Be like Disney and make every detail count

Be like Disney and make every detail count | Look back now to create a better new year | Change efforts can lead to disillusionment Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( December 5, 2019 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF  [LinkedIn]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [SmartBrief on Leadership]( [SmartBrief on Leadership]( Innovative Ideas. Ahead of the Curve. [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [FORWARD]( ADVERTISEMENT Leading Edge [] [Be like Disney and make every detail count]( Disney's theme parks succeed because time, attention and money are put into every detail of the customer experience, even the little things no one will notice, writes Steve McKee. "If all you're interested in is big, bold, newsworthy initiatives, you may get a lot of attention but probably won't ever achieve true greatness," he argues. [SmartBrief/Leadership]( (12/4) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Look back now to create a better new year]( Leaders should use December to review their successes and see what they can learn from what went wrong, writes John Maxwell. "My calendar is only the starting point for me -- I look beyond just where and how I spent my time, and I call to mind the people and purpose for which that time was spent," he writes. [John Maxwell blog]( (12/3) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( The Keys Behind Great Employee Listening Continuous listening is more than a buzzword. It's an approach that organizations must take if they want to improve the employee experience and drive real results for their organization. [Download our guide]( and learn great strategies to get started. ADVERTISEMENT [] Strategic Management [] [Change efforts can lead to disillusionment]( A study of internal teams assigned to redesign their organizations found that many participants left rather than stay in their preproject roles, writes ethnographer Ruthanne Huising. These leaders were able to learn, for the first time, how disorganized and dysfunctional their organizations were and that they couldn't effect meaningful change from within. [Harvard Business Review online (tiered subscription model)]( (12/4) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Smarter Communication [] [Use all of your strengths, including silence]( Bring your values, stories and curiosity to your work, but don't share everything you think, writes leadership coach Annette Kramer. "Get into the habit of leaving some of your own thoughts and opinions unsaid, to make room for the participation of everybody else," she writes. [Strategy+Business online (free registration)]( (12/4) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Clear policies can keep the coffee pot full]( Managers can tame workplace frustrations around hygiene or whose turn it is to make coffee by setting clear policies around how to respond to violations, writes Jaimy Ford. "People are not to approach each other in anger or use sarcasm or condescension when a co-worker's lack of courtesy affects them," she writes. [Bud to Boss]( (12/3) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] The Big Picture Each Thursday, what's next for work and the economy [] [How can work be redesigned for greater value?]( Organizations should be thinking about how they can redeploy employees to value-creating work and not just cut jobs to save money, write Deloitte's John Hagel and Jeff Schwartz and consultant Maggie Wooll. "All workforce initiatives should answer the question, 'How does this enable us to identify and create new sources of value and meaning for our customers over time?' " they write. [MIT Sloan Management Review online (tiered subscription model)]( (12/3) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] In Their Own Words [] [Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt ruminate on life's meaning]( Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt ruminate on life's meaning Hopkins (Rich Polk/Getty Images) Anthony Hopkins shares with Brad Pitt the lessons he's learned over a lifetime, including the need to acknowledge and accept one's mistakes, then move on. "What I hear you saying is that as we get older, we get out of our minds, and we're able to witness the beauty and the wonder that we're surrounded by in every minute detail," Pitt says. [Interview magazine]( (12/2) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Daily Diversion [] [A look at the old menus of rail dining cars]( A collection of railroad dining car menus from the 1960s, recently digitized by Northwestern University, shows such options such as Welsh rarebit and giant-sized baked potatoes. As Amtrak moves away from dining cars, Northwestern's Rachel Cole acknowledges food service isn't profitable, yet railroads "took a lot of pride in offering selections that would be rivaled in restaurants." [Atlas Obscura]( (12/2) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Editor's Note [] More insights from SmartBrief Besides our more than 200 newsletters, SmartBrief publishes [original insights]( on leadership, food & travel, education and more. Here's what you may have missed: - [Why vocabulary instruction still matters]( - [Navigating dark tourism with respectful storytelling]( - [Next-level CHROs put people first]( - [Where does the grocery industry stand on food waste initiatives?]( [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [] Ask yourself: 'Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream?' 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