What can we learn from the Disney Way of doing business?

Entrepreneurs

Disney exemplifies the lessons I learned from two other great companies: Vlasik and Toyota. The first built its success on the rock solid foundation of market domination much like Disney dominates the market for family entertainment. The second built its success by empowering its employees. Disney clearly demonstrated its mastery of this facility when my family and I embarked on a ​Caribbean Cruise on the Disney Fantasy during this past Thanksgiving Week

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In the interests of full disclosure, I can't compare my experience with other cruises. I've never taken another. My fifty years of sailing doesn't compare. You don't have someone tending to your every need when you're piloting your own pleasure craft or working as a topmast sailor on a tall ship. No, this was an entirely different sort of experience. I suppose that others may do it as well as Disney Cruise Lines (DCL), but I can't image how they could do it better.

We were served every meal that we ate in one of the dining rooms by the same crew. Head Server Haydar, Turkey; Server Leasa, Jamaica; and Assistant Server Clefton, India. Thus, they became familiar with our needs as well as our likes and dislikes. One of the granddaughters was especially finicky and they took it as a challenge to discover what she liked and played games to entice her to try new things

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Once I looked past the splendor of the vessel itself (1,115 feet in length and displacing some 130,000 tons), I became aware of the crew and their commitment to customer service. Every crew member wears a badge with their name and the nation from which they were recruited. It seemed that Disney Cruise Line (DCL) executives were begging us to ask: How? The “why” is easy. Disney has a long tradition of exposing its customers – visitors to its theme parks and viewers of its TV and film entertainment – to a kaleidoscope of cultures. That leaves us with the question of how did they recruit so many and so well? So I asked.

Engaging crew members in conversation is easy on a DCL vessel. They make it easy. I have never before had so many people greet me every time of every day. Nor have I ever before had so many offer assistance whether I needed it or not. Thus, I cornered one young man busing our table at breakfast one morning and asked how he was recruited. The story he told me was fascinating.

The busboy appeared to be in his early twenties and told me that he had earned his bachelors degree in business and was well on his way to earning an MBA. (An MBA candidate busing tables?) It seems that he was lured by the promise of advancing through the ranks and could foresee becoming a DCL executive one day.

He told me that he was first approached by a Disney agent in his home country of South Africa who put him on a short list of candidates sent to the DCL offices in Orlando, Florida. There his name percolated to the top of another short list for a Disney representative to visit him at home. After extensive background checking, another conference in Orlando placed his name on a list of candidates to be invited to visit the corporate offices for an interview. Ultimately he was invited to join the DCL family, taken back to Orlando for training, and placed on board the Disney Fantasy for additional training.

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Our Cabin Host, Jay Ar, Philippines, saw to our every need (including finding my smart phone when I lost it) and entertained us with towel sculptures on our berths when we returned to our cabins to settle in for the night.

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Once upon a time, Toyota executives were invited to visit companies to teach them the Toyota Way of empowering employees. I believe that DCL executives should be invited to companies to teach them the Disney way of hiring and training employees. Obviously, it works. By the time we debarked back at Port Canaveral at the end of our cruise, we felt that we were part of the Disney family. These ambassadors of the Disney World made us feel that welcome.