Walt Disney’s Birthday

Walt Disney was born December 5, 1901.  Yesterday, if Walt Disney was still alive, he would have been 108.

Some people actually live that long.  Walt Disney did not.  Not even close.

Walt Disney’s death on December 15, 1966 shocked the world.

It didn’t shock The Walt Disney World Resort, because construction for Walt Disney World hadn’t begun at the time of Walt Disney’s death.

Walt Disney World, or, EPCOT – Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow – as it was called at the time of Walt Disney’s death, did not open until October 1, 1971.

People can only begin to fantasize about what the World would be like if Walt Disney were still alive.

Don’t Blog

Not a Blogger?  Click Here (and then click upper right, “skip this ad”) for 11 payoffs if you blog, or if you ever want to start blogging.

Blogging won’t ever be important to you, if you won’t ever make blogging important.

Creating a great blog won’t ever be important to you, if being great isn’t important to you.

Same with exercise.

Exercise won’t ever be important to you, if you don’t ever make your health a top priority.

The list goes on and on.  But will you?  Go on and on, I mean. To do the hard work that has to be done to be great.

Only the mediocre are at their best every day.

Only Going to Say This Once

Please listen carefully.  This simple fact about public speaking may be the key to becoming a more effective leader.

But only if people listen very carefully, and not rush through this.

Here’s the truth about being a Professional Speaker:

  • If you look out at your audience and they look bored, you’re boring them
  • If you look out and they are on fire, you lit it

Leaders hate to admit they sometimes stink are not highly effective. This makes them look bad and feel horrible. Who wants that?

But the simple truth is, if the people around you don’t seem passionate about their work, their mission, their customers, guess what?

PS.  If your team is on fire with passion, mission, service, guess what?

How Important is Trust?

Do You Trust The Makers Of Candy Cigarettes?
Do You Trust The Makers Of Candy Cigarettes?

Trust is often placed on the list of top leadership skills, while people are compiling key leadership skills and attributes.

How important is trust when stacked up against all the other critical leadership values?

Ever ponder the top key leadership values great leaders possess? Are you now? Good. Here are some that always make the list:

  • Vision
  • Communication
  • Results
  • Inspiration
  • Integrity
  • Trust
  • Experience
  • Relationships
  • Recognition
  • Passion
  • Focus

What do you say is your number one leadership trait?

For me, it’s trust. Everything else revolves around this simple, and often overlooked leader character trait. I place trust ahead of passion, because a leader may have passion, but people mistrust motives, for example.

If you really think about it, how can anything else matter without trust?

Next Blog

Transformational Passion

Been thinking  a lot lately.  Now there’s a surprise, eh?  Me.  Thinking a lot.

Anyway,  what I mean is, thinking a lot about what motivates people.  Especially in these tough economic times. Everywhere you look, there is tension, anxiety, uncertainty, and maybe even an honest fear of the future.

It can be crippling.  How do I know?  Because I’m one of you. A husband, father, son, leader, volunteer, neighbor, worrier.

Yesterday, while visiting The American Adventure Pavilion at Disney’s Epcot Park, there was a quote that basically said, “The early founders of the United States came to this country with little more than their vision”.

Their vision, their passion, transformed government.  The pursuit of happiness and all men are created equal.

Next time you look in the mirror, do you see a mountain or a molehill of a vision?

Wait.  Stop.  Go look in the mirror right now.

What did you see?  What do you see now, in your mind?

Perhaps a decade ago, a transformational seed was planted, scattered by the wind.  And then sometime last year, I started to see it really grow.

And out of nowhere, this Spring, well, all I can tell you is that a daily habit of writing five blogs took off.  Got sick of not seeing a mountain of passion in the mirror.  It hit me, you want to see a mountain, you better start transforming yourself.

The clock is ticking.

PS.  Here’s the catalyst for this post.  Wasn’t three minutes into it when the revelation came. After writing the post, I finished watching it.  August Turak’s speech can be watched by clicking here.