“If you can dream it, you can do it.” — Walt Disney
“If you think you can or you think you can not, you are right.” — Henry Ford
“If your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough.” — jungle jeff 🙂
Carpe diem, and have a GREAT weekend.
Tag: Walt Disney
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?
Why 17.84 ?
What’s significant about 17.84?
That’s what Disney stock closed at today. As in $17.84 a share. That’s a 52-week New York Stock Exchange low. (The official low today was $17.72, but the close was $17.84)
Because of the strength of the Disney Company brand (Magic), Disney tends to be one of the last to feel recessions and one of the first to recover.
Today’s closing Disney stock price reinforces the mantra: “It’s not the Magic that makes it work, it’s the work that makes it Magic.”
Disney’s Magic is revealed in what they conceal. The work. The work is what they never let you see.
What are you willing to let your customers see? What do you painstakingly make invisible? Bet no one’s ever asked you that before!
What would you, or your organization, look like if everyone started to think this way?
If you have any professional sense, to me, you would let that statement resonate. I hope you like your answers. If you don’t. You have options.
Some of them are right under your nose.
Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂
What’s the paradox of risk?
Why take a risk? Aren’t risks dangerous? “Yes, and”.
Risks can lead to breakthroughs. Risks can catapault a product or service into market domination – into brand recognition so great, it makes the product or service a household name. Risks can enhance your career. We can even argue that rewards are directly proportional to the risk involved. Not always, but mostly it’s so.
Why not take a risk? And the obvious, biggest reason? What if we fail? This makes it hard to be risky. What a paradox.
Risks can catapult us or destroy us.
Will this paradox frighten us or challenge us?
Will we act, or retreat?
Will we “walk the talk” or feel the guilt of hypocrisy?
Will we lead or follow?
These questions can only be answered by you and me, individually, in our own realities.
My personal reality is I’m insanely busy. Additionly, I don’t like to fail. Do you? It really makes me look bad in front of my boss, my boss’s boss, my peers, my Customers, my finance manager, etc.
Today, I promise to take risks. Whether they be small, medium or large, I vow to take them today. And tomorrow. And all week. All year even. How about, “until I die.”
Walt Disney was the consumate risk taker. My 35 years as a business professional have inspired me to ask, “What would Walt Disney do?”
As the Mastercard commercial catch phrase states, “What’s in your wallet?’
Make it a GREAT day! Because if you don’t who will?
Hey everyone, I’ve enjoyed having you read this. I hope you’ve enjoyed being had. Now that’s classic Jungle Cruise “humor”. Or not. 🙂 Respectfully, jungle jeff