As a child, I used to love the Disney cartoons, and have been inspired many times throughout my life by the abilities of Peter Pan, the antics of the seven dwarfs, the cuteness of all of the 101 puppies and I am in awe at how generation after generation continue to be inspired by a cartoon mouse!
It was my holiday to Walt Disney World in Florida that left me truly in awe of the man behind the mouse and my interest deepened when I stumbled across his biography in the library during my university research for great leaders.
I wanted to share with you the most inspirational things I learned from Walt Disney and show how his ideas, skills and talents can be applied to our own worlds.
His Early Years
Walt Disney was abused as a child, by his father, a sorry beginning for anyone. However he found solace in the bedtime stories his mother would read to him, his imagination the escape route into a land of fantasy and fun that was so different from the harsh reality he endured. Lesson #1: Great stories and happy ending can come out of sad, even desperate situations.
The Rejection of Snow White
Following the success of his short cartoons, Disney decided to make a full length colour cartoon feature film and approached the bank for funding. He was turned down. He went to another bank. He was turned down again. Did you know he was turned down by over three hundred banks before one loaned him the money? Today, we know how successful that film was but what if he had been like me, like many of us and after one or two attempts to find funding, after a couple of rejections, he decided that his dream was impossible and would never happen. How sad it would have been for all of us if he had shelved it. Lesson #2: Self belief encourages perseverance and don’t let anyone else get in your way and stop you from doing what you know you can do.
Inspiration from a Park Bench
One Sunday afternoon he sat on a park bench, watching his kids play on the rides alongside other parents, doing the same thing. And then this man had a thought, he wondered what it would be like to have a place where the whole family could go and have fun together. He did more than think about it, he took action, and how! Most of us have dreamed of visiting ‘The Magic Kingdom’ whether it be DisneyLand, DisneyWorld or EuroDisney. Each of us has so many ideas and when passion comes into the mix, truly anything is possible. Lesson #3: Goals are just dreams with action and deadlines.
The Big Kids Play Park
Walt opened Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, California on July 17, 1955 at a cost of $17 million and families flocked in their millions to the see the fun park. The futuristic, fantasy park was a big kids playground and Walt saw his dream come to life. He was confused when people started leaving early and asked them why. When he discovered it was because of the busy highway (which they could see from the airbus) he had to start thinking again. That is when he decided to think big! Lesson #4: Stay flexible with your customers desires
Walt Disney World
Taking the lessons learned in California, Walt bought forty square miles of land in Florida and built his own world. A world where people could go to have fun and escape into a land of fantasy just as he had done all those years ago listening to his mother as a little boy. He built a world where people could venture not just for a whole day, but for a holiday, enabling them to take a couple of weeks away from their ‘real life’. Lesson#5: Learn from your experience, make your business more responsive to what the customer wants, even if they don’t know it yet. Build it and they will come.
I hope one day, if you haven’t already been, you get to experience the magical world of Walt Disney, a world where in his own words, “dreams really do come true”.
What I Learned About Business from Walt Disney
As a child, I used to love the Disney cartoons, and have been inspired many times throughout my life by the abilities of Peter Pan, the antics of the seven dwarfs, the cuteness of all of the 101 puppies and I am in awe at how generation after generation continue to be inspired by a cartoon mouse!
It was my holiday to Walt Disney World in Florida that left me truly in awe of the man behind the mouse and my interest deepened when I stumbled across his biography in the library during my university research for great leaders.
I wanted to share with you the most inspirational things I learned from Walt Disney and show how his ideas, skills and talents can be applied to our own worlds.
His Early Years
Walt Disney was abused as a child, by his father, a sorry beginning for anyone. However he found solace in the bedtime stories his mother would read to him, his imagination the escape route into a land of fantasy and fun that was so different from the harsh reality he endured. Lesson #1: Great stories and happy ending can come out of sad, even desperate situations.
The Rejection of Snow White
Following the success of his short cartoons, Disney decided to make a full length colour cartoon feature film and approached the bank for funding. He was turned down. He went to another bank. He was turned down again. Did you know he was turned down by over three hundred banks before one loaned him the money? Today, we know how successful that film was but what if he had been like me, like many of us and after one or two attempts to find funding, after a couple of rejections, he decided that his dream was impossible and would never happen. How sad it would have been for all of us if he had shelved it. Lesson #2: Self belief encourages perseverance and don’t let anyone else get in your way and stop you from doing what you know you can do.
Inspiration from a Park Bench
One Sunday afternoon he sat on a park bench, watching his kids play on the rides alongside other parents, doing the same thing. And then this man had a thought, he wondered what it would be like to have a place where the whole family could go and have fun together. He did more than think about it, he took action, and how! Most of us have dreamed of visiting ‘The Magic Kingdom’ whether it be DisneyLand, DisneyWorld or EuroDisney. Each of us has so many ideas and when passion comes into the mix, truly anything is possible. Lesson #3: Goals are just dreams with action and deadlines.
The Big Kids Play Park
Walt opened Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, California on July 17, 1955 at a cost of $17 million and families flocked in their millions to the see the fun park. The futuristic, fantasy park was a big kids playground and Walt saw his dream come to life. He was confused when people started leaving early and asked them why. When he discovered it was because of the busy highway (which they could see from the airbus) he had to start thinking again. That is when he decided to think big! Lesson #4: Stay flexible with your customers desires
Walt Disney World
Taking the lessons learned in California, Walt bought forty square miles of land in Florida and built his own world. A world where people could go to have fun and escape into a land of fantasy just as he had done all those years ago listening to his mother as a little boy. He built a world where people could venture not just for a whole day, but for a holiday, enabling them to take a couple of weeks away from their ‘real life’. Lesson#5: Learn from your experience, make your business more responsive to what the customer wants, even if they don’t know it yet. Build it and they will come.
I hope one day, if you haven’t already been, you get to experience the magical world of Walt Disney, a world where in his own words, “dreams really do come true”.
I loved it there and I hope you will too.
Jane
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