What's your Wienie?

When Walt Disney was developing Disney Land in the early fifties he would frequently arrive home late in the evenings and would often enter his house through the kitchen to grab a “weenie” (hot dog) from the fridge as he made his way through the kitchen and would share the hot dog with his dog Lady.  Lady would follow Walt wherever he went when he was holding the hot dog because she knew he was going to share it with her.

As a result Walt coined the term 'wienie' to describe an object, or a place that would lead or direct guests around Disney Land.

The concept of a Wienie is an important one to any leader trying to lead a team in an aligned manner in times of change or disruption. If you have ever been to Disney Land the Castle in the centre of the park represents a wienie- it has important characteristics, namely:

• It is higher than the buildings around it- it is the most prominent object
• It is a beautifully crafted building- more attention has been paid to it than any other building in the park
• It has a subconscious effect of bringing guests towards it as a beacon and as a destination
• It is obviously the centre of the park- this doesn’t need to be explicitly stated- it is implicit

Now think about the ‘Wienie’ concept within your context. The Wienie could represent your company’s purpose, your projects goal, or a representation of the future. Within this context ask yourself ‘how prominent is it? How beautifully crafted is it and how much time has been spent on it? Is it really a beacon or just an afterthought? Is it so obvious that it is implicit and it works at a subconscious level?

Too often when it comes to strategy, change and innovation the focus quickly shifts to the ‘nuts and bolts’ and forget about the centre point, the ‘Wienie’

Now ask yourself honestly- do you have a ‘Wienie’ for your organisation, strategy or project and how good is it?

Next week I will introduce the concept of Theme's applied to future strategy