Disney’s Leadership: It’s About the People (Part 1)

While working at Disneyland, a team of employees approached Walt Disney complaining, “The people keep walking on the grass in one area rather than using the sidewalk. It’s starting to wear the grass down. What should we do?” 

After a moment’s thought, Walt responded, “Put a sidewalk there.” 

I love Disneyland! My mom was living in the LA area when Disneyland was built. I loved watching her face light up with her stories of the fifty cent passes you could buy, “Back in the day.” Growing up in California, myself, I have some pretty fond memories of the park as well. I took my husband there once when we were first married and he told me he didn’t ever need to go back. I told him I could go every year! So, we started the tradition where I take my kids to Disneyland for a day when they turn ten years old. Best decision ever! 

Walt Disney has created a real life storybook. Every detail is meticulously thought of and implemented. The rides are perfectly timed and begin even before getting on the roller coaster. The food, the people, the music, the events — they all play into a ridiculously phenomenal experience. But aside from the park itself, it’s Walt Disney who somehow created a culture that continues well after his death.  How did he do it?! 

In learning more about the way he built and managed his company, there are two principles that stand out to me. First, he built Disneyland with the people in mind. The current Imagineering team said, “We start with the customer in mind and then we build out from there.” Second, imagination and creativity drive decisions. “Why repeat something that’s always been done?” 

I want to take these two principle and see how they can applyas parents in our homes and as leaders in our wards.  There’s a lot, so I’ll split it up into two parts. 

Build it for the People

As the story above illustrates, Walt Disney thought about what people wanted and then gave it to them. To observe the customers as they entered the park, Disney built a personal apartment above Main Street. He wanted to watch the people as they entered the park and take note of their habits, their facial expressions and natural inclinations. He loved watching their faces light up — children and adults, families and friends. He wanted to bring them all together to the “Happiest Place on Earth.”  

“When it was suggested that an administration building be erected for the management at Disneyland, Walt was vehemently opposed. ‘I don’t want you guys sitting behind desks…I want you out in the park, watching what the people are doing and finding out how you can make the place more enjoyable for them.’ And when Walt learned that his staff had been leaving the property for lunch, he steamed. ‘Stand in line with the people…you eat at the park and listen to the people.’” 

Walt Disney was building a happy place for the people, not for his own gain. Rather than making it more difficult for park goers to “follow the rules,” he made the rules follow the natural rhythm of the people!  He was known to say, “You don’t build it for yourself. You know what the people want and you build it for them.”

Application for our Homes

More often than not, parents tend to think we know better because we’ve experienced so much more than our children (which we have) or because we feel the pressure to raise our children in becoming responsible adults. Oftentimes, out of necessity of managing many little people, we do whatever is necessary to make our lives easier (we do need to stay sane!). 

However, when we think only of our own comfort, we can inadvertently take on a little too much blame and responsibility for all the decisions that happen in the home. Then we begin to fill our minds with “what if’s” — what if my kids aren’t healthy enough, smart enough, responsible enough, obedient enough, etc…etc… We then begin to parent out of fear rather than for them. 

But WHAT IF we listen more to the pulse of the home and make decisions accordingly. 

One example of this in my home is when we have a schedule or season shift.  When summer hits at our house, I take that first week to simply observe. Rather than jumping right in with a plan of “how the schedule’s going to go,” I let the kids sleep until they wake up. I watch their normal patterns. I get a pulse on the natural flow of the family.  And then I create a schedule with that in mind. 

I actually have done the same thing when the school year starts. I take the first week or two to observe — what is the natural morning flow? What do the after school hours look like? Yes, we do have to wake up and get to school, but what time we get up is primarily determined by what will cause the least amount of resistance.

When the kids were younger we had a bunch of chore charts and systems we tried. There was probably too much “head banging against the wall” as I tried to get the to clean. Hours of cleaning — and Mom not too happy about it. Why did I make it so hard on myself!? Taking this first principle to heart, how could i make it easier for my children to do what I wanted or needed them to do? How could I build a sidewalk instead of beat them to death (figuratively) about wearing down the grass?! 

I’ve learned a little bit. (Ha!) I recently have been finding myself doing the same thing — getting after the boys for not cleaning up after themselves. So, I “paved a sidewalk,” so to speak. I have assigned each boy one task a  day they are responsible for. It’s simple. It takes the full burden off of me. Instead of thinking I’m failing as a mom because I just can’t get them to do what I want, I feel like they are being trained how to take responsibility themselves. It’s not a grand new idea! But this plan was about taking the frustrations and fears out of the equation. 

How this can look in the Church

As in parenting, as leaders we take on way too much blame and responsibility for making sure the members are “doing what they’re supposed to do.”  We want to be sure all the parts are running smoothly (and there are a lot of moving parts, for sure!) and then begin to fill our minds with what if’s — what if they don’t come to our activity, what if they don’t do their ministering, what if I can’t help them get to the temple, what if they aren’t coming to church, etc..etc… And we begin to lead out of fear and frustration. 

Elder William K. Jackson recently spoke in Conference about accounting and reporting. In light of Disney’s “build it for the people” principle, his words resonated with me. “[In Moroni 6] we read that members ‘were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they night be remembered and nourished by the good work of God, to keep them in the right way….The church did meet together of, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.’ For Moroni, it was all about the people — names!” 

In ward councils I have attended, we generally talked about the needs to be managed in the ward. Then, toward the end, we’d ask, “Who do we need to think about?” We’d list off a few members who hadn’t been coming to church. And then…we go back to the business of managing a ward.  

How can we do better at “building it for the people?” 

My answer: Ministering Interviews! 

When the new way of ministering was introduced, Presdient Eyring said that the ministering interviews would be some of the sweetest experiences we could ever have a leaders. This is the presidency’s time to “sit at lunch in the park,” as Disney instructed his employees. This is the time we have to observe what our members want, what they need, what they like, what is keeping them up at night, and how connected they feel to the ward family. This is a time we can assess what can we do to make it easy for the member to do what they’re being asked to do — where can we build the sidewalk for them? 

Also in our most recent General Conference, Elder Garritt W. Gong spoke on creating a church culture. He said, “In His church and through His ordinances and covenants, we come to each other and to Jesus Christ.” I love this idea of coming together! How are we creating cultures in our wards that allow us to come together — to experience that joyful entrance and covenant belonging we hope for? 

The Lord Builds for the People

In one of his first talks as an apostle, Elder Patrick Kearon talked about how “[the Lord] does not put up roadblocks and barriers; He removes them.”  

Nephi also teaches us that “the Lord giveth no commandment save He shall prepare a way for them to accomplish it.” 

Like Walt Disney, we can take away the barriers to help our children and those we lead to easily find joy in their lives. We are invited to build homes founded on “faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” We are instructed to create houses of worship where no one sits alone.  We do so by first thinking of the people and then building out from there. 

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Stay tuned for Part 2: Imagination