InPark Magazine interviews Jumana Brodersen, president of The J Co LLC, a design consulting firm that specializes in planning and design of venues that entertain and immerse guests – including theme parks, zoos and aquariums, visitor centers, national parks and museums.
How did your life trajectory take you from your native Lebanon to being a creative director in the theme park industry in St. Louis and now a master planner for Tivoli in Copenhagen?
I emigrated from Lebanon to Texas in my late teens to study architecture, landed in the theme park industry in Saint Louis, and formed The J Co LLC in 2008. I was recruited by Tivoli Gardens to lead long-term and short-term master planning and development, so now I commute between St. Louis and Copenhagen.
Don’t you find such a commute complicated?
Like any of us who works internationally, I’ve learned to shrug off the jet lag and get the job done, but occasionally the time difference throws me. (And yes, I do sometimes get picked out for a little Q & A at the airport.)
Are there some significant differences in working style from the US to Denmark?
What I find most intriguing about my cross-continental situation - besides the splendid challenge of readying Tivoli for its next 10 years - are the unexpected differences in the way the Danes approach their work, and how my style interacts with theirs.
There are differences in problem solving, creative approach, teambuilding, and production process. Some of those differences are dictated by the available resources and types of labor - which are significantly different in Europe than in the US - and others are just plain cultural. I’ve found that my American working style can be complimentary and even catalytic. I’m getting a huge education, and I’m adding something flavorful to the pot.
Does your heritage figure into your experience in any way?
Having come to the US as a teen from the Middle East, I’ve faced cultural differences before. Every day, there were a hundred things to remind me I’d grown up among other books, other stories, other music, other family customs from those of my classmates and colleagues. But today, working at Tivoli has shown me that when it comes to career, I’m one of those driven, detail-oriented, get-it-in-writing Americans with laptop at the ready and nose pressed to the grindstone. I suppose it became ingrained in me during my ten years with Busch Entertainment Corp. [now SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment] where I managed the capital planning process and provided research data to support attraction selection.
I’m adapting quickly. I knew there would be cultural disparities and other disconnects. Because of my earlier experience coming from one country to another, I had a good idea what it would feel like and I knew I had the tools to deal with it. My architectural training gave me an ideal foundation. Architectural training organizes your mind: It teaches you multitasking and problem solving and gives you a cultural education.
The cross-cultural experience can be disconcerting but it is also hugely rewarding. Everything you learn in a new culture relates back to your own in some way. You learn and you also teach. It’s a two-way street – a street that will lead us to better projects.
Can you talk about some of the specific challenges in adapting to a different work culture?
Sure. It’s just the kind of thing I mull over as I drowse in my jet-lagged state at 11:00 pm on a Friday night in my hotel in Copenhagen, listening to the Tivoli fireworks in the near distance…
As I’ve mentioned, the Danes are not nearly as slavish about documentation as the Americans. They rely much more on verbal agreements, where I find I have a dependency on the written word. I have often believed that Americans sweat the details too much in comparison to the Europeans. But – irony of ironies – now that it’s my own project, I feel differently. And from a practical point of view, it’s time to write this stuff down for the sake of continuity and helping newcomers like me get up to speed. Like my new friends in Texas years ago, the folks at Tivoli already know the backstory. It’s a challenge to get them to slow down and explain to me something that never occurred to them might need explaining, much less writing down. And – surprise! They find my curious habit of documentation extremely useful.
When it comes to relationships, again there’s less documentation – and more trust. There’s less advance verification of how things will be carried out, leaving more to be determined in the field. When I ask for material samples, I get stares. “It’s taken care of,” is something I hear often. This makes me apprehensive, but in fact this system works (it helps that Tivoli is able to put together a super team of designers, suppliers and builders) and it can save a lot of time and effort. When I prepared to sign on as a master planning consultant, I assumed I’d be dealing with a 50-page contract, and alerted my lawyer. What arrived was a simple, two-page letter.
When production on Klump Island commenced, many of the construction details that on an American project would have been spelled out on paper, were entrusted to the contractors to work out in the field. We opened on time and with a beautiful product that has been so successful that an expansion plan is in the works - and I’ve learned to embrace “design-build,” Tivoli-style.
What differences stand out to you in the design process?
They prioritize differently. In the US, we have – and take for granted – ten times more personal space than they have in Denmark, whether it’s a hotel room, or a pathway in a park, or concert hall seating. They’re also not as splashy with color as we are in the US. One learns to strike a balance.
In the matter of accessibility design, I am in a position to make significant contributions. We’re much further ahead on this in the US because of ADA, so I have a lot to offer in details such as wider ramps, elevators, toilets on the main level that I’m conditioned to include but are still relatively new to European project design. I was able to make these contributions to the design for Klump Island, with such details as a graded main entry path that facilitates the elderly, people in wheelchairs, strollers and scooters.
You mentioned that you’ve got a newfound respect for design-build. What are some other things you admire about the way the Danes do things?
I admire the way they deal with the work/life balance. Americans are all about convenience, and Europeans are too, but in different ways. I know I can find my American colleagues at their desks or buried in their handhelds until midnight - just as they can find me. But in Copenhagen, they keep much more regular hours and maintain an admirably steady balance of work and family life. I manage, too, but my balancing act is more of a scramble.
Also, they have a certain flexibility that you don’t often find in American business dealings. We spend so much time making rules and processes in the US, and then holding one another to them. In Europe, I find they’re much more open to changing things on the fly.
Not only do you commute between St. Louis and Copenhagen, you also serve on the Eastern Division Board of the Themed Entertainment Association, and you’re a member of IAAPA. How do you keep up with clients and colleagues around the globe?
The short answer is Skype. Whether I’m in Copenhagen or Saint Louis, I’m on Skype at least two hours a day now and wonder how I ever managed without it, especially the videoconferencing feature.
You’ve directed the master planning and the creative concepts in a hands-on process for a huge variety of projects, including the Sesame play areas at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Williamsburg; Curse of DarKastle at BGW, Jungala at Busch Gardens Africa, and Manta at SeaWorld Orlando. What are you working on right now with Tivoli Gardens?
I can’t tell you yet, but it’s going to be great!
Any final thoughts?
Basically, you gotta adapt.
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