Hey howdy HAA everyone!
It’s London, and welcome back to HAA Disney: Let’s Lead.
One of the reasons I continue to find Disney so interesting is that the guest experience doesn’t happen by accident.
Behind the attractions, resorts, entertainment and everyday operations is a very intentional approach to leadership, service and organizational culture.
That was one of my biggest takeaways from my experience with the Disney Institute.
What I find particularly interesting is that many of the lessons don’t actually have much to do with theme parks. They are lessons about how we lead people, how we approach our work and how we create experiences for others.
For me, leading with excellence isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about having a standard.
It’s about how you show up, how you make decisions, how you handle challenges and how you treat the people around you.
And those are lessons that can be applied in almost any workplace, organization or team.
What Does It Mean to Lead with Excellence?
For me, leading with excellence starts with ownership.
Your role is about more than completing a list of responsibilities. Whether you’re leading a team, managing a project, working with customers or supporting an organization, your decisions affect the people around you.
An excellent leader pays attention.
They ask questions.
They look for opportunities to improve.
And when they see something that needs attention, they don’t automatically assume someone else will take care of it.
That doesn’t mean taking responsibility for everything.
It means understanding what is within your influence and being willing to act when you can make a difference.
There’s a difference between simply doing your job and taking ownership of your role.
Your responsibilities tell you what you are accountable for. Your leadership is demonstrated by how you approach them.
A Simple Example from Disney
Think about a guest standing in a Disney park looking at a map and clearly trying to figure out where to go.
A Cast Member could point them toward their destination.
That’s helpful.
But imagine the Cast Member notices the guest is confused, approaches them, asks what they’re looking for and then helps them find their way.
It’s a small interaction.
But it’s also a good example of the difference between completing a task and creating an experience.
The Cast Member didn’t simply provide directions.
They recognized a need and responded to it.
That’s a leadership lesson I think applies well beyond Disney.
How often do we see something that could be improved but assume it isn’t our responsibility?
How often could we make someone’s experience easier simply by paying attention?
Leadership often starts there.
Excellence Shows Up in the Details
One of the things I appreciate about Disney is how much attention is given to the details.
A clean environment.
A well-maintained attraction.
Clear information.
A Cast Member who notices someone needs assistance.
A thoughtful interaction.
None of these things, on their own, seem particularly significant.
Together, they shape the guest experience.
The same is true in our professional lives.
Your reputation isn’t usually built through one major accomplishment.
It’s built through the things you consistently do.
Do you follow through?
Do you communicate when something changes?
Do you come prepared?
Do you check your work?
Do you recognize other people’s contributions?
Do you make things easier for the people you work with?
These are simple things.
But consistency matters.
Excellence is often the result of doing the small things well, repeatedly.
Leadership Becomes Most Important When Things Go Wrong
It’s easy to talk about excellent leadership when everything is going according to plan.
The real test is what happens when it isn’t.
At Disney, that could be an attraction unexpectedly closing, severe weather affecting operations or a guest becoming frustrated.
In the workplace, it might be a missed deadline, a dissatisfied client, a staffing issue or a project that isn’t going as planned.
Problems are part of every organization.
What matters is how we respond.
A strong leader can acknowledge the problem without immediately looking for someone to blame.
They can ask:
What happened?
What do we know?
What can we control?
What does the team need?
What do we need to do next?
Accountability still matters.
But accountability should help us move forward rather than simply determine who is at fault.
One of the best things an employee can bring to a leader isn’t simply a problem.
It’s a problem accompanied by thought.
“Here’s what happened. Here’s what I’ve tried. Here’s what I think we should do next.”
That’s ownership.
And that’s the kind of behavior that strengthens a team.
Great Leadership Creates the Conditions for People to Succeed
Leading with excellence doesn’t mean expecting everyone around you to work harder.
It means giving people what they need to do their work well.
That includes:
- Clear expectations
- The right information
- Appropriate resources
- Support
- Accountability
- An understanding of why the work matters
That last point is particularly important.
People want to understand how their work contributes to something larger.
At Disney, every role contributes to the overall guest experience.
The person working an attraction has a different responsibility from the person working in a resort, restaurant or behind the scenes.
But every role contributes to the larger experience.
Organizations are no different.
People may have completely different job descriptions, but their work still contributes to a larger purpose.
Good leaders help people see that connection.
You Don’t Need a Leadership Title
One of the biggest leadership lessons I take from this is that you don’t need a formal leadership position to demonstrate leadership.
You can lead through how you approach your work.
You can lead through how you communicate.
You can lead through how you respond when something goes wrong.
You can lead by helping a colleague.
You can lead by taking initiative.
You can lead by setting a standard others can rely on.
Whether you’re managing a department, leading a project, teaching a class, working with customers or contributing as part of a team, leadership is still present.
You just may not have the title attached to it.
What Can We Take from Disney Into Our Own Work?
This is where I think the Disney Institute lessons become particularly useful.
We don’t need to recreate Disney in our organizations.
Instead, we can ask what principles might apply to our own environments.
Maybe it’s improving the customer experience.
Maybe it’s creating clearer processes.
Maybe it’s giving employees more ownership.
Maybe it’s being more intentional about communication.
Maybe it’s paying more attention to the details.
Or maybe it’s simply recognizing that every interaction contributes to someone’s experience of your organization.
That last one is easy to overlook.
A customer’s impression of a company isn’t created by one person or one department.
It’s created through a collection of interactions.
The same is true for employees.
Culture isn’t something that exists only in a handbook.
People experience culture through what happens every day.
The HAA Takeaway
My experience with the Disney Institute reinforced something I’ve come to believe about leadership:
Excellence is a practice, not a position.
It’s not about being perfect.
It’s about being intentional.
It’s about taking ownership when you can make a difference.
It’s about paying attention to the details.
It’s about treating people well.
It’s about responding professionally when things don’t go according to plan.
And it’s about creating an environment where other people have the opportunity to succeed.
That’s why I enjoy looking at Disney through a leadership and organizational culture lens.
The parks provide countless examples of how leadership, service, culture and operations can work together to create an experience.
But the real value comes from taking those lessons beyond the parks.
Bring them into your workplace.
Bring them into your business.
Bring them into your team.
And bring them into the way you interact with people every day.
Because leadership isn’t only about what you accomplish.
It’s also about the experience other people have because of the way you lead.
And to me, that’s what it means to lead with excellence.
Have a blessed and wonderful day,
London
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