Walt Disney was a man who was committed to excellence and to giving his customers more than they expect. Walt had a word for his single-minded obsession with quality. He called it “plussing.”
Walt Disney coined the term plussing as a way of making an idea even better. I’ve read that one of Walt Disney’s greatest talents was his ability to get people to do better work than they imagined they were capable of. By telling his workers to plus it, even when they think they nailed it, gave Disney that extra edge when it came to quality animation back in the day.
Disney theme park designer, Orlando Ferrante, said, “Walt had a simple philosophy: ‘Get the job done, but never sacrifice quality.’ It was always about plussing. He often told us, ‘You worry about the quality. Let me worry about the cost.’”
Sometimes in order to plus, you must subtract. Walt wouldn’t hesitate to delete an entire sequence if it slowed the action or detracted from the story. Cutting is plussing when it results in a better product. Sometimes less is more.
Art Linkletter summed up Walt’s commitment to plussing this way: “Walt could just as well have been a very successful plumber somewhere. He’d be the best plumber, of course, and the plunger would probably play ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in the toilet.”
In his book, How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life, Pat Williams tells the story of a person visiting Walt Disney World and being asked how he was enjoying the experience. When asked, “What was the highlight of your vacation?” The expected answer would’ve been the thrill rides or the golfing at the resort. But his answer was somewhat surprising.
“The highlight of our vacation,” he said, “was coming back to the hotel at night.” How could a hotel room top all the wonders of Disney World? He explained:
“My five-year-old daughter can’t wait to see what the maid does next with her dolls. One night, we found the dolls perched on the edge of the bathtub. Another night, the dolls were hanging from the light fixture. Last night, the maid fashioned a boat out of a big bath towel and the dolls were in the boat on my daughter’s bed.”
This maid at a Disney hotel had found a way to be like Walt. She was plussing the hotel experience of a five-year-old girl—and in the process, she made raving Disney fans out of the entire family. Whether you are a hotel maid, a corporate executive, a ministry leader, or a shoestring salesman, you can be like Walt. Pursue excellence in everything you do. “Plus every experience—then plus the plus,” says Williams.
No matter what business you are in, your success depends on your commitment to excellence and attention to detail. If you deliver more than people expect, you will turn clients into fans. If you go out of your way to make people feel special, they will go out of their way to buy your product or partner with your efforts.
The Bible talks about plussing for the glory of God: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)
As servants of the awe-inspiring Creator of this marvelous universe, and the One Who is redeeming all things unto Himself, we should be giving ourselves to excellence in everything we do—for His glory and His honor. We should make plussing our effort to bring Christ the utmost honor and glory that he deserves in every aspect of our lives!