Yesterday, a side trip after the Podiatrist visit.
Yesterday.
Let’s pretend you own land close to your main business and you convert this property, which includes a private lake, into an employee recreational complex.
You name this complex, Little Lake Bryan, after the official name of the lake.
Years later you rename it.
Why?
Because the words we use are one of several key ways to intentionally shape an organizational culture by design instead of letting culture happen ‘by default”, or unintentionally.
If Disney ran your business they’d change the name of your employee recreation facility from Little Lake Bryan to Mickey’s Retreat.
A cut and paste Pixar story basics list from Emma Coats:
• • • • •
Pixar story artist Emma Coats has tweeted a series of “story basics” over the past month and a half — guidelines that she learned from her more senior colleagues on how to create appealing stories:
#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Spent six of my 30 years working in this Resort.
Two days ago, i wrote this response to an email question about corporate priorities:
• • • • •
Without a common purpose, or unifying goal (as i call it), there’s no irrefutable, self-evident rallying point. This is the beacon for creating a culture by design.
Without being crystal clear on why you exist this powerful question, when addressing everything in your organization, is meaningless:
Does this allow us to better deliver our unifying goal?
For executives, profit is the unifying goal. No harm no foul right? But no one on the front line (onstage or backstage) gives a damn about that. Ignoring this fact does not make it false.
This is one of the early points in my leadership keynote speech.
Humble beginnings for Walt Disney doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.
If Disney ran your life, the first thing Disney would insist on is creating an architectural framework for a balanced, intentional approach to every detail of your life.
