Page 245 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

226 The Disney Way

old economy theories of management are still very much alive and thriving.
Yet, in our travels, we are continually reminded that the level of excellence
attained by these seven is only within reach of those who are brave enough
to relinquish power and become servants to their employees, their teams, and
their customers. Most of all, these iconic leaders are smart enough to exercise
their “magic” each and every day by empowering others, from the board-
room to the front line, to live their dreams; create new avenues to the future
guided by their values; dare to make a difference; and, most of all, never to be
satisfied with the status quo. Remember the inspiring words of Walt Disney:
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

The Cheesecake Factory
Dream

David Overton must have had an inner voice that said to him, “If you build it,
they will come.” In 1974, he left the music scene of San Francisco to fulfill the
dream of building a showcase for what his mother had created: the “ice cream of
cheesecakes.” All he knew about cheesecake, per se, was that his mother, Evelyn,
made the best cheesecake west of New York (and now one could argue, any-
where) and that everyone seemed to love it. He remembered folding pink bakery
boxes with his sister Renee to earn their allowances of a penny a box. (Fact: The
boxes are still hand-folded!) David also remembered being in elementary school
and bringing only one cheesecake to a bake sale, where his principal was literally
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standing on the steps waiting to buy it. And to this day, people are still waiting
with pager in hand for more than just a slice of the over 35 flavors of cheesecake.
Yet, guests never really have to wait for The Cheesecake Factory experience
to begin: as soon as they walk through the grand entrance into the glistening
palace-like banquet room and absorb the magic of the rich Egyptian columns,
hand-painted murals, and gently swaying palm trees, they have entered a fairy-
tale world and left the real world behind.
David didn’t let the fact that he had no restaurant experience stop him
from starting a little restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1978. He was a businessman
with a keen sense of what people liked, and they certainly liked cheesecake. But,
what else could he offer them besides cheesecake? For David, this was more
like figuring out what to fix for guests for dinner on Saturday night than it was
for opening up a restaurant. As Linda Candioty, retired vice-president recalled,
“David was sitting on a very old saggy couch in a teeny office surrounded by
cookbooks, mountains of magazines, and things he had torn out. He had stacks