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The Disney Way Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

by Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson

"A dream is a wish your heart makes." – Jiminy Cricket

Mickey Mouse management isn't a joke. It's the ticket to your company's future.

Everyone knows that success in today's business world comes from inspired and disciplined teamwork. And everyone knows that The Walt Disney Company is the master of both.

But how exactly did The Walt Disney Company manage to weave itself into the very fabric of our society? How did it create a legacy that still endures some 30 years after the death of its legendary founder? What were the rock-solid principles upon which Walt Disney built his namesake?

In The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company, Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson, examine Disney's business philosophy and explain how it can be used in any company to achieve superior teamwork, creativity and innovation.

The authors introduce four principles — Dream, Believe, Dare and Do — and reveal how these ideas drive the ten principles that are at the heart of every Disney strategy. Each principle is then examined in detail by illustrating it at work at Disney as well as at other successful companies such as 3M, Ford and Motorola.

Capodagli & Jackson's book tells the inside story of just how Disney's success was achieved — not by one-time successes like Pinocchio or Dumbo, but by the force of a much-considered, carefully wrought process of managing innovation and creativity and by adherence to a firmly held system of beliefs.

Capodagli and Jackson have spent their careers studying Disney and teaching the company's unique management methods to others. As consultants for some of North America's most successful companies, they have used the Disney principles again and again, and have seen them yield stunning performance improvements. Now they have distilled this wisdom into a practical, hands-on book that will show you how to bring a little Disney magic to your company — no matter what it is.

Why Disney?

The more people learn about Walt Disney and his achievements, both as an artist and as a creative business leader, the more certain it becomes that the Disney

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story embodies valuable lessons for every company.

Years ago, when Bill Capodagli & Lynn Jackson started looking around for companies that could serve as examples in their consulting business, a great deal of scrutinizing, researching and analyzing led them to conclude that none compared to Disney in every aspect of running an organization. Whereas one company might excel in customer relations or another might work well with its suppliers, according to Capodagli & Jackson, Disney's consistency in direction and overall strategy, its unrivaled customer service, its employee training, low turnover and spectacular profitability leave Disney in a class of its own.

Having studied the Disney phenomenon for 20 years, Capodagli & Jackson are convinced that the management techniques they call "Walt's way" are as valid today as they were in 1937, when the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney's very first animated feature film, captured the hearts and minds of moviegoers everywhere. Skeptics need only look to the spectacular successes The Walt Disney Company continues to achieve year after year, decade after decade, for affirmation of Walt's way.

Embracing the Disney Spirit

Dream. Believe. Dare. Do. Just as Walt Disney never wavered from his four-pillared philosophy, history is replete with examples of great accomplishments derived from the same commitment. We are reminded, for example, of President John F. Kennedy's challenge to America in 1961 to put the first man on the moon in the ensuing decade. Kennedy had a dream that he firmly believed could become a reality because he saw that it fit perfectly with the can-do spirit that had driven the United States from the outset. The rest, as they say, is history.

Such is the power of Walt's way: Dream. Believe. Dare. Do. You too, say Capodagli & Jackson, can incorporate these words into your business vocabulary by following the ten beliefs that are at the heart of the Disney methodology:

1. Give every member of your organization a chance to dream, and tap into the creativity those dreams embody. 2. Stand firm on your beliefs. 3. Treat your customers like guests. 4. Support, empower and reward your employees. 5. Build long-term relationships with key suppliers and partners. 6. Dare to take calculated risks in order to bring innovative ideas to fruition. 7. Train extensively and constantly reinforce the company's culture. 8. Align long-term vision with short-term execution. 9. Pay close attention to detail. 10. Use storyboarding as a planning technique.

Dream

It is no easy matter to convey a dream. Dreams are, by their very nature, deeply

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personal experiences. But true to his imaginative genius, Walt Disney was able to transform his dreams into stories that effectively articulated his vision to others.

In the early days, when The Walt Disney Company was small, Walt used to call his five or six animators into his office to discuss an idea for a new film or project. With dramatic effect, say Capodagli & Jackson, Walt would embark on a story - not a literal narrative account of his project, but an ancient myth, perhaps, or some other related tale that conveyed the feelings and emotions behind the dream and his hopes for the project's success.

In short order, the master would capture the attention of his "cast members" and in the process stimulate the kind of excitement and commitment he well knew was necessary to turn Disney-size dreams into reality.

Storytelling, according to Capodagli & Jackson, can be a powerful tool for focusing an organization on a particular problem or project and for unleashing employees' creativity by giving them the power to dream. In one instance, the authors worked with a client who was attempting to transform his company's culture by discarding old ways and embracing a new set of values.

As part of the change process, a group of employees was asked to write an imaginary newspaper story reporting the company's triumphant turnaround. The purpose of this exercise was to force the group to think about how forthcoming cultural changes should be developed, how they would effect the company and how these employees would personally execute them. A number of different scenarios emerged. Some were nuts-and-bolts pieces, others had a streak of fantasy about them, but all evidenced an understanding of the company's goals.

When Walt Disney was still at the helm of his company, everyone was invited to voice their opinions and to make suggestions. The corporate hierarchy dissolved when it came to offering ideas for improving a movie script, a theme park ride or an animated sequence. And basically, according to Capodagli & Jackson, the same holds true today.

In a thrice-yearly brainstorming event, animators, secretaries and anyone else who thinks he or she has a good idea can formally make a pitch to a panel of top brass that includes current Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Vice-Chairman of the Board Roy Disney and the rest of Disney's corporate elite.

These events have proven to be a valuable learning experience for employees, helping them to see why one idea works and another doesn't. And by creating an environment in which people feel safe to express their creativity, The Walt Disney Company has sewn the seeds for many of its animated features and other commercial successes.

Believe

From the early years of his life growing up on a farm in Missouri, Walt Disney

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formed beliefs and values that stuck with him through his life and from which he never deviated. His love of nature, handsomely depicted in numerous animated films and at his theme parks, can surely be traced to those experiences, as can the basic foursquare family values that still guide The Walt Disney Company today.

Perfectly complementing Walt's firmly held beliefs was the clear philosophy expressed by his brother Roy: "When values are clear, decisions are easy." Together, these precepts formed what is, in effect, the Disney company mantra: "Live your beliefs," or what Capodagli & Jackson simply call Believe.

To ensure that employees at all levels would be guided by his beliefs and visionary sense of purpose, Walt Disney fostered what amounted to an almost cult-like atmosphere. His passionate belief in the need to instill company culture led him to set up a formal training program that has come to be known as the Disney University.

Of course, Capodagli & Jackson do not expect that your organization will want to establish its own university to train employees. Nevertheless, you can, say the authors, devise a process that will effectively communicate your beliefs and values to employees, partners and customers. Having done that, you will be ready to enjoy the power that flows when employee actions are clearly aligned with the overall company vision, values and objectives.

Dare

From the time that Walt Disney decided to produce his first cartoon, he pushed the limits of ordinary achievement. Disney pioneered the use of sound in animated cartoons with Steamboat Willie.

He signed his contract with Technicolor before the revolutionary process had even been accepted by the industry as a whole and astutely insisted on a two-year exclusive for his cartoons. He originated feature-length cartoons with Snow White and defied the odds at a time when no one thought anyone would ever sit through a 90-minute cartoon.

The key point is that Walt, although politically and personally conservative by nature, accepted no conventional boundaries when it came to his work. He was sure of his values and beliefs, sure of his own talents and those of his cast members and sure that, if given the proper chance, this outstanding combination would eventually prevail.

Do

Actors, musicians, athletes and others who perform in public must train and practice. Otherwise they risk embarrassing themselves and incurring the displeasure of spectators. Of great importance, too, is the teacher or coach who tells the musician that he's hitting the wrong notes or advises the athlete about

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batting stance, running form and so on. Without such helpful criticism and attention to detail by the coach, a performer's career is likely to be short-lived.

So it is in business. Before a company can perform at its best, say Capodagli & Jackson, its managers must come to believe that details are important. Because paying attention to the little things is what turns a great vision into a top-quality product or outstanding service.

Perhaps because of his background as an artist, Walt Disney fully understood that attention to detail was the key to complete realization of his dreams. As a result, the company he founded has no equal when it comes to creating the thousands of intricate drawings needed to produce nonpareil animation, bringing together the mind-boggling number of parts required to build a Disneyland, or carefully attending to the numerous small details that make every guest's experience a magical one.

In fact, no corner of the organization escaped Walt's obsession with perfection. He determined that garbage cans should be spaced exactly 25 feet apart all around Disneyland. He ordered that the highest quality paint be used on rides and buildings, going so far as to specify that real gold or silver be used for any gilding or silvering. He even hired someone to patrol his theme parks to make certain that all the colors were in harmony!

If this holistic approach to management seems excessive, one need only think of a promising new restaurant that went awry because of one disagreeable factor. Perhaps the food was first-class, the service pleasant and the décor attractive, but the background music was too loud. One jarring element, argue Capodagli & Jackson, can undermine a host of favorable impressions and Walt Disney wasn't about to risk such a misstep.

The message for management, then, is to look at your business in a holistic manner, the way Walt Disney might look at one of his cartoon storyboards. In a full-length Disney feature, no problem color, shadow or line ever goes unnoticed even when it means creating hundreds of new drawings to bring perfection to a few seconds of film. So it should be for your company too.

Conclusion

Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson have distilled the best of the Disney management philosophy into a highly readable book. Their work shows that by applying the successful Disney methods to one's day-to-day operations, any company can inject "magic" into their teams and to the bottom line.

Capodagli Jackson Consulting, based in Indianapolis, IN, conducts Dream Retreats® for organizations striving to implement Dream, Believe, Dare, Do.