In the two prior Snaps, we discussed two of the five counterintuitive leadership lessons I learned at Walt Disney World. In this Snap we’ll introduce the third of those five counterintuitive lessons: Employees first, Customers second. I will present all five tomorrow at Training 2020.

Disney CEO Bob Iger, writing in The Ride of a Lifetime stated, “I want Disney to be admired and respected by the employees, cast members, as we call them fondly; because if we ultimately are going to be admired and respected by our shareholders and by our customers, it has to start at home.”

Walt Disney World uses what in my Care Like a Mouse book I call the Castomer™ Care Formula. This simple three-step formula, pictured in the snap above, is as follows.

1. A great leader delivers a satisfying castomer™ experience.
2. Valued castomers™ deliver a satisfying customer experience.
3. Satisfied customers spend more money, return for repeat business, become loyal and thus increases business results.

The leaders' job, therefore, is to manage the castomer™ experience so that the castomer™ can focus on delivering the customer experience. Disney takes a number of steps to do this, including those techniques explained in MIC Key Snap V2, I13, The Foundation for Employee Support and V2, I23, A Disney Christmas Story.

What about you and your organization? Are your employees satisfied with their boss and your company?

If not, why not … and what can you do about it?

You can’t expect unhappy castomers™ to deliver happy customers.