BETTER IMPACT BOOK BITES: How to Be Like Walt Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life

Why This Book:

My sister-in-law is obsessed with Disney. She has an annual pass to Disney World, lives in Houston, and goes to the park more than I do (and I only live 45 minutes away). One day, I simply had to ask her, “What do you like about Disney World SO much?” Her response to me was, “Read this book.” I did and now I get it. To her, Disney World is a symbol of dreams coming true, overcoming the impossible and changing the world.

This 389 page book written by Pat Williams with Jim Denney (and available on audio-book) pulls the curtain back to reveal the real Walt Disney; his leadership, his humanity, his strengths, his flaws, his triumphs and tragedies. Like him or not, he changed the world as we know it, in ways that you may not even know were attributed to him.

You Should Read This Book If:

• You want to lead your team to achieve the impossible
• You want to learn how to inspire your team
• You want to know what the big deal is about Walt Disney
• You want to learn how to balance family and work effectively

Who Should You Gift This Book To:

• Yourself
• Your team leads
• Your team
• Anyone who loves the Disney brand
• Anyone who may not think so highly of the Disney brand

Introduction:

This book has 15 chapters and 17 life lessons. I decided to dive into the life lessons as opposed to the chapters as I found them to be deeply powerful. The chapters expound on each life lesson listed below.

Lesson 1: Live the Adventure – The message I derived from this lesson is the power of choice and failing forward. Walt had a lot of setbacks in life, but never let it darken his optimism. He chose to “focus on the good in life while letting go of the bad” and “emulate his father’s positive traits while disregarding the negative traits.” Much of his success was attributed to his positive attitude. The sentence that resonated with me in this lesson was, “Wade out into the depths of this life and meet it on your own terms.” Don’t be afraid to try new things, and learn from those that don’t work out the way you had hoped.

Lesson 2: Be a Salesman (person) -We are all essentially selling something to someone. On a daily basis, we have to get buy-in some way or the other, whether it is support or tangible money. We should all be salespeople and the author suggests the five traits below make up a great salesperson. The chapters expound on each trait a little bit more.

• Honesty
• Enthusiasm
• Confidence
• Courage
• Persistence

Lesson 3: Dare to Do the Impossible – After reading this lesson, I now see the word “impossible” and think to myself, “challenge accepted.” So many of Walt’s ideas were deemed impossible, yet he made the impossible possible; simply by challenging the status quo. Definitely something to think about.

Lesson 4: Unleash Your Imagination – I love that the author encourages us to unleash our imagination, and not necessarily our creativity. Many of us wouldn’t consider ourselves creative, but we can ALL use our imagination, and do so almost on a daily basis. Think about it, isn’t that what daydreaming is, or fear of what could happen in the future that may cause us anxiety? Our imagination is a powerful tool and he encourages us to use it for good! A few steps to unleashing your imagination are:

• Draw on your life experiences
• Remove the limits from your imagination (I mean why not? It’s your imagination!)
• Consider ALL possible solutions to every problem
• Silence your inner critic
• Be courageous
• Work hard
• Ask Yourself: “What If?”

Lesson 5: Become an Animated Leader - This speaks about the 7 essential components of leadership and explores each one in depth. According to the author, they are:

• Vision
• Communications skills
• People skills
• Good character
• Competent
• Boldness
• A servant’s heart

Lesson 6: Take a Risk! – For someone who likes to take calculated risks, this lesson stretched me. “Bold risk-taking means bold decision-making.” I found it fascinating that the author believes a delayed decision is worse than a bold decision based on partial information. Whew, that one is tough for me. He does dive a little deeper into what he means and gives examples of Walt’s bold decisions to make his point.

Lesson 7: Dealing With Loss: At some point in our lives, we are going to, (if we haven’t already) experience loss. Within a span of four years, Walt experienced profound losses: his mother tragically died, he faced significant financial setbacks from two box office failures, he lost people he considered family to a company strike, and shortly thereafter, his father passed away. The author recounts how Walt handled it and how it helped fuel everything else he did. What happens when you experience great loss, feelings of grief, guilt and/or being falsely accused? As the author says, “There are no shortcuts to recovery, but here are a few suggestions for surviving a painful time in your life”:

• When you suffer a loss, let go of the need to know why
• If you feel guilty, learn to forgive yourself
• Look for the meaning in your pain and loss
• Be patient with yourself

Lesson 8: Plus Every Experience – “Plussing” was Walt’s way of giving that little bit extra to make something special. This ties right in with the Book Bites review, “The Power of Moments”. Giving even the smallest bit more than expected will make a monumental difference.

Lesson 9: Be a Person of Stick-to-it-ivity – This chapter is basically about, yup, you guessed it. Persistence and boldly sticking to your ideas and beliefs.

Lesson 10: Become a Sponge for Ideas - Stay in a constant state of learning. Whether it be reading, writing, listening to podcasts, attending webinars, whatever it is. Constantly gather ideas, essentially keeping your eyes and ears open because inspiration can appear anywhere at any time.

Lesson 11: Ask Yourself “How About Tomorrow?” – This lesson is all about embracing change. The only thing constant in life is change. If we aren’t thinking about the future in our work, we are apt to get tripped up by it. To be ready for what the future may hold, the author offers three tips below. I admit, the last two bullets are definitely challenging for me…how about you?

• Embrace Change
• Identify ideas and trends that produce change
• Learn to effectively plan for change

Lesson 12: Live for the Next Generation – This lesson was sobering. The author asks the question, “What will you be remembered for?” That was heavy for me. I asked myself not only will I be remembered for, but would I be remembered at all, and if so, for what? How have I left my mark on this world? What have I done to make it a better place than I found it? What about you? What will you be remembered for?

Lesson 13: Build Complementary Partnerships – I continue to find this theme repeated in the leadership books I have read. Find someone who complements you. Someone that has the same mission and vision, but accomplishes it through a different lens. The great balancing act. You will see throughout this book how Walt and his older brother Roy were constantly at odds and how it was crucial to birthing the Disney empire.

Lesson 14: Stay Focused – Are you so focused that your vision drives your associates and coworkers, even after you leave? Walt was. He was laser focused. The reason why so many dreams of highly functional teams don’t come true, is because so many lose focus. What has distracted you?

Lesson 15: Accept Your Mortality – Ugh, another in-your-face lesson. We don’t know how much time we have on this earth, so what are we doing with it? Are we using our talents to make the world, or even on a simpler note, our place of work, a better place for our coworkers to thrive and/or those we serve? To me, this ties into lesson 14 beautifully.

Lesson 16: Make Family Your Top Priority – I feel this lesson is listed way too far down, but I am glad it made it in the book. Funny enough, the author talks about how important family was to Walt throughout the book, not just when he gets to this lesson. One thing about Walt Disney, family was priority one. So, I ask you, are you making your family priority?

Lesson 17: Be the Person God Made You to Be – The essence of this chapter is to be the gift that you are to this world. What talents do you have that you can uniquely contribute to your family, workplace and or community, that will make them better simply because it came from you? Each person has a gift and/or talent that makes this world better. Discover what yours is and use it. This world needs you.

🍽️ The Last Bite

I have a newfound respect for Walt Disney; his struggles, his triumphs, his leadership. I love that this book doesn’t offer him up as a saint, but very human with less than desirable qualities as well. I am grateful because, otherwise as the book suggests, being like Walt would be practically impossible. You may not be a Disney fan and don’t care about princesses, but the very fact that you know who they are, is a direct result of his leadership and is reason enough to read this book.

• Follow Nicole on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook: @nicolersmithnet
• Listen to Nicole’s Podcast: From the Suggestion Box
• The Power of Moments