15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How Disney Does It, November 11, 2002
If you have ever wondered how Disney does it year-in and year-out, and why other companies are constantly competing with and comparing themselves to Disney, then you need to read this book and learn about Disney's magic.
The authors are a couple of Fortune 100 consultants who studied and now teach the management and leadership `secrets' that have kept the Disney name synonymous with organizational excellence for decades. The opening paragraph inside the front cover flap was all I needed to inspire me to read this book: "Walt Disney's dreams, beliefs, and daring gave birth to captivating characters, thrilling theme park attractions, and breathtaking tales that have inspired the imaginations of generations of children and adults. Disney also launched an entertainment and marketing empire whose influence is felt around the world, and whose success provides a model of business excellence that can guide any company."
The authors did a great job introducing and explaining Walt Disney's four pillars - Dream, Believe, Dare, Do. The authors then skillfully showed how upon those pillars were built the ten Disney principles of:
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 and principles.
3- Treat your customers like guests.
4- Support, empower, and reward 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- Use the storyboarding technique to solve planning and communication problems.
10- Pay close attention to detail.
The opening chapter gave the necessary background on Walt Disney's formative years. The next ten chapters each focused on a different principle. Each chapter used stories and case studies about big and small organizations that successfully applied that particular Disney principle. All chapters ended with reflective questions to ask and actions to take for yourself and your organization that reinforced that chapter's focus. The questions and actions were all clear and concise, and, probably more often than not, unpleasant for individuals and leadership to honestly answer and admit to.
I know that the Disney way is easy to understand, much more difficult to execute, much less frequently executed than it can and should be, and truly unforgettable when experienced firsthand. This book can be your most important first step on the journey into Disney magic for you and your organization if you have the courage to dream, believe, dare, and do - The Disney Way.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantasy Land's quintessential organizational qualities!, March 29, 1999
By A Customer
The authors explore the business philosophy of Disney, introduce its four key principles (dream, believe, dare, and do) and examine the ten key principles that are at the core of the organization's strategy which are: provide everyone a chance to dream; stand firm on your beliefs and principles; treat your customers like guests; support, empower and reward your employees; build long-term alliances with suppliers and partners; dare to take calculated risks; intensively train and reinforce culture; align long-term vision with execution; use storyboarding techniques for problem solving and communication; and pay close attention to detail.
Chapters explore each of these quintessential organizational qualities -reflecting core beliefs-with an abundance of illustrations from life in the real world of the 'magic kingdom'. Each chapter ends with a few key questions to ask yourself about your organization and some suggestions to ponder. A worthy contribution to understanding critical organizational qualities that make for success. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Techniques that can help any business improve and succeed, July 27, 2000
This is by far one of the better books on how Disney uses management techniques to run and improve their business. This book does not present information on a bed of magic and fairy dust, but rather documents their findings in a very solid and objective manner.
The basic principles given in this book are Dream, Believe, Dare and Do. While these principles are certainly not new, they are a basic and effective way to get things done and get them done well. This book presents multiple case studies on how Disney has used these principles to further their business as well has how other companies have used these same principles. I was particularly interested in how the storyboarding technique can be used to generate solutions to complex problems.
I recommend this book to anyone studying or wanting to know more about business management techniques. It was a very enjoyable read.
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