Part 1 of a Leadership Case Study Series

When most people think about struggling operations, they picture unhappy customers.

Low satisfaction scores.

Declining demand.

Negative reviews.

This wasn’t that kind of problem.

Guests loved the service.

Originally launched in 2017 in partnership with Lyft, Minnie Van is Disney’s premium rideshare-style transportation service at Walt Disney World.

The service combines Disney guest experience standards with the convenience and flexibility of rideshare transportation.

One of its biggest advantages is that it delivers guests directly to the same front-door pickup and drop-off locations used by Walt Disney World bus transportation—including the parks and Disney Springs—but on demand.

Traditional rideshare services often require guests to use pickup and drop-off areas located well away from park entrances. Minnie Van eliminates much of that friction by integrating directly into Disney’s transportation ecosystem.

That matters more than many people realize.

Walt Disney World’s transportation system largely operates as a hub-and-spoke network. Depending on where guests are traveling, reaching their destination may require multiple transfers—sometimes between entirely different modes of transportation.

In some cases, transportation itself can consume an hour or more of a guest’s day on each end of the trip.

Minnie Van provides guests with a more direct, flexible, and personalized alternative within a transportation system that serves millions of visitors annually.

The service combines the flexibility and responsiveness of rideshare with Disney-level service standards and operational integration.

For many guests, it becomes more than transportation.

It becomes part of the Disney experience itself.

Guest response was overwhelmingly positive.

But popularity and long-term sustainability are not always the same thing.

Behind the guest experience, the business was facing growing challenges.

And most guests never saw them.

A Service Built Around Experience

Minnie Van was intentionally designed with convenience, accessibility, and the guest experience in mind.

But the operation itself was significantly more complex than many people realized.

Behind the scenes, the business relied on a dedicated vehicle fleet, a rideshare technology platform, complex labor scheduling, operational coordination, third-party maintenance support, and Disney-level service expectations layered across the entire experience.

The operation wasn’t simply moving guests from one location to another.

It was delivering a premium hospitality experience inside one of the world’s most recognized brands.

And in the early years, guest response reinforced confidence in the concept.

Demand grew.

Guest satisfaction remained strong.

The service became highly visible throughout the resort.

From the outside, the operation appeared successful.

But appearances can be deceiving.

The Problem Behind the Popularity

By late 2019, concerns about the long-term sustainability of the operation had become increasingly difficult to ignore.

The service was popular.

Demand remained strong.

But the business underneath the guest experience was struggling.

The challenge wasn’t attracting riders.

The challenge was turning demand into sustainable financial performance.

That distinction mattered.

Because growth can sometimes hide inefficiencies that become harder to ignore as an operation matures.

The question was no longer whether guests valued the service.

They clearly did.

The question was whether the business model itself could support long-term success.

That's when I was asked to add Minnie Van to my responsibilities.

At the time, I was already leading another transportation division at Walt Disney World. While I was familiar with Minnie Van operationally, I also understood that familiarity and understanding are not the same thing.

Minnie Van was a very different operation.

Different labor model.

Different operating rhythms.

Different guest expectations.

Different challenges.

Before making major decisions, I believed I needed to understand the operation from the ground level.

Learning Before Leading

So I went through Minnie Van driver training.

Dispatcher training.

And I shadowed opening and closing shifts alongside the managers responsible for daily operations.

I wanted to understand the operation as the frontline team experienced it.

Not through reports.

Not through presentations.

Through the work itself.

The deeper I immersed myself in the operation, the more I began to see things that weren’t immediately obvious from a spreadsheet.

There is a difference between reviewing performance metrics and understanding how an operation actually functions.

Some of the most important insights don’t appear in dashboards.

They appear in handoffs.

In delays.

In utilization patterns.

In scheduling decisions.

And in the countless small operational realities that shape performance every day.

But they also appear in the decisions that shaped those realities.

Decisions made months—or even years—earlier.

Assumptions that had become accepted as fact.

Processes that made sense when the operation launched, but no longer served the business as it evolved.

The deeper I immersed myself in the operation, the clearer it became that the challenges we were facing hadn’t emerged overnight.

They had been building over time.

And the deeper I got into the business, the clearer it became:

The issue wasn’t demand.

The issue was the operating model supporting the demand.

Then COVID arrived.

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If April focused on decisions, May focused on something deeper:

What those decisions become over time.

Culture doesn’t appear overnight.

It forms through repetition.

Through what gets reinforced.
What gets ignored.
What gets normalized.

Across this month’s articles, one idea kept surfacing:

Organizations become what leaders consistently tolerate and reinforce.

S…

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Part 3 of 3 — The ACLO Turnaround Series

In Part 1 of this series, I shared the moment I realized the issue wasn’t effort.

It was structure.

In Part 2, I wrote about the difficult alignment decisions that followed — redefining standards, rebuilding parts of the middle layer, and reinforcing accountability more consistently across the organization.

But alignment alone doesn’t improve performance.

The organization had to start operating differently — consistently.

The real question was whether we could sustain it.

When the Organization Starts to Stabilize

Turnarounds rarely happen all at once.

There’s no single meeting where everything changes. No dramatic moment where performance suddenly snaps into place.

What actually happens is quieter than that.

Small inconsistencies begin disappearing.

Communication becomes clearer.

Expectations stop shifting from leader to leader.

Supervisors begin reinforcing standards consistently across shifts and teams.

People begin understanding not just what is expected, but what will actually be reinforced.

And over time, the organization starts becoming more stable.

That stability matters more than most people realize.

Because organizations don’t perform consistently when accountability is inconsistent.

They perform consistently when discipline becomes part of the normal day-to-day operation.

The Difference Between Pressure and Discipline

Early in my leadership career, I believed urgency was enough to drive change.

It isn’t.

Pressure can create short-term movement. It can temporarily increase focus. It can force activity.

But pressure is difficult to sustain.

Discipline is different.

Discipline is what allows performance to hold over time.

Survival mode creates a reaction.

Discipline creates stability.

At ACLO, the turnaround accelerated once the organization stopped operating in a situational manner.

Standards became clearer.
Supervision became more consistent.
Expectations became more predictable.
Accountability became more evenly reinforced.

That reduced variability across the operation.

And when variability decreases in a thin-margin business, performance improves.

Not overnight.

But steadily.

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A few weeks ago, I watched a box truck force another car off the road as it exited the interstate.

Traffic was backed up due to construction. Lanes were full.

The driver created a lane where there wasn’t one—and pushed another vehicle out of the way to make the exit.

It’s hard to believe it wasn’t intentional.

What stood out just as much was the box truck itself.

The company branding hadn’t been fully removed.

You could still see traces of the original logo—just enough to connect that behavior to a company that may no longer own it.

And once you see something like that, you don’t forget it—especially when the driver behaves that way.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time I’ve seen poor driver behavior like this—and instantly connected it back to the company’s brand.

A while back, I was nearly run off the road by a branded roofing truck.

I saw the name on the side.

And I made a decision right there—I won’t be calling them if I ever need a new roof.

That driver didn’t just create a safety issue—they cost the company business.

In both situations, the outcome can be the same.

The people around that vehicle see the driver’s behavior—and may make a decision about the company.

That’s the part many operators miss.

Your vehicles aren’t just out on the road.

They’re surrounded by potential customers.

And every interaction—good or bad—shapes decisions you may never even know about.

There’s an adage in sports—the name on the front of the jersey matters more than the name on the back.

The same applies in ground transportation.

The name on the side of the bus—that’s your brand.

And it matters a lot more than whatever may be going through a driver’s mind in a moment on the road.

Because your brand doesn’t live in your marketing materials.

It lives out there—on the highway.

Every operator should remember:

• Every driver is a brand ambassador

• Every vehicle is a rolling billboard

• Every mile is a chance to reinforce—or damage—your reputation

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Several weeks ago, my son moved out.

He’s 23. He graduated from college last fall. He’s engaged to be married later this year. He’s our youngest — which means we’re officially empty nesters.

As we packed, I noticed something.

He wasn’t taking everything.

When our daughter moved out, she cleared the room. When I left home years ago, I did the same.

Clean slate. Fresh start.

But my son was selective.

As we loaded his truck, I asked:

“Why not just take it all? It’s yours.”

He didn’t hesitate.

“I can only take what fits the vibe of our new apartment.”

“The vibe?”

“Our vibe is Boho. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t come.”

I didn’t know apartments had vibes. I wasn’t entirely sure what Boho meant. But I understood the principle.

As the room emptied, it began to resemble the abandoned houses I sometimes see in urban-explorer videos — furniture left behind, pieces of a past chapter frozen in place.

I said, “So your apartment is Boho. But your room’s vibe? It’s abandoned.”

From down the hallway, my wife chimed in:

“No, Babe. His apartment is Boho. His room is Hobo.”

We laughed.

But the moment stuck with me.

Because he was right.

Not everything belongs in the next chapter.

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The Vibe of a Business

At The Walt Disney Company, we didn’t use the word vibe.

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Part 2 of 3 — The ACLO Turnaround Series

In Part 1, I shared the moment it became clear that the issue wasn’t effort.

It was structure.

Margins were tight. Standards were inconsistent. And the operating model wasn’t aligned with the business's financial reality.

Once that realization set in, the next question wasn’t what needed to change.

It was how.

Because structure doesn’t change without people.

Where Execution Actually Lives

In most organizations, strategy is set at the top.

Execution happens in the middle.

That’s where expectations are reinforced — or quietly softened.
That’s where accountability is either consistent or conditional.
That’s where culture is either strengthened — or diluted.

And in our case, the middle layer wasn’t aligned with the performance level the business required.

Some leaders were capable but inconsistent.
Some were well-intentioned but overwhelmed.
And some were simply not the right fit for where the organization needed to go.

This wasn’t a matter of effort.

It was a matter of alignment.

The Hard Truth About Alignment

One of the more difficult realities in leadership is this:

Not everyone who helped build the organization is the right person to take it where it needs to go next.

That tension is real.

There’s history. There’s loyalty. There’s familiarity.

And in many cases, there are people who have worked hard and contributed meaningfully — just not at the level now required.

That doesn’t make them bad people.

But it does create a leadership decision.

Because when expectations change, alignment matters more than tenure.

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Last week, I read an article about Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave a Little Rock restaurant because her presence made some employees uncomfortable due to her political views.

After digging into it, the situation was more nuanced. The party had already been there for over an hour, had finished their meals, and had paid. They were approaching the restaurant’s 90-minute table limit. The restaurant later acknowledged that allowing them to stay could be perceived as a lack of support for their staff, while also recognizing that asking them to leave could be viewed as denying service based on differing beliefs.

Where I come from, having the sitting governor of your state visit your place of business—regardless of political affiliation—would be considered a positive.

There are more than 700 restaurants in Little Rock. The fact that the governor and her party chose yours to patronize would have been viewed as a good thing—not because of politics, but because of what it represents: visibility, demand, and an opportunity to deliver a great experience.

And that’s where this shifts from a news story to a leadership decision.

Arkansas isn’t a politically mixed environment. It’s a deeply conservative state. Sarah Huckabee Sanders won her election by nearly 30 points. Republicans hold a dominant share of statewide offices, legislative seats, and the congressional delegation. A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide office there in well over a decade.

That context matters.

Because businesses don’t operate in a vacuum. They operate in markets with customers, expectations, and realities that are already well established.

That situation immediately reminded me of my time at The Walt Disney Company.

In 2022, then-CEO Bob Chapek shifted Disney from behind-the-scenes advocacy to a very public position on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill.

Having worked there at the time, I can tell you this firsthand: that shift didn’t solve the problem.

It may have satisfied some employees, but it did little to appease those who were most upset. Given his general unpopularity at the time, particularly among certain employee groups, the move didn’t achieve the internal alignment it was intended to create.

At the same time, it pulled the company into a direct conflict with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—a move that carried real consequences both publicly and operationally.

And just like Arkansas, Florida wasn’t a neutral environment.

Governor DeSantis had strong public support, later reinforced by a decisive re-election victory. His position on the issue was well known and aligned with a significant portion of the state’s electorate.

That context matters just as much.

Because when Disney took a public stance, it wasn’t stepping into open space—it was stepping into an already defined political and market reality.

In both cases, the organization made a choice.

Not a neutral one—but a visible decision to align with one side of a broader issue.

And in both cases, that choice ran counter to a meaningful portion of the market they serve.

While the future impact on the Little Rock restaurant is unknown, in the Disney example, within weeks, Florida moved to dissolve its special taxing district—a structure that had provided a competitive advantage for more than 50 years.

The market response was just as telling.

The Friday before the controversy escalated, Disney stock closed at $137.48. One week later, it was down roughly 6%. Three months later, down 24%. Eight months later, after Bob Iger returned as CEO, it was still down more than 35%.

More notably, in late March 2022, the stock briefly rallied to around $139. That remains the high-water mark nearly four years later—despite leadership changes and significant investment.

Over that same period, the broader market—represented by the Dow Jones Industrial Average—is up more than 30%.

No single decision drives stock performance. But leadership decisions—especially those that shift a company away from its core business—do have consequences. And markets tend to reflect that over time.

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Part 1 of 3 — The ACLO Turnaround Series

“Don’t confuse motion with progress. And don’t confuse revenue with profit.”

The former VP & GM said that to me once.

At the time, it sounded like a general leadership principle — the kind of thing you nod at and file away.

Three months into my first executive role as VP & GM, it felt uncomfortably specific.

After the initial energy of leadership change had faded, profitability at American Coach Lines of Orlando (ACLO) hadn’t improved.

The operation generated roughly $15 million in annual revenue. It ran 24/7. Nearly 200 employees. Close to 100 vehicles. Major contracts with Walt Disney World and The University of Central Florida. On paper, it looked substantial. Established. Important.

And it was losing money.

There had been understandable optimism when I stepped into the role. Leadership transitions often create a short burst of momentum — new direction, renewed expectations, sharper tone. Meetings feel different. Conversations feel more urgent. People lean in.

For a few months, that momentum carried us.

Then reality settled in.

Revenue was stable. Vehicles were moving. Schedules were full. Operationally, the company looked busy and important.

But profit wasn’t improving.

And that’s when the quote stopped being abstract.

Looking Beneath the Activity

Nearly 50% of our total revenue came from our largest segment of business. I had been told that this segment was stable — that margins were healthy enough to support growth and that performance issues lived elsewhere.

At first glance, the P&L appeared to support that narrative. Revenue was solid. Expenses were categorized. The company was active and visibly engaged.

But summary-level financials only tell part of the story.

I remember sitting with the P&L open in front of me, realizing it wasn’t giving me the clarity I needed. Revenue was clear. Expenses were grouped. But I couldn’t see where small variances were accumulating or how operational decisions were influencing margin day to day.

There wasn’t a clean margin breakdown by contract. There wasn’t shift-level visibility into labor impact. There wasn’t structured insight into supervision effectiveness or fleet utilization patterns.

If we were going to understand what was really happening, we would have to build that visibility.

So, we began reconstructing performance from the ground up — examining overtime patterns, supervision coverage, fleet utilization, maintenance variance, and dispatch decisions to understand how they were influencing margin in practical terms.

What emerged wasn’t dramatic.

It was subtle.

Margins in that largest segment were tight. Very tight.

The business wasn’t collapsing. It was fragile.

The difference between acceptable performance and loss wasn’t large strategic missteps. It was operational precision.

A small labor variance.
An unmonitored maintenance trend.
Inconsistent supervision across shifts.
A dispatch decision that added just enough inefficiency to erase cushion.

Individually, these looked minor.

Collectively, they erased profit.

When half your revenue operates on thin margins, small inconsistencies become structural risk.

It wasn’t broken.

It was brittle.

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If you break the experience, you own the recovery.

The customer didn’t receive the value they paid for—or the value you promised—so making it right isn’t optional. It’s your responsibility.

Long before I worked in operations, transportation, or service leadership, I learned this lesson in a much simpler way.

Where I Learned It First

As a kid, I loved to touch things.

I pushed buttons indiscriminately on my grandmother’s dishwasher. I fiddled with my dad’s TV and electronics. And when we were in stores, I touched everything.

My mom would warn me,
“Don’t do that. If you knock it off, drop it, or break it, I’ll have to pay for it.”

That warning didn’t stop my curiosity. As a result, my mom had to pay for more than a few broken items over the years.

I still remember the signs posted in stores:
“You Break It, You Buy It.”
Or sometimes, “You Break It, You Fix It.”

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The ABA Marketplace was held in January 2023 in Reno, Nevada.

Next year, it moves to February 2027 in Calgary.

Dates and locations change.
The value doesn’t.

Every operator participates in the tour and travel ecosystem—whether they operate tours or simply deliver them.

If you didn’t attend ABA Marketplace this year, here’s what you missed—through the lens of an operator, not a program guide.

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You Missed Seeing the Industry—All in One Place

ABA Marketplace brings together one of the most comprehensive cross-sections of the ground transportation and group travel ecosystem each year.

Over the course of four days, the exhibit hall and surrounding programming bring together motorcoach and vehicle providers, technology and training partners, safety and compliance resources, tour operators, attractions, dining partners, and CVBs.

Access is useful.
Context is decisive.

Marketplace gives operators a rare chance to step back and see:

• Where investment is accelerating

• How service expectations are rising

• Which partnerships matter more than they used to

• How transportation fits into increasingly complex travel experiences

Even operators who don’t sell tours benefit from understanding how tours are designed and delivered—because transportation performance increasingly defines the guest experience and who earns repeat business.

That perspective often influences decisions months later, long after Marketplace ends.

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Have you ever heard the saying, “We eat first with our eyes”?

The phrase is often attributed to Apicius, a first-century Roman gastronome who, long before modern neuroscience, understood that presentation shapes perception. Long before we taste a meal, our brains are already making judgments about quality, safety, and satisfaction based solely on what we…

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Almost every great coach has a signature moment — a story or teaching that players remember long after their careers end. For Coach John Wooden, that moment didn’t come during one of his 10 national championships in 12 years, or in the midst of UCLA’s record-setting 88-game winning streak, or even while coaching icons like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill W…

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When I was younger, I went to my eye doctor regularly for exams and to purchase contact lenses. My former doctor — a bit old-fashioned by today’s standards — always checked my blood sugar during those visits. At the time, it didn’t seem necessary. I was there for my vision, not a diabetes screening.

But in hindsight, he was being thorough. Deteriorating eyesight can be a symptom of diabetes. He wasn’t just treating what was right in front of him — he was looking for the cause.

My new doctor doesn’t do that test. The exam is efficient, focused strictly on eyesight, and perfectly valid. But the difference between the two approaches is striking. One addressed the symptom. The other searched for the cause.

That distinction matters far beyond a doctor’s office. It matters in how we lead our organizations.

Symptoms vs. Causes

Merriam-Webster defines them this way:

• Symptom — “subjective evidence of disease or physical disturbance; broadly, something that indicates the presence of bodily disorder… also, something that indicates the existence of something else” (Merriam-Webster).

• Cause — “a reason for an action or condition; something that brings about an effect or a result” (Merriam-Webster).

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Country music has a way of telling simple truths. Recently, I came across a song by rising artist Zach Top that stopped me in my tracks. This year, he was recognized as the New Male Artist of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards, and his 2024 album Cold Beer and Country Music was nominated for Album of the Year.

One track in particular—“Dirt T…

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Cracker Barrel’s latest remodels and rebranding might look like progress, but to me, they’re proof that surface changes can’t fix cultural cracks.

Personal Roots in Brunswick, Georgia

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In my 30 years of hospitality and service leadership, one lesson has never failed: the best companies make life easier for their customers. When we build seamless experiences, we show that we respect people’s time and energy. Recently, I experienced three frustrating service failures that reminded me how easy it is for even successful organizations to let the customer experience slip. But these aren’t just stories of poor service—they’re opportunities to ask ourselves: Are we truly making things easy for the people we serve?

When companies work together, break down silos, and lead with purpose, they can prevent these issues from ever reaching their customers.

1. A Target Order That Became My Wife’s Problem to Solve

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Part of my daily rhythm is a morning walk through the neighborhood—just under three miles. It keeps me grounded, energized, and often, it’s when I listen to books or podcasts that challenge my thinking. It’s a small habit that pays big dividends for both physical health and mental clarity.

But a few weeks ago, something unexpected on that walk sparked a broader reflection.

About eight minutes in, I paused my audiobook when I heard the unmistakable sound of water rushing. Across the street, I spotted it: a sprinkler head, broken and shooting water like a geyser. It was flooding the driveway, rushing down the sidewalk, and pouring straight into the storm drain. The yard wasn’t getting much of anything.

I stood there for several minutes, observing. The question that came to mind wasn’t just how much water is being wasted? —but how often does this happen in our businesses?

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Have you ever had a service experience that didn’t go as expected?

Maybe your meal came out cold. Perhaps the hotel room was dirty, and no one responded when you called the front desk. Perhaps you paid good money for something—a haircut, a car repair, a service—and walked away feeling like the business didn’t care whether you were satisfied.

We’ve all be…

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Sometimes, even the most dominant performers need help with fundamentals.

In Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings (2013), there’s a story about Shaquille O’Neal that stuck with me—not because of the championships or highlight reels, but because of what it revealed about coaching, leadership, and the power of bringing in a specialist.

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This coming week, I’ll celebrate another year on earth—another chapter in this journey of learning, leading, and living. As I mark another year beyond the 50 mark, I’ve reflected on the ideas, lessons, and truths that have stayed with me through the highs and lows of business and life.

Some of these came from experience. Others from mistakes. All of them…

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