Page 61 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

42 The Disney Way

In formalizing Lensing values, Joe’s first priority was to define the word
value. At Lensing, a value is “a desirable standard of personal conduct or action;
a worthy trait.” Joe and his team decided on 11 core values, ranging from
quality to customer relations.
At one company meeting that we attended, Joe gave a heartfelt speech
to his employees about the value of customers and great service. During
the meeting, he said that anybody could put up a warehouse and stock it
with wholesale building products, but few could gain a reputation for truly
understanding their customers and being there when the customers needed
them. Illustrating the importance Lensing places on its ability to do just this,
the company’s customer relations value incorporates the following aspects:
to deal well with customers; display honesty, integrity, and a sincere concern
for their needs; remember names and faces; and maintain poise, integrity,
and confidence during all interactions. A firm belief in this value and a strict
adherence to its concept is what comes through loud and clear when speak-
ing to any Lensing employee.

The Long-Term Mentality

Again and again, we have witnessed how companies are strengthened when
they impart a clear understanding of their basic beliefs and core values. For
one thing, a set of bedrock values gives a sense of security to all stakeholders
and serves as a touchstone for company leaders. Although Walt Disney often
teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, he was able to stay focused on his goals
for the future because he believed so strongly in what he was trying to do and
how he was trying to do it.
We call that the long-term mentality, but unfortunately, many companies
manifest just the opposite. Their satisfaction with present achievements evi-
dences a short-term view of the world and causes them to rest on their laurels—
often with disastrous results. The Xerox Corporation, for example, squandered
its lead in the copying-machine market to the Japanese and found itself left
with only a 7 percent market share before it began a turnaround in the 1980s.
So, too, with the Raytheon Company, which invented the microwave oven in
1947. Raytheon now has an insignificant share of the microwave market. The
point is that even companies with innovative product ideas can be paralyzed by
a short-term mentality that causes them to end up on the losing side.
It is a measure of Walt Disney’s certain belief in his product that he was
also able early on to envision a continuing demand for his cartoons and movies.