Back to work, fresh off a 4-day Disney Cruise, I'm reminded yet again what excellence looks like.

(Some people are Disney people, and some people are anti-Disney people. We tend to be Disney people. It's possible to get too much of the Mouse, I suppose, but we're not there yet.)

There are many books on "The Disney Way," including one by that very name. How would Disney run a hospital? How would Disney run a school? And on and on. I haven't read any of them.

I have only gathered my observations and opinions by spending my own hard-earned money to do so. And having done so four times in the eleven years I've been a parent, I always come back impressed. Very impressed.

Disney does it right. If more businesses devoted themselves to making the customer's dreams come true or making the customers feel like princesses or making the customers believe in magic, Disney would be the patriarch of the movement.

Here are just a few Disney-esque principles I've observed in action:
1. Do nothing half-way. Every ride is a movie set and every employee is a cast member, and every theme is carried out to an almost ridiculous degree. I don't believe there is an organization anywhere that executes their vision more thoroughly than Disney.
2. Exceptional is the expectation. "Average" is not on their radar screen. The "minimum requirements" are not even a consideration. Maybe this point is the same as the one above. That's how well they execute.
3. Build in cross-selling. Every Disney property is littered (poor choice of words) with profit centers, all feeding one another. There are no "operational silos," at least as far as I can tell. Every piece of the business model is cooperative and synergistic.
4. Take pride. This is not a repeat of points 1 & 2, this is about profit. Disney is not cheap. Disney will never be cheap. We've all been to cheap amusement parks. By taking great pride and making points 1 & 2 a way of life, there really is no peer to drive their prices down. Pride is a profit strategy.

It's becoming clear to me that this post could get really long, so I'm just going to cut it off right here. How can you "Disney-fy" your business? Open your mind really, really wide for this one, because dreams really can come true.

Labels: branding, creativity, customer centered, differentiation, management, marketing, planning, strategy