September 2009 Developments - 6

First Word are is the business principle I can’t connect to basketball. Those who know me (or at least read this column with any regularity) are familiar with my love of the game and have grown accustomed to hearing my hoop-driven analogies. While some of those “connections” are looser than others (comparing sales strategy to the triangle offense once proved more difﬁcult than I had hoped), I believe the topics covered in this edition of Developments magazine are perfectly suited for the basketball treatment. Allow me to explain. As you’ll read in the pages ahead, our industry leaders are managing their resort operations through today’s daunting economic challenges by ﬁnding increasingly creative ways to do more with less. Remarkably, our standout resorts are seeing everything from employee engagement to owner satisfaction not just remain steady but actually increase— despite a sometimes signiﬁcant reduction in resources. How is this possible? I have a theory, and as luck would have it, I can illustrate it with a basketball analogy. Here in Central Florida, basketball fans are still riding the emotional highs of a dream season for our hometown Orlando Magic, who took a rather unlikely route to the NBA Finals. (Don’t let their subsequent loss in the Finals to the impressive Lakers detract from the forthcoming analogy.) An opening-round playoff match-up with the tenacious 76ers in their hometown, Philadelphia, had tested the Magic’s mettle, forcing them to play a critical game on the road with their backs against the wall of elimination, facing a hostile environment and seeing their biggest star in street clothes, serving an untimely suspension. Local columnists circled like buzzards and readied the team’s proverbial obituary. But then something extraordinary happened. The Magic put together one of their ﬁnest performances of the season, James M. Lewis Maintaining Our Full-Court Press R As you read this magazine, we’re in “crunch time.” The environment is a bit hostile. We’re playing short-handed. Our critics are itching to write that obituary. And like my hometown Magic, we’re elevating our game. returning from the “City of Brotherly Love” with an eye-opening victory in the record books and armed with a renewed conﬁdence that would eventually carry them to the sport’s biggest stage. Without the luxury of their superstar, the Magic were forced to elevate their game. Focus became sharper. Passes became crisper. Complacency went the way of those disturbingly short shorts of my basketball youth. What does this have to do with us? Substitute that suspended superstar for conﬁdent consumers and replace that hostile road environment with the circling clouds of economic uncertainty, and you have an analogy as strong as a power forward executing a solid screen on a pick and roll. (If you aren’t a basketball fan, just go with me on that one.) By sharpening communications, making more creative and efﬁcient use of resources, and tightening the strategic focus of everyone on the team, our industry will exceed expectations and surprise doubters during these challenging times. An additional test, however, may come when the economy recovers. Like a basketball team welcoming back its biggest star, a collective sigh of relief and even a hint of complacency will weaken our chances of sustaining success. Our most successful companies will look at today’s problem-solving tactics not as temporary measures but as blueprints for a long-term business plan. The addition of new funds to our balance sheets won’t diminish the need to carefully calculate the use of every dollar. The growth of our teams won’t eliminate the need for creative approaches to building morale. And the return of consumer conﬁdence can’t lessen our commitment to owner satisfaction. Tomorrow’s success stories will be written by those who operate in economic prosperity with the same focus and attention to detail they’re employing during this recession. As you read this magazine, we’re in “crunch time.” The environment is a bit hostile. We’re playing short-handed. Our critics are itching to write that obituary. And like my hometown Magic, we’re elevating our game. The recession won’t last forever, and I’m conﬁdent that when it ends, we’ll keep our feet on the gas and maintain our full-court press. Otherwise, I’ve just wasted a perfectly good basketball analogy. James M. Lewis Disney Vacation Club 6 Developments • September 2009

September 2009 Developments

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2009 Developments