Disney Experiences Chair Josh D’Amaro Tells CEOs To Just Say ‘I Don’t Know’ 

Josh D’Amaro had just been promoted to vice president at Hong Kong Disneyland and found himself leading his first meeting. The Hong Kong business had been through a shaky patch, so D’Amaro wanted to set the right tone for his leadership and position the iconic theme park destination for success. 

Standing in front of a group of marketing and sales executives, he told them what they were going to do, which was “to adjust, build and set ourselves up for the future.” Then, all of the executives went out and did exactly what D’Amaro had told them to do. 

And none of it worked.

When he pulled the executive team back together again to learn what had gone wrong, he received a swift reply. “These executives said, ‘You told us what to do. You never asked us what to do,’” recounts D’Amaro.

That experience changed his approach to leadership: from always trying to be the one with the answers to being the one with the questions. “What I should have done is just said, ‘I don’t know,’” he admits. “And when you say those words, what happens is everybody wants to help you. Everybody wants to give you a point of view, tell you what they’ve been experiencing and what they think we should do going forward.”

Podcast listeners will appreciate D’Amaro’s observations on how tempting it can be as a leader to want to be the go-to person for every big decision, even when you find yourself in unfamiliar territory. 

Key lessons include:

• The surprising truth D’Amaro learned about himself playing in a high school basketball all-star game.

• How to turn doubt into a genuine adventure that pushes your limits. 

• The power of insatiable curiosity to clear a pathway through unfamiliar territory.

Storytelling and curiosity furnish an important metaphor for leadership in D’Amaro’s Disney universe. Just as curiosity can guide a leader, it guides the creatives who bring Disney’s magical worlds to fruition. “You have that same passion, level of detail and conviction come to life,” he explained of Disney’s vaunted corps of Imagineers. “When you watch Imagineers build a new attraction or a new land, it’s not about hammers, nails, plaster and paint; they’re pouring themselves into these places so that everyone feels a part of the story. That’s the part of Disney that doesn’t change wherever you go in the world.”