Dan Danzig writes:

Why are we -- primarily large museums -- obsessed with comparing ourselves
to,  and competing with, the private, for-profit sector? By following this
course it is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller organizations to
survive, while larger ones are forced to compromise. We can't possibly try
and compete with a corporation like Disney,

Eric Siegel replies:

At least in our case, we are thinking about movies, malls, and anything
else that motivates our potential audience to get out of the apt on a
weekend afternoon.  We certainly don't want to think of ourselves as
competitors with clothes shopping, let alone disney.  But the hard fact is
that we are trying to get people to come to the Hall of Science, and family
entertainment is our "competition."  So, what is it they do well that we
can learn from?  We probably can't undercut Old Army on jeans, but we can
learn from the fact that all of their salespeople, besides wearing those
cool headset microphones, smile and greet you when you come to the store
(not all in unison, though that would be an interesting effect.)

Eric Siegel