Category: If Disney Ran Your Life

You must wear this every single day for your entire career

Disney Speakers
Esteemed colleagues (L-R) Dennis and Byran prepping for big client. Dennis and i met in 1988 and had lunch yesterday.

 

We had lunch at Cracker Barrel and talked for nearly three hours. Dennis was my Disney Traditions Manager in 1988, when 13 hourly, front-line Cast Members (i was one of them) were selected from hundreds of applicants.

Becoming a Disney Traditions instructor is one of the highest (non-promotional) honors an hourly Cast Member can receive. It’s a year-long cross-utilization role and several times each month you are pulled from your operation for a day to teach brand new Cast Members on their very first paid day at Walt Disney World.

It’s an engaging and exciting day-long introduction to the Disney culture, history, milestones, “business secrets, and it’s where they receive their Disney Name Tag.

Wearing your Name Tag is expected every single day of your Disney career because of what it represents to our Guests – it means any Cast Member can help you with anything.

Seems simple enough.

It’s what separates good and very good companies from world-class.

PS. Dennis retires from Disney and Disney Institute April 29th.

 

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On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

This website is about our career health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my home health website, click here.

 

Magic is chaotic to produce

iPhone screen shot of Disney Applause app
Last night on ABC television the Disneyland Diamond Jubilee Special.

 

i’ve been saying this since i first became a Disney Institute Speaker and Business Advisor in 1999:

“At Disney, it’s chaos 24/7.”

The Magic is that we hide what it takes so you believe it’s actually Magic.

It comes down to this:

Disney’s success centers on over-focusing on the same things others under-focus on or ignore. Disney is intentional where others are unintentional.

 

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On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

This website is about our career health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my home health website, click here.

 

Only one way to find out

Lee Cockerell bookmarks
Lee dropped off a case of his helpful bookmarks.

 

Only one way to find out if Lee would be at Starbucks.

Go there.

It paid off.

Plus, the seven-mile run through Universal Studios was a refreshing change.

The 400 Lee Cockerell bookmarks in my roller bag are “Earmarked” for every Keynote speech attendee – to compliment Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From A Life At Disney.

 

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On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

This website is about our career health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my home health website, click here.

 

How often should we be excellent? Is it a percentage?

Disney Institute Business facilitators
Photo: circa 2013 in Lake Tahoe. Spent two days immersed as a student with a dozen of my DI colleagues.

 

How often should we be excellent? Is it a percentage?

What about that percentage of our customers that get less than our excellent work?

Is that fair to them?

And do they notice the absence right away, or is it easy to fool them?

How do we justify giving some less than our best?

Is it because it’s so hard to set high standards and maintain them 100% of the time?

 

__________

 

On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

This website is about our career health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my home health website, click here.

 

Simplicity keeps coming up as a brand differentiator

Safari password example
One way i “write down” new passwords.

 

Told Gary that i use photos to capture notes. He then shared how photos are disrupting the way we do many things – finding new ways to use photos in ways we never used photos before.

And driving home I thought to myself i’d like to disrupt the way people think about leadership, employee culture, customer service, brand loyalty, and creativity & innovation.

To be able to explain how to do it with only three or four critical components.… that’s what’s missing… simplicity…people have too much to remember that they get so caught up in remembering that they don’t have great energy to execute.

But what if they didn’t have to work hard to remember things because it was so easy (to remember) and they could spend all their energy executing their plans?

 

__________

 

On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

This website is about our career health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my home health website, click here.