When asked whether I want the medium or large pizza, I always go big. When buying a new TV the same bias plays out (could a tv be too big?). I’ve been conditioned to believe that big is always better.
As my career progressed, I found that the closer my roles took me towards the corporate headquarters the greater the burdens of bureaucracy and egos. I remember fondly the peace that I felt during my Disney Cruise Line days, when I was on board the ship deep in the Caribbean.
When I joined the Disneyland team the moat around my castle consisted of the traffic congestion from Burbank to Anaheim. That wasn’t quite the defense that I had hoped for because the people senior to me all had drivers. To be fair, it was a small contingent seeking a photo op that would spoil my mood; others were strong supporters of what we were doing. Such is the reality in the world of large corporations.
There is no denying that what I learned at Disney was invaluable and prepared me for life outside the kingdom, but there came a time to move on.
When I joined Cedar Fair (now Six Flags….) I knew my world was going to be different in a lot of ways. Cedar Fair’s valuation was a fraction of Disney’s and lacked the wealth of resources that Disney could bring to bear. At Disney, the brand was front-and-center in every conversation. Cedar Fair didn’t have a consumer brand, it relied on the consumer loyalty to the individual parks.
There is a much longer list of what my new employer didn’t have, but fortunately that included the absence of the bureaucratic burdens I mentioned above. As the CEO of Cedar Fair, I found a freedom that just isn’t available in large corporations.
The team I inherited was as talented as those I worked with in Orlando and Anaheim. They didn’t have experience dealing with the scale of the larger parks, but the breadth of their individual responsibilities was greater – it had to be, there were a lot fewer of them. Every one of the senior team reported directly to me, there were no double-dotted-lines or confused loyalties.
Cedar Fair will never have the level of resources that exist at a Disney or Universal. Where it shines over those giants is the productivity of each member of the team. Fewer people, means fewer layers, means fewer meetings, means more empowerment, means more accountability and arguably more fun.
A small group of us made the decisions, tasked the operators to bring those decisions to life and lived with the consequences. No one competed for the credit when things went well, we were all in it together.
I still believe bigger is always better when it comes to pizzas and tv’s, but at least for one chapter of my career, less was more.
P.S. Whether you are in a big company, or a smaller one always ask yourself are you still learning? Are you gaining skills and making yourself more valuable? Adding tools to your toolbox is the key to moving forward.
Sales And Marketing Specialist at MARTIN & MAC ARTHUR
3moLove this💕❣️💞🌹how fantastic, thank you for the invite