tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post114615118268024818..comments2024-02-08T07:33:49.907-08:00Comments on Re-Imagineering: Walt Disney Talks His Business PhilosophyMr Bankshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12952506736745891323noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-45113054477527127072011-05-04T08:31:08.279-07:002011-05-04T08:31:08.279-07:00This was really interesting to read, to here what ...This was really interesting to read, to here what his plans were for Disneyland back then, and what Disneyland is now! :) He certainly was a very creative man.Sarah :)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14798821399383087495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-85293838564535001542010-05-31T20:30:03.548-07:002010-05-31T20:30:03.548-07:00With the great innovation and influence of Disney ...With the great innovation and influence of Disney himself, it seems odd that so few interviews with the man himself can be found online. I'd expect there should be a number of audio clips, at least, given the rigorous promotions the company has engaged in for many decades, especially while he was alive.Jimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-6124446298400000692010-05-17T09:21:20.382-07:002010-05-17T09:21:20.382-07:00that was a very nifty interview.....athat was a very nifty interview.....aAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-31974132949325858822010-02-21T09:56:08.879-08:002010-02-21T09:56:08.879-08:00Walt Disney had all the qualities that made an hon...Walt Disney had all the qualities that made an honorable man and a great team; Great Vision, Enthusiasm, Workt Ethic, Attention To Quality And Detail, with little compromise.<br /><br />We should all be building and living in modern Cities Of The Future, as he would have loved.<br /><br />HawkHawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723374406485498881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-37078327326215464132008-02-12T06:12:00.000-08:002008-02-12T06:12:00.000-08:00I think Walt Disney did a great job. He was wonder...I think Walt Disney did a great job. He was wonderful at what he did, and he made a lot of people happy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1147518237252147752006-05-13T04:03:00.000-07:002006-05-13T04:03:00.000-07:00Good to see this info on Walt!Good to see this info on Walt!Ken Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09470035981861334543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1147309355527529072006-05-10T18:02:00.000-07:002006-05-10T18:02:00.000-07:00People are talking about how bad it's been since W...People are talking about how bad it's been since Walt died but there have always been people at the company who had the same vision of quality as Walt did. They weren't always the ones in positions of ultimate power though. Key visionaries strategically placed throughout the company can ensure that an organization does not have to crash and burn. Stephen Covey said every organization needs a new creative vision roughly every seven years. One that looks to the future while retaining the quality of past eras. Disney can do it.ChristianZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10926523379961771939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1147283374006163632006-05-10T10:49:00.000-07:002006-05-10T10:49:00.000-07:00Someone mentioned that Iger has too much on his pl...Someone mentioned that Iger has too much on his plate and needs someone else to help him. <BR/>One BIG difference I see in Iger's management style is he knows he doesn't know everything and seems to rely on his managers to do their jobs. Unlike Eisner who micro-managed everything and wouldn't let his people do what they do best. <BR/>Changing the guy on the top doesn't change the mid level managers. It takes time to trickle down the new ideas and ways of doing things. Almost all of the mid level people were hired by Eisner and it will take time for them to leave or get on board.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146788584526601712006-05-04T17:23:00.000-07:002006-05-04T17:23:00.000-07:00Yes - - Top shot is Hayley Mills and John Mills wi...Yes - - Top shot is Hayley Mills and John Mills with Walt at a preview of Disneyland's Swiss Family Treehouse. John, of course, had starred in Swiss Family Robinson and Hayley was under contract.<BR/><BR/>The second is Walt hamming it up in the master bedroom of the Swiss Family Treehouse during opening ceremonies.Merlin Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13397520005969644808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146768211145416302006-05-04T11:43:00.000-07:002006-05-04T11:43:00.000-07:00Just a guess, but it looks like John and Hayley Mi...Just a guess, but it looks like John and Hayley Mills at the opening of the tree house. Right Merlin?pariartspaulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14327281259443510085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146759600265057942006-05-04T09:20:00.000-07:002006-05-04T09:20:00.000-07:00By the way, who are the folks with Walt in the pho...By the way, who are the folks with Walt in the photo?Roger Alfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11292576117855671042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146759527522129952006-05-04T09:18:00.000-07:002006-05-04T09:18:00.000-07:00yazashWow, I've read these great quotes so many ti...yazashWow, I've read these great quotes so many times before -- but I had no idea that they call came from the same short interview. Walt was a true visionary and it's a shame we may never see his like again. He's my personal hero. The poster for One Man's Dream hangs on my office wall.<BR/><BR/>That said, as has already been pointed out here, you can't fairly compare Walt's Disney to the current corporation. Disney in Walt's time was a very small family company -- whereas Disney today is a ginormous multimedia empire. It was a terrible shame that Eisner lost sight of what it meant to be Disney, and I'm very glad to see Iger steering the company back in the right direction, as he appears to be doing.<BR/><BR/>The "corporate greed/evil CEO" bandwagon is one that it is too easy to jump on, however (not helped by people like Eisner). Pick any of the top CEOs (go to the lists on Forbes.com) and see how much money they make. Take Bob Iger, for example, who makes 12.17 million a year, plus benefits. Iger is responsible for a huge conglomerate of companies worldwide (too many to mention) with THOUSANDS of employees. Now compare him to a typical A-list actor. Let's use Tom Cruise, who gets $25 million per picture (usually one a year), plus profit participation, which equals many millions more, based on box office. How many people does Tom Cruise have working for him? Ten? Twenty tops? And how often does he actually work? A few months out of the year? Iger makes less than half of what Tom Cruise makes, but with FAR more effort and responsibility.<BR/><BR/>One more factor to consider is the shareholders. Shareholders are not all greedy fatcats. As Ben Stein likes to say, they're generally "widows and orphans." Everyday working-class Americans who's pensions are funded by stocks in large corporations. This includes my home state of North Carolina. NC has invested a great deal in Disney stock to fund pensions for our state employees. If you read any of the stories about the efforts to oust Eisner, you'll find NC State Treasurer Richard Moore holding Eisner's feet to the fire (he sure got my vote, and I belong to the other party). So, when you're talking about shareholders making money from Disney stock, you're talking about college professors, social workers, museum guides, and a host of other everyday people who work state jobs. Disney's future is their future.Roger Alfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11292576117855671042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146691437355918922006-05-03T14:23:00.000-07:002006-05-03T14:23:00.000-07:00"As new fables, storeis, adventures and technologi..."As new fables, storeis, adventures and technologies develop, Disney will be there inspiring and motivating."<BR/><BR/>What a load of bull.<BR/><BR/>Let's see... when was the last time I was actually inspired by something Imagineering did at Disneyland?? You mean like since the '70's?Hmmm....<BR/>Wow, ya got me there.pariartspaulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14327281259443510085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146680024093133232006-05-03T11:13:00.000-07:002006-05-03T11:13:00.000-07:00someone with the same creative desires as Walt Dis...<I>someone with the same creative desires as Walt Disney,.... a new visionary</I><BR/><BR/>Problem is, someone as visionary as Walt will probably found and run their own company rather than work for (and be subject to the direction of) someone else's organization, just like Walt ended up doing. We're never going to get Another Walt at WDC; we'll get Another Walt at Another Company.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146616944296114392006-05-02T17:42:00.000-07:002006-05-02T17:42:00.000-07:00"Maybe there really should be an entire new creati..."<I>Maybe there really should be an entire new creative board there - instead of just one person.</I>"<BR/><BR/>I like that idea. To have a whole creative board, with many ideas and creativity, instead of just one person. This way, one person cannot become too powerful. <BR/><BR/>Maybe their needs to be two groups of leaders. One group of leaders will handle the one half of the empire, and the other group, the other half.<BR/><BR/>One group would be focused on everything park related, while the other group would be focused on everything else(Tv, radio, movies, magazines, et cetera). This way, the corporate minds could not make major decisions about the park.<BR/><BR/>It's just a thought, and probably not a good one, but that is what I see as a plausible solution.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146592009946737362006-05-02T10:46:00.000-07:002006-05-02T10:46:00.000-07:00Yes the odds are very slim that a lone visionary w...Yes the odds are very slim that a lone visionary would be able to do anything at Imagineering as it is now. I know from experience that once inside - it's ALL about the politics - unless things have changed a lot recently.... and it comes from the top down. There ARE a bunch of great people there that want to do great things, but again, the management that has been in place in recent years is the problem. If a new leader with insight is put in place without major backing from the studio, it's a sure bet they'll get sucked up in business as usual. I don't see any big changes coming unless the business as usual comes to an end - and that would take full support from Iger. <BR/><BR/>Speaking of Iger, he seems to be heading in a much better direction than Eisner, that's for sure - but I think there needs to be another real visionary, at least with equal power, working side by side with him. A lot of what I've heard so far from him is still a lot of talk about branding and marketing. And that's fine if you're Martha Stewart, who created a company actually based on branding. Maybe he deserves more credit than I'm giving him?<BR/><BR/>Or maybe a new Imagineering creative leader should be totally seperate from Iger - able to make their own decisions without his approval. Maybe that's what the problem has been lately. The big decisions are being made by someone with too much on their plate. Disney is such a vast corporation now, one CEO can't make every call right - with television networks, theme parks, movies, merchandising and everything else.<BR/><BR/>Also, would one new 'visionary' there be able to make the kind of changes we've been talking about here - or would he end up just being one more loose cannon to deal with? Maybe there really should be an entire new creative board there - instead of just one person.<BR/><BR/>It will be interesting to see how it all pans out in the next few years.pariartspaulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14327281259443510085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146529597893697862006-05-01T17:26:00.000-07:002006-05-01T17:26:00.000-07:00"Maybe these new fellas are something along those ..."<I>Maybe these new fellas are something along those lines. Here's hoping.</I><BR/><BR/>I am with you all the way on that wish, but I have to admit that the odds of that being true are <I>very</I> slim....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146521849014493822006-05-01T15:17:00.000-07:002006-05-01T15:17:00.000-07:00"A new visionary." That is most certainly what the..."A new visionary." That is most certainly what the Walt Disney Company needs. Perhaps even a group of new visionaries. I'd even settle for "key" visionaries in "key" places. Maybe these new fellas are something along those lines. Here's hoping.Digital Jedihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02374739586203788564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146519161180902752006-05-01T14:32:00.000-07:002006-05-01T14:32:00.000-07:00One of the things that has always impressed me abo...One of the things that has always impressed me about Walt Disney was his disregard for money for money's sake. In all of my studies of him, it seems that he never cared for money other than that it helped him to build. <BR/><BR/>It also seems that he never really cared about failure either. Every failure in his life held some kind of lesson for him. <BR/><BR/>In Disney's life, money was a necessary evil needed to attain what his dreams. In Eisner's world, Disney was a necessary evil needed to attain money.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146460484399829422006-04-30T22:14:00.000-07:002006-04-30T22:14:00.000-07:00This is a great post: the words of Walt Disney, hi...This is a great post: the words of Walt Disney, himself, spelling out the philosophy for continuing his company busiiness. But it's important to remember the motivation behind these principles. Walt Disney had a personal vision that was tied directly to his creative desires. He poured money back into his business because he wanted to create more and better stuff. And because he had a personal tie to it all, he wanted to be sure it was top rate. Every design or project created under his supervision was special because it was influenced by the idiosyncracies that made Walt Disney unique. Main Street is special because it it's Walt's Main Street.<BR/><BR/>It is going to be difficult to create that same sort of motivation in the company as it exists today because Disney is basically a company without it's visionary founder. Subsequent company leaders are going to bring their own personal vision to their business. We are all too aware of what Eisner's vision was and time will tell what Iger's legacy will be. But on a creative and motivational note, it's going to take much more than the desire to live up to Walt Disney's business philosophy to make the company a quality enterprise again. It's going to take someone with the same creative desires as Walt Disney,.... a new visionary.<BR/><BR/>-DL5263Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146341691160972722006-04-29T13:14:00.000-07:002006-04-29T13:14:00.000-07:00Not many companies are able to sustain quality. I...Not many companies are able to sustain quality. It seems the "build, sell, drain" model is more the norm. I recall a long time ago when I'd make a point to stop at a McDonalds when I drove cross country because they were sparkling clean and had food of known quality. Now I would not be caught dead in one (gas station restrooms are cleaner). Another example that always comes to mind is Holiday Inn. In it's heyday it was the place for travellers to stay. In the 80's and 90's the only imagine it brought to me was faded rooms and the smell of cigarette smoke. I think the "build, sell, drain" model is a way to make alot of near-term money, but it is not a way to please the public.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146312520230126052006-04-29T05:08:00.000-07:002006-04-29T05:08:00.000-07:00"Let's just hope the right people are listening to...<I>"Let's just hope the right people are listening to the past."</I><BR/><BR/>I really wish Walt could be here to see this. To be able to set the company strait. To give them a few wacks in the head.<BR/><BR/>Where's Doc Brown when you need him?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146257017030032692006-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:002006-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00"Well, by this time, my staff, my young group of e..."Well, by this time, my staff, my young group of executives are convinced that Walt is right, that quality will win out, and so I think they will stay with this policy because it's proven it's a good business policy."<BR/><BR/>Enough said. <BR/>Let's just hope the right people are listening to the past.Scott M. Curranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15214343160961420122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146256589148170732006-04-28T13:36:00.000-07:002006-04-28T13:36:00.000-07:00"...like the old farmer, you've got to pour it bac..."...like the old farmer, you've got to pour it back into the ground if you want to get it out."<BR/><BR/>"...quality will win out... it's proven it's a good business policy. Give the public everything you can give them..."<BR/><BR/>(Sounded so nice, had to say it twice!)Roccohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06112066005366809913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22576594.post-1146253880686827162006-04-28T12:51:00.000-07:002006-04-28T12:51:00.000-07:00"He created, brought in people in who also created...<I>"He created, brought in people in who also created,"</I><BR/>The current Disney company does not get this concept. They are <B>down</B>sizing Imagineering, not the <B>UP</B>sizing that should be done! The Imagineering department should be the largest department of the whole company, not the smallest! Now, yes, it will cost money to expand Imagineering, but as you said:<BR/><BR/><I>"....poured dollar after dollar into making quality creations and cycled his returns into starting the whole process all over again, with the intention of doing even better the next time around."</I><BR/><BR/>Walt did this. The Imagineering department was the best part of the company. He practically lived there. This should be the largest department, not the accounting department.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com