Dream It! Do It! (Disney Editions Deluxe) (31 page)

It has been almost forty years since the word “writer” appeared on my job description. For thirty of those years—from 1974 to 2004, the period of my creative leadership at Walt Disney Imagineering—I had the final word on what the Imagineers presented to Disney corporate management or, for a few years, to the Parks and Resorts leaders before a project reached Card Walker, Ron Miller, or Michael Eisner.

I did, however, continue to work in the realm of the written word, often invisibly, in keeping with the “we” and not “I” theme. Because of my background in creating slogans like “The Vacation Kingdom of the World” (Walt Disney World), and “Imagineering is the blending of creative imagination with technical know-how” (a favorite statement of Walt Disney), I had an opportunity to ghostwrite dedication plaques, honorary window copy, introductions to a myriad of Disney parks and Imagineering books, tributes, and memorials to the great Disney Legends on their passing, and even the copy line that appeared at the bottom of the stationery for every division of the company:
PART OF THE MAGIC OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
.

One of my favorites was the sign that stood outside Disneyland’s empty Haunted Mansion for about five years before the interior show was created in 1969. The sign invited
AN ACTIVE RETIREMENT
to enjoy
ALL GHOSTS AND RESTLESS SPIRITS
where they could continue to practice their ghostly specialties.
YOU TAKE CARE OF THE INSIDE
, the sign copy promised.
WE’LL TAKE CARE OF THE OUTSIDE
.

But it was “Mickey’s Ten Commandments” that established me as a speaker and creator of my own ideas, and gave me the opportunity to communicate them to audiences inside and outside Disney. Although I created the commandments, the first speech was actually written by Imagineer Paul Goldman. It launched a career of speechwriting for Paul, first for executives at Walt Disney World, followed by ten years writing for the chairman and CEO of New York Life Insurance Company.

My initial presentation of “Mickey’s Ten Commandments” was actually a double—two speeches that began in the Twin Cities in Minnesota at the national convention of Science and Technology Centers. Two days later, I made the same talk at the Art Directors Club of Boston.

I developed, refined, and practiced these key principles of leadership, based on what I learned from Walt Disney and my mentors, the great Imagineering Legends, especially designer John Hench. I crystallized these “learnings” into the first of what I called
Mickey’s Ten Commandments
:

1. Know your audience

Identify the prime audience for your attraction or show before you begin design.

2. Wear your guests’ shoes

Insist that your team members experience your creation just the way guests do it.

3. Organize the flow of people and ideas

Make sure there is a logic and sequence in your stories and in the way guests experience them.

4. Create a wienie (visual magnet)

Create visual “targets” that will lead visitors clearly and logically through your facility.

5. Communicate with visual literacy

Make good use of color, shape, form, texture—all the nonverbal ways of communication.

6. Avoid overload—create turn-ons

Resist the temptation to overload your audience with too much information and too many objects.

7. Tell one story at a time

Stick to the story line; good stories are clear, logical, and consistent.

8. Avoid contradictions—maintain identity

Details in design or content that contradict one another confuse an audience about your story or the time period it takes place in.

9. For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of treat

In our business, Walt Disney said, you can educate people—but don’t tell them you’re doing it! Make it fun!

10. Keep it up! (maintain it)

In a Disney park or resort, everything must work. Poor maintenance is poor show!

These principles quickly became a kind of gold standard in the park and museum business. Today you will find this list pinned on the office wall of many Imagineers, and more throughout the leisure-recreation industry. In fact,
Funworld
magazine, published by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), called them “a classic—perhaps the best guide to the creation of themed entertainment.”

The inauguration of an excellent program to train and motivate leaders at Disneyland and Walt Disney World gave me an opportunity to communicate the ideas and principles I utilized to lead the Imagineers. At these Leadership Conferences, I presented two different programs on leadership and one speech I called “Followership: How to Be a Great Team Player and Help Your Leaders Succeed.”

After the original list, I have added another thirty. The basic points from my now forty commandments are below, with apologies to God and Moses, who somehow managed to stop at ten:

1. Create and maintain a climate of trust.
   
2. Be responsive and make decisions—that’s what leaders do!
   
3. Empower your teammates—it takes many hands to bake a success.
   
4. Create opportunities for new birds to fly.
   
5. Remember: experience is
   not
   a negative.
   
6. Make sure yours is not the only voice you are listening to.
   
7. Celebrate diversity and different points of view.
   
8. Never rest on your laurels—the next at-bat is your most important.
   
9. Take a chance—support risk-taking.
   
10. Provide plenty of blank paper.
    

(The Leaders’ Bible—Part 2)
Leadership is earned and must be exercised daily!

1. Be optimistic—if
   you
   are not
   positive
   , who else will be?
   
2. Courage
   and
   confidence
   are major cross streets on the road to success.
   
3. Make
   curiosity
   your search engine.
   
4. Learn to
   love
   your next assignment—be
   passionate
   about
   whatever
   you do.
   
5. Provide time to explore—but deadlines are great motivation and
   discipline
   .
   
6. Take time to teach—
   mentors
   are
   mensches
   .
   
7. Forget the politics—it’s not an election!
   
8. Traditions are important—but
   change
   is
   the great dynamic
   .
   
9. Team
   and
   work
   are four-letter words—but together they spell “
   winner
   .”
   
10. Remember: the last three letters of
    trend
    are
    E-N-D
    !
    

(Part IV—Followership)

How to be a great team player and help your leaders succeed!

1. SPEAK UP
   ! Great teammates raise issues
   before
   decisions are made!
   
2. Never be afraid to ask questions. That’s how we learn our parts—onstage and backstage.
   
3. Make your experience count (that’s why you’re on the team).
   
4. Help the rookies succeed—you were “new” once, too.
   
5. Understand your role—everyone has a job to do.
   
6. Never fear failure—winners sometimes fail, too!
   
7. But—know
   when
   to take a chance (and always let your leaders know you’re doing it).
   
8. Play by the rules. If you disagree, work to change them
   after
   the game.
   
9. Share the joy of success—you didn’t do it by yourself!
   
10. Support your teammates—at Disney, there’s only one name on the door.
    

* * * * * * * * * *

In the spirit of those commandments, I looked back over my Disney career and selected ten of the most significant written communications I was privileged to develop. There were many more to choose from, but for reasons I will explain as I introduce these ten, they all have special significance in time and place in Disney lore.

1. Walt Disney’s last message to Disney shareholders—1966 Annual Report.

I developed four annual reports with another Disney Legend, Creative Director for Publicity Art and Marketing Bob Moore, and graphic designer Norm Noceti. We created a theme, reviewed it with Card Walker, and then met with Roy O. Disney, Disney’s president and chairman of the board, to secure his go-ahead. Our theme for 1966 was “The Disney World.” Roy’s message, which I also wrote with a big assist from Roy’s financial staff, was entitled, “Wherever We Go, the Organization Is Prepared.” Walt’s was called, “A Look to the Future”:

2. Cover letter from Roy O. Disney—1966 Annual Report.

When Walt passed away on December 15, 1966, the company’s annual report was already printed and ready to be mailed to shareholders after the first of the new year. However, several key corporate executives expressed concern at mailing a document containing Walt’s message; in fact, they argued that we should scrap the whole report and develop a new communication.

I vehemently disagreed.

Ultimately, as distraught as he was at his brother’s death, Roy listened and agreed. I wrote this letter for Roy; when it was mailed to shareholders, it covered the already printed front of the 1966 Annual Report: