** Update January 2022: The first eight seasons, 95 episodes, are now in the vault. Jeff hopes to use all 100 episodes as a client product for Employee Wellness initiatives. You may still enjoy and find value in the current available episodes, 96-100, from final “summary” Season 9.**
Why this Disney Organizational Vibrancy book is valuable:
It is simple and easy to read.
It is rocket fuel for people who are stubborn, don’t take no for an answer, and detest the status quo.
It is a roadmap showing the world-class destination – personal and organizational vibrancy.
You decide the route and the method for getting there.
The how and what are unimportant. Your why is timeless, powerful, lofty, inspiring, and maybe even impossible.
You decide what and how to make it work.
It is based on Disney’s time-tested, world-class business excellence practices.
It provides a simple, non-negotiable framework with five time-tested, common-sense organizational vibrancy pillars: Leaders, Employees, Customers, Brand, Innovation.
It provides the opportunity for you to make it work based on your unique leadership style.
It is singularly-focused on why Disney does the things it does, in the way it does.
The sentence above is the key to this entire book.
The why never changes. The how and what change as needed.
It frees you from focusing on what and how – this will come later after you understand, and become, intentional with your “why”.
It reveals time-tested, world-famous Disney business practices in a never before way.
It illuminates the four foundational leadership basics that are essential for personal and organizational vibrancy.
It focuses on being intentional where you and your organization have been less intentional or maybe even completely unintentional.
It enables people and organizations to understand how to create an intentional culture that scales and that consistently produces personal and organizational vibrancy.
Why this Disney Business Excellence book is important:
This Disney Business Excellence book is uniquely different from other Business Excellence books. It is written from 30 years of first hand Disney Cast Member experience. It is written from a rare and distinguished opportunity to teach the Disney Business Excellence Way to countless business leaders at every level and in every industry. This book also places Leadership as one of five golden organizational vibrancy pillars.
The content is context-neutral, meaning it applies to every organization that has leaders, employees, customers, a reputation, and problems to solve and opportunities to seize.
No other Disney Business Excellence book is a critical part of a series of Disney Business books intentionally designed to compliment one another.
The way i’ve grown to simplify explaining the Disney Way is to say this: there is only one Disney and only one Disney Way.
The Disney Way can be impossible to comprehend, and challenging to explain.
Unless.
Unless you break it down into manageable chunks.
Which begs the question, “Who is qualified with the depth and breadth to deliver both expert comprehension and an expert translation?”
The only reason i spent 15 years delivering five unique professional development content tracks at Disney Institute is so we didn’t overwhelm non-Disney business leaders.
Yes, five distinct pillars make the Disney Way easier to understand visually which opens the door for more effective intellectual comprehension.
These “non-Disney” business leaders from every industry and all management levels all had one goal. To learn what Disney does, how Disney does it, and why Disney does it.
Any use of the word we is simply a deeply-embedded commitment (read habit) to our (there, did it again) Disney Culture and everything it stands for.
If born and raised an American, always an American.
If an entire career is dedicated as a Disney Cast Member, always a Disney Cast Member.
Five common-sense, manageable business pillars: Leaders, Employees, Customers, Brand, and Innovation.
Leaders drive the employee experience.
Employees drive the customer experience.
Customers vote by definitely returning or repurchasing, and by definitely recommending – the loyalty effect, if you will.
As a blinding flash of the obvious, the world’s greatest, historically growth-focused and successful organizations have world-class creativity and innovation deeply embedded in their DNA.
Stationed here for many years while serving at Disney Institute for 15 years.
What this Disney Business Excellence book is:
It’s for misfits, rebels, troublemakers, round pegs in square holes, people who see things differently – essentially it’s for all of us who aren’t fond of rules, and who disrespect the status quo.
A gift.
Different.
Short and sweet.
Doubles as a workbook for a keynote speech, half-day or full-day retreat, or self-guided exploration.
A fresh perspective on an age-old topic.
Designed for committed people and organizations.
Written from a father-to-son perspective.
Full of practical common-sense leadership wisdom.
Full of time-tested, context-neutral business insights.
Full of strategy and tactics anyone can use – any employee, any level, any industry.
A guide for the leader just starting their career.
A guide for the leader who’s been there, done that.
A template for extraordinary leadership.
The one business excellence book every leader in the world should have in their professional library.
One of seven interconnected books designed to help the right person or team draw up blueprints for organizational and personal vibrancy.
• • •
Summary:
For the right person, this book is the Organizational Vibrancy Holy Grail.
The author is leaving a Organizational Vibrancy life-guide for his son in case something bad ever happens to the author and his son has important questions after he’s gone.
The author has dedicated his life to deconstructing and then reconstructing Disney’s operational Organizational Vibrancy DNA and presenting it in a book (and speeches) to put a positive dent in our Universe.
This book is intentionally short, simple, and focused – and as a result, powerful.
Opportunity:
Thinking differently and intentionally. Build a personal or an organizational leadership architecture and seize the opportunity of a lifetime.
Original Disney Institute Logo pictured here on souvenir license plate. Circa 2002.
What this Disney Business Excellence book is not:
Not for everybody.
Not full of Disney trivia.
Not an ounce of theory.
Not eloquently written.
Not long and drawn out.
Not a one-size-fits-all recipe for success.
Not a business excellence step-by-step how-to guide.
Not a guarantee.
• • •
Summary:
This Disney Organizational Vibrancy book is not for everyone.
Tradition and convention have their place, however, it is not here.
Leadership opportunity:
The fact that something might not work is a leading indicator that it’s worth pursuing – breakthroughs only become a thing when a transformation occurs.
Before we begin, let’s ask, “Are you satisfied with your Organizational Vibrancy?”
And by the way, you have anonymity, right now, with your answer – so relax, be real, and lean into discomfort just enough for your truth to be set free.
So let’s ask again…
Take a deep breath…
Exhale.
Another slow, deep breath as you hear this again…
Are you satisfied?
You.
Your Organizational Vibrancy reputation and your results.
Are you satisfied?
Your answer?
Anyone’s answer?
An educated guess says our answers match.
That’s why you’re reading this book and that’s why this Disney Organizational Vibrancy book needed to be written.
• • •
Summary:
Everyone wants to improve.
There are exceptions to every rule, but there aren’t many.
We are not the exceptions.
Opportunity:
Dissatisfaction can and should be used as a tactic (tool) to gain a competitive advantage.
Worth it to pursue world-class Organizational Vibrancy?
How will you feel if you try yet fail?
How will you feel if you never try?
How will you feel if you try and succeed?
The math says we have to try in order to succeed. But nothing is guaranteed. So the math also says trying inherently comes with the probability of failing.
Without the comfort of living with failure, success will never be ours.
