Dennis Snow Blog

For me, college was a long, long time ago. And contrary to what we often tell our children as they head off to the world of higher education, it wasn’t the most enjoyable time of my life. Other than my freshman year, that is, at the University of Vermont. That’s the year I almost flunked out because I spent more time skiing than I did in class or studying. That year was a ball. But it was clear my college career would be short indeed if something didn’t change.

After moving to Orlando to work at Walt Disney World, I became a “non-traditional student” at the University of Central Florida. Non-traditional meaning that I fit in school between my job at Disney and as a husband at home. I remember well studying during my 15-minute breaks at the 20,0000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction, and, after being promoted to a supervisor position, sleeping with my head on my office desk after park closing because I had to be at school first thing the next morning. And I also remember my saint of a wife typing my term papers at 2 o’clock in the morning as I handed her each handwritten page as I completed it. Ah yes, the wonderful college years.

It took me seven years to complete my four year degree. My son Danny delights in telling me that a lot of people take seven years to finish their degrees – “They’re called doctors,” he says as he ducks whatever I was holding in my hand.

But I received more value from my years at UCF than I can ever repay. The vast majority of my professors were excellent, and helped me apply what I was learning not only to my future goals, but also to my day-to-day responsibilities at Disney World.

But a handful of moments stand out; usually a throw-away statement from a professor. The one that had the greatest effect on me, and I think applies more today than it did then, came from my Business Policies professor, Dr. Comish. He said:

“No matter what job you’re currently in or what job you get, always think of it as preparing you to go into business for yourself. And even if you don’t go into business for yourself, with that attitude you’ll add more value to any company you work for.”

Little did I know at the time that I would eventually start my own company, but I never forgot Dr. Comish’s words. Each experience I had at Disney was a wonderful training ground for running a business.

Whether it was creating an operating budget for Fantasyland, firing someone who I liked but just wasn’t working out, launching a division of the Disney Institute, or (my favorite) training cast members at the Disney University, I was learning things that provided a wonderful foundation for the business I now operate. And I feel confident that having an entrepreneurial attitude added at least some value to the Disney jobs I held along the way.

In today’s economy, I believe Dr. Comish’s statement is more important than ever. With job security at an all-time low, it only makes sense to learn continuously, add as much value as possible to your organization, and to never rest on your laurels. As my friend Simon T. Bailey says, we all need to be the CEO of “You, Inc.” More than ever, we all need to take responsibility for our own careers.

A few behaviors at the heart of the entrepreneurial mindset include:

1. Know how your company makes money – Understanding the details of your operation’s financials changes the way you look at the decisions that are made. And your input carries much more weight when you’re able to tie that input to financial goals. And in your own business, little principles like cash flow can make or break you.

2. Be a problem solver – Most organizations have more whiners than they can count. But problem solvers can usually be counted on the fingers of one hand. Organizations will do anything to hold onto true problem solvers. And if you do go into business for yourself, you’ll spend gobs of time solving problems. And those problems can cost you money out of your own pocket. Why not get the practice on someone else’s dime?

3. Do the jobs no one else wants to do – You know what I’m talking about. There are certain jobs or tasks that send employees running for the hills when the boss is looking for someone to step up. While you might not relish the assignment while you’re doing it, you’ve increased your value to the organization exponentially. And you’ll learn something that will be useful later (trust me).

4. Always be in learning mode – Opportunities for continuing education are everywhere in organizations. One highly successful business owner I met started his career as a clerk in a gas station. “I used that position to teach myself how to run a small business. I was always asking the owner questions and learning the details of the business.”

Many organizations offer FREE classes to employees through their corporate universities or training departments. Even if you have to take some of the programs on your own time, that’s too good an investment in your future to pass up.

5. Watch and learn from every boss you ever have – We’ve all had great bosses and horrible bosses. The one thing they all have in common is that we can learn from them. Whether you’re observing leadership behaviors that benefit the organization or behaviors that diminish the organization, a wonderful education can be had just by keeping your eyes and ears open.

As much as I loved working at Disney World, I love having my own business a thousand times more. But I wouldn’t have my business if it wasn’t for the 20-year education I received at Disney World. And I also believe that I might not have approached that time in the same way if it wasn’t for Dr. Comish’s advice to always think of myself as preparing to start my own business.

Something to think about: What would you do differently in your job if you saw it as a training ground for running your own organization?

Tags: Commentary, Leadership by Dennis Snow
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In order to “inculturate” desired customer service behaviors, leaders must acknowledge and recognize employees who demonstrate those behaviors.

This video describes a recognition tool used by Walt Disney World – The “Guest Service Fanatic” card.

If you receive my blog via email, you may need to click here to view the video.

Tags: Leadership, Video Blog Post by Dennis Snow
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This video post discusses the relationship between poor customer service and leadership performance.

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Tags: Leadership, Service Analysis by Dennis Snow
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Are effective leaders born or developed? That question has been debated in thousands of books, articles, speeches, and forums. While there are some characteristics effective leaders may have acquired early in life (I don’t believe they were born with them); I believe that leadership skills can be developed later in life. And these skills aren’t based on personality or charisma, nor are they dictated by a person’s DiSC or Myers-Briggs profile. No matter their style, effective leaders do three things very well.

1. Effective leaders Operationalize the Organization’s Mission. The organization’s mission is at the core of the effective leader’s actions. Whether the mission is to Create Happiness (Walt Disney World); to be Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen (Ritz Carlton); or to Help Customers Achieve Their Financial Dreams (First Citizens Bank), effective leaders keep the mission consistently in front of their employees. The hiring process, new hire orientation, ongoing training, team meetings, newsletters, etc. all seen as opportunities to operationalize the mission.
2. Effective leaders Involve Employees in the Forward Movement of the Organization. There may have been a time when the leader had the answers to every business issue that would arise. The leader had formal authority and was usually an expert in all phases of the operation. Due to changing customer expectations and competition, those days are over. Today’s leaders must rely on the skills of a facilitator and idea champion. The effective leader sees employees as partners in coming up with new ways to delight customers.
3. Effective leaders Make Excellence Non-negotiable. Lack of accountability is the number one reason many (or most) organizational improvement initiatives fail to achieve their desired results. When leaders look the other way when an employee performs in an unacceptable manner, even the best improvement plans begin to collapse.

An important behavior of effective leaders is that they never let the coaching moment go. If there’s a performance issue, they handle it without delay. A related behavior of effective leaders is that they never let the recognition moment go. They let strong performers know that their performance is truly appreciated.

While there are certainly other qualities effective leaders might demonstrate, I believe these three areas of focus provide the foundation for excellent leadership performance.

Something to think about:

• Are you operationalizing your organization’s mission?
• Are you involving your employees in the forward movement of your organization?
• Do you make excellence non-negotiable?
  

Tags: Commentary, Leadership by Dennis Snow
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One of my all-time favorite movies is, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The film kept me on the edge of my seat. While the fight and chase scenes were exciting, I found the scenes of the archaeological digs to be especially engaging. When Jones found and explored the desert chamber I felt like I was right there with him. As he made discovery after discovery, I thought, what a thrill it must be to discover something that has been hidden for thousands of years.

I have always been fascinated by the work of archaeologists. They are able to take physical artifacts of ancient civilizations and construct a rich portrait of what that civilization was like. They can describe the culture of the people who lived there – their beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors. They can tell us how the people of that civilization interacted with each other and how they looked at the world. Sometimes just the smallest artifact can tell an archaeologist so much about a civilization’s culture. If there also happens to be written records from the civilization, we can almost feel what it must have been like to be a part of that culture (the good and the bad).

Corporate Culture or Corporate Wish

Every business also has a culture. It’s made up of the beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors of its employees – just like a civilization’s culture. Corporate culture is a very real thing. The question is not, “do we have a culture?” (you do); the question is, “have we defined our culture and do we reinforce it with everything we do?”

I once consulted with a company that claimed to have a very customer-centered culture. “The customer is everything and everyone’s main focus is the customer experience,” claimed the CEO. Yet, there was no physical evidence to support that claim. Everywhere I turned, the physical evidence suggested a culture that really valued company procedures, process manuals, and rigid rules. I couldn’t even find a photograph of a customer anywhere in the company’s headquarters. So, is the company’s main focus truly the customer experience or is that just what they want it to be? That’s the difference between a corporate culture and a corporate wish.

Uncovering the Artifacts of Your Corporate Culture

Imagine that one day your company or department moves to another location. You have no notice; you can take nothing with you. You will start from scratch at your new location; literally abandoning your current location. Imagine that at some later date I stumble upon your previous digs and begin playing the role of an archaeologist. I start digging through all of the artifacts that were left behind. What conclusions would I come to about your organization’s culture? Remember, I have no company representatives to talk to; I can only base my conclusions on the physical evidence I uncover. Would my discoveries lead me to conclude that your culture is what you say it is?

What would the pictures on the walls tell me? Imagine that I sit down at an office desk or in a workstation and look at the physical environment – what would I say about your company values? I’ve worked with many companies who say they value attention to detail. Yet the physical evidence says they value chaos and sloppiness. Other companies say they value creativity and personal expression, yet the physical evidence shows they really value conformity.

Imagine further that I, the archeologist, discover some your company’s training materials, such as handbooks and videos. I go through those materials with a fine-toothed comb to discover what the culture (company) taught it’s youth (new hires). Would the emphasis of these materials lead me to come to the conclusions you want me to come to?

One my first requests when consulting with an organization is to see their new hire training materials. Many organizations that claim to value service excellence devote little or no training time to the subject. One “service-oriented” company had a two-day new hire program. I poured through the training materials hoping to find some content regarding customer service. I found some – about 15-minutes worth of material in the entire two days. Keep in mind that the other material was important; but customer service clearly took a backseat to everything else. The evidence (artifacts) did not point to a service-oriented company.

Become Your Company’s Indiana Jones

Look at your organization as an archaeologist would. You can do this yourself or with a team of people. First, review your company’s mission, vision, and values – most companies have them on a laminated card somewhere. Then, take a walk through the organization. If it’s a hospital, start in the parking lot and walk through each floor of the hospital. If it’s a bank, start in the parking lot and walk through every area of the branch. If it’s a manufacturing plant, walk the floor of the plant. Travel through all areas of the organization. Pay particular attention to the employee areas. Employee areas often provide the best evidence of the real culture. See if the physical evidence aligns with your stated mission, vision, and values. You may be surprised by the gaps you discover.

Do you say you value diversity? Take a look at the photos on the “executive wall of fame.” Do you say you value respect for employees? Take a look at the quality of the employee break room. Do you say you value creativity? Take a look at the sea of uniform cubicles. Is creativity in evidence? Remember, in this exercise you can’t go by what people say, you can only go by what you see – the physical evidence.

Here are some questions to ask:

• What do our customer areas say we value? Look at the furniture, the pictures, the layout of the area, the fixtures, the restroom, etc.

• What do our employee areas (offices, cubicles, break rooms, cafeteria’s, locker rooms, etc.) say we value?

• What do our training materials and training facility say we value?

• What does our hiring process say we value? For example, if “right fit talent” is a value, and you can find no evidence of a documented behavioral interviewing process, there is a disconnect there. An archaeologist can’t conclude that you value right fit talent if there are no artifacts to support it.

Be critical as you play the archaeologist role. Don’t make excuses like, “Well, I know we talk about customer service in new hire orientation, we just don’t have it written down.” That means you are leaving an important part your desired culture to chance, relying on best intentions to make sure it’s communicated. Physical evidence increases the likelihood that your desired culture is hardwired into the operation.

“But we communicate our culture through stories, not stuff!”

At this point, you may be thinking, “Isn’t storytelling an important part of perpetuating the culture? And if so, storytelling doesn’t require physical artifacts.” I agree that storytelling, dialogue, and face-to-face interactions are all important in building and sustaining a corporate culture, and I believe that these must also be aligned with what we want the culture to be. But physical artifacts are the evidence that values are hardwired (or not). They aren’t reliant on personalities or the ever changing dynamics of the market, economy, or executive whims. Time, thought, and planning go into aligning physical artifacts with the desired culture.

I love stories. I love to tell them and I love to hear them. I always ask my clients to share stories and legends of the organization so that I can get a feel for the culture. It’s tragic to discover that these great stories usually aren’t written down anywhere. It’s sad when company founders and legends retire or pass away and no one thought to get their stories on video so that they can be shared verbatim with others in the organization and people just joining the organization. Great stories make great artifacts; but in order to last, the stories must take a physical form.

Final Thoughts

A culture cannot be wished into existence. When Indiana Jones came upon a key find in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” he did not find wishes. He found stuff. This stuff led him to other stuff and helped him to make conclusions about a culture (and to make a great movie).

Really take a hard look at the physical artifacts of your organization and determine what an archaeologist would conclude. Are these artifacts aligned with what you say your culture is? If not, it’s time to make some changes. It’s time to create the tools and environment that support the culture, not detract from it.

Here’s an example. I had the opportunity to work with a hospital that says it values appreciation. Every employee I met reinforced this value – and I found it to be genuine. I would’ve known they value appreciation, however, without meeting anyone. Throughout the hospital there were boxes for patients and employees to deposit employee compliments. And there were many compliments in the boxes that had just been deposited. One entire wall in an employee corridor was lined with whiteboards and markers for employees to write any kind of compliment they wished regarding another employee or the hospital itself. These whiteboards were filled with the most wonderful compliments ranging from “thanks for covering my shift” to “thanks for cleaning up the patient’s room after the ‘incident.’” Some comments were funny and some were touching. It made me feel good just to read them; and I don’t even work there.

These artifacts and others led me to a single conclusion; this hospital has a culture that values appreciation. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that.

Something to think about: Based on physical evidence, what would an archaeologist say about your organization’s culture?

Tags: Commentary, Leadership by Dennis Snow
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My guest blogger today is Don Tanner of Tanner Friedman, a strategic communications firm. Be sure to visit their site, and especially click on the OUR TURN tab to check out some terrific ideas in each of the three categories, Blog, Perspectives, and News.

Don’s article below is a perfect compliment to my recent post, The Frontline Equals the Bottom Line. I love Don’s line about how leaders sometimes “fire poison tipped arrows directly at their own people.” Sad but true.

I hope you enjoy this thought-provoking article!

What Goes Around Comes Around in Employee Relations – by Don Tanner

How do you treat your employees? Do you guide and mentor and set them up for success, or, do you badger and belittle and set them up for failure?

I am continually amazed by stories I hear. How about the boss that does not provide a roadmap for future growth (”Keep on doing what you’re doing”) and then chides the employee when certain un-communicated milestones are not met in their mind. Or, the superior that gives “all or nothing” ultimatums rather than guiding and encouraging the colleague towards success in reaching particular goals.

Such individuals-in-charge seem to operate out of fear and ego. Don’t they realize that they are stifling and paralyzing their greatest resource for sustained and future success – their employees? Sadly, no. And when times get tough, rather than rallying the troops and circling the wagons, they fire poison tipped arrows directly at their own people.

The biggest barrier to change for such individuals, in my experience, is their past successes. “My way works so why not keep doing it” seems to be their motto. What they don’t realize (and find out in time) is that treating people badly always comes back to haunt you. It may take 5 years, it may take 20 years but your reputation (cemented by all of the former employees you treated poorly) will soon precede you and the death knell for your company becomes only a matter of time.

As the 80’s “hair band” Ratt so famously sang: “‘Round and ‘Round.”

Tags: Commentary, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Recommended Resources by Dennis Snow
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In the spirit of full disclosure, this post is an update of a print article I wrote awhile back. But several experiences recently have made me want to post it in my blog.

The Frontline Equals the Bottom Line

Most of us have heard the expression, “The frontline equals the bottom line,” as it pertains to a company’s employees.  It means that as far as the customer is concerned, a company’s frontline employees ARE the company.  After all, rarely do customers come in contact with the executives of an organization.  Those frontline employees are truly the face of the organization.  But as leaders, do we perform in a way that is consistent with the frontline equals the bottom line philosophy?  In many cases, I think the answer is no.

I was thinking about this issue recently while eating in a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant.  As I was observing the employees, the reality of the frontline equals the bottom line really hit me.  These servers, bussers, bartenders, etc. are the most important people in the company.  I knew this intellectually (I’ve talked about it for years), but the trueness of it hit me at that moment.  These employees are typically the lowest paid in the organization, treated as expendable, often treated in a condescending manner, and yet they are the most important people in the company.  If these employees fail in their duties, it makes no difference how smart the Sr. VP of Marketing is.  The transaction between the customer and the company (the frontline employee) can easily crash and burn if that frontline  employee doesn’t do his or her job well.  This is true in restaurants, hospitals, banks, grocery stores or any other industry/organization.  Executives can call in sick, but if the truck drivers for a distribution center don’t show up one day, now there is a situation.  When they do their jobs with pride and enthusiasm, the likelihood of company success is exponentially increased.  When they do their jobs with boredom and skepticism, the greatest technology systems in the world won’t help.

We should treat our frontline employees like the stars that they are.  We should honor them for the work that they do because they are the ones that make the world turn.  All of our strategies, visions, and corporate goals are only as good as the execution of those plans; and execution ultimately comes down to frontline people doing things.  Theirs is the most honest work of all.  The customer was either happy or she wasn’t, the delivery happened on time or it didn’t, the cooler was either stocked or not, the food was either hot or it wasn’t.  Frontline employees don’t need a report in a binder to know how things are going.  The score is real time for them.

I think what is missing in business today is knowing the importance of the frontline at a gut level.  Most of us know that we should say the frontline is the bottom line, but I don’t think it often shines through in our actions.  If it did, we would be having pizza parties regularly, pitching in to help when things are busy, taking employees to lunch regularly to ask what can be improved.  We would hold celebrations all the time.  We would say thank you at every opportunity.  Think about those times in your personal life when you were grateful for something that someone did.  I mean truly grateful.  Remember how sincere and heartfelt your appreciation was toward that person?  Can you remember the last time you showed that level of appreciation to an employee or group of employees in your organization?

The need to be appreciated is one of the strongest needs of all.  When employees work hard all day, doing the real work of the company, being treated with honor isn’t too much to ask.  Asking me to clock in and clock out says something about how you feel about my honor.  Giving keys for the supply cabinet only to managers and above says something about how you feel about my honor.  Having a lavish holiday party for the executive team while giving me a $2 tree ornament says something about how you feel about my contributions.  Walking by the reception desk, the loading dock, or the stockroom without acknowledging employees, taking a moment to see how things are going, or just saying thanks, are all behaviors that tell employees what management really thinks.  Is it any wonder that most studies show employee engagement is abysmally low?

My wife and I used to have a housekeeper, Val, who cleaned our house once a week.  She was truly an excellent housekeeper and cleaned even the hardest to reach areas.  Debbie (my wife) sincerely appreciated the extra effort and always showed her appreciation.  My wife and Val became good friends. One time Val mentioned that although she cleaned a lot of houses, Debbie was the only one who appreciated those extra touches and actually showed appreciation.  What is important to note is that Debbie didn’t say thank you to get Val to do the extras.  Debbie thanked Val because she did the extras.  Val, however, said that she wanted to do more because of the appreciation.  It was simply a sincere cycle of performance and appreciation.  Saying thank you to people who work hard is simply the right thing to do.  And usually when we do the right thing, we get the right thing in return.  Not always, but usually.

You know who the frontline employees are in your own organization.  I challenge you to take a hard look at the level of appreciation that you show those frontline employees.

Something to think about: Do your employees know you appreciate them?  How do they know you appreciate them?

Tags: Commentary, Leadership by Dennis Snow
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Due to the recession, employee promotions have been few and far between for most organizations. But as things begin to turn, promotions will likely start making a comeback. And now is the time to be thinking about your company/division/department promotion strategy.

Nothing communicates more quickly what an organization truly values than the decision on who gets promoted.

While all promotion decisions are important, the first promotion to a position of leadership is arguably the most important. The frontline supervisor has more power regarding the day-to-day customer experience than most executives do. And, as Gallup research clearly shows, an employee’s immediate supervisor plays a vital role in the level of that employee’s engagement on the job – “The talented employee may join a company because of its charismatic leaders, its generous benefits, and its world-class training programs, but how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor.” (First, Break All the Rules, by Marcus Buckingham).

As you look at individuals for possible promotions, what criteria are you looking for? We know that just because someone is an excellent salesperson or technician, for example, doesn’t mean that he or she will make an effective leader. I do, however, believe that excellence in an employee’s current position is at least an indicator of potential excellence as a leader. But it’s only one indicator, and unfortunately is often the only indicator considered.

Here is a list of ten questions to keep in mind as you consider various employees for promotion. I’m sure you can come up with others, but these questions should be part of the mix. As you think about individual employees you’re considering for a leadership position, first give your gut yes or no response to the question. Then consider your answer further and provide a rating of 1-5; 1 being along the lines of disagree, never, etc; and 5 being completely agree, always, etc.

1. Is the person a problem solver rather than a problem dumper?

While pointing out problems or issues is okay, most companies need leaders who are prepared to solve those problems, not just whine about them.

2. Does the person volunteer for additional responsibility?

Steady performers who do what they’re paid to do and then go home are valued employees. If they’re to be leaders, however, they need to be willing to stretch and do things that might be out of their comfort zones.

3. Is the person passionate about their work?

If this employee becomes a leader, he or she is going to be a key factor in the engagement of direct reports. If the passion isn’t there now, it’s not likely to be there in a leadership position.

4. Is the person focused on continuous learning?

Complacency is a job-killer. Someone taking advantage of educational opportunities within the organization as well as from outside resources indicates a willingness to learn and also demonstrates that they don’t see the time clock as the driver of their career.

5. Does the person forge strong relationships with other departments and entities?

The higher a person moves in the organization, the more their success depends on the cooperation of others. Someone who builds strong relationships with other departments and shows a willingness to set other entities up for success is demonstrating a key leadership attribute.

6. Does the person treat others with dignity and respect?

Most people either treat others with dignity and respect or they don’t, regardless of their position. If the person you’re considering for promotion doesn’t treat others well now, you can be sure that this behavior will be magnified in a leadership position.

7. Does the person perform effectively under stress?

A leader’s employees take their cue from the leader. A leader who is always stressed out creates a team that is always stressed out. Someone who operates effectively even under times of extreme stress is demonstrating an ability to navigate through rough waters.

8. Does the person model the values of the organization?

If someone watched a video of this employee in action, would they see the organization’s values in action?

9. When the person screws up (and everyone does) does he or she accept responsibility?

Finger pointing and playing the blame game are poisonous in organizations. Our culture is more and more becoming one of not accepting responsibility. Those who are willing to accept responsibility for the mistakes they make and do what it takes to make things right, are likely to do the same with their department, division, company.

10. Does the person share the glory when there is glory to be had?

Few things are more demotivating to a group than a leader who claims sole credit for any success. A leader can’t be successful unless his or her team is successful. An employee who demonstrates gratitude early in his career is likely to demonstrate gratitude as a leader.

As I said earlier, I’m sure you can expand this list with your own benchmarks. But I find these items to be highly indicative of future success as a leader. It’s never too early to start looking for promotable employees, and I hope these questions help you in your decision.

Question to consider: Based on the criteria outlined in this article, what individuals on your team would be effective leaders?

Tags: Commentary, Leadership by Dennis Snow
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In one of last week’s blog posts, I discussed the important role storytelling plays in effective leadership (“Leadership and Storytelling”). I emphasized that stories provide the links that connect an organization’s employees to its history, its purpose, and its values. And that purposeful, well-told stories can stir the emotions of team members and make leaders more real.

At the end of the post I promised I’d recommend some resources that can help you develop and refine stories. The most important component of any meaningful story you share, of course, is its authenticity. I direct you to the following resources simply to help add polish to your stories.

Book Recommendations

Story Theater Method: Strategic Storytelling in Business, by Doug Stevenson. While the book focuses on crafting speeches, it provides excellent guidance for crafting stories for any purpose.

Managing by Storying Around: A New Method of Leadership, by David Armstrong, specifically addresses using stories as a leadership tool. The book shares many, many stories along with their application to the business world. Armstrong doesn’t intend the reader to actually use his stories, he provides them as examples of how effective stories are structured for business and, most importantly, how stories can make a point better than any other method.

Other Resources

“The Nine Steps of Story Structure” is a post from Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater blog. This brief post provides an outstanding blueprint for taking any story to a higher level. You can also navigate around the site for more of Doug’s resources.

“Business Storytelling” is an article from the Mind Tools Website. The article highlights the various types of stories and provides tips for effective storytelling.

I hope you find these resources to be helpful as you develop and share your stories!

Tags: Leadership, Recommended Resources by Dennis Snow
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When some friends and colleagues encouraged me to write my second book, Lessons From the Mouse, I was scared out of mind. What if it turned out that everything I knew had been written in my first book, Unleashing Excellence? What if it turned out that I had nothing left to share?

I was so intimidated by the prospect of writing a second book that I put it off for four years. I talked about the book a lot – I just wasn’t doing anything about it. I came up with every excuse for not writing it; all of which were legitimate excuses. It was my son David who finally got me off my procrastinating butt and got me down to working on the book. He would regularly ask in his teenaged joking (sarcastic) manner, “How’s that new book coming along? Got a big stack of pages done?”

For the sake of my honor I had to get the book written. I decided to rent a cabin in Georgia for a week with the goal of doing nothing but writing. Maybe nothing worthwhile would come of the effort, but I knew the time away would at least tell me if I had anything to write about.

Thank God for wisecracking teenagers who shame you into taking action. Lessons From the Mouse has been well received, and I’m proud of it. What I’m really thankful for, however, is taking the time to sit down and think about my twenty years working at Walt Disney World and what it all means to me.

What happened is this: story after story kept pouring onto the computer screen. I’d start writing about one story and it would remind me of another one. I remembered things I hadn’t thought about since I was a nineteen year old cast member working on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Even more exciting to me was that most of the stories had a learning point that changed me, although I usually didn’t know it at the time.

A week later I left the cabin with a first draft of four of the ten chapters completed. The rest of the book came pretty easily.

Why do I share this? Because stories play such an important role in lives and in organizations. In organizations, stories provide the links that connect an organization’s employees to its history, its purpose, and its values. If you can’t share a bunch of stories about a company value in action, it’s not a value; it’s a wish. Stories validate what we say are our values.

Some of the most effective leaders I’ve met are effective precisely because of their ability to bring an idea or principle to life through a compelling story. They know that while facts and figures are important, stories are what stir the emotions and get people behind an idea. When you share an effective story, things become real. They make YOU real.

I’m not talking about fairy tales here; I’m talking about real life stories that make abstract ideas real. And I’m also not talking about pointless rambling. Effective stories are about something important.

I once observed a training program for a fairly large organization, and the facilitator asked participants to share reasons for being proud of working there. A few participants shared a few somewhat lame reasons, but nothing really exciting was shared. The next segment of the program involved the company’s founder/president sharing some of his thoughts with the team, and, having seen many such presentations, I was ready to watch everyone’s eyes glaze over while he talked about company strategy.

Boy, was I wrong. For some reason he went “off script” and discussed the early days of the organization – how it literally was launched from the trunk of a beat up car. He shared how the company’s future was on the line with every deal and could’ve gone under at any moment. As he spoke, he sometimes just kind of looked off at nothing in particular, clearly reliving some of those early days. It was mesmerizing. When he was done, there was electricity in the room. You could feel the pride. All because of an unplanned story being shared.

I’m sure you’ve experienced the same phenomenon. A company president or executive gets up in front of an audience with a prepared, teleprompter-driven script, and for any number of reasons drifts away from the lectern to tell a story. And everything changes. Suddenly everyone is listening – suddenly the executive is real. (Remember, I’m not talking about rambling, I’m talking about stories that matter).

I encourage you to take some time to do the same thing I did during my time away in that Georgia cabin. Reflect on your own life and career, and recall the stories that are important to you, making you who you are today. Write them down. If you’re not writing a book, the stories don’t have to be grammatically correct or even complete. But writing your stories down in some form has the magical effect of connecting the dots of your life and, trust me on this, will either conjure up memories buried long ago, or will bring importance to events you thought had no importance at all.

I also encourage you to look for stories all around you that can help you as a leader. Look for examples of values in action, or lack of values in action. Listen to stories shared by customers and employees. Stories are everywhere.

Here’s a question (really two questions) to get you started with mining your memory for stories and being on the lookout for fresh ones: What’s important to you and why? Just start with three things that are important to you and WHY they’re important. Then, come up with stories that bring your answers to life. If these things are truly important to you, there will definitely be stories. These stories, when used purposefully, will make you more effective as a leader and as a communicator (which may be the same thing). These are the stories that can convince, persuade, motivate, and electrify others.

This is a subject that excites me just writing about it, and I wanted to get it posted. But I’m not done. I’m going to do some research on resources that will help you craft more effective stories. But don’t overanalyze the process. The most important part of any story is its authenticity – its heart. The resources I’ll share only serve to make your stories even more powerful.

Tags: Leadership by Dennis Snow
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