E10: Operation Recap - Season 1 Review and a Dramatic Cliffhanger

SHOW NOTES:

 

 

00:30: Welcome back! Thanks for subscribing and joining us again!

00:53: A glance back at our journey together thus far!

01:36: Why is Debbie an Operations gal at heart?

04:45: Maybe operationalizing is what this is all about; as we begin to reflect

05:11: Ref:  @11:49 in Ep.1 "Introducing The Disney Way for the Digital Age Podcast"

06:31: On building out of Disney's dark years

08:13: The purpose of the Purpose Statement

08:40: About creating happiness every day

09:07: Creating Customer Experience Magic (CXM)

10:30: Ref: Service standards we discussed in Ep.5 “Foundations: How a Solid Service Framework Can Shape Your Culture”

11:07: Operationalizing your culture is possible  Ref: Right Fit Hire Ep.3 “Managing Chaos and Control - Right Fit Hire and Technology”

12:41: Three pillars supporting an extraordinary customer experience: Brand, Culture,Technology

13:47: Ref: Ep.4 “Demystifying Brand Identity and the Emotional Connection”

14:21: Ref: AT&T television Ads

15:14: Internal versus External customers

15:38: How does Technology fit into your company and fit alongside Brand & Culture?

17:00: Do you love chat bots? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments!

18:03: Customer service… Customer, Service!

18:55: 6 Questions to ask to evaluate your current culture

20:25: The Cycle of Growth - Structure> Growth > Chaos > Analysis

21:09: The Creative Brief [PDF featured in Ep.4 here]

22:30: What kind of brand are you, what’s your brand personality?

23:10: On the Touchpoint Mapping System featured in Ep.6 “Touchpoints: The Anatomy of Your Digital Ecosystem”

23:38: Touchpoints are everywhere, as are opportunities for them to make them work

24:46: Same in the digital world. Ref: A spherical value chain @27minutes in to Ep.6

25:39: Ref: @32:12 in Ep.9 “Faster Than Normal Zombie Loyalists with Peter Shankman”

26:24: Everything is rolling along perfectly; then it all changes! Ref: Ep.7 “Innovate, Adapt, Or Die”

27:50: A few concepts on ‘innovate, adapt, or die’

28:44: Remember.. Adapt is different than Adopt

29:43: The best piece of advice you’ll ever get!!  (this week. we think.)

30:25: Ref: Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom 

30:35: And including this…

31:22: The Cliffhanger!!!…..

What do YOU want from a Season Two!? Tell us in the comments or here:  [email protected]  and  [email protected] 

31:53: What we’re thinking about… 

32:52: Debbie is talking about this part of our website HERE

33:48: Why did Debbie make a new pathway and leave Disney anyway??

34:50: Thank you everyone!! 

35:25: End credits

Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 

Via email:  [email protected]  and  [email protected] 

And on the Socials at:  

Debbie:  LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter  and @dkzcoach on Facebook  

Kevin:  @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook

 

TRANSCRIPT via Descript: 

Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed.

[00:00:29] KK: Wow, folks, welcome to episode 10 and our season finale of season one operations recap, season one review with our dramatic cliff hanger. So Deb, do you believe this? Number 10. It feels like just last week it feels like we were saying, let's try this podcasting. I think we might have something interesting to say 

[00:00:52] Debbie: it. This went so fast when we talked about doing 10 episodes, weekly and so forth, it just seemed like so far away. And yet here we are.

[00:01:02] KK: Here we are. And now we're embarking upon the challenge of recapping. This is a recap of season one. So we're gonna fit, uh, several hours of information into about 24. 

[00:01:13] Debbie: Yeah, I was gonna say, so how much time do we have for this? 

[00:01:17] KK: We're gonna try not to go over 30 minutes. Mm-hmm um, So interesting go, you know, I gotta admit I've gone back and listened to some of the episodes. Yes. And just see, you know, and they're interesting, but what I found interesting about the opening, you mentioned as you're introducing yourself and reviewing your career, you said I'm an operation girl at heart and I love operation. And I said, maybe I gotta ask Deb. What's behind that. 

[00:01:39] Debbie: That, that's a great question. And, and when you and I were talking, uh, the other day and we mentioned this and I thought I really have to think about this because it always seems so natural for me. But what I I realized was is that I love being in the thick of things right. Over the years, I had opportunities to move up. I, I had, I moved up into various upper level positions, which was great but when I was offered other opportunities to go higher, I turned it down because it felt like it removed me from the operation. And the higher you go, the more you removed from the operation, which is logical. And thank heavens, there are people to want to, to do those things. But what I like about being in the thick of things, you know, the boots on the ground as you will, is you are completely involved. So I'm not talking about micromanaging. I'm talking about being completely involved with my teams. We work together. We problem solve together. We celebrate together. And at the end of a hard day, when you know you, you did great things despite the challenges that popped up during the day, it, it's a very rewarding feeling, uh, at I've had administrative roles couple of times, and I was bored outta my mind. I just like to be in the thick of things. And for some reason that I haven't really been able to explain, um, I'm especially fond of manufacturing plant type environments and, uh, restaurants and kitchens. If I have the opportunity to go backstage into a kitchen with one of my clients, I just stand there and I get this wave of warm nostalgia, so, oh my gosh. I'm watching the hustle and the bustle and the chefs, you know, giving directions and I'm thinking, oh, wow, I missed this. 

[00:03:27] KK: Well, there really is nothing like it. And. People throw that phrase around, I think, but I there's really nothing like it in that you, um, any moment something new oh, could happen. I think, you know, admin sitting at your desk, you know? Yeah. Maybe a, an unexpected email could drop in your inbox, but nothing like being, as you said, boots on the ground, you know, as you, I think you said, uh, So I'm in the kitchen and, and the grill goes, you know, the, actually you had a very specific name for it, the boiler, yeah, 

[00:03:53] Debbie: the boiler, the Broilermaster . And we, I used to do, uh, be a, a leader at the Pinocchio Village House back in the day when all fried chicken, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, that kind of thing. and I'm telling you everything would be going great right up until noon. And if. that doggone boiler master was going to go down and did it right in the middle of lunch rush, you know, and then it was all hands on, deck, hamburgers on the trays, move everything to the grill, you know, and it, so, but at the end of all that, as stressful as it could be, you thought we went around high fiving, each other, you know, saying, yeah, we did it. It's like. 

[00:04:28] KK: I think I've seen that in many movies, right. The montage of the craziness and then the, you know, people leave and there's a team in the back. Yeah. You know, and then that's pretty the high fives and the, the celebrations. So yeah. Nothing like it. I agree. So we're gonna use operations as a lens to do this recap. Yeah. We, we kind of, as we're going through this with each other saying maybe operationalizing is what this is all about. Right. What, what, what is, um, you know, that love for operations? Hm, we understand this is a tight time limit. So we're gonna go lightning round. We've got about eight or nine topics. Yeah. Coincidentally eight or nine episodes. Right? How how'd that happened? Yeah. Um, and so I think in about three minutes, we might, it might hit it right on the nose. So, you know, uh, if you remember, if you've listened, um, we jumped right into dark years at Disney and, uh, Deb's experience and living through it. I heard about it and it was incredibly engaging story and, uh, amazing that we thought this, um, untouchable, pixie dust, fairy tale, castle place could never have a problem. And we jumped right into the dark years. 

[00:05:31] Debbie: Mm-hmm and, and one of the things that caused that as you know, was that Disney became very complacent and they had not been assessing their culture and the changes in the guest. expectations. They just kind of got to the point where they thought, eh, you know, we're Disney, people are going to come no matter what. And of course, right. They did not. And when they did, they were not happy and it made the company ripe for a takeover. And that's where we entered the dark ears. And Michael Eisner came to save the day. Right. 

[00:06:11] KK: Yeah. I mean, those were tough years and I think, you know, it was also, uh, there was competition. They hadn't anticipated before.\ Um, they thought they invented the business, which they kind of did, but they weren't the only ones that could do it. Like, like most businesses you could be number one and people started to emulate not only your product, but the way you do things. Cuz not always patentable mm-hmm so they had people creeping up on 'em. Um, Judson Green gives the footstep speech introduces service excellence. Right. And, um, And you lived through all that. 

[00:06:39] Debbie: Yes. And, uh, it was a very stressful time and ultimately, uh, an exciting time, but a very stressful time. And the, the thing that brought us out of the dark years not the thing, but the many things was operationalizing the culture and also in other words, figuring out who are we, what are we all about? Well, number one, we are about creating those magical experiences for the guests. That's what brings them back again and again and again, uh, we lost, we lost sight of that and then operationalizing, that means, well, exactly. How do we do it? Right. If we look at that element of the culture, what are the strategies, the policies, the, the procedures, the tactics that are employed to execute, delivering um, that magical experience to the guests. And that's when the service standards and the behavioral standards and the, uh, the promise to the, to the guests that was revised. All of those things were put in place on paper for the first time, because part of operationalizing that element of the culture was to be sure that every cast member that was hired understood what it meant to give magical experiences specifically within their role, whether they're sweeping the streets or running attractions or scooping ice cream cones. And so for the first time ever, it was put on paper in order to make sure that it was consistently trained and taught and operationalized. If, if you will. Right. Yep. 

[00:08:13] KK: Yeah. I was memorialized put on paper and, and put, put down in a way that people understood. Oh, this is why I'm here. Right? So, uh, purpose statement. Why do I show up? Nope. It's not a mission statement. Nope. It's not a vision statement. This is simply the purpose thing. What's my purpose. I'm showing up. And what. 

[00:08:29] Debbie: Okay. Yeah, no, the, the purpose statement was, well, originally it, it was, we create happiness by providing the finest and family entertainment as the company grew, that needed to be something different so that people realized that Disney was a place for everyone. Not just people with kids. So it was then changed to; we create happiness by providing the finest and entertainment for people of all ages everywhere. But all we asked our cast members to remember was you create happiness, just come in every day and do the things we taught you to create happiness. That's all you have to remember. Right. Um, so very, very simple, but it was a very simple way to operationalize that concept of what is the overarching goal that we are striving for every single day. Period. 

[00:09:17] KK: Yeah. Right. And you know, how do we help folks understand why that matters to them? Well, underneath of that, you know, what does that look like? So, as we've seen, we've been hired by folks to say, um, actually one of them said, I want my team to deliver CX magic. Right. Customer experience magic. Right. But he never told them how. Yes. So, and I get that, right. It's like go to one person, it's be friendly to one person. You know, be knowledgeable. What does it look like for your brand? So Disney said, well, actually we can get more specific. So they created the, um, service standards and 

[00:09:47] Debbie: well, and an example of why that's so important to be specific is when I was working with that particular company and I interviewed many, many, many, many of their employees, and I actually had, uh, one gentleman say to me, I do give excellent service. I didn't even yell at anybody today. Right. But his, in his mind, that was his perception of how you give excellent service. I didn't yell at a customer today, no matter how frustrating they were. Um, so you have to be specific about what does it mean to give exceptional service, to create happiness or, you know, create CX magic, whatever. Whatever that is that you're striving for. 

[00:10:29] KK: And at my first attendance to Disney Institute, finding out that you could do that, that was the thing. It was like, wow. You know, everybody thought it's just in, it's in the ping pong and the free granola bars. And it's, you know, no, you can actually operationalize that and, and be very specific. Mm-hmm so service standards and the standards of behavior service standards. Your purpose statement, standards of behavior are very specific, uh, descriptions of behaviors that support those service standards. Right? And that's something that we go very deep into, I think around episode four or five. So we invite you to listen, cuz this could be three episodes in itself. So right. You know, just this idea and I'll pass it back to Deb operations girl. This idea that operationalizing your culture is possible. 

[00:11:10] Debbie: It is, and it gets back to, we had talked earlier about looking at every element of your culture on a regular basis, just stepping back and doing a review, assessing how are we doing today? Are we still recruiting right fit employees. Are we hiring right fit employees? How are we onboarding right fit employees. Um, how are we training them on the job and beyond. These things are all elements of your culture, your culture, and your company actually just means how you get business done every day. Right? So there are many, many, many elements of your culture. Take a few of the big ones that have the biggest impact on the customer experience. And step back from time to time and say, Uh, how are we doing? Have changes, dictated that maybe we should change how we do this, and then how are we going to operationalize these new concepts or these new ideas? In other words, how are we going to communicate it? Um, how are we going to execute this new policy or procedure, for example, right. To make this happen in a better way. Uh, and that's what it means. It's, it's a lot of work, but it's really quite a, a simple concept, it gets to that thing of it's simple, but not easy. you know? Right. 

[00:12:32] KK: And that's what, uh, I think it was Johnny Ives at apple said it's taking something complex and making it simple. Mm-hmm is one of the greatest creative, uh, endeavors you can embark on. Absolutely. Well, with that, I'm gonna push this on to the three pillars, supporting an extraordinary customer experience. Culture's one of them, of course. Right. So culture is one of the three pillars, and I think we've covered that in depth brand is the second pillar, brand. Is that way that your brand, uh, whether it's represented by your logo, By a touchpoint experience that you're having, but how does it make the consumer feel? What is that emotion? I feel proud. I feel, uh, powerful. I feel love, you know, what is that experience that, uh, that, that emotion that your brand makes people, uh, feel. Uh, as they experience your brand. And you know, when you talk about branding, it's all those touch points and we'll, we'll move, move to that shortly. But, you know, you reinforce your brand and evoke those emotions and all the different touchpoints, whether it's walking into a park and, and, and, or walking into a retail establishment, which not everyone has. Uh, as part of their brand, but you know, a TV commercial, a radio commercial, a social media post, and another social media post, um, and your parking lot. And all those things will get into much more depth. But so brand and culture, as we said in the episode where we featured this, you know, we believe that brand and culture are inextricably combined. Mm-hmm , they are not, they are one in the same one supports the other. You know, the original name of the book, I think was the culture of brand. So we're very committed to that idea. Right. 

[00:14:01] Debbie: Right. And, you know, brand is also connects with how people feel about your company. It's no mistake that so much advertising. If you watch commercials, the commercials where you remember the product or the service that are being presented. Are emotional. Yeah. Yeah. You, you remember, uh, what was the old telephone company, commercial reach out and touch someone. And they showed these very touching communications, you know, like the, the elderly mom talking to the daughter because they're far away, it's the best commercials. The things that I remember are those that evoke some kind of emotion. Your brand should evoke some type of emotion, hopefully positive. If it isn't then you, you have work to do, but right. Someone should be able to throw out the name of your company and have people say, oh, I love doing business with them. Or that Kevin is the best. And if you ever need anything, he's right there for you. Those are the kinds of things you want people to say and that's a huge part of, of brand. And it doesn't come about unless you are properly administering the elements of your culture. 

[00:15:13] KK: Absolutely. And then, you know, we also introduce the idea of the internal, external, uh, customer, right? External customer we're all familiar with that's, who we're trying to get to buy our stuff or use our service, the internal customer being our team from top to bottom. So, you know, um, everything we do needs to, um, reinforce that not only for our internal, external customer, but our internal customer as well. Mm-hmm and, and the third pillar technology. Right? So the it's the bent that we're on here is this. Yes. The Disney way has been talked about before, but we're really focused on this idea of bringing technology into it, cuz it is. A fact of our life, right? This is not the same world. It was 15 years ago or even five. I remember when I had to wait several minutes to download a single song. the idea that we're doing, you know, full motion, video and audio from, you know, around the globe is pretty amazing. So how does technology fit into your company? And fit alongside a branding culture. So yeah, you know, technology certainly is a, um, there's been plenty of innovative technology in the branding world. The idea that we've, um, experienced the world through social media, through, um, searching things on Google and our favorite search engine. So that has certainly given us new opportunities to connect, um, through brand and the culture, how you operate. What was the description, Deb? Uh, it's how we do how we do business.

[00:16:40] Debbie: Yeah. Culture is just, how is it that you get your business done every day? 

[00:16:44] KK: And if technology hasn't influenced that? No. In an exponential trajectory. 

[00:16:50] Debbie: Yeah. You know, it's the, the technology piece, uh, Is to me is a huge win. If it's done right. It has to align with your culture. It has to deliver on your, your promise and, and all of the things we've been talking about, we sometimes say these things and it sounds like we're always talking about that, um, customer facing person. But the fact is I love chat features. If they work properly the other day, I had to call customer service for one of my dad's credit cards. I was literally on hold for an. Oh, I mean, I just put it on speaker and was getting other other work done. If he'd had to do this, he never would have done that. He, right, right. He would not have done that. I, uh, looked for a chat feature that wasn't available. I would much rather have a chat feature where I could get online and connect with someone that way, because I get immediate answers and I'm a big fan of chatbots when they're done really well. And meaning that if, no matter what we do, they can't that chat bot isn't sophisticated enough to get me where I need to be. It's sophisticated enough to say, let me put you through to a customer service representative. Exactly. Just sitting on the phone for an hour and then I didn't get great results either. So I was quite irritated. Um, that's gosh, that's old school. That is just so that'll put a black mark on your brand quicker than anything you can do.

[00:18:21] KK: Oh, yep. And I think customer service is the thing that we've seen over the years. Uh, the most evident out in the marketplace, right? Mm. Um, brands have sensational customer service and then it, then it wains or, uh, insidious decline as you mentioned earlier on. Right. Right. Um, and then they find themselves with the worst customer service reviews on the planet. Mm-hmm so, you know, you gotta constantly take a look at that. Yeah. 

So from here, we're going to move into the six questions to ask, to evaluate your culture, right? Mm-hmm so give you a little head start. How do I even, you know, what, how do I know where I'm at or I'm going, so, Deb, I know. Gonna have you walk folks through that one quickly?

[00:18:57] Debbie: Sure. There, there are just six questions you need to ask and you should ask this on a regular basis in order to assess your culture, making sure you're keeping up with delivering on your guest needs and wants. Who are we today? What's working now. What's not working or what's missing is the third question. The fourth, what will it take to move us forward? The fifth is, do we understand our core customers, their needs and wants? And where does technology fit within our culture? Those six questions; if you can answer those questions, are going to take you, uh, giant leaps forward and staying on top of whether or not you are, you are building on your brand. Those are the six things to constantly consider. If you ask those. Once a quarter, once every six months you will be on top of it. And it's pretty quick if you keep up with it. Right. And of course, the best way to ask many of these questions is to ask that frontline, don't forget to involve your frontline employees and don't forget to involve your customers.

[00:20:05] KK: Absolutely. Yeah. And I think a lot of people avoid it because they're afraid of the answers. Yes. But avoiding that, that, you know, avoiding addressing that there's a problem is not a good fix. No. Um, and there's nothing, nothing to be ashamed about is if you uncover issues mm-hmm because you could be doing the best job. Um, but still, you know, oh actually is the perfect, uh, segue into our, our cycle of growth. Mm-hmm so chaos is part of that cycle. So you could be doing everything just. But when you do that, you typically grow. And when you grow, there's a little bit of chaos, cuz well, there's more people, maybe a whole new department. So you gotta go through that analysis, which is what we're talking about. And then you add structure to address, right you know, the challenges that you've had. So, um, cycle growth. Is structure, right? So when you, even when you start a company there's structure, right? Um, hopefully there's growth. From growth you get chaos and you have to do a little analysis to figure out what kind of structure you need to put back. And it's, it's different every time, right? Maybe it's technology heavy one time you analyze, maybe it's people heavy or process heavy the next time. 

[00:21:07] Debbie: Absolutely. Yep. 

[00:21:09] KK: All right. So another tool we introduced was the creative brief. I, uh, you know, I come from creative agency, uh, interactive agency for over 20 years and I always found the creative brief, a great place to start, not just for a creative campaign for just about anything. And, you know, it's, it's pretty straightforward. There's, there's no magic there, but the idea, like most of this is that you go through the process, right? So it's the process of structuring the examination that really makes it work. So, you know, this idea of define your objective, make sure you understand who your audience is. That's one we that's overlooked very often, right? Your audience. Isn't the folks in the room, especially not C-suite who's usually sitting around talking about what we want to do next. Right? Mm-hmm your audience. Make sure you really understand who you're providing services for or, or who you're marketing your product to? Uh, what is that key insight? What is that unique selling proposition? What do we do different in a world that's becoming more and more commoditized. What are we doing different? And I use that shoe example, right? I can get the Nike ZZA anywhere right on the same site, but why do I get buy it from one site then more than the other. And, and Zappos was one of the leaders because of customer service. And then what's that promise that supports that insight, right? Uh, we have the best customer service and free returns. We promise, uh, that you'll have a no hassle return. If you get your shoes and they don't fit. Gotta give folks reasons to believe. Um, I think you should be keenly aware of a desired response. What's the conversation you want people to have after they've experienced your brand and then take a look at what your brand personality is. Are you a Jerry Seinfeld? Are you a, uh, Are you a Leonardo DiCaprio, you know, are you a DeNiro, right? Or, you know, so, uh, sometimes you can use that, that personality, uh, assimilation, celebrity, a sports person, but really in all seriousness, your personality is whether you're, um, are you you funny brand or are you a casual brand? Are you a buttoned up brand? So understand your brand personality too. And that's a quick recap of the creative brief. All right. 

So we talked a little bit about your audience. and I think it's important to once you understand your audience, understand all the different ways that you create touchpoints and people think of, well, my TV commercial, my social media, but I love, uh, Deb's examples that are, you know, real world 

[00:23:28] Debbie: mm-hmm. And those are, when you talk about touchpoint mapping, you have to think about every example of every place a customer will experience your business. And one of my favorite examples, it makes the point and it's simple ; is go to your favorite restaurant, right? And you pull into the parking lot and there's potholes in the parking lot and your, your car falls into a pothole and you wonder if you've broken axle and, um, the valet guys are too busy to help you and you're standing there waiting by the car for 20 minutes. All of those things, those are touch points. You look at the building, the neon sign is partway burned out and it spells a bad word. The parts that are lit up, right? You go in the front door and is the hostess there, is she polite, is she dressed neatly and, and professionally, does she greet you nicely takes you to your table. You're looking around is the restaurant clean? Uh, the server. Does she come up in a timely manner or, or at least tell you, gee, I'll be with you as soon as I can.? All of these are touch points. Think about how many touchpoint you experienced just in going out to eat one time! 

[00:24:36] KK: Well, I was gonna say I was gonna stop you because you haven't even put a piece of food in your mouth. No, no. And we've rolled out about six touch points. Yes. Right, right. And, and that's, you know, and that's, again, real world. This in the digital world, same thing, uh, go to the website. Is the website easy? Yes. Easy to use. Can I find what I need to find? If there is a chat feature? Is it live? Is it a chat bot is a chat bot dumb or smart is it useful or frustrating? Right. So all these things we think about the end so often the product and the service, which of course. Yes. You need to do that. Yeah, but that's table stakes, right? Mm-hmm you and seven other people are doing that pretty much, probably about the same. What are all these other touch points that surround it? And that's that sphere of influence that we talk about. Mm-hmm so, you know, this, the world used to be kind of in this, we use the, uh, linear value chain. Oh yeah. Which is now really, uh, a sphere of of value the way that you can jump over different pieces of that previously linear chain. So same thing goes for your touch points. It's a, it's a sphere of influence and all these things have to be, be perfect. In the words of our friend, Peter Shankman, um, be brilliant at the basics. Everything else will fall in place. Yeah. If you'll just meet expectations, meet expectations on all these touch points, you don't have to have a, a gold-plated parking lot. Right. You just need one that doesn't break your car. You don't need someone who does cartwheels when you come in the door, you need someone who makes some eye contact and seems genuinely interested in getting you a seat you like, you know, so yeah, it is not rocket science, but just be brilliant at the basics mm-hmm and in all these different touch points that create a sphere of influence there's an opportunity. So many opportunities. Each one of those is an opportunity for you to create magic. 

[00:26:17] Debbie: So, you know, and then with that, once you get all of this figured out, things change, right?

[00:26:23] KK: right. 

[00:26:24] Debbie: The, I mean the business world is constantly changing. Every time you turn around, there's something new and you're constantly trying to keep up with the Jones or just keep up. Right. And so you have this sphere of influence. You've got all your touch points identified. You've got everything as roll 'em right along, and then everything changes .So this idea of adapt or die, you know, To what do I need to adapt? Do I need to adapt to everything? Probably not. Do I need this technology over here? Just because this person is using it, maybe not, but adapting and innovating should always be in the back of your mind. And that goes with analyzing your constantly your culture, how you're operationalizing that culture, is your brand still strong. What kinds of emotions do you evoke using this this fear of influence? Maybe as a, as a guide, but you have to be constantly looking at that because we live in a world of constant change. You know, 

[00:27:24] KK: right. That's the only thing we can count on, right.

[00:27:26] Debbie: AB absolutely. And you know, that, that old saying, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. And I always say, not necessarily, if you always do what you've always done, you may fail. Right. You may fall behind./ What you've gotten in the past because the rest of the world is outpacing you.

[00:27:44] KK: Right. Right. You're not even adapting. You're falling behind and you will die. So yeah. You know, this idea of innovate adapter die, um, mm-hmm comes with a risk. Right. And how do you manage that risk? We've got a few ways to operationalize that risk and help you understand, um, and just not fly by the seat of your pants. Yeah. But what I will say before we get into that really quickly is this idea of adapt is not, um, some people say, well, I wanna be an innovator and that is not always the way to go. Mm-hmm I will remind folks that Apple, one of the most innovative companies on the planet was a follower in the beginning, in that they did not invent the Mouse; they got that from Xerox, you know, they didn't invent windows, they got that from Microsoft. So, you know, this idea of looking at your competition, what are others doing? And adapting. That's fine. There's no embarrassment there. No, and it's, it's not only fine it's needed. Right. And only from that place of, of security and comfort, can you then truly innovate? So yeah, this idea of innovate, adapt or die is a real thing.

[00:28:44] Debbie: You said something really important and it reminded me that the word adapt is different than the word adopt. Oh yeah. So if you've got competition or someone that, you know, uh, that is doing something in an such an exceptional way that is driving exceptional success, and you say, I need a piece of that pie, right? You should not look at adopting what they do, because what they're doing for their culture, for their brand, for their business may be different than yours. But you can certainly say, what is it that they're doing that's making them so successful and adapt it to your business. And. There's a real difference between those two words.

[00:29:25] KK: Absolutely. And if, if you take one piece of advice from us today, that might be the one to take, um, which brings me to our final Deb, our final, greatest piece of advice you'll ever get. We think.

Um, this one's gonna be a long, a little long-winded because it comes along with, you know, summing up so many, so many episodes and so many concepts, but I I'll start. And, and, um, Deb and I will kind of teamwork on this one. Mm-hmm but I, I, we think the best advice you'll ever get, we think this week is: work on the business. Look at your business, analyze it, and just allocate some time to step back from the business and answer the question, is my culture happening to me? Or is it as I designed it and as aligned with my vision, right? So I love movie quotes. Uh, this technically a TV show as Jeff Daniels said in the opening scene from newsroom, the first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. Yeah, and by the way, go back and watch that. I love that best written and acted five minutes of TV, Aaron Sorkin, and Jeff Daniels. But anyway to you, Deb ,what do you think? 

[00:30:35] Debbie: The, the last thing I would have to say about that, because I think it really sums it up. And we've, we've talked about all of the tangible elements of driving a successful business. I would say, have fun. Yeah, If you're not having fun in your business. You should not be in that business. When it stops being fun, sell the business or walk away from the business or, or do something else, charge another hill. But you have to, to love what you do. Not only if you work in a corporation, but running your own business. You have to love what you do. When it's not fun anymore. Stop doing it because you, yeah, you will then not do the due diligence to keep your brand strong because you don't care anymore. 

[00:31:18] KK: Yeah. If it's not fun, you're not doing it right. That's what I always say. 

[00:31:20] Debbie: Yes. 

[00:31:21] KK: Yeah, so, well, we promised you a cliff hanger and, uh, here we go. So we enjoyed this. We hope you enjoyed this. Um, so, will there be a season two ?That is the cliff hanger, right? Well, what we hope to do in season two, if there is an interest and that's what we're asking folks, reach out, let us know if you like this, let us know if you think we should do a season two and what Deb had mentioned, what we we maybe will do in season two is tell you how to get this stuff done. Right? We, we told you, uh, what it takes to deliver exceptional experiences. Uh, but in season two, maybe we'll tell you how to make your culture change. How do you make all this happen? What do you think, Deb? 

[00:32:00] Debbie: I think that's, that's perfect. We've laid the foundation and what I'd like to do in season two, if people are interested is get to the nuts and bolts the tactics and the strategies of how you actually do this, because sometimes you listen to these podcasts and you think, uh, well, geeze that's really great, but I don't have a clue on how to get started. And that used to happen to us at the Disney Institute all the time. People would say, this is so great. I haven't got a clue what to do next. Can you come to my business? You know? And then unfortunately, yeah, back in those days, the answer was always, no. We, we tell you how we do it. You gotta figure it out for yourself. So for me, it's much more rewarding to be part of helping them to figure out what are those strategies and tactics, what do they look like? So that is absolutely where I hope we get to go in season two. 

And if our listeners go to www.disneywaydigital.com many of the key points of these lessons, these conversations, and these, uh, informational sessions that we've been talking about are there with graphics and visuals and, and so they might help you get started.

[00:33:11] KK: Absolutely. 

[00:33:11] Debbie: So I would encourage you to, to go to the website and take a look at all the great work Kevin's team has done to make these, uh, understandable for you. 

[00:33:21] KK: Yeah. Yeah. And then please, while you're there Disney way, digital.com reach out. We wanna hear! That's how that's, when we'll make a season two, if we don't hear, eh, we had fun, you know, maybe we've put some good information out in the world, but we'd like to see if folks are listening. If they're interested, there's contact information, you can contact Deb or I i, so, you know, send an email and you know what we actually answer. So let us know.. You know, if you're listening on Apple, leave us a review or wherever you're listening, let us know what you think. 

And I, I just wanna tie a nice bow on this. And I thought, you know, Deb, as much as you love Disney and let's tie it back to operations, what would, what in the world would ever make you leave that organization? And it was the fact that you wanted to help folks operationalize this for themselves. Cause as part of Disney, you weren't able to, say yes. And go to their businesses. Right. That was what it took to say. Yeah. I think I really want to help folks.

[00:34:09] Debbie: That that was exactly what it was. Not that I had fallen out of love with the Disney organization and I still have a fond place in my heart. Uh, and you will even hear me say, we, when I'm talking about my past experience at Disney, I just can't let it go. You know? Um, yeah, but that was exactly it. I felt like with my operational experience and with what I had taught at for the Disney Institute that I could actually help people make these things happen for them. And, and I did, have, and it's been a fabulous ride and I hoped to keep doing it forever. Even if I have to go out there with my Walker 

[00:34:49] KK: Well, I can't think of a better way to finish up a season than talking about that. And that's pretty much how we met. So. It is. Folks, we really appreciate you listening. Let us know how you feel. Go to Disney way www.Disneywaydigital.com Deb, thank you so much. I really enjoyed this and uh, hopefully we get to do a season two! 

[00:35:06] Debbie: And thanks to Taran and all of the support team that you know, oh you hear our voices, but they make the magic happen. So thank you to Taran Trehan, Steven Byrom, our guest speakers, everyone that has, has been involved behind the scenes. Couldn't do it without you. So thank you. 

[00:35:21] KK: Hundred percent agree. Thanks everyone. Take care!

[00:35:25] Outro: You've been listening to the Disney Way for the Digital age! 

Our producer and engineer is Steven Byrom. Show coordinator is Taranpreet Trehan. And voiceover by Cindy Clifford. Kevin and Debbie can be reached for free advice or paid consulting at [email protected] or [email protected]. A new episode is released each Tuesday morning. We hope you’ll continue to listen!

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