Personal Growth
5 Lessons in Gallantry from Walt Disney Imagineering
Problem-solving and essential soft skills brought to you by the Happiest Place on Earth
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Disney Magic abounds in children’s entertainment, family movie nights and nerd culture, but beneath the magic these parks are meticulously organized for the best visitor experience. The way Disney organizes its parks, rides and procedures tells us much about how we can improve our own lives. Park etiquette can help us better understand and respect others, while Walt Disney Imagineering can help visitors learn more about what inspires us to create our best work.
We may not retain the childlike wonder we experienced when we first stumbled into Disneyland, but we can use tricks and tips from the Happiest Place on Earth to improve the way we collaborate with others during difficult situations.
All it takes is a little Disney Magic.
1. Facades and Stretching Elevators: Look Beyond What You See
Disneyland lore is infamous for its secret passageways, underground maintenance hubs and awe-inspiring rides that expand like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag. As if by magic, park attractions like the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean rides drop far below park grounds, down into secret realms of spooks and sword fights.
How do they do it?
Riding the stretching elevator in the Haunted Mansion and rushing down the spooky waterfall in Pirates of the Caribbean, guests find themselves transported to another world. The rides seem to expand because guests have moved under the park train tracks, into warehouses located behind Disneyland’s perimeter.
This disorientation excites visitors, but it also teaches us to look beyond our own facades. When we explore each others’ hidden worlds by asking strangers about their lives, hopes and dreams, we happen upon unexplored territory.
Small talk and niceties are necessary when first introducing oneself to strangers, but there’s deeper, more interesting topics to divulge once the initial descent is met. Perhaps your new friend crochets swim suits in her free time. Or maybe your physics professor makes campy coming-of-age movies after work. Behind each facade lies a hidden world, riddled with secrets.
Why not get to those conversations sooner?
2. Make Strangers the Stars of Your Show
Nothing feels better than celebratory, unsolicited attention.
That afternoon, we no sooner settled in the back of the Tiki Room than our guide thrust the microphone in my face. Would you call the spirits awake, dear? Later during a street performance, dapper tap dancers pulled a different stranger out of the audience to complete their act. What better way to make visitors feel appreciated and welcome?
We pass many opportunities to celebrate strangers’ work every day, and as Disney nerds, we must take it upon ourselves to commend extraordinary effort wherever we see it in our daily routines.
For starters, call your server by their name. Try your best to remember new colleagues’ names to show that you value them, and recognize initiative at work. In conversation, say ‘you’ more than ‘I’ and support friends’ fundraising and creative efforts so that they continue giving others their best foot forward.
Generosity doesn’t have to be expensive, and treating strangers as the star of your own show helps spread mindfulness at home and in the workplace.
Take time out of your day to shower someone with genuine attention, even if your words seem to come out of nowhere. At the very least, you’ll make their day.
3. Delete “I Don’t Know” from Your Vocabulary
According to Travel and Leisure magazine, Disney team members aren’t allowed to tell guests when they are flabbergasted. The appropriate response, guided by principles of psychology, is “let me find out.” This statement assures visitors that their queries are important, and that park members will do their best to ensure they meet guests’ concerns in due fashion.
Starting today, we can use the same rule to avoid confusion in conversation. Instead of throwing up your hands when co-workers jumble a task or when events turn out of hand, take ownership. A simple assurance — I will figure out a way to make this better — elicits a kinder, more understanding response. This mutual respect helps members collaborate for better solutions in the long term.
Taking ownership does not mean that you have to solve other peoples’ problems or that you have to find an answer on your own. Rather, help your boss or your client see that you are working to help them achieve their mission. If they believe you are rooting for your combined success, it’s likely you will elicit the strength you need to solve sticky situations.
4. Switch tasks: Even Princesses Take Breaks
Not everyone can be a princess 24/7. It takes guts and careful collaboration to assume tasks that nobody wants, but taking time to learn something new might help you excel at unfamiliar tasks in the future.
All Disney princesses must take their turns in the uncomfortable Mickey suit over the course of their theme park career. If Disney requires that princesses take a break from their royal entourage, then it makes sense that we too must do tasks we’d rather avoid. These help us to grow as professionals and as community members. Whether taking up a part time job that your peers think unglamorous or developing a challenging skill, putting ourselves in new situations stretches our skill set and allows us to meet people much different than ourselves.
During these periods of change, we might decide that we hate certain parts of our jobs, or that no, attending classical recitals is not the thing that restores our mojo. That’s ok. The important goal is that we expand our worldview and do our best to live in the real world — the one where the pretty and ugly mix.
Accepting the ugly might even allow us to change how we address these problems today. Witnessing how others live and learn gives us a chance to step outside our comfort zone. Only then can we improve less-than-stellar working conditions. For example, could we maybe get an air conditioner in this furry dungeon?!
5. Don’t Define Yourself
Walt Disney Imagineers come from all disciplines, all walks of life. They are artists and architects, roboticists and researchers, professionals with vastly different skill sets all teaming up to create the best experience for visitors.
While helicopter parents and academic truisms may tell you that you need to follow a certain predetermined path to pursue your passion or dream career, your neighborhood needs both creative and scientific brains to run the services and systems we use today.
Don’t hasten to define yourself, whether you’re beginning to write on Medium or whether you’ve just taken up a new position at work— many important figures began their projects late in life. Many others still continue to redefine how their story will turn out in a world where ages and professions no longer define us. Walt Disney began his career as a newspaper artist. Robert Frost wrote his most famous poems in middle age, and pop-idol Sia reminds creatives that they can move out of the shadows and into the limelight, even when our careers seem set in stone.
Stepping out of our ordinary ruts takes guts, but in the end you’ll be glad you went for your dreams, no matter how large or dainty.
As you work through this list, you may find some items more challenging than others — and that’s perfectly normal. Magic takes hard work and determination, but if you implement it regularly, it will improve the way you interact with strangers for the better. Take care, and do your best to face the unknown with a sense of wonder, a toolkit of imagination. Worst case scenario, you’ll spread a little more joy wherever your footsteps fall.
Whatever we do, we’ll keep practicing until we figure out a way to make this better.
Best get started.
