Mickey Mouse Law— How We Can Harness the Real Magic of the Magic Kingdom in What We Do
October 22nd, 2021 by admin
Prequel to On the Way to the Courthouse
My Courthouse pieces are sent to a wide circle of friends and other readers. One of those readers asked me to submit a piece for a podcast series with which he is associated, Luck and Opportunity. I am pleased a six-minute piece I wrote on Perseverance and Luck was selected and recorded by their staff.
I do not write these Courthouse pieces for compensation. The price is right, as my dad used to say: free. (So they are likely worth the fare.) But I thought you may enjoy a past piece in another venue.
You can find the link here.
When Janet’s and my children were young, we took them to Disneyworld (as we would again and again, and now, with their children.) There are few places quite like the Magic Kingdom, as all who have been there would agree.
In our most recent visit with one set of our grandchildren, our first visit in a while, things had changed, and yet they remained the same. Mickey and the gang were all there, of course. But the allure finds its way now to new and more contemporary figures, too. Star Wars, Harry Potter, and more. Part of the marketing genius of the Disney organization is its ability to adapt and pivot to the next storyline that captures the hearts and spirits of the world and its children.
But there is something else that always tacks back to the special Magic in the Magic Kingdom. And in that process we find a kernel of Magic to take with us.
In that first visit my family took to the Magic Kingdom, one of our sons, then six years old, was sitting on the curb waiting for the Mickey Mouse Parade down Main Street. We got there early, so we had a front row view. When 3:00 pm came, the parade began, as all the fabled Disney characters, from Snow White, Cinderella, and all the rest, came by, waiving to the bright-eyed children, their parents, and grandparents.
When Mickey Mouse, the star of the show, appeared, he looked at all the children and people lining the street, and he waived to us all. With those giant, cartoonish eyes, he seemingly could take us all in. Our son, fully captured by it all, said to his mom when Mickey passed, “Look, Mama, Mickey’s looking right at me.” Speaking, truth be told, for all the children there that day. And after all these years, the memory I have of that visit is that moment.
Everyone who has ever gone to the Magic Kingdom knows Disney magic makes every guest feel as if they are the only one. Because Disney and its many surrogates make people feel as if they are looking right at them.
There is a broader lesson here, however, beyond marketing, make-believe characters, and the joy of being on vacation. The true charm of the Magic Kingdom can belong to any one of us. Because it is about how we make people feel. Maya Angelou said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
None of us has the Disney special figures and stories of kingdoms and people living happily ever after. But we sure can claim as our own its ability to make people feel we see them, and them alone. We can make them feel genuinely as the one who matters most of all in that moment. That we are looking right at them, as on that parade down Main Street so many years ago.
In your life’s lane of making a living, is this sense about how those you serve feel about you important? Oh yes, and much more than you may imagine.
Press Ganey Associates, the masters of evaluating hospital patient satisfaction, asked nearly 140,000 former patients at 225 hospitals what they felt about their experience at the hospital where they received their medical care. What do you think was the number one thing they valued? Cost? Way down the list if it is within the market. Expertise? We all value competence. But a definition of sufficient competence travels a wide path. It is down the list.
Our other educated guesses? They are down the list, too.
The number one definer of value, according to the patient, the Decider in all these matters: How did you treat me? Did you afford me respect? When you met with me, did you really see me as a person or just another patient? Did you make me wait a long time, and if you did, did you genuinely apologize for being late? Did you look past my insecurity about being out of my comfort zone? Did you sense my (normal) intimidation about being around so many intelligent and educated people?
Did you make me feel as if I had come to the right place? Were you genuinely grateful to have my business, or did you take my business for granted?
All these comments about what patients feel apply to all of us, no matter the product or service we provide. The survey highlighted what are the right things to do, but they make sound business sense, too.
Abraham Lincoln started out in life operating a general store. He taught himself the law to become an able lawyer. But he never forgot that store clerk frame of mind. He talked about what we do for a living, whether we are a lawyer or not, as one’s “stock in trade.”
What do those you serve think about your stock in trade? How do they see it? And how do they see you?
Your confident and sincere belief in the value of what you do goes a long way in how people value what you do. But your earnest belief in the importance of respecting others should go hand-in-hand with it. Those you serve don’t have to be Aretha Franklin to be entitled to respect. And as the lyrics to her song go, speaking for all of us, you don’t know what it means to people.
Does the fine art of persuasion enter into it sometimes? Yes. But if it is sincere, you really see the Decider at eye level, that’s ok, too. We are all in the persuasion business, just about different things. No one leaves Disneyworld without a couple of big bags filled with MK products, after all. Just keep your eye on the prize: How do those you serve feel you saw them personally?
Years ago, a lawyer I know met with their firm’s health insurance representative. The representative would recall later the lawyer’s respect for her and the lawyer’s genuine concern for the lawyer’s employees. The lawyer’s main question for the health insurance representative: would the healthcare provider treat the employees fairly and respectfully when their insurance card, noting their level of insurance coverage, was shown at the registration window?
Two years later, the representative, who had dealt with many well-regarded law firms, had a serious legal issue, as did her brother and sister-in-law. The deciding factor in whom she chose and whom she recommended among any number of other competent attorneys turned out to be the genuine respect with which the lawyer had treated her and his employees. Her comment, the lawyer said: “I figured that if you cared that much for your employees, you would care that much for my family and me.”
What I have learned about life on the way to the courthouse is this: Sometimes our education and intellect can speed us by what may matter most of all. It is easy, in the swirl of a busy day, to look past another person, even though you may not be aware of it. Whatever you do for a living, what you have to offer may seem like a routine matter to you, but it may not be routine to the Decider. It is important to see the matter from their sightline, too.
The Magic Kingdom is a special place. But Mickey and his friends do not have a corner on kindness and the importance of seeing others sincerely and with respect. In a larger sense, aren’t we all entitled to that?
“Courtesies of small and trivial character are the ones that strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart,” said Henry Clay. The secret hidden away in the gentle fold of common-sense experience is that the ability and desire to see people in all the ways that matter with kind eyes and authentic respect, without regard to class or perceived status, is the Magic that matters most of all.
When you meet others, especially those you serve, what do you see? And what do they see in you?
Mike Wells
Posted in: On the Way to the Courthouse