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The Business of Walt Disney and the Nine Principles of His Success
" The Business of Walt Disney by Barry Linetsky is an excellent book. It is the first real attempt at telling the whole story of Walt’s career purely from a business standpoint and it definitely achieves its goal.... Disney history enthusiasts will want to read it right away." Didier Ghez, Disney Historian, Author, The Business of Walt Disney and the Nine Principles of His Success takes you inside the mind of one of the world's most creative and loved business geniuses. Now you can learn the exciting details of Walt Disney's journey and the principles that served as the foundation of his business success and put them into action yourself. Most people know Walt Disney as the famous creator of Mickey Mouse and other timeless cartoon characters, producer of beloved animated features like Snow White and Mary Poppins , and inventor and namesake of Disney theme parks and resorts around the world.
Few people think about him as an astute and effective business leader and manager who dared to outthink and outperform his competitors, even though he became one of the most successful and influential entrepreneures of his time. Walt was a self-made, self-educated, iconoclastic entrepreneur with the unbounded creative imagination, bravado, and courage to dent the universe long before Steve Jobs popularized the idea.
Starting life as an ordinary boy growing up in a typical mid-Western middle American family, Walt pursued his ambitions to make his way in life as an artist. Along the way he lives his own incredible fairy-tale adventure of hardship and success, revealing himself to be an iconoclast with a flair for solving problems and organizing resources to entertain millions. Time and again he put everything he owned on the line while motivating others to work with him to achieve what his critics thought to be impossible.
This is a book about the making of Walt Disney’s business and the challenges he had to face and overcome over his 47-year career. It’s about his daring path from drawing cartoons in Kansas City, Missouri, to envisioning and planning an experimental city, EPCOT, to serve the needs of humanity.
Barry Linetsky spent three years researching and assembling the incredible business story of Walt's career from new and existing sources. He's written the ultimate story of Walt's career and has identified nine principles that Walt used to guide his personal and business life, supported by Walt's own words and actions and the observations and recollections of those who worked with him, learned from him, and were influenced by his capabilities and character. Be Read the book!
Be Discover Walt’s Principles and Leadership Lessons!
Be Create happiness by taking action! ★★★★★ "[S]tands out in its focus on Disney as a business entrepreneur and in offering what I’d characterize as a moral perspective on Disney’s life. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain from the life lessons of the best among us — and who love a page turner!" S.Bowyer
★★★★★ "This book was a page turner. What Linetsky demonstrates on nearly every page is Disney's confidence and courage to go against the conventional wisdom. Linetsky tops off the story with entrepreneurial lessons that we can learn from Disney." Jerry K.
★★★★★ "[T]horoughly researched. The book weaves storytelling with the author's thesis statements on leadership quite well. It isn't just a series of anecdotes or employee rather, it's a leadership and business manual with stories and quotes as examples." Halordain T.
★★★★★ "Awesome book told in simple language. Could not put the book down. Very enjoyable read." David O.
★★★★★ "If you want an understanding of Walt Disney’s life as a visionary, businessman and a human being this book is it." Maureen D.
Few people think about him as an astute and effective business leader and manager who dared to outthink and outperform his competitors, even though he became one of the most successful and influential entrepreneures of his time. Walt was a self-made, self-educated, iconoclastic entrepreneur with the unbounded creative imagination, bravado, and courage to dent the universe long before Steve Jobs popularized the idea.
Starting life as an ordinary boy growing up in a typical mid-Western middle American family, Walt pursued his ambitions to make his way in life as an artist. Along the way he lives his own incredible fairy-tale adventure of hardship and success, revealing himself to be an iconoclast with a flair for solving problems and organizing resources to entertain millions. Time and again he put everything he owned on the line while motivating others to work with him to achieve what his critics thought to be impossible.
This is a book about the making of Walt Disney’s business and the challenges he had to face and overcome over his 47-year career. It’s about his daring path from drawing cartoons in Kansas City, Missouri, to envisioning and planning an experimental city, EPCOT, to serve the needs of humanity.
Barry Linetsky spent three years researching and assembling the incredible business story of Walt's career from new and existing sources. He's written the ultimate story of Walt's career and has identified nine principles that Walt used to guide his personal and business life, supported by Walt's own words and actions and the observations and recollections of those who worked with him, learned from him, and were influenced by his capabilities and character. Be Read the book!
Be Discover Walt’s Principles and Leadership Lessons!
Be Create happiness by taking action! ★★★★★ "[S]tands out in its focus on Disney as a business entrepreneur and in offering what I’d characterize as a moral perspective on Disney’s life. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain from the life lessons of the best among us — and who love a page turner!" S.Bowyer
★★★★★ "This book was a page turner. What Linetsky demonstrates on nearly every page is Disney's confidence and courage to go against the conventional wisdom. Linetsky tops off the story with entrepreneurial lessons that we can learn from Disney." Jerry K.
★★★★★ "[T]horoughly researched. The book weaves storytelling with the author's thesis statements on leadership quite well. It isn't just a series of anecdotes or employee rather, it's a leadership and business manual with stories and quotes as examples." Halordain T.
★★★★★ "Awesome book told in simple language. Could not put the book down. Very enjoyable read." David O.
★★★★★ "If you want an understanding of Walt Disney’s life as a visionary, businessman and a human being this book is it." Maureen D.
578 pages, Paperback
Published January 18, 2023
8 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 5, 2019
Made my last visit to Disneyworld even more amazing: I loved learning how Walt conceived and executed such ideas. Because I was looking forward to visiting one of his amusement parks, I focused on the bio and skimmed the summary of principles.
January 3, 2022
Well-researched, organized, insightful, motivating.
I appreciated the book's unique selling point: a business perspective on Walt Disney's leadership and company-building. It is also thoroughly researched, with lots of citations to books I hadn't previously known, allowing me to explore further.
The best things:
+ Storytelling: The book weaves storytelling with the author's thesis statements on leadership quite well. It isn't just a series of anecdotes or employee interviews: rather, it's a leadership and business manual with stories and quotes as examples. The blend works well and keeps the book from turning too dry or pedantic.
+ Business Leadership Lessons: The lessons focus on Walt Disney's choices in creative business, and aren't limited to successes. We've all heard the stories of Oswald the Rabbit, Herb Ryman's hand-drawn map. It's the seldom-heard ones -- Ub Iwerks' falling out and reasons for failure as told me former employees, or Disney's negotiation with Goldenson on ABC financing and TV series -- woven in a business context, that give this book value. The second part of the book organizes the leadership lessons into nine principles that drive action and growth as a leader.
+ A Variety of Perspectives: We don't just hear from Roy & Walt. The others that reported to them, like Buzz Price and Marc Davis, as well as rivals that left the Disney studio, make appearances as well, giving the book a realistic diverse feel. It never degenerates into Disney sycophancy or idolatry. Instead, we hear of Walt's flaws as well as how he handled them, and management styles, to keep his animators motivated. I enjoyed hearing what conscious management tactics worked, and which had to undergo refinement. Business is as much about the people as it is the bottom line. This book makes that clear and covers both sides of Disney's business.
The points of improvement:
- Lack of Images: Moviemaking and theme-park planning are inherently visual. Especially when discussing studies for Disneyland, the book could benefit from a lot more supporting imagery, from charts and birds-eye maps to promotional marketing material like brochures and advertisements. These are key parts to the Disney brand: the look & feel, the marketing. Even some photos of Disney studios or the people involved would have elevated the book's quality and complement the messaging.
- Obsession with Money Numbers: This is a book about business, so money discussion is unavoidable. But Linetsky handles it at too high a level, saying how much the Disney brothers needed to borrow -- say, $17 million for Disneyland -- without specifying where the costs were going. As business leaders, we need to know the details. How much of that was employee salary? Plumbing contractor demands? Building materials? Architecture? Day-to-day staff? Give us some tables, more breakdown, dig deeper into details so it isn't just this gigantic number with no inherent meaning. We also read that "it wasn't until Walt created, and the public accepted, the brilliance of something brand new and at the time astonishing -- an emotionally and visually engaging full-length animated feature film [Snow White] -- that Walt Disney Productions received a drastic increase in the in-flow of money from ticket purchases." Sure, but what was that difference? What factors in marketing or novelty led to that rise in ticket purchases? (What was the precise increase?) We need to know what customers were saying, or what theater owners were saying, to better understand the true business impact of Snow White's novelty, rather than just surface box-office numbers. One of the challenges of creative business is quantifying precisely -- articulating -- the value of a new medium or work, to convince investors and naysayers. This book doesn't really help on that front.
- Verbosity: The prose degenerates into high diction too often, with long sentences using abstract, recondite business terminology that would be better if grounded in real-life terms. For example, business expenses in the processing of developing Snow White and other feature-length films in Disney's industry are constantly discussed at the level of "increasing technological production cost." Just call them high artist salaries, or say what piece of hardware is costing so much.
Overall, the book is worth the time to read and reread. It could benefit from the Disney touch, both visually as well as quality-wise, but the content is unquestionably valuable and written with enough perspective, research, and organization that it offers a rare business perspective of Walt's value as a leader.
My biggest takeaway is that of leadership -- how he was the difference maker for his studio as a leader, despite not being the best animator or someone in the trenches with his staff after year 3. The differences were his penchant for creating new value, thinking ahead, delegating and managing, motivating, storytelling with quality and emotion, and creating a culture.
"The difference was not to be found in the technical expertise of the animators or production staff, but in the quality of Walt's leadership and his ability to generate enthusiasm amongst his people. It was leadership that enabled Walt to succeed when key staff was hired away from him on more than one occasion, leading others to conclude that the failure of his studio was imminent."
I appreciated the book's unique selling point: a business perspective on Walt Disney's leadership and company-building. It is also thoroughly researched, with lots of citations to books I hadn't previously known, allowing me to explore further.
The best things:
+ Storytelling: The book weaves storytelling with the author's thesis statements on leadership quite well. It isn't just a series of anecdotes or employee interviews: rather, it's a leadership and business manual with stories and quotes as examples. The blend works well and keeps the book from turning too dry or pedantic.
+ Business Leadership Lessons: The lessons focus on Walt Disney's choices in creative business, and aren't limited to successes. We've all heard the stories of Oswald the Rabbit, Herb Ryman's hand-drawn map. It's the seldom-heard ones -- Ub Iwerks' falling out and reasons for failure as told me former employees, or Disney's negotiation with Goldenson on ABC financing and TV series -- woven in a business context, that give this book value. The second part of the book organizes the leadership lessons into nine principles that drive action and growth as a leader.
+ A Variety of Perspectives: We don't just hear from Roy & Walt. The others that reported to them, like Buzz Price and Marc Davis, as well as rivals that left the Disney studio, make appearances as well, giving the book a realistic diverse feel. It never degenerates into Disney sycophancy or idolatry. Instead, we hear of Walt's flaws as well as how he handled them, and management styles, to keep his animators motivated. I enjoyed hearing what conscious management tactics worked, and which had to undergo refinement. Business is as much about the people as it is the bottom line. This book makes that clear and covers both sides of Disney's business.
The points of improvement:
- Lack of Images: Moviemaking and theme-park planning are inherently visual. Especially when discussing studies for Disneyland, the book could benefit from a lot more supporting imagery, from charts and birds-eye maps to promotional marketing material like brochures and advertisements. These are key parts to the Disney brand: the look & feel, the marketing. Even some photos of Disney studios or the people involved would have elevated the book's quality and complement the messaging.
- Obsession with Money Numbers: This is a book about business, so money discussion is unavoidable. But Linetsky handles it at too high a level, saying how much the Disney brothers needed to borrow -- say, $17 million for Disneyland -- without specifying where the costs were going. As business leaders, we need to know the details. How much of that was employee salary? Plumbing contractor demands? Building materials? Architecture? Day-to-day staff? Give us some tables, more breakdown, dig deeper into details so it isn't just this gigantic number with no inherent meaning. We also read that "it wasn't until Walt created, and the public accepted, the brilliance of something brand new and at the time astonishing -- an emotionally and visually engaging full-length animated feature film [Snow White] -- that Walt Disney Productions received a drastic increase in the in-flow of money from ticket purchases." Sure, but what was that difference? What factors in marketing or novelty led to that rise in ticket purchases? (What was the precise increase?) We need to know what customers were saying, or what theater owners were saying, to better understand the true business impact of Snow White's novelty, rather than just surface box-office numbers. One of the challenges of creative business is quantifying precisely -- articulating -- the value of a new medium or work, to convince investors and naysayers. This book doesn't really help on that front.
- Verbosity: The prose degenerates into high diction too often, with long sentences using abstract, recondite business terminology that would be better if grounded in real-life terms. For example, business expenses in the processing of developing Snow White and other feature-length films in Disney's industry are constantly discussed at the level of "increasing technological production cost." Just call them high artist salaries, or say what piece of hardware is costing so much.
Overall, the book is worth the time to read and reread. It could benefit from the Disney touch, both visually as well as quality-wise, but the content is unquestionably valuable and written with enough perspective, research, and organization that it offers a rare business perspective of Walt's value as a leader.
My biggest takeaway is that of leadership -- how he was the difference maker for his studio as a leader, despite not being the best animator or someone in the trenches with his staff after year 3. The differences were his penchant for creating new value, thinking ahead, delegating and managing, motivating, storytelling with quality and emotion, and creating a culture.
"The difference was not to be found in the technical expertise of the animators or production staff, but in the quality of Walt's leadership and his ability to generate enthusiasm amongst his people. It was leadership that enabled Walt to succeed when key staff was hired away from him on more than one occasion, leading others to conclude that the failure of his studio was imminent."
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews