The Disney Way For The Digital Age Kevin Kelly

SHOW NOTES: 
1:00: Debbie Zmorenski and Kevin Kelly’s background and introductions. 
2:50: A bit more about Debbie’s background w/ Disney Ref: The Disney Institute
5:12: A bit more about Kevin’s background
9:00: An overview of the types of topics we’ll be discussing as we progress!
11:05: About some of the stories and history we’re going to share! 
11:39: “The Dark Years”. All companies stumble, Disney was no exception 
12:03: How do you recover from a stumble and “Insidious decline” 
14:08: Ref: Book “Storming the Magic Kingdom”
16:38: Michael Eisner speech clip.
Ref: Michael Eisner and Frank Well’s FULL introduction speech: HERE
17:15: The impact on Debbie of his speech at that juncture
17:30: The Disney Decade. 
18:30: Footsteps speech/getting on the bus [no longer in print]
18:50: On the big cultural and structural change
21:00: One of many streaming/content games now in town
22:05: A bit more on Judson C. Green’s “Get On The Bus”/Service Excellence Framework here and how the new culture boarding process transpired
25:18: The Greatest Advice You’ll Ever Get (We think!)
25:50: “You should pay careful attention to your culture; because culture happens by accident, or by design. We hope to help you curate and create that culture by design”. Successful companies regularly step back and say: Where are we today? What's working? What's not working? They examine all the elements of their culture and ask what they need to do, to move forward.
22:33: What’s happening on our next episode?!
Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 
And on the Social at:  
Debbie: debbie@disneywaydigital.com  also LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter and @dkzcoach on Facebook  
Kevin: kevin@disneywaydigital.com  and @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook
27:20: The End
TRANSCRIPT: 
Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed.
[00:00:30] KK: Hey, Debbie. It is so great to finally be doing this, uh, boy, you and I have been working together and, and talking for almost two decades. I think we figured out I was going to go try and find my old Disney Institute book and see when that, when that first meeting was. Gosh, we've been working together forever it seems!  
 
[00:00:48] Debbie: this, this is going to be a lot of fun to put our ideas together, to share ideas with, with others and make an impact. We hope on other businesses out there. So I'm looking forward to. 
[00:01:01] KK: Yeah, likewise, uh, to give folks some background. Um, Debbie and I have worked together. I, I met Deb, uh, at the Disney Institute about two decades ago. We're figuring that out. And, um, we 
[00:01:13] Debbie: started with, I hate to tell you, but I think it was longer than that, but that's okay. We'll go with, let's 
[00:01:19] KK: go two decades. Geez. Um, yeah. And you know, kinda changed my life and my perspective of how to run my business and return. And, uh, you know, had, had to create a friendship and relationship with Deb.
And, and we had started working together, build a program for brands and, and, and, um, even agencies for reselling to brands that we would help structure a culture and integrate it with, um, brands and how their brand comes to life through service and a lot of other ways. So, um, that's something we've been doing.
It's, it's, it's been exciting work, so I don't know what five, six years ago. Let's write a book. 
[00:02:02] Debbie: What great idea. Right?
[00:02:06] KK: So, uh, the Disney winning for the digital age. Yes, it is a book and a podcast. Um, we're doing well with the book, but, you know,

SHOW NOTES:
 
0:35: Hey, thanks for coming back!
1:48: The three pillars that support great customer experience, once your culture's in place. On Brand.
2:53: Debbie on corporate Culture; what makes your corporate culture?
4:50: Consolidation, it’s even making news.
5:40: On returning to the office.. are we doing that? How, why, and to what end?
8:00: Culture can really take a dive if you’re not paying attention.
8:50: About the successful merging of cultures
10:27: Do we need a design plan? Cultural engineering
11:02: The third pillar is Technology
12:12: On the customer experience via tech
12:53: Different types of tech integration
13:30: Defining how much technology is really needed?
14:00: Is technology helping to grow your brand or is it eroding it?
15:09: Six questions to honestly assess your culture Ref: www.disneywaydigital.com
15:50: Number one…
18:55: How does tech fit into delivering an exceptional experience to your customer?
19:48: The internal versus the external customer’s needs
21:21: On how Disney applied tech internally, a few years back
23:40: It comes down to access
24:34: A parting thought and what’s up on our next episode!
25:57: End credits
Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 
Via email:  debbie@disneywaydigital.com  and  kevin@disneywaydigital.com 
And on the Socials at:  
Debbie:  LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter  and @dkzcoach on Facebook  
Kevin:  @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook
TRANSCRIPT via Descript: 
Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed. 
[00:00:25] KK: Yeah. We have a theme song. Isn't that great!? Amazing. So, awesome. Good to see you again. Thanks for coming back. And hopefully our listeners they've come back, but I'm so glad you came back! That’s not guaranteed. Right? 
[00:00:44] Debbie: Well, you know what I used to say when I’d release the guests for lunch and they'd come back after lunch. I'd say thank you for coming back from lunch. You always know how things are going. If no one comes back from lunch that's right. Especially delivering programs where they could sneak off to a theme park, right? 
[00:01:01] KK: Oh that's right. Well, I remember having a breakfast and I said, associate that friend here that I still work with in long island. We had breakfast, a breakfast in animal kingdom. Yeah, one morning of Disney Institute and I can't remember. And Harambae, I think it was really cool. And if you are lucky, we came back. Cause I was definitely wanting to just hop on the train and go. stay in the park
[00:01:30] KK: Exactly. But I went back because the curriculum was so engaging, but welcome back. Um, so nice to, to, to be doing this with you again. So we promise folks that we would start to get into some nuts and bolts about how to honestly assess their culture.  Um, we look at it. We've, we've Deb had talked about the, um, the three pillars that support great customer experience that, you know, you deliver once your culture's in place. So those three elements are brand culture and technology, and I'm kind of the, the brand guy in this, this group, um, you know, um, brand is the way that.
A name of a company and the service from the company and a logo of the company makes people feel right. That's that's brand, right. It stays with you. It's called brand like a brand. You put on a cow. It's like, because that sticks with you. If you've done it. Right, right. You, it sticks with you. So what, and, and, and we've.
We were always surprised that so many folks hadn't really talked about this more, but our belief is that culture and brand are ine

SHOW NOTES:
 
00:30: Welcome back! Thanks for finding and joining us again!
01:30: Did you know we do technology installations and design for hospitality brands?
02:40: The joy of using Alexa and various other robots
03:31: Short recap of episode 2. We’ll cover the remaining questions today!
04:30: Number four…
05:28: About the concrete company for which Debbie is currently consulting
07:00: On how new tech does not always employ microchips and wires
07:50: On finding the technology that is a good fit for you and your customers
08:38: On solving labor shortages, recruitment, hiring and training
10:30: It’s about the people and the culture!
11:16: About “right fit hire” and asking the correct questions, pre and post hire
13:13: Do you really understand your core customers?
15:15: Ref: Survey Monkey and tips to craft a successful survey campaign
16:50: Do you only get once to make a first impression; does that also apply to tech?
19:00: Would you like fries with that?
20:00: Why brand development stems from listening to your core customer. 
21:00: On Debbie’s example of the concrete company. Typically growth begats chaos 
22:51: On strategic planning for company growth
23:50: On your customer experiences. Also, have you ever waited tables? Tell us in the comments!
25:00: If you don't first have a clear vision and plan, it's probably going to be impossible to move forward. Ref: Disney Institute
26:48: The greatest piece of advice you’ll ever get!  (to date)
27:00: Recap and advice
28:45: A parting thought and what’s coming up on our next episode!
29:07: End credits
Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 
Via email:  debbie@disneywaydigital.com  and  kevin@disneywaydigital.com 
And on the Socials at:  
Debbie:  LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter  and @dkzcoach on Facebook  
Kevin:  @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook
 
TRANSCRIPT via Descript: 
Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed. 
[00:00:29] KK: Well, welcome back to episode three of the Disney way for the digital age. I'm Kevin Kelly and my partner in crime here. Debbie. Zmorenski How you doing Deb? 
[00:00:40] Debbie: I'm doing great. Welcome everybody.
[00:00:42] KK: It’s nice to be back, uh, doing a little weekend recording for a change, right? Uh . Yes. Well, I got out this morning, got out on the bike. I am sorely out of shape, got out on the bike and did a little run. I have a race next month that I am not prepared for, but I, so I'm gonna. I’m a little bit tired. 
[00:01:00] Debbie:  I admire that, you know, I, I admire that. I, I get my most steps when I, uh, go to my dad's and run all around for him. But other than that, , 
[00:01:11] KK: and next week I'm gonna head over. I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods, so we're gonna have to get together. I'm gonna be in Orlando for the that's right. Uh, the high tech. Uh, expo that's the hospitality technology. Yeah. Uh, expo. I'm excited to, you know, walk through the expo and, and see some of the folks I know. And I don't know if folks know that, um, we do, uh, technology installations and design for, uh, for hospitality brands.
So work for, um, hard rock hotel, build their chat bot and their voice experience. And mm-hmm Alexa in the room and what she can do and say, and help and fix. Fix your toilet, or at least tell someone you need to fix your toilet or tell you where the best burger is and fun stuff like 
[00:01:50] Debbie: that. So, um, well, and, but you have to be careful.
I, I have a, a psychic friend of mine who says that Alexa's are portals and can let bad things

SHOW NOTES:
 
 
00:30: Welcome back! Thanks for subscribing and joining us again!
00:52: Ref: The Hospitality Industry Technology Conference
03:00: The Disney Service Framework: 
04:33: Ref: Disney Institute Programming. “Be Our Guest” book.
05:15: Disney’s promise statement
06:15: On the development of Big Buzz’ purpose statement
07:37: All of your service framework tools may need to change over time
08:00: How Disney modified their promise statement to be more adult friendly
10:00: About service standards and standards of behavior
12:00: A story about efficiency in customer care; and not being ‘un-Disney’
13:25: Service standards empower employees to action smart decisions
16:40: The promise statement must align with your culture
17:00: A standard of behavior, for example..
18:39: A miracle tool for ensuring your employees know exactly what's expected of them 
20:00: On the typical longevity of an employee’s career
20:08: Service standards at Kevin’s company Big Buzz
22:00: On the importance of clear direction and design
22:51: About role modeling and leadership
23:00: Mutual respect of all prevents ‘bad show’
26:00: On how to maintain consistency of the original design Ref: Right Fit Hire
28:28: Where does technology fit into this service framework? 
28:39: Ref: Chatbots and Pixiedust also @ BigBuzz
29:19: Technology can be the medium of a great service framework, but nothing is a magic wand. Please SUBSCRIBE for Episode 6!
32:00:  Traditions, expectations and more on right fit hire on the next episode, along with understanding your digital ecosystem and the touch points that support it.
32:40: The greatest piece of advice you’ll ever get!
32:27: Please reach out to us with questions, for consulting and free advice too!
34:18: End credits
Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 
Via email:  debbie@disneywaydigital.com  and  kevin@disneywaydigital.com 
And on the Socials at:  
Debbie:  LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter  and @dkzcoach on Facebook  
Kevin:  @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook
 
TRANSCRIPT via Descript: 
 
Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed.
 
[00:00:29] KK: Well, welcome back everyone. To episode five of the Disney way for the digital age, this is one of my favorite topics that kind of the meat and potatoes of all that we believe is the Disney way. So it's title the foundations of the Disney way and how a solid service framework can shape your culture. So how you doing Deb?
[00:00:48] Debbie: Good to see you. I'm doing great as always. Nice to see you. 
[00:00:51] KK: It was so nice to see you in person yesterday. I, I was in Orlando for the high tech hospitality technology convention. It was in your neck of the woods and we managed to get together for a breakfast 
[00:01:00] Debbie: and yeah. And, and you look great in person.
I'm just gonna say, you know, 
[00:01:05] KK: likewise, All 3D and you know, it was just really nice. So. Yeah, seriously. It was nice to sit in the same room and it was, 
[00:01:11] Debbie: it was face to face. Good. Yeah. 
[00:01:14] KK: Good stuff. The show was good. Um, you know, nothing earth shattering, honestly, some of the stuff we're doing with, uh, Alexa for hospitality and, and the Chapo work we're doing is some of the coolest stuff. There's, there's some new innovations incremental. Innovations in smart room tech, you know, some climate controls and some of the stuff in the back that nobody really sees. So there's some really cool innovations in the worlds of, uh, hotel renovation you know, a lot of time when they'r

SHOW NOTES:
 
 
00:30: Welcome back! Thanks for subscribing and joining us again!
00:48: Debbie, how was your maiden voyage on Disney’s Wish? Ref: Castaway Cay
03:00: Introducing our Guest Mary Flynn. Ref: Mary’s new book Disney’s Secret Sauce
05:00: Mary Flynn shares how she was recruited by Disney
07:00: On Disney’s program called Traditions
07:55: Mary’s first day in Traditions  Ref: Disney Service Standards
10:33: A note about secrets, truth, equality and values
13:23: Mary’s epiphany about the Disney way
15:16: The Disney Culture. And that’s Culture with a capital “C”
16:09: On specifying very exact values with which to lead
17:40: A note about operationalizing the Magic
19:20: Disney leaders come from the front lines. Ref: Meg Gilbert Crofton 
20:27: What happened when Mary said: I’d like an increase in pay please?
21:25: A note about adding value
23:02: On knowing all that is your job. Aka: On living the gig
24:17: Data gathering is constant and on-going. Ref: Data gathering in our last episode
25:00: You can't get a cohesive organization when every single department has their own Culture.
27:00: Initial training/on-boarding, coaching and feedback
27:45: Build a culture with the capital C Ref: Mary Flynn’s book “Disney's Secret Sauce": The Little-known Factor Behind The Business World's Most Legendary Leadership”
27:58: On the importance of consistent feedback
29:30: Culture is like a crop
30:40: The best piece of advice you’ll ever get!  (this week. we think.)
32:23: Than you Mary Flynn!!
32:43: End credits
Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 
Via email:  debbie@disneywaydigital.com  and  kevin@disneywaydigital.com 
And on the Socials at:  
Debbie:  LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter  and @dkzcoach on Facebook  
Kevin:  @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook
 
TRANSCRIPT via Descript: 
Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed.
[00:00:29] KK: So welcome everyone to episode eight of the Disney way for the digital age today, we have our first guest I'm so excited. Um, this is gonna be called Disney's Secret Sauce, which is the name of her book. And we're gonna in, uh, invite Mary in shortly, but I just wanted to catch up with Deb because she had something fantastic happen just last week. She got to be part of a, a private cast member cruise on the Disney's Wish maiden voyage, right? 
[00:00:56] Debbie: Yes, indeed. And it was amazing. Um, you know, uh, one of the things that Disney does so well is make sure that they gather enough information that when they roll out, especially something new, like this new ship to the guests that it is a magical experience. And so one of the things that they do is they allow cast members and their families to come on board and we become the test subjects and we experience what the guests will experience. And at the end, of course we critique what went well, what didn't go so well, any ideas and suggestions that we have and let me. just say up front in case anyone's listening. Um, from the cruise line, I will be happy to be a test subject as many times as you need. just give me a call. Okay. Um, so it was absolutely an amazing experience and the ship is just, just gorgeous. And in fact, um, Disney cruises line was just named the best large ship ocean cruise line by Travel & Leisure readers. So that was, that was kind of a nice, uh, timely, um, little award. Yeah. So, but one of the things that Disney has is their own private island called Castaway key. And it's one of my favorite things to do. I go down to the adult beach, have a properly chi

SHOW NOTES:
 
 
00:30: Welcome back! Thanks for finding and joining us again!
00:49: What concerts & shows are you going to this summer? Tell us in the comments!
02:27: In our last episode..
02:45: What exactly is brand identity?
04:20: On why it’s important to grow an emotional connection
06:01: If you are not aware of any emotion connection, it may instead hinder growth
07:27: On using customer experiences to develop your brand, also via tech
08:00: Every touchpoint is an opportunity to either reinforce your brand, or to have a negative experience. Ref: Concrete Company in Ep.3 @05:28
08:35: Debbie’s impactful, true story “about the small things that can matter so much”.
12:08: Staying on top of the market place & making customers for life.
12:38: The difference between loyalty and commitment.
14:30: On Zappos’s Tony Hsieh 
14:50: Money is an issue if your customer does not have their expected experience
16:30: How do you create a strong brand commitment and emotional connection?
16:40: Six questions and a creative brief! Click for: DW4DA_Creative Brief.pdf
19:40: Advertising is no longer a one way street; we must be authentic and listen well.  Ref: Hard Rock Reverb Hotels
20:00: At the end, what is your desired response?
22:00: The greatest piece of advice you’ll ever get! (this week)
23:07: End credits
Please find us on the Web at:  www.disneywaydigital.com 
Via email:  debbie@disneywaydigital.com  and  kevin@disneywaydigital.com 
And on the Socials at:  
Debbie:  LinkedIN and @DZmorenski on Twitter  and @dkzcoach on Facebook  
Kevin:  @BigBuzzKev on Twitter INSTA & Facebook
 
TRANSCRIPT via Descript: 
Intro: Magical customer experiences don't happen by accident. They happen through careful planning and meticulous design. Kevin and Debbie have been engineering, extraordinary customer experiences for over 30 years. Join us as we explore corporate culture, branding, service, excellence, and much more through storytelling, technical curiosity, and friendly conversation. The Disney way for the digital age will be revealed. 
[00:00:29] KK: Hey folks, welcome back. We're so glad that you're listening. This is episode four of the Disney Way for the Digital Age. I'm Kevin Kelly and my partner in crime here Debbie Zmorenski. Hey Deb
[00:00:41] Debbie: Hey, good morning. How are you?
[00:00:43] KK: I'm okay. I dunno if you noticed, do you know what this shirt is I got on here? 
[00:00:49] Debbie: uh, well, but , I did Rage Against the Machine? 
KK: So people I'm gonna say this is, I think it's time. You guys are getting to know us, it’s been four episodes. So maybe, you know, that I'm a, an ex-drummer in kind of a 90’s, uh, heavy Rock guy, but Deb is a Metaler or a head banger. What would you say? You know? 
Debbie: Yeah, I guess I'm a, I'm a head banger. I'm I'm a heavy metal fan, deep, deep, deep inside. Believe it or not.
[00:01:24] KK: So you haven't have you been back to any shows since, uh, lockdown is over?  
[00:01:30] Debbie: Oh, lockdown has been over and I've been so busy. Um, and they are all out again now and people coming back. Yeah. Yeah. People are coming back and I've missed some of my favorites, which is. Just been heartbreaking. My, my daughter and I are talking about Disturbed as coming back and, uh, Seether. So we're thinking we wanna at least get in a couple concerts this year. 
[00:01:53] KK: yeah. Summertime get some summer concerts.
[00:01:54] Debbie: Yeah. It's so good to see 'em back, you know? 
[00:01:58] KK: Yeah. It is. Uh, what do I got coming up? Oh, I honestly, I don't, I, I gotta get to some shows. I've been going to Broadway shows lately. Now I sound like an old guy, but, 
[00:02:08] Debbie: No, I like to do that. I just haven't had a chance to get to New York city. 
[00:02:13] KK: Yeah, we got a great venue here called the Paramount here in Long Island. And uh, I think Goo Goo dolls are coming. Oh, the Black Crows are coming around, so, oh, wow. Y