It took me the better part of my
life to make it to Walt Disney World, but when I finally took my first trip there
in 2004 I immediately became a huge fan of the man behind all of the
magic, Walt Disney.
Intrigued by the empire he had created, I began reading books about his life and his work and the
more I learned, the more fascinated I became. From his humble boyhood days in
Marcelline, Missouri (which, by-the-way, Magic Kingdom’s “Main Street, USA” is
fashioned after) to his secretive acquisition in the years preceding his death of
47 square miles of property around the Orlando, Florida area for what he called
the “Florida Project” (or “Project X”), he pursued his dreams with a purpose so
strong and a vision so focused that no obstacle was ever big enough to stop him
in his tracks. Even to the point of envisioning an Experimental Prototype Community
Of Tomorrow (EPCOT) where, in his own words, it would be, “…a showcase to the
world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise," Walt
lived his life by his credo, “If you can dream it, you can do it!”
Having returned from my second trip
to the “House of the Mouse” just last week, I find myself more enamored than
ever with this amazing man. Even though Walt’s passing on December 15, 1966 is coming
up on its 40 year anniversary, make no mistake about it—even today it is still his
influence and passion that fuels the “Imagineering” that creates the innovative new
projects, elaborate themes, outstanding services and amenities, and attention
to detail that the company that bears his name offers.
Is it all good? Of course not. When
you’re one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world generating
nearly $32 billion in annual revenues, as it did in 2005, with vast holdings
(including ABC, ESPN, numerous film production and distribution companies, 72
radio stations, and multiple broadcast and cable television stations) as well
as owning and managing nine major theme parks (Walt Disney World alone welcomes approximately 45 million guests a year) and various vacation resorts around the world, there
are going to be plenty of problems, miscues and bumps in the road. But this
article isn’t about analyzing the Disney Empire. There are volumes of books on
the market that do an excellent job of that. Rather, this article is about
taking a look at just one of the unique characteristics of the man that made it
all possible and seeing how we can incorporate that characteristic to enhance
our own lives both personally and professionally.
As I walked around the parks last
week, I wondered how many of the additions—indeed, the entire “Florida Project”
itself—would receive Walt’s stamp of approval if he were alive to see it today.
Would he like the new thrill rides? Would he be pleased with the theming of the
on-property resorts? Would the quality of the cuisine at the resort’s
restaurants and the believability of the animatronic characters in his
attractions be up to his demanding standards? My guess is that he’d be quite pleased
with the vast majority of it. What we’ll never know, however, is how much of a
difference Walt’s “Plussing” factor would have made. What’s “Plussing,” you
say? Glad you asked because that brings us to our first lesson from Walt:
The Plus Factor
Normally, the word “plus” is a
conjunction, but not in Walt’s vocabulary. To Walt, “plus” was a verb—an action
word—signifying the delivery of more than what his customers paid for or expected
to receive. Walt plussed everything he did, from adding sound to the earliest
Mickey Mouse cartoons, to adding color to his Silly Symphonies, to partnering
with Leopold Stokowski, the famed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra at
the time, in the development of stereophonic sound for the recording of the
music for Fantasia. He plussed his artists by sending them to art schools at
his own expense and bringing in live animals for them to study during the
creation of Bambi so they could capture their natural movements and tendencies
exactly right. He plussed his films by cutting and having large segments redrawn—at
a tremendous expense—that didn’t meet his high standards for believable
animation. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of Walt “plussing”
his products. He constantly challenged his artists and Imagineers to see what
was possible, and then take it a step further…and then a step beyond that. Why
did he go to the trouble of making everything better when “good enough” would
have sufficed? Because for Walt, nothing less than the best was acceptable when
it bore his name and reputation, and he did whatever it took to give his guests
more value than they expected to receive for their dollar.
Perhaps one of the best examples of
Walt’s obsession for “plussing” comes from Disney historian Les Perkins’
account of an incident that took place at Disneyland
during the early years of the park. Walt had decided to hold a Christmas parade
at the new park at a cost of $350,000. Walt’s accountants approached him and besieged
him to not spend money on an extravagant Christmas parade because the people
would already be there. Nobody would complain, they reasoned, if they dispensed
with the parade because nobody would be expecting it.
Walt’s reply to his accountants is
classic: “That’s just the point,” he said. “We should do the parade precisely because no one’s expecting it. Our goal
at Disneyland is to always give the people more than they expect. As long as we
keep surprising them, they’ll keep coming back. But if they ever stop coming,
it’ll cost us ten times that much to get them to come back.”
There’s an important lesson here
for all of us, whether we maintain our own businesses or work in the employ of
another. Think about your own product or service and what you can do to “plus” it
that will deliver over and above what your customers expect from you. And once
you think you have it figured out, “plus” it some more! Go the extra mile in
providing an added service or benefit to your customers and you’ll never have
to worry about getting them to come back because they’ll never leave in the
first place.
Next month we’ll examine another
Walt Disney-coined phrase, “Stick-to-it-ivity,” and see how having this mindset
helped Walt achieve phenomenal success against all odds.
Recommended reading:
- Walt Disney: An American Original, Bob Thomas, 1976,
revised 1994
- How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every
Day of Your Life, Pat
Williams, 2004
- The Disney Version: the life, times, art, and
commerce of Walt Disney,Richard
Schickel, 1968
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