Challenge: Be Like Walt Disney

Normally we would be talking about a return of the Disney Classics (which we still completely believe in and support).  But I would like to take a quick break from our usual topic to remark on an amazing Disney tradition: service.  Walt Disney's commitment to service, customer service especially, knew no bounds.  One of my favorite Disney quotes along this line of thought is "My business is making people, especially children, happy."  How incredible is it that we have a model in front of us on how to treat others that is so simple and yet so powerful.  I have been fortunate enough to have visited Disney World several times.  While I have not had the pleasure of visiting Disneyland or any of the Disney Cruise Lines (yet), I do look forward to the day I can take those trips.  What impressed me most about Disney World is how wonderful the Cast Members (or workers if you are not a Disney fanatic) are to everyone they encounter.  Walt Disney wrote the book on customer service, and gives us a guide to model in our daily lives with all our interactions.  Maybe we are not able to make everyone happy - but how much better would our lives be if we could try to make others happy?  Impossible, you say?  Well in the words of the great man himself:

It's kind of fun to do the impossible. Walt Disney

If you don't believe me and you're not sure whether to believe in Mr. Disney then let me show you two remarkable feats that were created through imagination.  No - not the castles at the theme parks.  Anyone who has visited Europe knows that castles can be built.  But here are my top "if you can dream it, you can do it" (Walt Disney) structures.

First, Spaceship Earth: a magnificent globe that graces EPCOT and houses a ride through the stars.  Up close it looks like a bunch of pyramids were glued together to form this amazing structure.  Truly a project of the mind that couldn't be contained, so it become a reality for us to enjoy.

Second, the Tree of Life: Standing tall at Animal Kingdom this incredible tree appears to have jumped right out of the song "Colors of the Wind".  Animal carvings come together in this structure that from far away doesn't appear to be anything more that a giant tree.  But believe me, this engineering marvel was the result of huge imagination by very creative people.

So now that you have seen what imagination, service, attention to detail, and kindness can do, I challenge everyone to be like Walt Disney - truly a legacy worth passing on.