Creating Magic
ockerell, Lee. Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Each of the fifty-nine thousand Cast Members is trained to treat each and every Guest with the utmost care and respect. And they do this consistently because they are treated exactly the same way by the Disney leadership: with the utmost care and respect. ...they fail to appreciate the critical difference between managing and leading. I learned the hard way that managerial skills are absolutely essential for getting results, but they are not enough to drive excellence. Excellence requires common sense leadership. ...all everyone wants is to feel special, to be treated with respect, and to be seen as an individual. ...leaders have to set the proper tone by staying cool, calm, and collected under pressure. No matter what's going on, they have to focus single-mindedly on doing the best they can with what they have instead of blaming, whining, or wishing that things would change. Just as great parents pay attention to everyone in their family, so great leaders pay attention to everyone in their organizations, bolstering his or her self-esteem and self-confidence at every step. If everyone feels recognized, appreciated, and listened to, everyone will want to take every opportunity to learn and grow. Make me feel special. Treat me as an individual. Respect me. Make me knowledgeable. Every individual in your organization should clearly and completely understand what he or she is responsible for, what level of authority he or she has, and how he or she will be held accountable. Each layer through which information is filtered multiplies the inaccuracies and distortions, making it much more likely that something minor will snowball into a serious problem. ...The better your direct reports, the more of them you can have. Why? Because they need very little supervision. ...People don't always recognize the merits of change right off the bat. But if you persist, they'll soon come to see why breaking the mold is not only in the best interest of the company but in their best interest as well, and they may even follow your example by initiating changes themselves. Whether they're called rules, procedures, policies, or operating guidelines, processes define how employees should interact with other people--coworkers, customers, and external business contacts--as well as with the physical environment and technology in order to accomplish specific tasks in the best and most efficient way. Effective processes make the routine things run smoothly and consistently, freeing employees to do the extra things that can turn a good business into a great business. ...You ignore the details at your peril. ..."We've always done it that way" could mean that you've been doing it wrong all along. As a leader you have to keep your ear to the ground and listen for the sound of complaints from your staff. It helps to have a process in place to root out process problems and then follow up to make sure they're resolved. Being poorly organized is one of the biggest problems leaders run into, and they don't always recognize it. Crises keep erupting around them, and they don't realize that many could have been averted if they'd been better organized in the first place. And the more fires they have to put out, the more they resist getting organized, because they can't stop long enough to take stock of their routines. When a problem arises, seek out the process failure; don't just look for someone to blame. If you don't appreciate, respect, and encourage those you lead, they'll give you only halfhearted effort or, worse, sabotage you or leave you high and dry. Great leaders know that, and they look for opportunities to give out the free fuel of ARE in an authentic, specific, and timely manner. Be conscious of the impact of your presence and your interactions with people.