Candidly, I thought about stopping these posts during the ongoing COVID virus crisis. But then I thought that we all need a distraction ... and perhaps some normalcy. So here it is.

In the last few Snaps, we discussed three of the five counterintuitive leadership lessons I learned at Walt Disney World and that I presented at Training 2020. In this Snap we’ll introduce the fourth of those five counterintuitive lessons: If You Want Something Done, Do It Yourself.

Walt Disney World has an admirable tradition of leaders pitching in to do what the cast members do; not as a way to replace cast members, but as a way to demonstrate what the cast members should do.

There is this marvelous story about Walt Disney walking through Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and pointing out to the area’s supervisor that a trash can was overflowing. The supervisor replied that he would call Custodial to take care of it. Walt immediately went into action himself and picked up the trash. That supervisor was soon gone and Walt continued to pick up trash, as showcased in the snap above.

That trash expectation still exists. A Central Florida joke is that the area’s supermarkets are the cleanest in the country because of all those off duty Disney cast members who can’t stop picking up trash.

It doesn’t, however, stop with trash. The photo in Snap V1, I4, To Service Infinity and Beyond, aptly demonstrates how Disney leaders behave.

What can we learn from this information? 

• It is not enough to express and train expectations. You have to demonstrate what you expect.
• If you deliver behaviors counter to those you train and/or expect, you can assume those behaviors will be mirrored too.

So, do what you want done. Do it and they will too.