I believe that one of the most important moments in an employee’s tenure with a company is the new hire onboarding or orientation process. Good or bad, most people remember how they were introduced to the organization and how they felt during that time. They either remember it as a highlight in their career or as a boring, confusing slog through a bunch of confusing information.  Two Faces of New Hire Onboarding  If orientation is done well, you feel welcome and you feel prepared to do the work you were hired to do. You have positive feeling [...]

I hate to use this blog to ask for a favor (but I'm going to anyway). An important element of selling books on Amazon.com is the Customer Review section. Many potential book buyers, me included, often take a look at the reader reviews to see what others are saying about a book before deciding to buy. If you've read my new book, Lessons From the Mouse, and feel so inclined, I would certainly appreciate a brief review. Don [...]

This is the tenth in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #10: Take Responsibility for Your Own Career. Walt Disney World is committed to employee development and provides many opportunities for career enrichment or advancement. However, in s [...]

This is the ninth in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #9: Figure Out What Ticks Off Your Customers - and Do Something About it. While Disney World's mission is to create magic for guests, sometimes less-than-magical events occur. Rain, cl [...]

This is the seventh in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #7: Never Ever Say "That's Not My Job" - Don't Even Think It From the day a Disney cast member joins the organization, it's clear that saying anything remotely close to, "That's not [...]

 This is the eighth in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #8: Everyone Has a Customer When it comes to internal customer service, Disney World's philosophy is, "Cast members are treated the way they are expected to treat the guests." T [...]

This is the sixth in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #6: Pay Attention to the Details - Everything Speaks Disney "Imagineers" go to great effort to design the details that make the Vacation Kingdom a truly magical environment. The goal i [...]

 This is the fourth in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #4: Have Fun With the Job (No Matter How Miserable You Feel) Guests will often gush to Disney cast members, "You have the best job in the world! It must be so much fun to w [...]

 This is the third in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #3: Little Wows Add Up Walt Disney World guests often exclaim, "It seems like Disney employees will do anything to make a guest happy!" And while cast members may sometimes do ex [...]

This is the second in a series of ten blog posts that provide a brief synopsis of the chapters in my upcoming book, Lessons From the Mouse - A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. You can view previous posts from the book by clicking on the Lessons From the Mouse category on the left column of this page. Lesson #2: What Time is the Three O'clock Parade?Is Not a Stupid Question Every Disney cast member can tell you about funny questions Disney guests ask. How about "Wha [...]

Some of you are aware that I’ve been working on a new book, Lessons From the Mouse, based on my 20-years working at Walt Disney World. The book is due to be published this summer and I’m truly excited about it. It covers the ten key lessons I learned as a Disney cast member and helps readers apply those lessons to their own organizations, careers, and lives. With my next ten blog posts, I’d like to share a synopsis of each lesson that Lessons From the Mouse covers. My hope is that you’ll find these brief descriptions to be beneficial – and I also hope thes [...]