The Disney Difference? Very interesting article.

[Peter Pirate 2]

Well...we'll agree to disagree on many points....notably the dynamic between the disney brothers.

and also fundamentally on "the disney way"....america has changed and the "quality will win out" isn't compatible for the corporation that disney has become and for the world that the eisner years spanned...and through to Iger.

I would argue that Iger...though in many ways another bland hollywood suit...did acquire Pixar and placate Steve Jobs - which was the most "disney way" thing done anywhere since eisney became a two bit corner cutter and power monger in the mid 1990's. To buy the highest quality movie and story generating studio of our time is a committment to quality and excellence that Walt Disney would have been proud of...until they screw it up, of course.

but seriously - how would the Disney way work nowadays? fiarly compensated park workers working their tails off so that your every desire is addressed...and management appreciating that and not looking at it as "lost revenue"? new immersive lands and stories built to amaze kids of all ages...with no attention paid to construction cost, long-term operational cost, and revenue potential? not making sequels to movies that generate huge Wal-mart profits because it would cheapen the brand and that's "Not what walt would do?"


boy....talk about living in a fantasyland

How would the Disney model work today? That's easy and right under your nose. Pixar, before Disney gobbled it up. It was a company that could have been Disney incarnate. in can work, Pixar is proof, but it flies in the face of conventionality and the MBA's rote. As long as the MBA "is" what it takes to run these companies we'll be waiting until a modern day Walt Disney, who has both the business acumen and imagination to come along. It'll be a long wait.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

How would the Disney model work today? That's easy and right under your nose. Pixar, before Disney gobbled it up. It was a company that could have been Disney incarnate. in can work, Pixar is proof, but it flies in the face of conventionality and the MBA's rote. As long as the MBA "is" what it takes to run these companies we'll be waiting until a modern day Walt Disney, who has both the business acumen and imagination to come along. It'll be a long wait.

Pixar was originally a toy developed in George Lucas's Star Wars-funded money compound....then it was sold as a toy to Apple Computers...then it was financed by Walt Disney in the hundreds of millions to make movies that are practically a license to print money....

my point is that they do it the "right way" because they have always been owned or bankrolled by companies that were swimming in cash.
That's like saying "boy, that google sure does it right"

- of course it does....they're loaded.

not the greatest example

 

[Donut23]

How would the Disney model work today? That's easy and right under your nose. Pixar, before Disney gobbled it up. It was a company that could have been Disney incarnate. in can work, Pixar is proof, but it flies in the face of conventionality and the MBA's rote. As long as the MBA "is" what it takes to run these companies we'll be waiting until a modern day Walt Disney, who has both the business acumen and imagination to come along. It'll be a long wait.

Oh boy are you right.



Did anyone see Pixar Story on CNBC - it was shown a couple of times..last month I believe. Opened your eyes.

Lassiter was hired early on by Disney to develope a computer generated movie. On his "how is the program going" meeting (what 6, months in) he was asked....
How much $$$ will this save over conventional 2D animation. He apparently said...it will probably cost about the same.

Lassiter was fired later that day. Disney's bottom line regarding movies is....the bottom line - make 'em cheap. How many Disney animated moves have been raging successes since Pixar? Can't happen when you fire your animators.

Steve Jobs was well rewarded for his investments in Pixar and now Disney is too and Pixar remains creative.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Oh boy are you right.



Did anyone see Pixar Story on CNBC - it was shown a couple of times..last month I believe. Opened your eyes.

Lassiter was hired early on by Disney to develope a computer generated movie. On his "how is the program going" meeting (what 6, months in) he was asked....
How much $$$ will this save over conventional 2D animation. He apparently said...it will probably cost about the same.

Lassiter was fired later that day. Disney's bottom line regarding movies is....the bottom line - make 'em cheap. How many Disney animated moves have been raging successes since Pixar? Can't happen when you fire your animators.

Steve Jobs was well rewarded for his investments in Pixar and now Disney is too and Pixar remains creative.

i remember reading that story in print form somewhere (the times...i think)

indeed pixar has carved out a heck of a niche for themselves...but there's a big storm cloud on the horizon

Steve Jobs is still the silent muscle behind pixar...and he has had pancreatic cancer for quite awhile...only being given reprieve by going out of the country for experimental proceedures...

That tells us two things:
1. our medical system is crooked...because he has gotten years when our "top notched" medical system woulda given him months and just stuck him to a bed and let the bills rack up...theives.
2. Ultimately...he can't outrun it forever...which means probably sooner or later he will not be there to defend them against the Accountants that disney stacks in its' ranks with good times Bobby at the helm. (the fact that Staggs - a pocket protector in a suit - was put in charge of Attractions is beyond laughable)
Eventually...pixar will be without it's "lucky apple" and the swarm of locusts from Team Disney will descend on their financials like a field of unprotected crops

 

[skiingfast]

That tells us two things:
1. our medical system is crooked...because he has gotten years when our "top notched" medical system woulda given him months and just stuck him to a bed and let the bills rack up...theives.
2. Ultimately...he can't outrun it forever...which means probably sooner or later he will not be there to defend them against the Accountants that disney stacks in its' ranks with good times Bobby at the helm. (the fact that Staggs - a pocket protector in a suit - was put in charge of Attractions is beyond laughable)
Eventually...pixar will be without it's "lucky apple" and the swarm of locusts from Team Disney will descend on their financials like a field of unprotected crops

Just a question, are you aware that most of Steve Jobs wealth came from selling pixar to Disney?

Also that he is a huge Disney shareholder? Because Disney gave hime a bunch of stock for pixar.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Just a question, are you aware that most of Steve Jobs wealth came from selling pixar to Disney?

Also that he is a huge Disney shareholder? Because Disney gave hime a bunch of stock for pixar.

Steve Jobs didn't become overnight wealthy in 2006...though that didn't hurt. He owns roughly 7% of the Disney stock...when the purchase went through. Eisner owns 5% (and he is banished from the lot), the estate of Roy E. Disney owns 1% (and again...he's not around)

Jobs started a small computer company back in the 70's that netted him a buck or two...and they started selling somekinda little musical device about 10 years that jacked the stock price through the roof...at least...that's what i hear

I take your point and know what you're saying...but jobs is a mover and skaker and an overbearing personality that gets what he wants...if he were no longer to be in the mix...pixar would then most likely become vulnerable to the kinda corner cutting crap that Disney's divisions have seen in far too many instances since Eisner lost his mind and the trail of brainless suits really began...that's my theory/ concern

 

[Donut23]

Steve Jobs didn't become overnight wealthy in 2006...though that didn't hurt. He owns roughly 7% of the Disney stock...when the purchase went through. Eisner owns 5% (and he is banished from the lot), the estate of Roy E. Disney owns 1% (and again...he's not around)

Jobs started a small computer company back in the 70's that netted him a buck or two...and they started selling somekinda little musical device about 10 years that jacked the stock price through the roof...at least...that's what i hear

I take your point and know what you're saying...but jobs is a mover and skaker and an overbearing personality that gets what he wants...if he were no longer to be in the mix...pixar would then most likely become vulnerable to the kinda corner cutting crap that Disney's divisions have seen in far too many instances since Eisner lost his mind and the trail of brainless suits really began...that's my theory/ concern

Well, I have to agree with your "corner cutting crap"....DH has watched it happen from the inside. Quality and innovation will never thrive in that environment. When you cut back too much you are left with enough enthusiasm for survival only. It's so widespread in the house of the mouse now which is why so many have noticed the decline.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Pixar will UNDOUBTEDLY become just another Disney division in time. Lassiter and the other creative enabled folks will slowly move on and Pixar will start making movies like 'Atlantis' too. The point is the model of 'quality only' can work, Pixar did it. Yes, Jobs wholeheartedly enabled it but where is it written that the creative messiah has to be a pauper? They made money too! So, why can't Disney see that the very ideals they were built on, the very ideals they LOVE their marketing machine to tout can actually be more than just marketing. They can be rules to do business by.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Pixar will UNDOUBTEDLY become just another Disney division in time. Lassiter and the other creative enabled folks will slowly move on and Pixar will start making movies like 'Atlantis' too. The point is the model of 'quality only' can work, Pixar did it. Yes, Jobs wholeheartedly enabled it but where is it written that the creative messiah has to be a pauper? They made money too! So, why can't Disney see that the very ideals they were built on, the very ideals they LOVE their marketing machine to tout can actually be more than just marketing. They can be rules to do business by.

i think you asked the holy grail of questions: why can't disney see?

well...here's my take: because the stockprice is first and foremost and will always be because of the size they expanded to under Eisner. which means they will be some meda conglomerate...or will be devoured by some bigger conglomerate down the road - and you will never see any realistic shot at a separation of money from minds again

it stinks, doesn't it?

but this is one of those things that will fall into a category of "pining for things that used to be, have been replaced, and will never be again"

cash over creativity will reign forever...hopefully nobody really decides to can the "creativity" and just see how much water will be shed from the rocks...cuz lookout then.

Even if they got the most creative, imaginative individual on earth to be the CEO...they could not operate like a Disney did in the 50's because the money burden is just too great not to trump all other concerns...

at least...that's the way it looks. if anybody knows and economist that can dispute this...i'm all ears:

 

[skiingfast]

Did you ever hear the lyric "We didn't start the fire"?

Money is not something new for driving a company, Eisner didn't introduce money as the dicatator of Disney's management style. It had been a problem for Walt before he started the film company in California. He alwys needed to have shareholders or partners if you prefer. His film company didn't want to build Disneyland in the first place, it was too much risk.

There has been needs to gain currency for thousands of years. Credit systems for a thousand years. Shareholder systems for hundreds of years.



All the while people have had to deal with it and were still able to be creative. One doesn't force out the other.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Did you ever hear the lyric "We didn't start the fire"?

Money is not something new for driving a company, Eisner didn't introduce money as the dicatator of Disney's management style. It had been a problem for Walt before he started the film company in California. He alwys needed to have shareholders or partners if you prefer. His film company didn't want to build Disneyland in the first place, it was too much risk.

There has been needs to gain currency for thousands of years. Credit systems for a thousand years. Shareholder systems for hundreds of years.



All the while people have had to deal with it and were still able to be creative. One doesn't force out the other.

disagree completely...

i'm not saying money didn't exist till 1990...i'm saying that it became inextricably linked to Walt Disney's structure and operating platform around then.

disney has always been a great american brand....but it didn't become a behemoth (Dow 30) until it was expanded and inflated to that status under Eisner.

And there is no going back to that...short of it ceasing to exist...which would probably be bad for us travelers

 

[skiingfast]

disagree completely...

i'm not saying money didn't exist till 1990...i'm saying that it became inextricably linked to Walt Disney's structure and operating platform around then.

disney has always been a great american brand....but it didn't become a behemoth (Dow 30) until it was expanded and inflated to that status under Eisner.

And there is no going back to that...short of it ceasing to exist...which would probably be bad for us travelers

You can disagree all you want but I stated a bunch of facts. You are probably young, but that isn't an excuse to be ignorant that nothing ever happened before you were around to observe it.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

You can disagree all you want but I stated a bunch of facts. You are probably young, but that isn't an excuse to be ignorant that nothing ever happened before you were around to observe it.

you stated nothing to discount my argument...and "ignorant" is not applicable here.

my contention is that going back to the "way walt did it" is not an option or ever will be because Disney has expanded in too many different directions since their time to ever not be a profit first business.

wait...there is one option:

somebody could buy the stock and take it private....like the four seasons....

that is the only realistic way to realign how the business is conducted.

know anybody with that kinda scratch?


with all do respect (and the ignorant comment eroded that)...i respectfully disagree with you...and it has nothing to do with age...it is a matter of perspective and scope.

whining about wanting quality to win out was outdated years ago...and there is NO WAY to legitimately reverse that. it's not about age or experience...it's about understanding how the marketplace has changed (both domestically and globally) and realizing what that means.

but if you want some proof...dig up the holdings of Walt Disney Productions in 1971...then look up their holdings in 2009.

it's not even a debate how bigger of a deal they are now...and that is well beyond simple inflation. With that established (fact)...you cannot go from profit driven back to a creative enterprise...it's not possible...like warp speed on star trek.

 

[skiingfast]

but if you want some proof...dig up the holdings of Walt Disney Productions in 1971...then look up their holdings in 2009.

Do you know just before 1971 Disney issued stock to finance WDW so they wouldn't incure future debt? They didn't create WDW out of nothing. Name some great movies they were making at the same time that were so inspired that the Disney Film company intergrated them into their park?

 

[Oglet]

..like warp speed on star trek.

I don't know about that... I had someone pass me at what would have been pretty close to warp speed out on I4 today.

 

[RSoxNo1]

On this week's episode of the WDW Fan Boys podcast we interviewed Jason Garcia (the author of this Orlando Sentinel article). After the 23 minute interview we continue the discussion about Disney World maintenance.
WDW Fan Boys Episode 035 - Disco Yeti

 

[eliza61]

On this week's episode of the WDW Fan Boys podcast we interviewed Jason Garcia (the author of this Orlando Sentinel article). After the 23 minute interview we continue the discussion about Disney World maintenance.
WDW Fan Boys Episode 035 - Disco Yeti

cool podcast