E8: Disney’s Secret Sauce, Our Special Guest - Mary Flynn

SHOW NOTES:

 

 

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

00:48: Debbie, how was your maiden voyage on Disney’s Wish? Ref: Castaway Cay

03:00: Introducing our Guest Mary Flynn. Ref: Mary’s new book Disney’s Secret Sauce

05:00: Mary Flynn shares how she was recruited by Disney

07:00: On Disney’s program called Traditions

07:55: Mary’s first day in Traditions  Ref: Disney Service Standards

10:33: A note about secrets, truth, equality and values

13:23: Mary’s epiphany about the Disney way

15:16: The Disney Culture. And that’s Culture with a capital “C”

16:09: On specifying very exact values with which to lead

17:40: A note about operationalizing the Magic

19:20: Disney leaders come from the front lines. Ref: Meg Gilbert Crofton 

20:27: What happened when Mary said: I’d like an increase in pay please?

21:25: A note about adding value

23:02: On knowing all that is your job. Aka: On living the gig

24:17: Data gathering is constant and on-going. Ref: Data gathering in our last episode

25:00: You can't get a cohesive organization when every single department has their own Culture.

27:00: Initial training/on-boarding, coaching and feedback

27:45: Build a culture with the capital C Ref: Mary Flynn’s book “Disney's Secret Sauce": The Little-known Factor Behind The Business World's Most Legendary Leadership”

27:58: On the importance of consistent feedback

29:30: Culture is like a crop

30:40: The best piece of advice you’ll ever get!  (this week. we think.)

32:23: Than you Mary Flynn!!

32:43: 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: So welcome everyone to episode eight of the Disney way for the digital age today, we have our first guest I'm so excited. Um, this is gonna be called Disney's Secret Sauce, which is the name of her book. And we're gonna in, uh, invite Mary in shortly, but I just wanted to catch up with Deb because she had something fantastic happen just last week. She got to be part of a, a private cast member cruise on the Disney's Wish maiden voyage, right? 

[00:00:56] Debbie: Yes, indeed. And it was amazing. Um, you know, uh, one of the things that Disney does so well is make sure that they gather enough information that when they roll out, especially something new, like this new ship to the guests that it is a magical experience. And so one of the things that they do is they allow cast members and their families to come on board and we become the test subjects and we experience what the guests will experience. And at the end, of course we critique what went well, what didn't go so well, any ideas and suggestions that we have and let me. just say up front in case anyone's listening. Um, from the cruise line, I will be happy to be a test subject as many times as you need. just give me a call. Okay. Um, so it was absolutely an amazing experience and the ship is just, just gorgeous. And in fact, um, Disney cruises line was just named the best large ship ocean cruise line by Travel & Leisure readers. So that was, that was kind of a nice, uh, timely, um, little award. Yeah. So, but one of the things that Disney has is their own private island called Castaway key. And it's one of my favorite things to do. I go down to the adult beach, have a properly chilled adult beverage lay in my lounge chair, gather up the sun beams and and jump in the beautiful Caribbean. water when I get too warm,. As it turns out, I have threw my towel down on a, on a chaise lounge by this amazing woman. Uh, her name was Kelly. She is a leader for Disney vacation club and we talked, no, no joke. Between getting in and out of the water, we talked for four hours and wow. My takeaway on that was that the culture of exceptional leadership at Disney is alive and well, and, and. Honestly, it really leads to our guest and what she's going to, to talk about today. 

So without further ado, I'd like to give you some introductory information, um, for Mary. Yeah, she is an award-winning author, poet humorist. Um, she's a renowned international trainer business facilitator and conference speaker for the Disney Institute. And I, she says retired. I think she's retired from Disney Institute, but certainly not retired from, from life . She has more than 20 years experience in leadership, organizational professional development and career transition. Um, she's written poetry, children's book, she's written fiction novels, and she most recently won a silver medal for her celebrated Disney book. Disney's secret sauce, as you mentioned, Kevin. Yeah, the little known factor behind the business world's most legendary leadership. So. One of the important pieces in my introduction is not only has she accomplished all these things in life. Uh, she is probably one of the most creative people. I know she's a risk taker. She's constantly reinventing herself, but more importantly, she is my former colleague from the Disney Institute and I consider her to be a very good friend. So I would like to introduce to you Mary Flynn and Mary's going to give you some background on her book, but also talk about experiences that tie very nicely into what Kevin and I have been talking about and that is the, those things that drive the exceptional culture at Disney. So Mary welcome, and thank you so much for giving us some time this morning. 

[00:04:40] Mary: Well, thank you. I mean, this is wonderful and I loved hearing about your experience. Yeah. I can be a Guinea pig too. I'd love to be a Guinea pig. I had the pleasure of doing that one time. I mean, it was surreal. I mean, it's like one of those dreams, you know, where your, um, because there were other cast members on board, I was heading into the ladies room and the president of Walt Disney. But Meg Crofton was coming out of the ladies' room. And it was like that dream that you say was the weirdest thing. I was on a cruise ship and I'm going into the ladies' room in the president of Walt Disney World . but it was true, but it was true. Yeah. But no, um, yeah, but anyway, Debbie, thank you. And thank you, Kevin. This is wonderful. No, I, um, I, I was, uh, you know, it's funny. I was recruited by Disney and the first time that they asked me, I said, no, Um, and the reason was I, I was accustomed to having creative freedom. I was accustomed to being an individual thinker. I was accustomed to having some freedom in my role, and I thought, I can't imagine you're gonna get that at Disney. And, uh, the second time I was kind of talked into it, but I thought, well, it's sounding better. And, um, I couldn't have been, uh, I mean, more surprised at how much I enjoyed and valued my time at Disney. And I, you know, there were so many surprises because I was recruited from a professional role where I helped companies downsize and, um, So I worked with many organizations. I worked with all 20 directorates under, um, General Bridges as the, um, at NASA as Kennedy's space center. And, uh, I, I mean, Fortune . 500 companies all over the place. I'm not saying that. Believe me, I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, I'm saying it because I couldn't have been more surprised with the Disney organization. It was so completely unlike any organization I had encountered and it started, um, the day I, the day I showed up for work, you know, uh, so here I was, I was recruited and sometimes people who are recruited tend to think they get special treatment. Oh, well, they want me, so, you know, well, that would be like, eh, you know, it's not gonna happen. Uh, I went to this program called Traditions and I think possibly many people who had ever followed Disney have heard of this. And Debbie, you taught Traditions. I know that at some point in your career, you taught Traditions. And this is, um, uh, it's not orientation, you know, usually when you show up for work on the first day, you go into orientation, which is all the, the rules about how you can get fired, basically. Do the paperwork, and then we're gonna tell you how you can get fired. And, um, so, so, and so, so it surprised me on so many levels that I went into this room. And now let me tell you this first. Um, yeah, I, I'm gonna try not to go down the rabbit hole, but.

It was supposed to start. I don't know, maybe it was nine o'clock. The, the program was supposed to start. We were going to go into a room with other people. There were about 35 or 40 of us standing there waiting to go into this room at Disney University, which is behind Magic Kingdom. It's got 20 training classrooms. Anyway, we're waiting and waiting. Cuz it's supposed to start at nine waiting and waiting and we didn't go in until 10. and I thought, well, that doesn't set a very good example. This is Disney after all. Well, you know, and I know Debbie and Kevin, you talk about the Disney service standards and we, we can drill down on that right now. I realize, but you know, safety, courtesy show and efficiency. But what I learned later on about the delay was the woman who was supposed to be our facilitator uh, she was first day back from maternity leave and she showed up with a denim dress and they, they sent her home. Oh, wow. And it didn't matter. It didn't matter to them in a way. And this is gonna sound bizarre. It didn't matter to them in a way that they were keeping 35 of us waiting. They had a rule about this for show. This was the standard of show. Right. And they, so they had to get another facilitator. No, she wasn't fired or anything like that. They loved her. She was a great cast member. Sorry. No exceptions. You can't wear that jumper. It was a, it was, I saw her, it was a cute denim jumper uh, but no, they said, sorry, you know? Right. So that was like really okay. Right off the bat. And I thought, I, I know I shouldn't have taken this ju you know, but . Yeah. But then, 

[00:09:40] KK: but it does illustrate the conviction. Right. It illustrates the conviction they have behind the, the rules and guidelines that they set, which is impress. Yeah.

[00:09:49] Mary: That's a very impressive, I mean, you take anything that Disney does and when you add conviction, you've got a power house and I noticed several things right off the bat. Uh, Kevin and Debbie, and one of them was that, uh, well, we're sitting at rounds, you know, table rounds about, I don't know, six or eight people. So there were about 35 or 40 of us in this room. And, uh, they started telling us the story of Disney, the history of Disney. And they're telling us the good, the bad and the ugly. Oh. You know, and Walt once almost had a nervous breakdown, he had to go. And, uh, and of course all of his animators were pirated away from him and this, the company almost went bust. It was almost sold off to, to I'm thinking this doesn't sound very positive right here. I don't know. You know, but it was interesting because one of the things they wanted us to know, and it's kind of like, if you ever join a family, you know, we fam one of the ways, you know, you might know that you're a member of the family, is they tell you a secret, you know, one thing we don't like is when people keep secrets from us, right. We feel like we're on the outside. Right. And when they told us they're secrets, Because I, the average person, I was the average person, the average person coming into the organization who might have been very familiar with the magic and the princesses and the castle and, and all that didn't know anything about this. And, um, I thought, holy cow and mackerel look what they're telling us, but they did it because they want us to know that you're part of our, our heritage now and what that does immediately. And it kind of moves in later on is that you feel more apart. This is their first attempt to garner commitment from a new person mm-hmm so I would say to anybody, listening to this, everyone commitment from a brand new person, take the time. Just tell them the truth about yourself, your, your history, your story, your legacy, where, how you started. And, um, and then the, uh, 

I was so impressed by that and the other, the next thing that I noticed as we shared around the table, Was that we were all sitting together. Right. I was sitting next to a housekeeper. I was on the other side of me was a new vice president of marketing. Wow. Uh, across the table was a food and beverage server, but a work at, at, um, At I thought all the different roles and that so impressed me more than anything that they could say, cuz they can say anything, but this impressed me because I thought, wow, they didn't say to the VP. Oh no, no, can't go in this class. You know, you're you're above that. You're you're an executive. Oh no. The executive was sitting right next to me and, and a housekeeper and a food beverage person and a program facilitator and all this kind of stuff. So little by little, I was impressed and then they got to the values. Mm. So they rattled off these values, blah, blah. Something about openness. Respect. Yeah. Mm-hmm okay. That's good. And, uh, you know, every company has values. I thought I've heard those before. and then a little bit later they mentioned the values again. And I said, okay, we kind of heard those. We, you went over those and, um, you know, then, and then, and, and then later on, and the next day we not only went over the values, but we described them, defined them and I thought, really. I mean really? And then I had an awakening and the awakening was, these are like, no kidding around values, openness, respect, courage, honesty, integrity, diversity, and balance. You're gonna live these here at, at Disney. And I thought, oh, oh, uh, oh, you know, like, oh, oh, this is, wait a minute here. This seems a little different. I have been into many lobbies of many fortune 500 companies, and I've seen that thing on the wall, right. About what they do, what they're gonna do. Right, right. Um, you know, we value this and, but what I learned here is that A. They're very clearly defined. they want everyone in the organization, vice president, right across the whole organization, uh, vice president, uh, you know, housekeepers, uh, ticket takers, so to speak at the front gate, the custodial cast member, the, the housekeeper in your room, me, everybody. They want everybody to know these, believe these live, these day in and day out. And, and I thought, oh, and they had behaviors that went with them. And, and one of the things they explained that was an eye opener was that for leaders, you know, was salaried. So I was leader with a small L I didn't run anything. They wouldn't dare trusts anything to me. and they're like to me, simulate , but leader with a small L and, oh my gosh, we were responsible. We were accountable for these. we were accountable for these. You were gonna be rated on these. This is how your performance was gonna be judged and not just me, but all, everybody in this room, everybody in this room had to live those values.

[00:15:16] KK: Well, I think your initial reaction was probably typical, right? You said I've seen these hanging on the wall in the lobby. But basically how they set this up, that, you know, you understood they're serious. I mean, I don't think it was part of the show, but the fact that they sent someone home that didn't align with, uh, yeah the show shows you that. Wow. Okay. This is meaningful. Um, and, and I love that and I've seen. Only recently, I've become aware that when you do this right, you really should be able to, um, use these to review against them. And I've, I've been through so many different types of review processes, and I mostly disliked all of them and this idea of reviewing your team against your values is, is a win-win because it, it bolsters the meaning of those values. And gives you guidelines for good review, uh, 

[00:16:09] Debbie: Oh, yes. And I'll just jump in and say, you know, that these values they're so incredibly clear and precise, as Mary said, they actually came about on paper around the time of performance excellence, uh, because prior to that, the, the company was still fairly small and was sort of understood and interpreted that we, we behaved certain ways and did certain things as the company grew and the culture was changing. The performance excellence was, was very specifically rolled out. The values were actually then put on paper and, and built into, as, as you said, Mary traditions and to Kevin's point built into, especially for the leadership. Review process. And if there are any of these values that, that we needed to work on, then it was, it was built into our work for the year. Um, absolutely. Yeah. And exactly. And so it, it was a matter of knowing them, understanding what it meant to us as a company and to me as a leader. And then to know that I would be held accountable for these. So it, it was a process, but it has been ex incredibly successful for the company. 

[00:17:22] Mary: Well, and you know, it's an interesting thing. And Debbie, you and I talked together, we were on stage be before. Well, I, I counted up three quarters of a million people for me. And I imagine more for you, but many of them,

[00:17:34] Debbie: no wonder I'm tired.

[00:17:36] Mary: I know. And many of them were CEO, CEOs, running companies. Right. And you and I both heard this, we were in the room together when somebody out of healthcare or automotive or technology mm-hmm would say, well, you know, that works for you because you know, you've got this, these princesses and a castle but we're in the real world. And, uh, you know, the word, I think the word that stopped them all the time was magic. And we would say to them, and you know this well, don't, you know, when you're doing your magic. and that would kind of stop them. I said, well, well, well, yeah, if you wanna put it that way. Yeah, we do put it that way, but here's the trick.

Here's what makes Disney Disney mm-hmm our leaders know, know how to operationalize the magic. Yeah. We know how to operationalize it. Right. And . The value defining things, holding you accountable in detail in, in your performance development plan, let's say is part of the, of the operationalizing of it. We, we stream it across the entire organization. No matter what role you're in, you are accountable. Um, and we don't wanna make that word accountable sound like a hammer over your head. Right. But part, part of the orientation, part of the traditions, which we preferred to call it, because it was so much more meaningful. Uh, it was a joyful experience as well as informative, but part of that was to help you understand we are here to support you in delivering the magic, and this is how you're gonna do it. And when you do it this way, you are going to excel and exceed, you know, Disney is one of those original companies that really brings you out of the mail room. So to speak. I mean, Meg Crofton cross and measured her earlier. She was president. She started. As a front desk hostess, I think didn't she Debbie? 

[00:19:31] Debbie: Yes, yes, yes she did. 

[00:19:33] Mary: Yes. Yeah. Our leaders, our leaders came from, from the front line, they worked in attractions. They helped people, you know, load the rides and stuff, and then they run the company. So this is where you can go. Yeah. And this is where you can go. Uh, when that happens and a funny thing along those lines, if I have a moment is when I sat down, was ready to sit down for the first time with my leader. And I was fortunate enough to have some, some, some wonderful leaders. I had gone through a three month period. Uh, this is when I joined the Disney Institute. I worked at Disney university in the beginning, and I was teaching the catalog of 19 leadership training programs to our 8,000 leaders across property. Uh, we had, uh, 20 lines of business, but then I was in recruited again by a Disney Institute leader that come over and do our programs and got over there. And that's when, when, uh, Debbie and I got to work together. But the thing of it is that, um, when I, so let's say I was doing programs for a couple months and I went to my boss when it was time to sit down with him. And I said, you know, I said, I'm I'm expecting kind of like an increase. You know what I mean? Increase. Oh, increase a in pay because I had like a 97.8%. , excellent. In all my programs, could it, in our Disney Institute programs, we were rated by our audience immediately after the program. So it's like, right. You can't, there's no escaping, you know? And so, so I gave this figure to him and he said, yeah. And I said, well, like, isn't that. You like don't I merit he said, no, we, we hired you for that. We hired you to be excellent. We didn't, we right. And I thought, well, that's interesting. Uh, that's an interesting concept. 

[00:21:22] KK: you fulfilled your job description. Right? Right. 

[00:21:25] Mary: We didn't hire you to be mediocre and then kind of work into you, we hired you to be actually.

And so the deal was, if you wanna, if you wanna really show us something and earn more and so on and so. Uh, what else can you offer? And so the whole deal was how do you add value, right. And right. We don't get rewarded. And when you think about this, of course, it makes sense. You don't get rewarded for doing the job we hired you to do. You're going to get rewarded for whatever else you can do for us, for your fellow cast members for, for the guest, for the company. I mean, it was quite remarkable and I thought, wow, this is a no kidding around the organization. I wonder they are is so great. Thank you for having me you know, I mean, it was like, 

[00:22:16] KK: yeah, well, and I think there's a cultural norm you have to set that. And I think so often today that people just expect to get a raise. I did my job. Well, well, that's why we hired you. That's why we, we gave you a salary. We said, this is your job description. You did it. Excellent. Thank you very much. 

[00:22:33] Mary: Exactly.

[00:22:34] Debbie: You know, Mary mentioned that we often got the comment. Well, yeah, this is great for you guys, but you have princesses and castles and Mickey Mouse and Mary, and I would often say to them, I mean, just very, um, you know, very bluntly. Do you have any doubt in your mind that Disney is one of the most successful companies on the planet, right? So, if you want to talk business success, these are the things that contribute to that incredible business success. We create magic because that's what our guests expect from us. If you create excellent widgets, because that's what your customers expect from you, there's a way internally and externally to make that happen. and that kind of brings home that these are, are pieces of the puzzle that support the big picture for Disney's success.

[00:23:25] Mary: Absolutely. Right. 

[00:23:27] KK: And I would even argue, you know, I wrote this down as, as Mary was talking about, you know, the magic and some skepticism about other businesses believing it doesn't apply. I would argue that it's not only applicable to all businesses, but at the end of the day, I would argue it's all you have left and we talk about this customer experience. The world is becoming commoditized. I can get shoes from anybody. I can get a car that does the job from anybody, but what is that customer experience and magic is kind of that, you know, it's that X factor. It's a good way to explain. How do you create, what, what is that customer experience? Um, and I think that's kind of all we have left in business, is how do you make your customer feel right? Period. 

[00:24:13] Debbie: And, you know, Kevin, we talked a lot about data gathering in the last episode. Yeah. And all of these things that Mary has been sharing with us, as she said, we were evaluated right after the program. So, and then we looked at our evaluation, saw where we might not have been so great and where we could improve and so forth. And also about the message of the program, the content. That's not unusual Disney does that constantly gathering data. Yeah. You know, whether it's serving the guests, have someone walk around the park and saying, Hey, how you doing today? I'm with Walt Disney World, um, we just like to hear, got about your experience today, a couple questions or calling people or online reviews or reviewing, uh, leaders within the company, their team reviews them or Disney Institute asking for input and data about the program and the facilitators or the Disney Wish asking us what went well, what did not go well? You know, so that we can give our guests the best experience, right? This data gathering is constant and ongoing. Guests don't need to see it. They don't need to know technically, but it's constant and ongoing. They leave nothing to chance. Right. Right. 

[00:25:26] Mary: And you know, Debbie, what you're describing is, is actually what I wrote the book about.

[00:25:32] Debbie: Yes. 

[00:25:32] Mary: Culture with a capital C mm-hmm because you know, you, and I know this, we would, we would have CEOs. I mean, this is a top person, man, or woman at the top of their organization, or even middle level managers, running big departments, they would say to us, you know, uh, that's fine for you. You're Disney, but we, we don't, we don't really have a culture. And we say, you're kidding. Of course you have a culture. It, it probably, from what you're saying, it probably isn't the one you designed. We have a culture. Exactly. We have a culture that is that we designed from the top and it is operationalized and everybody buys into it and is evaluated on it. And if you think you don't have a culture, let me tell you, your accounting department has a culture. Your finance department, your marketing department, they all have their own cultures based on what they feel like doing. And you can't get a cohesive organization when you have every single department with their own culture., based on maybe based on what that leader had for breakfast, who knows, you know, I mean, mm-hmm, you will have a culture, you cannot help it. It's what people come in. How they do when they come in, how they behave, what they think .And what often happens. And I'm just gonna make it a quick pass at this. When we get into training, when you train people and they're all on board and they're all happy and they're all smart at what they do, and they're all excited. And then they go back to their department. You know, I always say it's like potpourri it smells so good at first and little by little, that fragrance wears away. And you've just got a little jar full of bits of pieces. Uh, we do, we do coaching. Yeah. We do coaching and feedback because we know training isn't enough. Yeah. We know that when a person goes. Very often they're gonna pick up the aroma of the most negative person in the department. oh, see. And, and so we've gotta keep coaching and feedback feedback, which we don't have time to go into today. But I wrote this book because this is the, I I've read wonderful leadership books, big ones, 400 pages. I've read bestselling leadership books written by Disney people. They're wonderful. This is the piece they miss you know, you, you can't afford to drill down in a 90 minute program. I drill down .This book is only 128 pages, but it's kind of like the one minute manager. I had one premise of sticking with this. I don't need to talk about all of leadership. This is at the base of what we're talking about. Build a culture with the capital C everybody accountable for it. Give coaching and feedback. Listen. Right? The typical, the typical appraisal process. Is, uh, in, in, in the average company is I'm doing my job, doing my job, doing my job. Then I sit down with my boss after three months and he tells me how bad I did. Well, wait a minute. Now, let me tell you something. First of all, it's a shock. Secondly, here's the deal. If, if I'm doing something wrong, you know what, after three months I'm doing it wrong, really, really well. I'm excelling that's right. I've mastered this thing at doing it wrong. And, and so. When, when we believe in giving feedback pretty quickly, you know, instantly, right. But we also give feedback and say, wow, I really like Debbie. I love that story you just told. I love that. You know, uh, Joe, I loved the way you, you know, Kevin, when you talked to that child at the, at the, uh, uh, check in, it was beautiful. I mean, these lift the spirit of everybody and, and so right. 

[00:29:28] KK: Get somebody doing something well.

[00:29:29] Mary: Yes. Yes. 

[00:29:30] KK: So that's, yeah, I think that idea. Feedback on the spot are certainly within, you know, within the day or the 24 hours of seeing something going wrong is, is truly, truly valuable. The idea of waiting till .Making a list. Right. We'll see each other next quarter and we'll tell you everything you're doing wrong. Yeah. Just not the way to do it. And your other point about culture, you know, culture's kinda like a farm, you know, you plant the seeds and, and then the plants come up. But if you don't cultivate and grow this and manage it and water it, you know, every day, all the time, you know, we, we had one company we, we worked with for about a year. We got things rolling and they said, good. We're we're good. I was like, wow, I hope so. Um, you know, we hope what everything has stuck, cuz you know, sometimes we stay on and help, help folks, um, uh, manage and curate. Yeah. Um,. Believe it or not, we are, we are really, um, at our time. 

[00:30:20] Debbie: No. Oh no. 

[00:30:22] KK: and that was really fast and really good. And we may need to get you back on the show cuz this was terrific.

[00:30:28] Debbie: It was so much fun, Mary. 

[00:30:30] Mary: Well, I hope so. Cuz I, oh, I've just enjoyed being with you both so much. And I, and I'm really honored that you even asked me how nice of you really . 

[00:30:39] KK: Oh, so nice to have you. So at this part of the show, we usually like to give the greatest piece of advice you'll ever get. At least we think. But maybe, you know, I, I don't wanna put you on the spot if you don't wanna do it, I have a couple ideas, but if you'd like to impart the, the greatest piece of advice someone might ever get, what, what might that be from you Mary? 

[00:30:57] Mary: Well, if, well, it depends on who we're talking to. If you're talking to a leader, I love what Bob Iger said. When Bob Iger came in to replace Michael Eisner, Who did so much to build and grow this company over a 20 year period when Bob Iger came in and somebody said to him, uh, gosh, you're, this is great. Uh, how do, how do you do the leadership so well, he said, are you kidding? I, I surround myself with people who know more than I do.

[00:31:25] Debbie: Yeah. Mm-hmm right. 

[00:31:27] Mary: And I would say if you're a leader, surround yourself with people who know more than you do. If you're part of a team, which I was with people like Debbie, Surround myself with people who know more than I do. Debbie. You're wonderful. You've been here longer than I have. Let me learn from you and, and the others on my team. So if we think in terms in the business world and, and in life in life, we surround ourselves with people who are better than we are, know more than we do. Uh, at least on some level we, we, we, we get along well, 

[00:31:58] KK: well, that is one of the greatest pieces of advice anyone could ever get, you know, in work and in life.

[00:32:04] Debbie: Could we just bring Mary on every week to give us the greatest piece of advice we ever had?

[00:32:10] Mary: In fact, that alone!

[00:32:11] KK: That would be such a relief and load off my shoulders too. 

[00:32:14] Mary: That alone is a great piece of advice. Bring Mary on! 

[00:32:19] KK: There you go. Well, Mary, thanks so much, you know, I can see that you guys have, uh, such a rapport and I'm so glad we were able to get you on the show. I really appreciate your time. And, um, we'll, we'll have you back sometime, uh, next season, but for now, as always, thanks so much, everybody for showing up and listening. Hope, hope to see you here next week!

[00:32:40] Debbie: Thank you. And thank you, my friend. 

[00:32:43] 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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