Walt Disney - His Life and What we can Learn from Him

Name:                  Walt Disney

Birth Date:          1901

Occupation:        American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer. 

Achievements: Co-Founder of Walt Disney Productions, Creator of Mickey Mouse

His Unique Contribution to the World:   Amazing Films, Entertainment and Animation.

 

 

His Life in Brief…

Co-Founder of Walt Disney Productions

Along with his brother Roy Disney, he was co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, which is one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.

Family

He was born in Chicago Illinois.  His dad was a carpenter, farmer and building contractor and his mum was a school teacher. His great-grandfather had emigrated to Canada from County Kilkenny, Ireland.

The Young Walt Disney

The young Disney studied cartooning and he dreamed of being a newspaper cartoonist.  His progress was interrupted by world war 1 where he was an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in France and Germany.  Disney started his first studio with a friend, Iwerks at the age of 21.  They started off by doing short advertising films and “laugh-o-grams” and they put together a pilot film for a series of fairy tales.  At the age of 22, Disney was forced to file bankruptcy after being cheated by a film distributer after which he and his brother moved to Hollywood.  He married Lillian Marie Bounds in 1925.

The Creation of Mickey Mouse and other Disney Characters

In 1927 after working on numerous characters, they experimented with a new character, Mickey Mouse, just before the transition to sound in motion pictures.  When voices and music were put to a Mickey Mouse cartoon entitled Steamboat Willie, the character became a sensation. The popularity led to the creation of the other characters – Mini Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and more. In 1933, the Disneys had a daughter, Diane Marie Disney and later adopted Sharon Mae Disney.  Disney started producing more motion pictures and it was in the period of economic hard times in the early 1930s that Disney fully endeared himself and his cartoons to audiences all over the world, and his operation began making money in spite of the Depression.  Disney was never one to stand still and so in 1937 he produced his first full length feature film, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.  This was a huge success and he went on to produce many more of these full length feature films.  In 1955, Disney Land was opened near Los Angeles which soon became a mecca for tourists from around the world while the Disney World in Florida was still under construction at the time of his death in 1971.

What can we learn from him…

Disney had amazing imagination, energy and humour.  He was a visionary and a dreamer.  He believe that people can achieve anything that they put their minds to and was extremely optimistic about mankinds future.

In business, he promoted hardwork, individualisim and optimism.  His marketing tactic was the classic approach – find out what your customer wants that you are able to give them and give it to them.  To achieve his success he had a great vision.  His vision was to become one of the worlds leading producers and providers of entertainment. Along with his vision, he was passionate about making people happy.  He once said, “My business is making people, especially children, happy”.

Some of Walt Disney’s Qualities:

  • Humour
  • Energy
  • Dreamer
  • Belief in people and himself
  • Hardworking
  • Attention to Detail
  • Quality
  • Always acting and moving forward
  • Creativity and Innovation

Barry L Linetsky, wrote a report entitled “the 9 Principles of Walt Disney’s Success” and these 9 principles are…

  1. Know what you value and why
  2. Demonstrate the courage of Leadership
  3. Strive for Perfection and Dont Compromise on quality
  4. Money is a means, not an end
  5. Exceed Customer’s expectations
  6. Create valued experiences through business design
  7. Minds create value so treat them with respect
  8. Let creativity work for you
  9. Think deeply and from all directions

Time Magazine selected Disney as one of the top 20 “Builders and Titans” of the 20th century.

10 Inspiring Walt Disney Quotes

  1. Its kind of fun to do the impossible
  2. If you can dream it, you can do it
  3. When you are curious, you find a lot of interesting things to do
  4. All the adversity I have had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me.  You may not realise it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
  5. All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.
  6. A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding.  But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.
  7. The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing
  8. There is more treasure in books than in the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island
  9. A man should never neglect his family for business
  10. Of all of the things I have done, the most vital is co-ordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.