"It’s kind of fun to do the impossible."

I put it in quotes for a reason. It’s a quote from Walt Disney.

I recently participated in the Disney Approach to Leadership Excellence program at the Walt Disney World’s Beach Club Resort. One of the facilitators of the program had a pin with this quote on it. The pin features a picture of a young Walt Disney with Tinkerbell attached to the front of the pin.

Mary Flynn, one of the program facilitators, relates the story of the pin as follows:

The pin has a rather simple story. It was designed by a teammate of Jeff’s and mine…Mark Matheis. Mark created a Disney Institute tour entitled, “Inspiration – Through Walt’s Eyes.”
As part of that design work, Mark went ahead and submitted a design for an original pin, exclusive to that program. The pin I gave you is that pin…”It’s fun to do the impossible.”

The story I told that was related to it was that one day after delivering that program, Mark was walking through Epcot…and he was wearing that pin. A Guest noticed it and got very excited about it and wanted to know how to get one. Mark explained that it was not for sale anywhere.

Several days later, one of Mark’s friends called him to let him know “they’re talking about you” on a particular website or chat room. Mark “tuned in” and observed a tremendous flurry of enthusiastic pin collectors and traders all talking about this Disney Cast Member named Mark and the special pin he was wearing.

I proudly wear the pin every day I am working. It is already a great conversation piece. But it is also a reminder of the program and the level of excellence that is interwoven into every aspect of one of the most recognizable brands in the world of business.