Best-selling author Will Guidara shared the following story recently in his newsletter “Pre-Meal”.
“Pixie Dusting”
A friend spent spring break at Disneyland with his kids. The most fun thing that happened while they were there, the event his kids couldn’t stop talking about? Not their visit to Pixie Hollow, or the new Tiana ride which reportedly cost $124m to build, or hugs from princesses Anna and Elsa.
No, the best thing that happened was a random round of applause.
My friend and his girls were walking through the park when out of nowhere, a group of five Disney employees started clapping and cheering wildly for them. Confused, they stopped in their tracks; one kid was standing in a small box, roughed out in masking tape on the ground. Curious, she stepped out of the box. The clapping stopped. catching on and grinning big, she stepped back in. Again, the team members went nuts.
By then, a small crowd had gathered. Some of them were bystanders, as bewildered as my friend, others were disney insiders, enthusiastically yelling, “Clap box!:” after a joyful moment of pumping up the crowd – she’s a ham – my friend’s daughter took a bow so her sister could take her place. The family stayed around to applaud a few others lucky enough to experience this shower of celebration before the tape was pulled up and the box disappeared.
The clap box is an example of “pixie dusting”. Disney code for adding random magic to a day. It’s rare (many superfans have never seen a clap box) and completely unpredictable. It doesn’t cost a thing for Disney to execute, nor for a park goer to experience. You can’t buy one or ask for one, and – if the breathless posts are to be believed – you never forget one once it’s happened to you.
Disney invests billions in the facilities, rides, and technology that make their parks so magical. Which makes it even more wonderful to me that sometimes the greatest magic of all can be found in a roll of tape.
I love this story. It reminds me of a similar experience my son Taylor and I had at one of his first baseball games. I have shared that story with you several times in this newsletter. A magical moment.
What are your employees doing to create such moments for your customers?
What are you and your leadership team doing to create magical moments for your employees? Their families?
Now it’s your turn.