Walt Disney’s Secret to Making Dreams Come True: Courage

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In doing research for a 1955 article for Woman’s Day magazine to correspond with the opening of Disneyland, writer Don Eddy spent time with Walt at the Disney studio and the park. He summed up Walt’s “special secret” to making dreams come true with “four C’s. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy.” Eddy wrote:

“From his insatiable curiosity, as persistent and all-embracing as a child’s, he gets his ideas. When he settles on one idea, his confidence take supreme command; nothing can shake it. His courage keeps it alive and active against all obstacles, and he has plenty of obstacles. And he is constant to it until it becomes reality. Then he drops it abruptly and rarely mentions it again.” Read more

Organizational Insights into Effective Strategy Development and Execution

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I am a huge fan of the value and effectiveness of the research and writings of management science pioneer Elliott Jaques.

Jaques conducted organizational research for 50 years, culminating in an management system he called Requisite Organization. One of the most impactful management books in my education and practice is a book written by Jaques and Stephen Clement, Executive Leadership. Following closely behind two other late career books by Jaques, Requisite Organization and Social Power and the CEO. Read more

Allergan’s David Pyott on Responsible Leadership

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In my last blog post I provided my comments on Bower and Paine’s observations in the May-June 2017 issue of HBR regarding two popular perspectives on the purpose of a business: shareholder-centric and company-centric.

In the same issue there is an interview with former Allergan CEO David Pyott.

I like David Pyott’s perspective with regards to the responsibility of executives qua managerial leaders, so I thought I’d share it. Read more

Author Barry Linetsky

Former Allegan CEO David Pyott on Performance and Purpose

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Former Allergan CEO David Pyott

A lot of companies think that they need to make themselves more friendly, not just to stockholders but to employees and to society. Having a broader purpose – something beyond simply making money – is how you do that and how you create strong corporate cultures.

I don’t believe that strong performance and purpose are at odds, not at all. My own experience tells me that in order for a company to be a really high performer, it needs to have a purpose. Money matters to employees up to a point, but they want to believe they’re working on something that improves people’s lives. I’ve also found that employees respond really favorably when management commits to responsible social behavior.

Quoted in HBR May-June 2017, “The CEO View: Defending a Good Company from Bad Investors. A conversation with former Allergan CEO David Pyott.”

Author Barry Linetsky

Are Corporate Leaders Adhering To Their Corporate Purpose?

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Is my company customer-centric?

The question of the underlying purpose of business and the role of corporate leadership has come up again in an excellent article by Joseph Bower and Lynn Paine, “The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership,” in the May-June 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

There are two general schools of thought about the purpose of a business, note Bower and Paine. Read more

Author’s Page for The Business of Walt Disney with Book Excerpts

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Theme Park Press has posted the release and availability of The Business of Walt Disney on its site along with an author page, description of the book, and the Introduction. There are also two excerpts from TBWD, the first from Chapter 16, and the second from Success Principle 3.

Are Internal Customers More Important than External Customers?

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If you have read my Ivey Business Review article When Customers Collide, you will know that I consider the very idea of internal customers to be harmful and imprudent.

But not everyone agrees, including very popular and successful businessmen like former BB&T CEO John Allison and excellence advocate Tom Peters. Read more

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Fossil Fuels

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It is rare to find anybody writing about ethics (as distinct from politics) from a serious point of view these days, and rarer still to find book as clearly written and persuasive as The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.

This excellent book succeeds on every level by addressing a wide range of issues in a clear, factual, and reasoned manner. It should be required reading by anyone interested in the science and morality of using fossil fuels and alternative energy resources, whatever their ideological perspective on this issue. Read more

United Airways vs. Walt Disney on the Ethics of Customer Respect

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Dumbo provides excellent customer service

On Sunday, April 9, 2017, United Airlines initiated action to remove a paying passenger from their plane because someone they deemed more important needed the seat. The more important person was an employee, not a customer. In forcefully removing Mr. Dao from the plane, security staff left him with a broken nose, broken teeth, and a concussion. As a result, lawyer Thomas Demetrio of Corboy & Demetrio held a press conference today (April 13, 2017) broadcast live on CNN in which, aside from announcing a pending lawsuit, he raised the general question of why companies think they can treat people this way.

It’s an appropriate and timeless question. Read more