We Create Happiness
What job would you want if you could work at Disneyland?
Imagine you could have any role at Disneyland… You could be a Jungle Cruise skipper, pick up trash, sail rafts across the Rivers of America or paddle canoes. You could be “best friends” with Mickey Mouse, be in the parade as a princess, be an Imagineer or even the President of the entire Disneyland Resort. No matter what job you choose, even if you are head honcho, on your first day as a Disney cast member you would attend a classroom orientation known as “Disney Traditions”. During orientation you would learn the mission of the company and what your number one job was. That job is stated in three words:
“We Create Happiness.”
That’s what it was in 1955 when Dick Nunis and Van France created Disney Traditions, it’s a little longer now. In 1971 it was changed to “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment.”
It changed again in 1990 to “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment to people of all ages everywhere.”
When you’re teaching an 18-year-old cast member what their job is, it’s simply easier to say “We create happiness”.
Let’s consider an 18-year-old popcorn seller; the role of this individual is to pop popcorn in front of the castle. All day long, that’s his job. Pop the popcorn. Box the popcorn. Sell the popcorn. Pop, box, sell. Pop, box, sell. Pop, box, sell…
Pop, box, sell… Photo by Jeff Kober.
Imagine that this cast member is at his cart, popping popcorn. In between taking care of guests he notices two older ladies taking a picture of each other in front of the castle. While standing there, what could he do?
You got it! Take the picture so that both ladies could be in the picture.
He approaches them and asks if they would like him to take a picture of them together. They respond that they would appreciate it, so he takes a picture of the two of them in front of the castle. They thank him and he goes back to popping popcorn.
Has he created happiness? Has he provided great customer service?
He has. What you don’t know is that some three months later, one of those two ladies wrote a letter to the park’s management and shared the following:
To whom it may concern:
A few months ago my sister and I went to Disneyland together. While there, the popcorn seller by the first name of so and so stopped to take a picture of both of us in front of the castle. Please see a copy of the enclosed photo.
What the popcorn seller didn’t know was that my sister and I had not been on speaking terms for some 20 years. When I learned that she was facing treatment for cancer, we made amends by coming to your park and spending some time together. The picture you see enclosed is the only one taken of us together in some 20 years. I’m so grateful for the young popcorn popper who took the time to take the picture. I will be indebted for having this last memory.
Sincerely yours…
This is a true story; it happened several years ago. All because an 18-year-old popcorn seller was taught that the most important thing he can do is to “create happiness.”
There is power in a central mission or service statement. While at Disney and since then, I’ve had many opportunities to help organizations from a wide variety of places discover their primary mission. I tell them all the same thing—Disney’s job is to create happiness. What is yours? Here are some examples:
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Pick ‘n Pay (A South African grocery chain): “We serve. With our hearts, we create a great place to be. With our minds, we create an excellent place to shop.”
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New York Department of Finance (responsible for collecting billions from NYC taxpayers): “We help people pay the right amount on time”.
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M. D. Anderson (University of Texas Cancer Center): “We make cancer history.”
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Department of Administrative Services (an Iowa state government group that must compete with outside vendors for delivering services to other parts of Iowa state government): “We partner with government in delivering results.”
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The Brookfield Zoo (located in Chicago): “We engage guests in celebrating animals and nature.”
Tom Peters and Robert Waterman noted in their landmark book, In Search of Excellence: “Whether or not they are as fanatic in their service obsession as Frito, IBM, or Disney, the excellent companies all seem to have very powerful service themes that pervade the institutions. In fact, one of our most significant conclusions is that, whether their basic business is metal-bending, high technology, or hamburgers, they have all defined themselves as service businesses.”
Here’s an example of how significant that statement is: How many of you have ever received a federal grant or loan to go to college, or helped someone go through the paper work to do so?
The Office of Federal Student Aid, or FSA, is responsible for billions of dollars in grant and loan money. If you’ve taken out a college loan for yourself or for your child, you have undoubtedly been affected by this organization.
Apparently Congress has too, because they mandated that the FSA become more customer-focused. That mandate required the FSA look at itself more carefully. It was focused on compliance—making schools and financial institutions follow the rules—but being focused on the individuals who actually received the grant or loan was another matter.
Under the direction of a new leader, the following service theme was devised:
“We help put America through school”
That initiative involved a considerable number of activities that we won’t go into here, but the effort was in getting people to think more about helping put America through school. Here’s an example of what that looked like:
One FSA manager was taking a much needed summer vacation on the shores of Virginia Beach. Seated on the porch of her summer vacation home, relaxing and reading the newspaper, a letter written to the editor caught her attention.
The letter was written by a mother who was dismayed by the antics of a company that had led her down a path of promises assuring the woman and her daughter that they were capable (for the right price) of getting the daughter into the school of her dreams; a program for women in politics at Georgetown.
Two years down the road, and several thousand dollars later, milestones were missed and the daughter was no longer going to be accepted to Georgetown or to any other prestigious school because of the failures of this company. The best her daughter could hope for that fall was a local community college and the mother used the editorial column to voice her frustrations and to warn others.
Sitting on the porch, this FSA manager was enraged by the experience of this mother and daughter. After stewing it over, she picked up the phone and began making calls to those she knew in the higher education community. It took several weeks, but in the end the daughter was able to enroll late as a freshman and was awarded some turned-down scholarship funds.
While it was not her job to handle student challenges, this manager was truly able to “help put America through school.”
For your organization, consider the following:
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Do you have a succinct declaration of your organization’s purpose?
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Does it communicate a clear expectation internally of what matters most?
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Does it create an image of your organization?
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Is it more than a corporate mission statement nailed to the wall in some boardroom?
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Is everyone on board to that mission?
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How does your role tie into the mission of the organization?
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How can you help each employee tie into the mission of the organization?
It’s important to have everyone pointed toward the same mission. “We Create Happiness,” a concept built by Dick and Van when Disneyland was first created, has endured until today. By shaping a vision of your own, you can build an ideal, a statement that exemplifies the products and services you offer.
Imagine the possibilities when everyone is pointed in the same direction with the same higher purpose in mind. It’s attainable even in your kingdom, just as it was in this happiest of all places more than 50 years ago.
