Page 189 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

170 The Disney Way

described it, the system says, in effect, “Within these boundaries you will create.
This is the budget, these are the limitations. Make it work within this frame-
work.” 64
And work it has, as consistently successful and profitable flights of fancy
from Dumbo to Aladdin attest. While our clients may not be staging magic
carpet rides, we have seen diverse companies devise their own methods, both
formal and informal, to ensure that a workable idea will actually come to
fruition. In this chapter, we look at both the Disney “blue sky” process and
the variations crafted by companies in a range of industries.

Carefully Managed Creativity, The Disney Way

There have always been two basic schools of thought on business creativity. The
first insists that researchers and other in-house innovators be given the loosest
rein possible, allowing new ideas and projects to develop on their own momen-
tum with a maximum of independent decision making. The second approach
demands that the reins be kept taut, that the generation of ideas be part of the
corporate process, and like the other parts, that it be carefully managed.
Walt Disney was definitely of the second school. Although his famously
forceful and controlling management style was largely attributable to his per-
sonality, there was also a practical consideration: the cost of making animated
pictures. Makers of live-action films could shoot extra footage and then piece
together their final product through artful cutting in the editing room, but
animation costs were such that cartoon makers couldn’t even consider this
whittle-down approach.
So to keep costs in check, Disney exercised extremely tight control of the
creative process itself by instituting a rigorous, nine-step regimen for proj-
ect management. Only by demanding that his people follow this standard
procedure could he continue to turn dreams into tangible products, whether
he was dealing with films, amusement parks, television shows, or any of the
other Disney enterprises. In the Disney system, nothing was—or is—left to
chance. Figure 9-1 illustrates the planning process.
In schematic form, the process looks like this:

Step 1—Blue sky
■ Ask “What if?” rather than “What?”
■ Learn to live for a time with the discomfort of not knowing, or not
being in full control.
■ Take a trip through fantasyland; start with the story.