Effective August 1, 2009, I tweaked jungle jeff’s focus.
Jungle Jeff began over 200 posts ago, with a single. solitary purpose – to drive hopeful business professionals to Disney Institute’s website.
This has always been my personal site. From day one, key people appreciated the transparency.
Working desperately hard, jungle jeff became an informal and organic place to create interest in Disney Institute.
I kept my big ideas and big goals in check. Yet still managed to have great fun – the way Walt Disney himself would have exuded a childlike excitement about pushing the boundaries to traditional methods.
When I started, there were few, if any, rules written about corporate social media policy, and jungle jeff began, and operated for many months without official policy or guidelines.
Along the way, very few invisible lines were crossed, and with eager adaptation, jungle jeff kept going. There was even an accidental time when a line was crossed twice. All in the name of progress and the pursuit of something Walt Disney made famous – excellence.
Progress, pursuing excellence, and staying ahead of competition in these tough economic times does not come risk free.
It’s been the equivalent, for me, to getting an MBA. World class effort, time and worry invested that will always remain invisible. It’s the price that had to be paid.
Thank you to the people who believed in this idea, and provided feedback and support.
Thank you, especially, to the loyal jungle jeff readers.
While I will no longer talk directly about Disney Institute, I will continue to share valuable insights on how Walt Disney, the man, has made me a better person.
And who doesn’t want to be a better person? Carpe diem, jeff noel
A Social Media perspective, from Beet TV, featuring Bob Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company. Bob says Disney isn’t embracing Social Media, Disney is embracing the consumer – it’s the consumer who is embracing social media.
I loved hearing Bob Iger say, “We’re simply going to reach more people in more ways”.
My friend recently told me, “You write like you talk”.
My friend reads these jungle jeff blog posts from an iPhone and was suggesting my writing has too many commas, or pauses.
And that in today’s world a lot of people don’t read that way.
I pause, often, to make certain points, to let the point resonate, to challenge the listener, and sometimes, just to think about what I’m going to say next.
There, see what I did in that last sentence?
I feel comfortable with my style. It’s the way I talk. It’s who I am.
So I asked my friend, “Ever notice my paragraph structure”?
“One or two sentences”, he responded immediately.
I asked if he knew why, and paused.
Then I said, “Because I’ve read a ton of blogs and most of them overwhelm me with what I’ll have to invest to figure out what the writer is trying to say”.
I’m not sure if he got my point.
Maybe you didn’t either.
Will you be back tomorrow to hear the other intriguing things we talked about?
If not, I wish you the best of everything. Carpe diem, jeff noel
Wonder if Walt Disney ever jogged? Or ever went to the gym? Or swam, walked or biked with any regularity?
I have never read anything that suggests Walt Disney was physically active.
This is one dimension where Walt Disney and jeff noel differ.
Yesterday, to celebrate turning 50, I ran the annual Watermelon 5k, in Winter Park. There had to be close to 1,500 to 2,000 runners and walkers there.
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) had their annual convention in Orlando and its members participated! For the first time ever the ACB used a fun run/walk to raise funds and encourage their members to embrace an active and healthy lifestyle.
Embrace an active and healthy lifestyle? Hmm….That’s one of the common sense things that everyone can embrace.
Started the day running the Watermelon 5k in Winter Park. Then spent the rest of the day with family and friends . Now it’s 9:00PM and I’m going to postpone today’s post until tomorrow.
Today, by the way, President Barack Obama’s audio-animatronic figure was unveiled at The Walt Disney World Resort, at the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents.
This reminds me of what vacationing Disney Guests feel like.
My family and I are preparing for my very first Writer’s Retreat combined with an annual summer vacation to our favorite beach get-a-way.
We’ve calculated this is our 23rd visit in the past 21 years.
Same island. Same accommodations. Same Ocean.
Different owners. Different management team. Different emotions.
We are not sure this experience will be as relaxing as in the past.
Why?
Too much change perhaps. Too much focus on the bottom line. Too much heritage lost.
The last one, heritage lost, is the thing that worries me.
Now that our son is almost nine, he has really great memories of this place and looks forward to it even more than we do. Our first Lab went for 12 years. Our second Lab, now ten, has been going to this sunny place since he was four months old.
In fact, last October, we took him there, for what we thought was his last weekend on earth. He obviously, and miraculously, survived – further cementing our emotional attachment to this special place.
We feel like owners. Seriously. I’ve never felt this unusual feeling of entitlement.
Because of our loyalty, we could easily daydream that when we arrive, the trumpets will sound as the red carpet awaits us.
This is what I’m absolutely certain Disney’s long-time returning Guests must feel like.
I hope the trumpets blare and the red carpet awaits them and their families.
What a huge responsibility it is to make people feel like Royalty.
Thank goodness it’s Monday. I can’t wait to get started. Seriously.
The privilege to work, sure beats the alternative. At least that’s what I think.
I also think the people and organizations that will be ahead of the pack when these turbulent times turn around, will be the ones who are making plans, right now, to be the leader.
Make it a GREAT Monday, because if you don’t, who will. If not today, when? Carpe diem, jungle jeff
