Page 22 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

Walt's Way 3

a copy of Service America with me on a trip to Florida in the mid-1980s. I
knew it would help prepare me to conduct an upcoming seminar for a group
of salespeople from all over the country. Reading Albrecht and Zemke’s
book, I had one of those experiences when a light goes on in your head:
Walt Disney insisted that every employee is the company in the mind of the
customer. From that point on, my goal in training salespeople was to inspire
them to begin living that mindset. Then, on my next trip to Walt Disney
World, I closely observed the best of the best in action doing just that.
Years later, when we started looking around for companies that could
serve as examples in our consulting business, we found ourselves coming
back again and again to Disney. A great deal of scrutinizing, analyzing, and
researching of various companies led us to conclude that none compared to
Disney in every aspect of running an organization. Whereas one company
might excel in customer relations or another might work well with its suppliers,
Disney’s consistency in direction and overall strategy, its unrivaled customer
service, its employee training and relatively low turnover, its product creativity,
and its spectacular profitability combined, in our view, to make it the perfect
business model.
Having studied the Disney phenomenon for several decades, we are
convinced that the management techniques we call “Walt’s way” are as valid
today as they were in 1937, when the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
the very first animated feature film, captured the hearts of moviegoers.
Skeptics need only look to the spectacular successes The Walt Disney
Company continues to achieve year after year, decade after decade, for affir-
mation of Walt’s way.
And if you’re wondering whether the Disney magic has legs, we can
answer with a resounding yes! Over the years, we have encouraged clients in
many different industries to use Walt’s fundamental credo to improve their
customer service, productivity, and internal operations, while at the same
time creating an atmosphere of fun. The company that Disney founded has,
in effect, served as a laboratory for us and, in turn, our clients.
This chapter introduces the 10 concepts at the heart of the Disney leg-
end. Subsequent chapters then take up these principles in detail and show
how they are still being lived at the company today and how some of our
clients have adapted them to fit their specific circumstances, enabling them
to create winning solutions. Their success stories attest to the continuing
power of Walt’s way.