Words From Walt
Page 2 of 20
December 5
You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality. |
Walt Disney has been a brand for so long now that it is often easy to forget that there was an actual living, breathing person behind the name. In a recent Walt Disney World commercial, a grandfather stands in front of the Partners statue and tells his grandchild about who Walt Disney, the person, was. Cute, to be sure, but it also underscores the fact that the Disney Company has to sell the idea of Walt Disney himself to its customers when promoting the celebration of his birth 100 years ago.
When the Walt Disney Company began nearly 80 years ago, it was known as the Disney Brothers Studio - after both Walt and Roy. But a conscious decision was made to brand the company behind the one name. That decision was a smart one in a business sense. Walt Disney would become synonymous with family entertainment and would become known the world over.
Early in legendary Disney animator Ken Anderson’s career, Walt Disney took him aside and described the reasons behind the selling of Walt Disney and that no picture would ever be a “Ken Anderson” picture. It was always a Walt Disney Production. And while some in the organization took this branding as the efforts of a vain man to promote himself, for those who got it and believed in it, the products that they put forth meant so much more to generations of fans than if they had gone it alone.
The above quote, used by Walt to describe the personnel working at Disneyland, is used by many motivationalists to promote teamwork and foster a sense of community within the ranks of a company. Walt Disney recognized that despite the fact that his name was top billing in anything and everything that the company produced, he couldn’t make his dream a reality without the talented and dedicated staff that worked for him.
Walt was never one to hand out gushing compliments. The prolific songwriting duo of Robert and Richard Sherman often tell the story of knowing when Walt was happy with one of their songs when he simply said, “That’ll do.” That, coming from Walt, was high praise.
Walt Disney was unquestionably the heart and soul of the Disney Studio, but over time, the team of people that he assembled around him proved to be valuable to the success of the company bearing his name. Though Walt might not have always verbalized his praise and admiration for his staff, from the janitor to the balloon vendor to the attractions host, his appreciation for their service is clearly evident in this quote about his organization. Every Cast Member, every animator, every Imagineer is Walt Disney when they are representing the company as an employee. Walt Disney understood this and appreciated the team that helped make his dreams reality.
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-- Matthew Walker
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