Jeff's Daily Dose: AI in The Happiest Place on Earth
Big news out of L.A. this morning. Disney just named Josh D'Amaro ... the guy who's been running their Parks & Experiences division ... as the next CEO, succeeding Bob Iger effective next month. This wasn't a fairy tale ending for everyone. The board looked at 100+ candidates. Dana Walden, who many expected to get the nod, was named president & chief creative officer instead. And Iger? He'll stick around as senior advisor through year-end (Apparently leaving Disney is harder than escaping the "It's a Small World" ride.) D'Amaro inherits a company that just posted $10B in quarterly revenue from parks alone, has a $60B theme park investment commitment on the books, a new resort planned in Abu Dhabi, and a streaming business that's finally turning a profit. But here's the part that caught my eye... D'Amaro now has to integrate AI across Disney's 3 major divisions ... Disney Entertainment, ESPN & Sports, and Parks & Experiences ... spanning operations in 40+ countries with over 220,000 employees. That's not a task. That's a Magic Mountain. Fortunately, your AI task is far simpler. You're not steering a $200B enterprise through an AI transformation. You're leading your team. Your division. Your company. But I know that doesn't always make it feel easy. If you're stuck in the fog right now ... if the whole "AI transformation" thing feels like a Fantasyland you can't quite find the entrance to ... here's where to start: 1️⃣ Pick one role. Not your whole org chart. Just one role that's high-volume, high-turnover, or high-frustration. Map every task that role touches. Circle the three that AI could take from 4 hours to 40 minutes. That's your pilot. That's your win. 2️⃣ Talk to the person in the seat. Not their manager. Them. Ask what's eating their day alive. The answers will surprise you ... and they'll hand you your implementation roadmap without even knowing it. 3️⃣ Set a 30-day window. Not a "digital transformation journey." Not a "phased rollout." 30 days. One tool. One workflow. One measurable result. You can iterate from there, but you can't iterate from nowhere.