Page 21 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

2 The Disney Way

Dream, Believe, Dare, Do: These words reverberate across the decades
of Disney achievement. Everything Walt did—every choice he made, every
strategy he pursued—evolved from these four principles. And as the bedrock
upon which his life and work rested, they naturally informed the basic values
that dictated how he ran his company. Thus, the ways in which The Walt
Disney Company trained and empowered its employees, managed creativity
and innovation, and provided service to its customers were all influenced by
this four-pillared philosophy.

Why Disney?

The more we learn about this legendary figure and his achievements, both as
an artist and as a creative business leader, the more certain it becomes that
the Disney story embodies valuable lessons for every company. But most of
us were originally drawn to Walt Disney and the company he founded the
same way one is drawn to a favorite uncle.
Like nearly everyone else alive today, we, the authors, grew up being
almost as familiar with the Disney name as we were with our own. Many child-
hood hours were spent sitting on the floor before the TV set watching “The
Wonderful World of Disney” and being transported to the Magic Kingdom.
Neither one of us has forgotten the thrill of seeing Peter Pan for the first
time. As a young father introducing my own children to the film, I [Bill]
marveled at its ability to rekindle the emotions I had initially felt as a six-
year-old. Disneyland, too, had much the same effect the first time I visited
some 35 years ago. Not surprisingly, my then three-year-old son didn’t want
to leave and, I might add, I felt a little bit that way myself.
In this instance, though, I was captivated by much more than the fabu-
lous attractions. Viewing the park through the eyes of an industrial engineer,
I was thoroughly intrigued by the processes. How did the Disney people
manage all those crowds? How did they train their employees? How did
they run their customer service? What was the secret of the success of their
complex technology? I came away from that first visit deeply impressed by
the organization—and with a lot of questions.
As for me [Lynn], “The Wonderful World of Disney” was one of the
best things about being a child. Later, when I became heavily involved in the
field of training and development, I realized the true magic of Disney’s phi-
losophy. For me, the seed for benchmarking Disney was planted when I took