Tag: C-suite

jungle jeff, Risk Taker

jungle jeff, risk taker, on The Ledge.

Friday evening, I walked to the Willis Tower (formerly The Sears Tower). The 1.5 miles took about an hour, with the numerous photo stops.

Going there was a mission.  A mission to stretch myself.

Spent two full days in Chicago, exiting, motivating and inspiring a great organization to reach even greater heights.  To go out on the ledge, so to speak and challenge themselves to do something they think can’t be done – destroy the status quo.

I felt an absolute calling to go to the ledge.  The ledge is a very scary place to be.

How can professional speakers – motivational speakers – inspire others to do impossible things if they themselves aren’t motivated and aren’t capable of doing impossible things?

Walt Disney never asked his associates to do anything he thought was impossible.  Walt always thought things were possible, even if everyone around him didn’t.

Same with me.  I’ll never ask my son, wife, or anyone else in our family to do anything impossible.

But maybe I should.  Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

jungle jeff Traditions

jungle jeff traditions are inspired from Disney’s successful business models.  If it works for Disney, it can work for you and  me.

So in 1996, when my Grandmother was given six weeks to live and a few years later my Dad was fading from early onset, rapid progression Alzheimer’s, I sent many Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and other Disney Character post cards to them in Pennsylvania.

I wanted them to know that I loved them and choose a seemingly insignificant way to do so, simply placing the stamp upside down.

If, or when, our son ever notices, there will be a story behind it.  A good story.  A story to help him learn about his Great Grandmother, his Grandfather, and me in more detail, using a very simple example.

Roy Disney, Walt’s brother, recounted Walt on his death bed pointing out the hospital ceiling tiles. Walt told Roy, “In this square mile we’re gonna do this.  In that square mile we’ll do that”.

On Walt’s deathbed, he was still talking about making a 43-square mile swamp the world’s vacation kingdom.

Walt had passion, and, great people who knew how to keep his values alive, long after his death.

Will people remember what I value after I’m gone?  My son sure will. It just takes some effort on my part to ensure it with some stories from everyday life.

Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

Walt Disney History

Walt Disney – the man and the company – history is preserved and perpetuated through stories.

Our country does the same thing, and maybe you’ve never wondered, “Why”?

People forget.  Important details get lost.  Values, reasons, Morales, lessons.  Roots grow shallower, not deeper, when the story is shallow.

On a trip recently, a friend was writing several postcards to important people in his family.  What a wonderful tradition.  There’s probably a story about how he got started. He said he always writes the same people – a tradition.

Had to wonder, since I send a fair number of postcards, does he put the stamp upside down, like I always do?

People think I’m careless and not paying attention to a simple little detail, which is what Walt Disney made famous – close attention to the smallest of details.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth.  I’m absolutely 100% intentional placing every single stamp, every single time, upside down.

It all started long ago when…..to be continued….

Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

Walt Disney on Twitter?

jungle jeff readers, please feel free to follow me on Twitter @jeffnoelmidlife

Disney, as in the man Walt Disney, has taught me to experiment with every new and innovative way to strive for perfection.  And it was Vince Lombardi, legendary head coach for the Green Bay Packers, that said, “In chasing perfection, we will catch excellence”.

My son, as much as I try to teach and inspire him, actually teaches and inspires me.  Who would have thought?

How?  Well, for starters, he looks at technology like you and I breathe the air – casually, effortlessly, and fearlessly.

Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs, Websites, GoDaddy, WordPress, Skype, Mobile Me, iPhone,iPhone apps, IM, You Tube, Google analytics, etc.

Our nine year old son is familiar with them all.  I know.  I’m his teacher.

He thinks I make technology look effortless.  if he only knew how hard I worked.

Bet Walt Disney felt the same way.  Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

St Thomas Aquinas Said….

St Thomas Aquinas said….:

“We must love them both – those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject.  For both have labored in search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it”.

Great quote. Great thought.  Great perspective.

To a point, then I must agree to disagree.

Following the status quo, or “That’s the way we’ve always done it”, doesn’t seem to require as much laboring as does challenging the status quo.

Challenging the status quo is a lonely place.  A very lonely place.

Take exercise.  And to my dismay, we don’t see pictures of or hear stories of Walt Disney making exercise a priority. Sure, he played polo as far as we know.

However, Disney has taught me to eat, drink, sleep and breath excellence. Take Alfred Prokschin.  At age 100, he won a Gold medal two weeks ago at the WMA Masters Tarck & Field World Championships in Lahti, Finland:

If not you, who? If not today, when?  Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂