Nov 2006

Recently I had the rear honor of not only helping to host but listen to the dynamic David Deloach from DisneyWorld at ISES Vancouver. He heads up Disney World’s special events department and have put on some truly breath taking events like the Disney Christmas Parade which is aired on ABC every year, to the 5000 plus Graduation Foam party, etc. David shared with us not only his sense of humour, but 11 leadership strategies that has made Disney a 32 billion dollar company today:
1) Design your organizational structure for success: avoid duplication, have clear accountability, employee pay is based on merit, not seniority.
2) Put the right people in the right roles, don’t hire because you need the role filled asap.
3) Ensure your team members are knowledgeable about their job, company and clients.
4) Make dramatic leaps in guest services.
5) Friendly staff is the number 1 reason why people come back to Disney year after year.
6) Implement effective, structured processes for getting work done. (ex: check list, training manual, standard operation manual)
7) Explore, probe, and know what’s going on in your organization, and act upon your findings. (Be the frontline once in awhile to know the problems yourself)
8) Actively observe and react to the performance of your direct reports. (Help develop career of the people beneath you, give tough feedback to your staff, be open to feedback yourself)
9) Expand and act upon knowledge and experience of the best service anywhere. (ex: sample Ritz Carlton hotel)
10) Partner effectively and successfully with suppliers: build the relationships before you need them by giving them gift baskets.
11) Demonstrate a passionate and professional commitment to your job. (Sing, whistle, or hum at job)

If you’re not a good businessperson, hire someone who is. Walt is a creative genius that bankrupted Disney twice, but his brother Roy saved the day by clever financing and proper business control.
Leaders inspire, show vision, give his/her team the tools to do their job and get out of their way.

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Nov 23 was the Big MPI and ISES Vancouver Christmas party, designed to raise funds for The Food Bank and Star Light Star Bright Foundation. We had 300 people in attendance, lots of media and raised over $1000 for the charities. All in all a very successful event. The party venue was Azure Restaurant and Grill, whom provided delicious appetizers for our guests, and a stage for all the entertainment. A –Train the 5 piece R & B band rocked the house with their music that got everyone grooving on the dance floor underneath the fake snowfall. Of course pictures were snapped quickly with the gorgeous Star Dust Girls who did a dance number, and brought out all the acts. Our MC was none other than CTV’s Sports Broadcaster Craig Neilsen who was funny, and able to control this wild party. One of the highlights of the night was Extreme Bartender’ Ryan Millar’s Flair Bartending demonstration, which helped raised $150 in the drink auction from Vancouver View Magazine’s owner/founder Matthew Toren. Of course, there was something for everyone, from the fabulous makeovers, to quirky caricatures, to tarot card reading and glitter body tattoos, We also had roving magician and ended the show with talents from the Vancouver Circus School. Many fabulous prizes were giving away: Hotel stays, Whistler Zip Traking, dinners at Fairmont Vancouver and Dive at the Mets, latest Bell Cell phones, etc. We could not have done it with the hard work of all the volunteers from both MPI and ISES Vancouver, as well as the event planning class from VCC. If you would like to see pictures (Photo sponsored by Q Parker of www.quana.net) of this event, visit www.gracioushost.ca/gallery-motown.php

As a smart professional, or entrepreneur, you know having the people skills is what sets leaders apart from the rest. So below are some tid bits of knowledge to help you navigate to your career success.

Behavioural:
Want to make things happen, task oriented, non-verbal, enjoy working with things, view people as resources to get tasks done. Needs: independence, challenge, achievement, responsibility, power.

Cognitive:
Want to understand the world around them, task oriented, verbal, enjoy analyzing information, conducting research, creating efficiencies and setting high quality standards. Needs: respect, organization, safety and to understand.

Affective:
Want to persuade, sell, motivate, create, people oriented, verbal, enjoy parties, social occasions. Needs: attention, acceptance, recognition, play time and creative.

Interpersonal:
Want to help others, people oriented, Non-verbal, action oriented, enjoy smaller groups and taking care of others. Needs: security, appreciation, to love, harmony and honesty.



Lena came to me as an ambitious lady who’s ready to take on the world using her make up skills. She has made up models for ads, business executives for headshots, brides/bridesmaids for wedding pictures, and ladies getting ready for a big party. I experienced her beautiful approach and down to earth attitude at the Motown Blue Christmas Party. She spent no more than 10 minutes, and I seriously have never looked so finished. My skin glowed, and I got a ton of compliments that night. Lena knows just how to make a girl feel special. She has an impressive resume, below are some of the events she participated in 06:

-Minvera Foundation: Jacquline Connoir Fashion Show Spring 2006
-Manhatten MatchMaker on Women’s Network, aired April 06
-www.thereshegoes.ca Bridesmaid Make up, March 2006
-Fidality Jeans Launch, Holt Renfew, May 2006
-Feature in Vancouver Sun, June 2006
-Model make up for BMW Magazine, June 2006

She tell me that she’s inspired to help give women a boost of self-confidence, and a sense of empowerment from looking beautiful inside and out.
Lena is having a December Special, the first 10 people to call her will win a complimentary make over! So call now
Lena Naidu Tel 604 315-1975, email: makeup@lenanaidu.com
Web: www.lenanaidu.com

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Jin Collins, the best selling author of “Build to Last”, a Stanford Business Professor who spent 5 years with a team of 14 researchers, wrote the finding of his research in this book. They analyzed hundreds of corporations to find 11 that went from good to great and 11 that went from good to great, then disappeared almost just as quick. The Good to Great companies had to have been in business 15 years prior that performed mediocre, then experienced true growth and profit returns sometimes 400 times. This impressive list includes “Walgreen’s, Fanny May, etc”.

Jim established some key patterns that are consistent in all the good to great companies:
1) A level 5 leader: who puts the company’s achievements above his/her own. Who is ruthless in getting the right team members on the bus, and getting rid of the wrong people off the bus. They are courageous in decision making and willing to take risks. They are humble and not egocentric. Level 5 leaders have extremely high standards and won’t tolerate “good”, only “great”.
2) Good to great companies exhibit 3 rings: A clear understanding/insight what the company does best in the world at, have staff that is passionate about what they do, and great profitability in that activity.
3) Good to Great companies are not all in good industries, in fact, 5 out of 11 of the studied companies were in really bad industries. Yet they faced competitors with vigor, saw importing goods as a blessing, and had faith their company will prevail at a time when they’re losing 1 million dollars a day.
4) Good to Great companies follows a simple hedgehog concept: be the most convenient drug store within urban cities, or be the quickest processing home mortgage loaning entity, be the best bank in Western United States. When these companies found a clear and simple direction to drive their business, they did it with passion and consistency, which resulted in huge profits and growth. The hedgehog concept did not appear out of a weekend brainstorming, it generally took 7 years to appear.
5) Good to Great companies are willing to do whatever it takes to turn the business around: Sell of the Corporate jet, put head quarters in a dental office size suite, freeze executive salary for 2 years, keep using broken furniture, fanatical system to achieve their level of perfection.
6) Instead of creating more and more of a to do list, create a not to do list. Target activities or issues that take away your time and energy that’s not productive and stop it.
7) Jim wrote people generally fall into two categories, foxes and hedgehogs. Foxes are cunning and have a million ideas, hedgehog are simple and go about his business the same everyday. Fox try on hedgehog his clever attaches several times a day, yet hedgehog just roll up in a ball of spikes that keep him safe and sound. Applying this to the good to great companies, they stuck to their core competencies and worked hard to expand their hedgehog concepts, where the companies that went from good to great to nothingness grew in many industries, some seemly unrelated.
8) Create a corporate culture that is designed for productivity, not a bureaucracy designed to manage the bad seeds of the company and drive away the good people.

I’ve learned a great deal from this book, hope you can apply Jim’s wise advice to your company. Focus and matching the value your company provides to consumer needs is the key to success. So determine you passion that could help others, and keep doing it. Good is the enemy of Great, so never settle for good.

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Holiday Tips: Seal with a kiss Cards & Dani's Candles


Give stunningly beautiful handmade greeeting cards to your dearest family and friends during the holiday season for $5-8. Many interactive designs for all the holidays and occassions. See more PICTURES
To order, call Del Fong at 604 727-7399 Email: delfong@yahoo.ca

Are you stressed thinking about the perfect holiday gift? Purchase gorgeous handmade honeycomb Beeswax candles from Dani for $6-10.
See the attached order sheet to get your custom candles! This will surely wow your loved ones. To order, call Daniela Hetrea at Tel 604-941-1966 Email: dhetrea@hotmail.com

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Tired of the same old food and beer fest for your company party? Call Gracious Host Events so we can help create your version of the perfect event from venue, food, decor to the amazing entertainment. Put your name on everyone's lips by using GH as your secret weapon this holiday season.