The Leadership Star

7COMMUNICATE

 

Have you ever been to Disney World?

Several years ago, I took my whole family — wife, six kids and mother‐in‐law — from Australia to Orlando, Florida, for a once‐in‐a‐lifetime holiday. We had a great time, and it's still one of my family's favourite holidays.

From start to finish — from planning the trip online to the photos and offers we received when we got home — the service experience was incredible. Before leaving, we planned the trip in an online calendar and received personalised bag tags in the post. That meant that after checking our bags in at Sydney airport we didn't touch them again until they arrived in our hotel room. ‘Magic wristbands’ meant we didn't have to fumble for tickets or payment cards at any point. A mobile app helped us navigate to rides with short queues and book a table in a nearby restaurant. And expert photographers took family photos and uploaded them to a private website for us to view back in the room. Disney had thought of everything.

Little did I know that the trip would turn out to be one of the most important trips in my business life too.

While I was there, I was introduced by a colleague to Tom Boyles, a senior executive with Disney Resorts who oversaw their investment in data and digital platforms that underpinned much of the innovation I was experiencing. Tom explained to me that the whole point was to eliminate hassles for each member of the family so that we would come back.

I realised that there were enormous parallels ...