Did Steve Jobs have a premonition about Mid Life Celebration?
It’s your responsibility to set yourself on fire.
Period.
If you’re on fire with the passion to do excellent work, congratulations. And thank the CEO of You, Inc.
If you’re not on fire with the passion to do excellent work, good luck with influencing the CEO of You, Inc. You can’t fire her.
It’s really critical to say the obvious.
Anyone who has succeed at this has done so because of one reason. They have refused to let bullcrap excuses – the ones we all have – determine their destiny.
Notes from the final Disney Performance appraisal in 2014. These are word-for-word (copied and pasted here without editing). They were typed on an iPhone sitting across the desk from the leader during the meeting. Kinda like shorthand because we were talking one-on-one:
Zealot.
Teachable moment is every moment. Wears people out.
Willingly go to extremes… All the time.
Masters at their game… Leadership team.
The fourth line was a reference that i should study and emulate the experts, our departmental leadership team. The same group of experts that the team collectively voted as ineffective as the top issue on the employee survey.
Talk about a blind spot.
It is tiring.
On both sides no doubt.
But so is this, the DNA of Walt Disney Operations:
Deliver an excellent experience to every single Guest, every single time, every single day.
No operational leader ever says, “Anything less than 100% is acceptable today.”
Shifting gears…society’s focus on Easter pales in comparison to Christmas. From this it would be safe to assume Christmas is more important.
Is it?
Case in point, today, Christmas finally makes sense.
Laura wrote down many of the things her mentor said.
They say the measure of a person’s integrity is what the person does that no one will ever know. So many colleagues have privately shared gratitude that he had no idea existed.
After 15 years of focused, disciplined, passionate, and intentional contribution at Disney Institute (DI), he left a quiet, indelible mark on DI’s karma.
An influence as soft as water, yet powerful enough to carve through stone given enough time. He had 15 gloriously intentional years.
Can you build trust and credibility instantly? Yes you can, but only if you earn it. And you can’t earn it if your soul and spirit aren’t soaked in authenticity.
It also helps if your resume is particularly remarkable.
Two days after meeting the co-founder of Dave’s House, Ron sent the message in the photo:
I may have a speaking engagement for you…
Arriving early and staying late at the event where Lee Cockerell was the keynote speaker was unintentionally beneficial.
