Disney Lodgekeepers (housekeepers at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge) had an idea shortly after Disney’s Wilderness Lodge opened in 1994.
To maximize daily efficiency with the fewest number of linen-room trips for supplies, Lodgekeepers packed as much onto their linen carts as possible.
A heavy linen cart on a carpeted floor is hard to push.
In the mid-1990’s Walt Disney World was unveiling Performance Excellence – an unprecedented management reorganization.
The primary goal was to tap into the knowledge “library” and experience base of the front line Cast Members.
The secret leadership ingredient that went missing from all previous “empowerment” initiatives was leadership involvement and approval.
Performance Excellence was designed to provide the missing link.
When the Cast said they wanted a self-propelled linen cart (like a self-propelled lawn-mower), leadership checked with our linen-cart vendor and you can just imagine their response.
Cool idea, but no.
Such a thing didn’t exist.
Anywhere.
So Disney leadership relayed the message to the Cast and the Cast responded, “But you said this time we promise.”
Long story longer – guess who co-owns the patent for the first ever self-propelled linen cart?
Additional backstory:
Disney’s Central Shops (where we build the Magic) and the linen-cart vendor partnered to invent the cart and receive the patent.
A Disneyland Merchandise Executive was visiting Walt Disney World – specifically, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge – and noticed the self-propelled linen cart in her hallway.
She took an existing idea and made it work for the outdoor food and beverage carts at Disneyland.
Can you imagine how heavy a beverage cart is that’s full of cases of bottled and canned drinks?
Creativity, for Disneyland Merchandise, didn’t mean invention, it meant adaptation.
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Enlisted a complete stranger to help capture the story in Glacier National Park.
Bear Hat Mountain requires serious effort to visit.
Speaker Video idea 4/5 – Conflict:
Great stories always involve conflict. We’ll need to figure out our conflict. Some ideas:
Client verbally pushes back on “No speaker videos and wants to discontinue conversation – or the look on jeff’s face says the client never replied back via email.”
jeff is clearly challenged to find a convincing way to get Meeting Planners and Speakers Bureaus to .think .differently
Showcase a Disney Theme Park example of a stereotypical challenge that overcame conventional thinking by our Guests
Illustrate the “plain vanilla effect” of every speaker having speaker videos – an impossible stereotype to break???
Maybe a short clip of Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile barrier, or something like that – the Berlin Wall coming down
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This website is about our WORK. To ponder today’s post about our HQ, click here.
If you want to stay on this site and read more posts from this Blog, click here.
Yesterday at the gym…emailed myself some thoughts triggered by a song.
Just lead
Just engage
Just serve
Just love
Just improve
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Lead like you own it
Engage like you own it
Serve like you own it
Love like you own it
Improve like you own it
Being an entrepreneur is 24/7.
And zero theory.
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This website is about our career health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my home health website, click here.
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.
