Page 234 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

Chapter 12

Re-Creating

the Magic

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles,
have strengthened me . . . . You may not realize it when it happens,
but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
Walt Disney

ur professional passion for The Walt Disney Company began in the
early 1980s, when many of our consulting clients were asking us to
Obenchmark “best practices.” Disney would consistently emerge as
one of the “best of the best,” not only in their legendary customer service but
also in the areas of training, maintenance, and even production. (Disney owns
and operates one of the largest laundry facilities in the world, the largest in the
United States. It’s a production facility that processes thousands of costumes
and linens every day.) Since the early 1990s, we began working with clients
to create their own Dream, Believe, Dare, Do cultures.
During the past quarter century, we have witnessed a number of monu-
mental events in The Walt Disney Company: the blocking of two hostile
takeovers; an increase in the number of theme parks, from 4 to 11; a cata-
strophic helicopter crash; emergency bypass surgery; the re-birth, and then
death of the classic 2D cell animation of the 1930s; the birth of the 3D
computer animation; the acquisition of a major television network; fights
in boardrooms and courtrooms; the company’s corporate image as both
“prince” and “villain” of Wall Street. This list sounds like the making of a
new ABC prime-time soap opera, “Desperate CEOs.”

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