A few months ago, my family and I went on a vacation at Universal Studios. Of course, all three of my children were thrilled, but when I told them that during the vacation we might be able to stop at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there was nobody more excited about it than my daughter Mirabelle.
We told her that we would leave for the trip in a month and a half, and she set a goal to read all seven books and watch all eight movies together before we left. But Mirabelle has never had a great relationship with books—she’s never enjoyed reading or wanted to spend more time than she has to doing it. But when she picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, she had the reaction that I’m sure many parents can resonate with: she loved it and didn’t want to put it down.
Suddenly, my daughter–who I’ve never seen enjoy reading–couldn’t stop! She finished the first, and we watched the film as a family, then the second, then the third. Finally, when it was time to go on our trip, she got in the car, her bookmark tucked halfway through the sixth book. Though she didn’t finish all seven before our trip, the amount of pages she read was huge, and the fact that she now had an appreciation for words was even bigger.
So I wanted to write this blog post to thank J.K. Rowling for writing an epic tale that causes an eleven year old girl to start her spark as a lifelong reader. I want to thank Harry Potter for teaching her that even the quiet and unassuming can have cataclysmic impact, and Universal Studios for bringing it all to life, for taking the leap of faith that they did to build an entire amusement park around a story and a book character. I would’ve loved to be at that board meeting—“So, we want to take this book and invest billions of dollars into creating a theme park.” Sure, the book series is one of the most popular of all time, but that doesn’t mean that investing the money and energy in a business venture as huge as a theme park can be taken lightly. But Universal Studios did take that risk, and clearly it has paid off immensely.
Sometimes, when you’re looking at a large (possibly risky) decision, deciding whether you want to jump off the cliff with a new venture, think about the people it will impact the most—your target market, so to speak. For us, it’s Mirabelle, and we are so thankful that they took the chance that has lead to her loving to read.
Has a business or organization impacted you or your family positively? Tell me about it—I’d love to hear who has changed your life for the better!
As a speaker and author, Curtis Zimmerman has impacted over one million people with his life-changing messages and award-winning programs. Curtis is an expert at transforming organizations by inspiring individuals to live their lives at performance level.
Want to be inspired? Check out his podcast The Next 24 Hours.
