All I Really Need To Know I Learned at

© Bryan WaltonLogos and images © The Walt Disney Company

The Leadership Legacy of Walt Disney

Mickey’s Ten CommandmentsHow the ten commandments of theme park design apply to what we do

What Would Walt Do? – stories to inspire and motivate

Mickey’s Ten CommandmentsKnow your audience Wear your guest's shoes Organize the flow of people and ideas Create a weenieCommunicate with visual literacyAvoid overload Tell one story at a timeAvoid contradiction For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun Keep it up

Know your audienceDon't bore people, talk down to them or lose them by assuming that they know what you know.

Disney studied how far a guest would carry a piece of trash before dropping it on the ground.Guess how far apart the trash cans are at Disneyland?

What do we know about what our customers know and don’t know, what their goals are?

27 feet

Know your audienceNeeds – easiest to determine, tend to be obviousWants – a customer’s deeper purposeStereotypes – preconceived notions of our businessEmotions – the feelings customers experience through

contact with our organizationWhat are our customers’ needs, wants, stereotypes

and emotions?

Wear your guest's shoesInsist that designers, staff and your board members

experience your facility as visitors as often as possible.What do we call this in the software business?

How do we wear our customer’s shoes?

Organize the flow of people and ideasUse good story telling techniques, tell good stories not

lectures, lay out your exhibit with a clear logic.We use user stories and user experience principles to reduce

clutter, increase focus and guide the user through the software in a logical flow.

How does this apply to your organization?

Create a weenieLead visitors from one area to

another by creating visual magnets and giving visitors rewards for making the journey

How do we draw the customer or potential customer deeper into our website or our software to entice them to discover more?

How do we reward them?

Communicate with visual literacyCommunicate with visual literacy - Make good use of

all the non-verbal ways of communication - color, shape, form, texture.

Avoid overload

Resist the temptation to tell too much, to have too many objects, don't force people to swallow more than they can digest, try to stimulate and provide guidance to those who want more.

In softwareYou don’t have to expose everything. The slow reveal“Pardon, your plumbing is showing”

How does this apply elsewhere?

Tell one story at a timeIf you have a lot of information, divide it into distinct,

logical, organized stories, people can absorb and retain information more clearly if the path to the next concept is clear and logical.

In UI – related concepts belong together and a screen or wizard page should avoid mixing concepts. The transition from one page to the next should follow logically.

How does this apply to other activities at our company?

Avoid contradictionClear institutional identity helps give you the competitive

edge. The public needs to know who you are and what differentiates you from other institutions they may have seen.

Disney’s purpose: “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere.”

• Purpose is fulfilled by Quality Standards:• Safety• Courtesy• Show• Efficiency

A common goal: serves 3 critical needs:

It clearly defines the organization’s missionIt communicates a message internallyIt creates an image of the organization

What is our common goal? How does each of us understand how we contribute to

that goal?What are our Quality Standards?

Avoid contradiction

For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun

How do you woo people from all other temptations? Give people plenty of opportunity to enjoy themselves

by emphasizing ways that let people participate in the experience and by making your environment rich and appealing to all senses.

How does this apply to us?

Keep it upNever underestimate the

importance of cleanliness and routine maintenance

People expect to get a good show every time

People will comment more on broken and dirty stuff

How does this apply to us?

What Would Walt Say?Quotes and stories from Walt Disney’s life and career to motivate my team and to encourage positive thinking and creativity.

Let’s hear a few stories from the master storyteller himself and discuss.

If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It

“What a man can conceive, he can achieve” – Jules Verne

Everything starts with an idea

Jules Verne

Practical Magic“While the work of the experience stager perishes upon its performance, the value of the experience lingers in the memory of any individual who was engaged by the event” Pine and Gilmore

Not, “No, because”, but “Yes if”

A subtle distinction, that illustrates the power of positive thinking

“No, because …” means I’ve made up my mind already that it can’t be done.

“Yes, if …” means that all things are possible when we identify the challenges that lie before us and find solutions to overcome them.

Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re right!

Harrison “Buzz” PriceEngineering Consultant

Believe in what you’re doing, make it happen and make it better."When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.

And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage."

"Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved."

 "When we consider a project, we really study it--not just the

surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job."

 

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.“Analysis ParalysisAgile Development helps us to “do” sooner.How do we move from the talking to the doing?Delivery Systems

CastSettingProcess

It’s Hard to Choose From Just OneIf you only have one solution to a problem, you haven’t thought enough about it. It might be the right one, but you don’t know because you have nothing to compare it with.

Rolly Crump and Walt Disney

Have at least 3 solutions to a problem, then you can weigh the pros & cons of one solution over another – you’ll understand the problem better and produce a better product.

Moving Forward "In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels,

even to pause in retrospect. Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.”

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

If anything is true about the software industry, this is – we must unleash our creativity and look to the future if we want to survive.

"You don't build it for yourself. You know what the people want and you build it

for them."User-centered designWhat does the user want to

do? What is the user

experience?What is the user’s pain and

how do we relieve it?

Resources Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service by Disney Institute with

Theodore Kinni Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney

by Lee Cockerell The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney at Your Compan

y by Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson

Lessons from the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World’s Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career and Your Life by Dennis Snow

Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney’s Success by Tom Connellan The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney by J-Jeff Kober How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life by Pat

Williams