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A review by schwarmgiven
How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life by Pat Williams
3.0
I read this on vacation with the family at Disneyland.
It was a very flattering biography of Mr Disney mostly taken from headlines and interviews with people who knew him--most of them worked FOR him. The premise is that we can all be better business leaders if we understand the 12 core values Mr Disney had--but this does not really work in the narrative format--we get a lot of Walt Mic Drop moments has he gets the last word over and over and over again.
The stuff on Mary Poppins & his frustration dealing with another perfectionist could have used several more pages--we could have removed a lot of the Walt is Dead stories which went on a bit to long. The Disney after Walt stuff was good.
The highlights were likely when Mr Williams breaks down the corporate financing stuff--when Roy and Walt are fighting over trademarks and the like--that is where this book really shines over other biography's of Mr Disney. Also, his take on Plusing the Experience is refreshing and very optimistic. A good reminder of how magically Mr Disney really was.
If I were to summarize the key things what I learned from this book on how to be like Walt, they would be:
1. Don't Smoke
2. Really, don't Smoke it will kill you
3. Get the last word. Every time.
4. Invest in Artists.
5. Be nice to kids
It was a very flattering biography of Mr Disney mostly taken from headlines and interviews with people who knew him--most of them worked FOR him. The premise is that we can all be better business leaders if we understand the 12 core values Mr Disney had--but this does not really work in the narrative format--we get a lot of Walt Mic Drop moments has he gets the last word over and over and over again.
The stuff on Mary Poppins & his frustration dealing with another perfectionist could have used several more pages--we could have removed a lot of the Walt is Dead stories which went on a bit to long. The Disney after Walt stuff was good.
The highlights were likely when Mr Williams breaks down the corporate financing stuff--when Roy and Walt are fighting over trademarks and the like--that is where this book really shines over other biography's of Mr Disney. Also, his take on Plusing the Experience is refreshing and very optimistic. A good reminder of how magically Mr Disney really was.
If I were to summarize the key things what I learned from this book on how to be like Walt, they would be:
1. Don't Smoke
2. Really, don't Smoke it will kill you
3. Get the last word. Every time.
4. Invest in Artists.
5. Be nice to kids