| I believe one of the greatest visionaries of the twentieth century was Walt Disney. A friend of mine, Mike West, who was a successful senior show producer for Walt Disney Imagineering in Walt Disney World, told me a story that occurred decades ago. It was 1971 and Disney World in Orlando was finally ready to open. Unfortunately, the creator of Mickey Mouse and the Magic Kingdom had died five years earlier and wouldn’t be present to witness the grand opening.
During the spectacular opening ceremonies, the host of the festivities introduced on stage Walt’s widow, Lillian Disney, who would say a few words for the occasion. “Mrs. Disney,” the host said with reverence, “I wish Walt could have seen this.” Lillian Disney stood up, walked over to the podium, adjusted the microphone, and said, “He did.” And then she sat down.
That simple statement said it all.
My vision for the Philadelphia 76ers from day one—when a 40-year-old goateed character was introduced as part-owner and president at a press conference on April 19, 1996—was to create a world-class organization and to win an NBA world championship. Those were my exact words. So one of my very first acts as president of that losing team, which might have seemed odd at the time, was to post glossy posters throughout our offices of the NBA World Championship trophy in its sparkling gold brilliance. You couldn’t help but see this beautiful gold trophy wherever you looked. I wanted everyone from the players to the ushers to the sales staff staying focused on my vision…and to embrace it as their own dream. Five years later, everyone in the organization—and in the city of Philadelphia—had their sights on the real thing. We had made it to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, where the gold trophy was sitting at courtside within our grasp.
I should mention that I wanted to run onto center court and tackle Shaq when I saw him hoist my gold trophy over his head!
Almost a decade before that moment, in a completely different industry, I used the same strategy. I created a simple one-foot horizontal white sign using only one word—a flaming red Japanese word —to create a single focus for a group of individuals. The sign was hung in every one of my sports medicine centers in a very visible spot. No matter where you stood, sat, knelt, squatted, or sweat, you saw it. It was a constant conscious reminder to every employee of our company goal: to be #1. The word was ICHIBAN which is Japanese for “Number One.” My company was Sports Physical Therapists, and our dream was to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The award was and continues to be presented by the president of the United States to the company that demonstrates the world’s best in quality. And I wanted and expected to be handed that award with my family and hundreds of my staff in attendance. We would have partied in the White House like it was New Year’s Eve! Out of 160,000 applications that year, we qualified in the top-ten in the service category; but unfortunately, we lost out to the Ritz Carlton Hotel chain in the final round.
Although in both instances (sports and business) I lost the first-place prize, I didn’t lose the lesson. My companies, my people, and myself gained significant knowledge, experience, economic rewards, and a winner’s attitude. We took action on our visions and grew from the experience. -- PC
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