* A business book supporting innovation and creativity that uses Disney as a cautionary tale. * Henry M. Caroselli worked as creative director at Disney for six years.
* Useful for anyone struggling to make something of consequence in the corporate rat race, starting up a business, or trying to expand their established business; insightful for Disney stockholders and fanatics.
* Disney continually makes national headlines over movie deals, threats of corporate takeover, and controversial CEOs.
From the Author
You be the judge: OK, the PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY reviewer doesn't deem CULT OF THE MOUSE worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. I welcome a fair critique; however, he/she apparently gave the book barely a cursory read, as the review is based on significant inaccuracies:
1) Far from being a "diatribe against Eisner" (90% of the book doesn't reference him), I specifically say, "I think Eisner is an all-around clever guy" (p. 25)albeit hamstrung (like most CEOs) by having to play to Wall Street.
2) My comments about meetings have nothing to do with what Eisner "granted" me, but rather contrast the creativity engendered in small meetings with the grandstanding typical of larger meetings.
3) The "vague tips" he/she dismisses as "thrown out" reference only a few words pulled from Chapter 2, while more than half the book is specifically a "how-to" for rebuilding a business environment conducive to innovation.
4) Regarding being an "ex-Disney ad exec" doing some "axe-grinding," I'm actually an in-the-trenches creative guy with much fondness and respect for Disney. Yet, I believe that any business focused on quarterly earnings, cost cutting, "safe risk," and short-term payouts, won't encourage the paradigm shifts necessary for creating ideas of lasting value.
I'm not an academician, MBA-guru, or motivational-type, but think that my perspective, inside and outside of corporate America, as someone whose accountability is "to be creative," can be useful. I hope my book helps American business foster a context wherein our amazing legacy of Yankee ingenuity can flourish.
About the Author
HENRY M. CAROSELLI is a creative guy who has pushed for ideas and innovation every day, whether wearing a tie in corporate America or at the grassroots level within his own company. Caroselli enjoyed a very successful career in advertising (rising to senior vice president/creative director at Foote, Cone & Belding, a top-ten advertising agency) that included a six-year stint at Disneyland as the head of a thirty-three cast member creative department. Over the past seven years, he’s been hard at it as the president/owner of a successful retro-styled street rod business, while also writing feature stories for automotive publications. Married for twenty-five years, he has three children and resides in Manhattan Beach, California.
