Magic Kingdom Service

Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.

  Communications Management   CRM   Stakeholder Management   Talent Management  

“Regardless of industry, if you have customers, you’re in the customer-service business.”
-- The Disney Institute, the Walt Disney Company’s professional development company

The use of the term “Mickey Mouse” is often considered a demeaning form of slang. If people say you are running a “Mickey Mouse operation”, that means it is insignificant or petty--perhaps even uncoordinated or amateurish, as if to compare its activities to those of a raucous cartoon featuring the large-eared character of the same name. The term has also been used derisively as a way to imply inefficiency, poor construction or having a meaningless existence.

But while there were times in the past where the Walt Disney Company vision may have faltered, its brand has persevered and become stronger to the point where the use of “Mickey Mouse” can actually be considered a descriptor of pride and excellence.

The Mouse Factory
While the use of the term may still have its negative holdovers from years gone by, being “Mickey Mouse” is more akin to a tribute to the Disney corporate identity--which symbolizes a number of highly integrated service principles. As part of its value structure, Disney service advocates four essential service standards:

• Safety: Put another way, trust. In particular with respect to their park…

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