Think Like an Iconoclast
Disney was a perfectionist who believed that high standards were both achievable and an indication of moral virtue. Operating to the highest standards was good for business because it promoted the creation of long-term economic value.
To cite just one example, after portions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had been completed, one of the film’s animators created a special walk for Dopey that put the character out of step with the other dwarfs. Upon realizing that this is exactly how Dopey should be animated, Disney had each scene with the character re-animated, even though the picture was already running over its projected budget.
Owing to setbacks such as this, many expected the film, the first-ever animated full-length feature cartoon, to be a failure. Instead, Snow White became the top-grossing picture in history upon its debut in December, 1937. The success of the film helped Disney promote the discipline of building a highperformance business culture that would contribute to his company’s future triumphs.
Money Is Always A Means, NeverAn End For Disney, profit was primarily a means to achieving bigger and more meaningful ambitions. “All I know about money is that I have to have it to do things,” he stated. “I regard it merely as a medium for financing new ideas. I neither wish nor intend to amass a personal fortune. Money – or, rather the lack of it to carry out my ideas – may worry me, but it does not excite me. Ideas excite me.”
His investment in Disneyland expressed his investment philosophy: it cost $17 million to open in 1955, far in excess of the original estimate of $1.7 million. Each year, Walt and his brother continued to pour the profits back into the development, seeing it as money well spent. By the time Walt died, the Disneyland theme park represented a total investment of over $126 million. In discussing the attributes that made Walt Disney a successful entrepreneur, Ward Kimball, one of his colleagues, observed: “If you want to know the real secret of Disney’s success, it’s that he never tried to make money. He was really more concerned with the end result than the money. If it made money, fine. He felt that if you put your heart into a project and if you were a perfectionist, people would automatically like it.” 5. Exceed Customer Expectations Disney was always looking for opportunities to dazzle through technical innovation. If synchronized sound was a possibility, silent movies weren’t good enough; if colour film was available, black and white was below standard. He was driven to innovation by his boredom of repetition, his curiosity about new technology, and his romantic belief that scientific advances could be used to better humankind.
For Disney, the only real constraints faced by humankind were the laws of nature and the limits of our imaginations. When it came to building Disneyland, he was unusually customer-driven by the standards of the time. “With everything I do, I keep a practical eye toward its appeal to the public,” he said. He required his artists and designers to observe guests as they moved through the park and seek out opportunities for improvement.
Disney designer and author John Hench stated that “To design most effectively for our guests, we learned that we had to observe them up close, waiting in lines with them, going on rides with them, eating with them. Walt insisted on this. Going out into the park taught us how guests were being treated and how they responded to sensory information, what worked and what didn’t. We got an idea of what was going on in their minds.”
ShareThis
