On February 26, 2020, at Training 2020, I get the pleasure of presenting Counterintuitive Leadership Lessons Learned at Walt Disney World. The lessons may seem odd, but they are straight from the practices Walt Disney and his team established. In this Snap we’ll introduce the first of those five counterintuitive lessons: Be as emotional as possible.

Walt Disney once explained his approach, “Others hit the intellect. We hit emotion. Those who appeal to the intellect only appeal to a very limited group.” For Disney, that emotion is happiness. There is a marvelous story about Walt spotting a surly Disneyland train conductor. He directed the man’s manager to, “See if you can’t give that fellow a better understanding of the business we’re in. Cheer him up or if he feels that way, he shouldn’t work here. We don’t like glum pusses or sour faces. We are selling happiness.” He wanted conductors like the two in this snap and wouldn’t settle for less.

To this day, creating happiness is the purpose every Disney team member is charged with delivering. Whether it is reading guest letters at meetings, rewarding cast members who deliver emotional experiences or simply reminding cast members to “create magic” for their guests, Disney’s leaders aggressively pitch that purpose. Additionally, the entire guest experience is designed, as we saw in V1, I13, Passport to Disney’s World and V1, I5, Celebrating the Hometown Hero, with cast-guest touch point tools that generate emotional connections.

But how can you use this piece of information?

• Have you and your company identified your emotional purpose?
• Do you weave that purpose into everything you do?
• Do you constantly communicate that purpose to your team?

In short, are you as emotional as possible? If not, why not?