Disneyland without guests? Unthinkable, you’d say—but the pandemic changed everything for one of the world’s busiest theme parks.
The guest this week on the Leeds Business Insights podcast is Clark Jones (Acct’91), senior vice president and CFO at Disneyland. Jones had to help chart a course for the resort amid changing public health guidelines while maintaining the best-in-class experience guests have come to demand from Disney.
“You're never going to make everybody happy all the time, but, if we don't make some changes, we're just going to be the same Disneyland we were, you know, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago,” Jones said on the podcast. “And I think our guests expect more from us.”
In this episode, Jones said part of the reason Disneyland could move quickly is its culture of welcoming different perspectives of all employees. By encouraging new talent to be vocal and purposeful with their ideas, the company was able to act when the pandemic struck.
Leeds Business Insights features conversations with alumni, faculty and others in the Leeds community, who discuss current challenges in business and offer actionable takeaways to help you solve problems and advance in your career. You can find an episode summary on the Leeds website, and can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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