Learning from the Best - The Launch of my Leadership Style

Those who know me, know I am a huge fan of all things Disney. (some might say obsessed). My camp name, after all, is “Disney” (at our camps we use ‘camp names’ rather than our real names to create more fun and magic for our campers). My fascination with Disney, though, is not because of cute movies or fun theme parks, it’s about Walt, and the company he dreamt up and successfully created despite all critics and against all odds.

Early in my career with the YMCA I had the opportunity to attend the Disney University’s “Disney Approach to Quality Service” course. As the membership director at the Hilltop Y at the time, I convinced the powers that be to send me to this course. At Disney World. At significant expense. I was a young professional at the time, and if I’m being truly honest, I’m sure my main motives were likely more about a trip to Walt Disney World paid for by my employer than they were about learning about guest service. The course, though, ended up having a significant impact on me, my work and my leadership style which ended up benefitting both the Y and me throughout my career.

Whether you love them or hate them, or find yourself somewhere in the middle, it’s hard to argue with the fact that Disney is one of the most successful companies in the world. And it all began with a man from Marceline, Missouri who drew up a little rabbit and began a career in animation and imagination. “Rabbit?” you might ask? Well, yes, Walt’s first success wasn’t our friend Mickey, it was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Except that Oswald ended up being lucky for the company who secretly acquired the rights from Walt. Undeterred, he had to start over, and that ended up leading to the creation of one of the world’s most recognizable fictional characters - Mickey Mouse. From that little drawing, and perhaps partially thanks to urging from his wife Lillian that Walt name him Mickey rather than Mortimer as he had originally planned, the Walt Disney company was born, and is now a company worth over $230 billion. And - the Walt Disney Company re-acquired the rights to Oswald in 2006

Left to right: Oswald, Steamboat Willy - the first version of Mickey, and Mickey today.

I was deeply inspired by what I learned about Walt during the course and what I have learned since. Time and again challenges and nay-sayers stood in the way of his dreams, yet he never was deterred. The list of firsts that Walt and Disney created is lengthy. Whether it was creating the first animated work with synchronized sound, the first full-length animated feature (do you know which one was first?) or Disneyland – the first theme park developed for the entire family - people continued to tell him it wasn’t possible and even called him crazy, but he held tight to his dream, found creative solutions, was fortunate to have a supportive big brother and sure enough, he brought his dreams to life.

While much of what I learned at the Disney University wasn’t directly about Walt, it was clearly about the culture Walt had built and the commitment the cast members (what the Walt Disney Company calls employees) have to maintain that culture. Frequently the cast members leading the course would talk about how they “work for the Mouse”. Mickey and Walt are essentially one in the same and while Walt may be gone, his presences lives on in Mickey and the cast members truly respect and appreciate this fact.

My biggest takeaways were:

· Imagine big and don’t let anyone tell you it’s impossible

· Know what your core values are and their priority

· Empower your people

· Pay attention to detail

· Ask smart questions and listen to the answers

The Quality Service course taught participants to build a detailed quality service plan for our own business, a process I’ve used both at the YMCA membership/fitness center and at camp. It’s a phenomenal method that aligns the leadership team on the operation’s service vision – what is it that we want to focus on and how do we want to prioritize that focus, creating a guide that helps empower employees at all levels.

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DETAILS! Disney understands that each interaction is an opportunity to create lifelong memories and repeat customers, so corners are not cut. They train cast members on the importance of appearance and language, understanding that you are never not communicating. I’ll say it again, you are never not communicating. Everything you say or do sends a message – a message about what you value, a message about your priorities, a message about how much you value the interaction with your guests. Language and communication is valued as extremely important.

What messages are you, your team and your environment communicating - intentionally and unintentionally?

If you’ve been at a Disney park, and asked the most popular question asked of cast members (where is the restroom) you may have noticed “the Disney point”. Cast members show direction using either their index and middle finger together, or a flat hand. The reason? If you’re someone else far away in the area where they are pointing and they are pointing with just their index finger, you may feel like they are pointing at you and that could make you uncomfortable. Another common situation guests may find themselves in is having taken a seat to watch a parade in an area where seating isn’t allowed. Rather than telling the guest “you can’t sit there”, a cast member will more likely smile and say “this area isn’t available for seating, but let me show you to my best seats”.

Disney asks smart questions, and they never ask questions that they aren’t willing to listen to the answer to and adjust. One question they asked their cast members was what types of situations were occurring that were causing guests to be upset and potentially leave a negative memory about their experience rather than a positive one. One of the most common was when guest would leave the park and forget where they parked. Imagine it, a long day at the Magic Kingdom, tired kiddos slung over your shoulder and now you can’t remember where you put the car. Dopey? Donald? Daisy? Something with a D… Well no worries! Once they identified this common problem, they devised a solution. Now they keep track of where they are parking at various times throughout the day and if you can’t find your car they’ll ask you about when you arrived and they will drive you to the area being parked at that time and drive you up and down the rows until you find it.

One more example of the level to which they think. (Quick note here - I took the course in the mid 90s, so photos were still taken with cameras with film - young folks, just Google 'camera film' and you'll understand.) Somehow they figured out that 5% of all film developed was of Disney properties. And they learned that if the color red is in a photo, the photo as a whole will be more vibrant. So, they started making sure there was something red in the most common locations – perhaps a red curb, or a sign with red in it - so that guests’ photos would look even better when they got them home…and showed them to all their friends and family.

What questions do you need to start asking about your operation?

I could go on and on, but I’ll wrap up here. If you want to hear more about my experience, we can set up a time to talk. Attending the Disney University was instrumental in the development of my leadership style. It taught me lessons I used throughout my career and pass along to others. It created in me a true admiration for Walt Disney, an imperfect and inspirational visionary who has taught me to dream, imagine, persevere and to never truly grow up!