9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently - If Disney Ran Your Hospital

A must read for everyone in the customer service world. Fred Lee has so many inspirational ideas and down-home stories that as I was reading I making notes to share with my staff. There is no reason any business cannot be exceptional after employing his suggestions. Way to go, Mr. Lee!

Lots of good stuff, and required reading for all health professionals who deal face to face with their clientele, but I fear he may be preaching to the choir.
The opening chapter is disappointing - no need for Fred Lee to explain himself: he should move straight to the nitty-gritty!

Hospitals are notoriously insular and have only recently began to look beyond their own walls for new strategies to reduce costs (e.g. the way Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle has adopted the Toyota lean process improvement method), patient safety (e.g. the way hospitals are adopting safety checklists practices that have long been standard in the airline industry), and information technology (at progressive organizations, you will soon be able to schedule clinic visits online, the way you now buy plane tickets and check in for flights).

In this indispensable book, Fred Lee shares insights from one of the greatest creative geniuses in history - Walt Disney - and the ongoing commitment to creating excellent customer experiences that the company he founded is known for, and shows how they can apply in the hospital setting. Through my work with Values Coach, I often hear hospital clients mention this book as one that has influenced how they treat patients and each other. In my own book All Hands on Deck: 8 Essential Lessons for Building a Culture of Ownership, I chose Walt Disney to be the reader's tour guide on a journey through the founding of legendary organizations precisely because his unique genius can be applied in any business - including hospitals

I attended a lecture by Fred Lee, where he discussed some of the points brought up in his 9 1/2 Things book, and I was very impressed. First of all, I am a huge Disney fan, and I know that the Disney method transcends the typical service model, and focuses on the entire process as an "experience".

Mr. Lee, in this very insightful book, delves into how this can be applied to healthcare. And why should it not be applied to healthcare? In healthcare, there is a tremendous opportunity for caring and competent people to turn a frightening and intrusive process into an experience.

Sure, going to the hospital will never be a fun trip like a trip to Disney would be, but it can be one that is memorable for the RIGHT reasons rather than memorable for the WRONG reasons.

There are so many pieces of valuable information in this book that you'll need to keep it readily available as a reference tool.

The concepts in this book apply to about any organization. Treating the patients, or Customer with compassion only makes sense. Fred Lee is very good at helping you understand why this is so important with stories, that hit home.
The chapter on Merit Pay was very interesting also, and I fully agree with his view on merit pay. I worked in an industry which was tied to Merit pay and it created problems between workers. I also agree that bonus's should not happen, unless everyone shares in the winnings.
Nicely done!

I have read just about everything pertaining to marketing Long Term Care and this book has made the most impact. It has truly changed my life in my career. The 9 1/2 things to different aren't just common sense they are an outline to success. I enjoyed it so much I went to Disney Institute to take the class. I have used this book as a training manual and as required reading for my marketing directors. I recommend this book to anyone who really wants to change their environment and make a difference in health care. It is hard to read this book and not want to make your own magic.

This book rates as one of my favorites, which says a lot for a book I read for work! It's even one I refer back to a lot, another thing I don't too often do.

I find that many people at the hospital I work at love what they do and are creative in trying to make it better. And somehow almost everything we work on can be improved by ideas covered in this book. From motivating employees, to customer satisfaction, to empathy, to communicating just about anything, this book shares concepts that have greatly impacted how we present ideas. Although most of these topics have been covered many times before, Lee finds a way to bring in new ideas and offers suggestions really easy to implement in our day-to-day projects.

Our hospital ordered copies and distributed it to many of us, which is a great thing as after I read it I found myself making sure others read it, or at least referring them to certain sections I thought would be helpful on a project if they hadn't gotten there yet.

If there is one book I'd recommend to anyone in health care, this would be it!

EVERY HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR DOWN TO THE HOUSEKEEPERS NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. THIS SHOULD BE MANDATORY WHEN A NEW EMPLOYEE ENTERS THE WORK PLACE. OUR HOSPITAL HAS BEEN STRUGGLING LIKE MOST WITH WORRY ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE MORE THAN THE PATIENT. THIS BOOK WILL BE USED IN OUR DEPT (I WORK WITH CANCER PATIENTS) FOR OUR UNIT MEETING DISCUSSIONS. I AM GOING TO MAKE IT A MANDATORY READ. THANKS FRED....I AM DISNEY-FIED

I agree with everyone else about how good this book is. I have been working full time in quality improvement for 12 years, and I was expecting just a rehashing of the same old theories that I have become too accustomed to hearing about. To my surprise, the book was fresh and deep and I literally learned something new on every single page - It is 216 pages long and at $27 that's about 13 cents per insight; a real bargain, I think. Oh, and remarkably it's also quite an easy read due to the excellent stories and intuitive presentation (but you may want to slow down a bit to let the lessons sink in).

This book rates as one of my favorites, which says a lot for a book I read for work! It's even one I refer back to a lot, another thing I don't too often do.

I find that many people at the hospital I work at love what they do and are creative in trying to make it better. And somehow almost everything we work on can be improved by ideas covered in this book. From motivating employees, to customer satisfaction, to empathy, to communicating just about anything, this book shares concepts that have greatly impacted how we present ideas. Although most of these topics have been covered many times before, Lee finds a way to bring in new ideas and offers suggestions really easy to implement in our day-to-day projects.

Our hospital ordered copies and distributed it to many of us, which is a great thing as after I read it I found myself making sure others read it, or at least referring them to certain sections I thought would be helpful on a project if they hadn't gotten there yet.

If there is one book I'd recommend to anyone in health care, this would be it!

EVERY HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR DOWN TO THE HOUSEKEEPERS NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. THIS SHOULD BE MANDATORY WHEN A NEW EMPLOYEE ENTERS THE WORK PLACE. OUR HOSPITAL HAS BEEN STRUGGLING LIKE MOST WITH WORRY ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE MORE THAN THE PATIENT. THIS BOOK WILL BE USED IN OUR DEPT (I WORK WITH CANCER PATIENTS) FOR OUR UNIT MEETING DISCUSSIONS. I AM GOING TO MAKE IT A MANDATORY READ. THANKS FRED....I AM DISNEY-FIED

I agree with everyone else about how good this book is. I have been working full time in quality improvement for 12 years, and I was expecting just a rehashing of the same old theories that I have become too accustomed to hearing about. To my surprise, the book was fresh and deep and I literally learned something new on every single page - It is 216 pages long and at $27 that's about 13 cents per insight; a real bargain, I think. Oh, and remarkably it's also quite an easy read due to the excellent stories and intuitive presentation (but you may want to slow down a bit to let the lessons sink in).

I really enjoyed this easy to read book. Some things have changed since the original 2005 edition (sorry to state the obvious) and I think an update is in order. I found the book to be very practical and helped me to really get the difference between saying and doing the right things and feeling it.

This book helps identify the behaviors needed to start a culture change in healthcare organizations. It encourages the reader to trial behavior change by providing examples based on Mr. Lee's experience in both hospitals and Disney. It shows a path that's not safe and comfortable, but very exciting!

This book is specifically targeted towards customer service in hospital settings, but it is very easy to apply the ideas to other situations. There are also discussions of units with only internal customers, and these sections are broadly applicable to government, business and non-profit organizations.

Complete waste of $22. A sometimes amusing read, but ultimately of little practical value. The book is an overly simplistic re-hashing of basic customer service tenets that doesn't say anything new.

Beyond basic cutomer service focus (a critical success factor for ANY business), the idea that Disney has anything to teach us about how to run hosptials is a stretch, at best (and a more likely a counterproductive fantasy). A hospital is not a luxury resort, an operating room is not a ride, a surgeon is not a cute tour guide in a uniform. Nobody dies if they can't afford to go to Disney World.

There is a lot that can be improved in our hospitals and our healthcare system, but I hope we can find better role models than the Disney Corporation.

There are much better and more appropriate models for quality service delivery in healthcare. The simplistic thinking behind the premise of this book is not going to tell you anything you shouldn't already know.