Tag: blogs

Would Walt Disney have a blog?

Would Walt Disney have a blog?

Probably, in my opinion.

Walt always taught his associates to push the envelope and be in front of the competition.  Find new ways to inform and entertain our audience.

Do you have a blog?

If you do, great.   If you don’t, let me please ask you a few questions, Do you own a cell phone? Do you have an email address?  Do you have a mail box or some other way to send or receive traditional postal mail? Do you have a computer?

All of the above, right?

Pretty soon, everyone will have a computer. Everyone. Not just every household, but ever lap will have a laptop – maybe as small as a cell phone. Notepads, those small 8-9 inch screen “laptops” are selling for $250.

The future is the Internet. Whether you embrace it or not, whether you find a million ways to have it help your business or not, it’s the future. I always believe the time to act is when you don’t have too. Get in on the social media phenomenon, or get left behind.

Seriously. I study this stuff and have an eight year old. I want him to come to me for answers, not say, “Don’t ask my Dad, he’s clueless”.

Make it an exciting and meaningful day.  There are probably a lot of people hoping for you do be that kind of person today.  Carpe diem, jungle jeff  🙂

Walt Disney was “crazy”

Inspiration can come from the most unlikely source.

Do you ever find this to be true?

It’s like a gift, right under our nose, waiting to be unwrapped.

Except for one thing.

We rarely take notice.

Walt Disney spent a lifetime teaching his associates to pay attention to the smallest of details.  Details so “insignificant” that some would say, “Walt, that’s too much perfection.  The audience won’t see that kind of perfection“. Many people thought Walt Disney was crazy because of his obsession with small details.

Walt would shoot back, “They may not see perfection, but they can feel it“.

Little details.  Little gifts, so to speak.

Insignificant details that become redundant, and most would avoid the effort, because it would cost too much or take too long.

And the payoff?  Nothing. The Guests will never notice.

That was the genius of Disney’s founder, Walt Disney.

It’s every Leader’s duty to keep that genius alive at The Walt Disney Company.

This past Sunday, my wife, son, and I enjoyed a few late afternoon hours at Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water park.  It was 85 degrees and sunny.  Palm trees and tropical flowers everywhere.

We had a wonderful afternoon.

Later that night, as I was cleaning off the countertop, putting away my wallet, keys, and receipts, I noticed something.

A small detail.

On our admission pass was Minnie Mouse, smiling like she always does.  That wasn’t actually the small detail.

What really caught my attention were the two words on either side of Minnie.

“CELEBRATE EVERYDAY!”

So, that’s exactly what I did today.

And you know what else?

Can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow.

Disney Parks ARE the Happiest places on Earth.  How cool is that?

Am I boring?

Am I boring?

Scary thought.  Sometimes I’m convinced I am. Know how I can tell?

Soon after I became a professional speaker a decade ago, a wise person told me, “Jeff, if you look out at your audience, and they looked bored, you’re boring them”. I’ve never forgotten that wisdom.

At risk every single day – failing them and boring them.  The two mortal sins public speakers commit most often.

Want the good news?

I don’t do it nearly as frequently as I used to.  Plus, I’ve also learned to recognize and react more effectively.

So, may I please ask you a question?  Are you boring?

Want to test yourself?

Read your LinkedIn profile and ask yourself, “Is this something that captures attention and motivates the reader to read.  Or, is it like so many others that people don’t even bother”?

At the core of this is your intent for using LinkedIn, in my opinion.

It’s tough out there.  If you don’t figure it out, who will?  Carpe diem, jungle jeff

Live, before you die

Here’s a post written the other day. I was 35,000 feet in the air, traveling, and had just finished watching an inspirational movie, lent to me by a friend.  It’s long, so I understand if you’re too busy to read it.  Yet I wasn’t going to let that stop me from writing it.  Here goes:

02.26.09 35K feet

Are you a chicken?

When was the last time you put yourself on the line?

Seriously!

When?

Bet you’ve thought about it. Everybody does. It’s part of our human DNA. We all dream of doing something great, of putting ourselves on the line.

Here’s the deal.

If you’re like me, you’re insanely busy. You’re also incredibly distracted. And (again), if you’re like me, most likely, a “chicken”.

Please don’t get me wrong. Being afraid is a gift given to humans to help them survive.

It can also, unintentionally, be the very thing that suffocates us.

Suffocates us?

Yes. Suffocates us.

Huh?

We go through life, unaware the clock is ticking. We wake up one day, realizing we haven’t yet lived.

This scares the heck out of me.

Today, tomorrow, next week, all month, all year, next year, until I die – I vow to, “Live, before I die.”

May I be so bold as to challenge you? To Live, before you die!

Find a way to be inspired every single day.

I just watched “Saint Ralph”. A story about a 14-year old boy, attending an all-boys Catholic school in the early 1950’s. His Father was killed in a war. His mother on her death bed, although no one will admit it. It appears she’s battling cancer. She goes into a coma and Ralph, her son, hears a story about miracles.

Ralph becomes convinced that if he can perform a miracle, in this case winning the Boston Marathon, then that miracle will lead to the miracle of his Mother coming out of her coma.

Ralph was never really good at anything. He was always getting in trouble.

He digs down deep, loses Boston by one step, and becomes a hero.

All I can tell you (to wrap this up) is that I believe in business and at home, we get an incredible opportunity to make the world a better place.

Today, once again, I’ll work hard for the courage to “put myself on the line” to do just that.

Carpe diem,  jungle jeff  :)