LIFE INFLUENCES

My Dad, Robert “Bob” F. Jani (May 25, 1934 to August 6, 1989), was always a bigger than life personality in my life that I admired and strived to emulate. He had a personal motto of “Dare to Dream and Always Aim High” that I embraced, and now my kids have embraced. He is still having an impact even though he passed over 30 years ago when I was just starting out in my career. I still think about him every day.

He was known in his time as the PT Barnum of his day - the greatest showmen who had a passion to inspire and entertain family audiences with impactful shows. Most importantly he taught me the qualities of storytelling, humility, and investing in others.

Bob Jani’s most enduring creations were Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade and Radio City’s Magnificent Christmas Spectacular that still run today as the longest running and largest cumulative audiences for both a parade (200M+) and a theatrical musical (72M+) of all time. By comparison the biggest Broadway musical of all time, The Lion King, had a cumulative audience of 15M+.

I never met Walt Disney (December 1, 1901 to December 15, 1966), but I was impacted by his special lens on life through my Dad who started working with him early in his career to open Disneyland.

Walt’s vision for doing the impossible, not being afraid to try, and creating memorable guest experiences are still the standards for today.

I use Walt's unparalleled vision for guest experience to guide the benchmark for customer experience for any project or business I am associated with.

 Scott (August 26, 1951 to October 23, 2022) was my oldest cousin who was a firefighter, commercial artist, surfer, and lover of life. My middle name is named after him so he has always been an important person in my life that I looked up to growing up.

However, what Scott was more than anything was a friend to everyone. He never met a stranger as he had an amazing gift of making everyone he met instantly feel valued and important. He was also by far the funniest person I ever met. He would get a room full of people laughing hysterically instantly - and I am talking gut wrenching double over laughing. It was always amazing to experience.

But what Scott taught me the most was to respect others. There is nobody that is too unimportant to be empathetic or respectful towards. Scott defines “Legendary” in my book.