Category: Uncategorized

Disney Wonder (Social Media Update)

Disney Wonder (Social Media update).  This is different than the Disney Scoop, which is the motion Disney Cast Members learn, to pick up specks of trash without stopping.

I often wonder where I’d be right now if I’d been quicker to embrace social media.

Which naturally leads to wondering about businesses, if they wonder about what I wonder about.

The power to reach the masses grows exponentially as the Internet tools are mastered and maximized.

In keeping with the “Family” theme this month, you might be asking, “So what does this have to do with family”?

For starters, our son has written two blog posts from his first two days back at school. He’s a third-grader.

How many blog posts have you posted this week?

If your retirement plan is all locked and loaded from your company, you certainly don’t need any radical thoughts from jungle jeff on what the future might look like.

Then again, well, then again…….

Cd, jungle jeff 🙂

Back To School

Back to school for our third grader.

Thank you to my wife for all her hard work to shop, organize and take care of all the preparations necessary for a successful end to summer vacation.

Third grader, nine years old, 70-plus pounds.  Who woulda thought?

Our son had a great summer at the Disney – YMCA child care facility. He learned how to dance in front of others.

And it was easier than you might think.

Part of the class culture, led by his YMCA teachers, was every day starting with music and dancing on the playground.  Every day.

What happens when you do something every day?  You get used to it. And you get good at it.  This strengthens your self-esteem.

Because of the way my brain works, it is only natural to connect this insight to business.  Yours and mine.

Great results happen when dedicated effort is practiced everyday and fun is part of the culture.

What surprised me about writing this post was that it surprised me, because I shouldn’t be surprised.

This is common sense, just not always common practice.

Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

jungle jeff Traditions

jungle jeff traditions are inspired from Disney’s successful business models.  If it works for Disney, it can work for you and  me.

So in 1996, when my Grandmother was given six weeks to live and a few years later my Dad was fading from early onset, rapid progression Alzheimer’s, I sent many Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and other Disney Character post cards to them in Pennsylvania.

I wanted them to know that I loved them and choose a seemingly insignificant way to do so, simply placing the stamp upside down.

If, or when, our son ever notices, there will be a story behind it.  A good story.  A story to help him learn about his Great Grandmother, his Grandfather, and me in more detail, using a very simple example.

Roy Disney, Walt’s brother, recounted Walt on his death bed pointing out the hospital ceiling tiles. Walt told Roy, “In this square mile we’re gonna do this.  In that square mile we’ll do that”.

On Walt’s deathbed, he was still talking about making a 43-square mile swamp the world’s vacation kingdom.

Walt had passion, and, great people who knew how to keep his values alive, long after his death.

Will people remember what I value after I’m gone?  My son sure will. It just takes some effort on my part to ensure it with some stories from everyday life.

Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

It’s Hard

It’s hard to say a lot in only a few words.  It seems my blog posts have gotten three to seven sentences too long lately.

Studying Disney the way I have since I was a child watching Walt Disney on TV in the early 1960’s, has taught me to always be evaluating service and product delivery.  Always.

In turbulent times, it’s even more challenging to be proactive – everyone is insanely busy.  Daily evaluating gives way to just surviving.

Every single day, our son sees me check GoDaddy web statistics.  He knows which days are great and which are average. The last two have been average, after a record setting day.

He just turned nine and I’ve already put him to work.  Walt Disney’s father, Elias, put Walt to work early with a newspaper delivery business.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.   Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

PS.  Oh, and one more thing, what is now considered an “average” day, used to be “record breaking” day. Funnier still, it was the same for Walt Disney.  Still is, actually.

Turn The Page

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.

jungle jeff 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. 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.

While I will no longer talk directly about Disney Institute, I will continue to share valuable insights on how Walt Disney, the man, and a hero, has made me a better person.

And who doesn’t want to be a better person?  Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂