is not in the theme park business. It is in the magic business,” Bailey said.

As a result, the company’s mission is to constantly be on the lookout for ways to create that sense of magic.

In order to see and do things differently, he added, “Never underestimate the power of curiosity.”

Curious people constantly are looking for new information and new ways of doing things, Bailey said. And if people throughout the tourism industry share ideas born from curiosity, he told the group, the greater the chance they will succeed.

Contact Loren Stanton at 385-6068, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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