The Disney Way, Revised Edition: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company [Paperback]

Bill Capodagli (Author), Lynn Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2006

“So useful you may whistle while you work”- Fortune

The original edition of The Disney Way was awarded a coveted “Best Business Book of the Year” by Fortune magazine. The world's foremost experts on Disney, Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson revealed Walt's secret success formula that propelled his company into the highest echelon of business, creativity, innovation, and success.

Now this fully revised edition profiles a new set of diverse organizations-from The Cheesecake Factory, Ernst and Young, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, to Griffin Hospital, John Robert's Spa, and Men's Wearhouse-that have redefined their businesses by embracing The Disney Way. Walt's “dream, believe, dare, do” credo is a powerful foundation that will support any business, drive any team, and guide any leader to newfound levels of success.

“It was the Disney standard of imagination and engagement that inspired me so many years ago…Now, Bill and Lynn bring these ideals and practices into practical use, with something for any dreamer to use.”-from the new foreword by John Christensen, coauthor of the bestselling book FISH!

“This book is about the real magic: Stimulating and harmonizing the collective energy of your people.”-Ken Blanchard, bestselling author of The One Minute Manager

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Two years ago, consultant Tom Connellan used Disney as a model in his Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney's Success. Whereas Connellan focused on customer service, Capodagli and Jackson hold up Disney as a standard for its management methods and corporate culture. Like Connellan, these two authors are enchanted by the "Disney magic." In neither case did the Walt Disney Company provide sponsorship or even cooperate with the authors. Capodagli and Jackson are consultants who use the Disney model in their work. They have distilled the essence of Disney into the exhortation "Dream! Believe! Dare! Do!" and they identify 10 beliefs that "are at the heart of the Disney methodology." Interwoven throughout their book are examples of how they have successfully applied this credo in their work with other companies. Their primary, recurring illustration is that of their work with a successful restructuring at Whirlpool and the building of its Global No-Frost Team. David Rouse --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

“So useful you may whistle while you work”- Fortune

The original edition of The Disney Way was awarded a coveted “Best Business Book of the Year” by Fortune magazine. The world's foremost experts on Disney, Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson revealed Walt's secret success formula that propelled his company into the highest echelon of business, creativity, innovation, and success.

Now this fully revised edition profiles a new set of diverse organizations-from The Cheesecake Factory, Ernst and Young, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, to Griffin Hospital, John Robert's Spa, and Men's Wearhouse-that have redefined their businesses by embracing The Disney Way. Walt's “dream, believe, dare, do” credo is a powerful foundation that will support any business, drive any team, and guide any leader to newfound levels of success.

“It was the Disney standard of imagination and engagement that inspired me so many years ago…Now, Bill and Lynn bring these ideals and practices into practical use, with something for any dreamer to use.”-from the new foreword by John Christensen, coauthor of the bestselling book FISH!

“This book is about the real magic: Stimulating and harmonizing the collective energy of your people.”-Ken Blanchard, bestselling author of The One Minute Manager

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (October 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071478159
• ISBN-13: 978-0071478151
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Business & Investing > Biography & History > Company Profiles

More About the Author

Bill Capodagli (pronounced Cap o die) co-authored one of Fortune magazine's "Best Business Books of 1999," The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company. Prior to co-founding Capodagli Jackson Consulting in 1993, Bill held managerial positions at the consulting firms of AT Kearney and Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst and Young). From 1991-1993, Bill launched the University of Southern Indiana's business consulting initiative and began teaching The Disney Way principles to an international client base. His popular speaking engagements on the topics of Disney/Pixar leadership; Pixar innovation; and Disney customer service, are transforming both entrepreneurial and Fortune 500 companies alike.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Disney Does It, November 11, 2002

By 

Matthew Dodd (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disney Way (Hardcover)

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.

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

This review is from: The Disney Way (Hardcover)

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.

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

By 

R. Mohr (Troy, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disney Way (Hardcover)

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.