I'm a Disney Fan in the truest sense of the word. I'm a Disney Fanatic. And I'll miss having Roy E. Disney in my world. I never knew him..never met the man. To be honest, I haven't given him a lot of thought until today, when I heard of his passing. But when I heard of it, I discovered there was a surprising large hole somewhere inside me.
I believe a company can be more than just a collection of individuals driven by an income statement. I believe the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. I believe some companies can shove the world into a new and better direction. I believe that occasionally, companies can tap into some corner of our souls and connect us in ways that border on the mystical. It doesn't happen often. It may only happen once in a lifetime. But for me, Disney has been such a company.
The Disney Co has had a few very able caretakers. To me, one of the most interesting partnerships in the history of American business was that of Walt and Roy Disney, Roy E. Disney's uncle and father.
There was never any question that Walt was the star. And Roy, his brother, was okay with that. Walt was the dreamer, the genius, the visionary and the child. Roy was the grown up who somehow made things happen. Vision without realization does nothing to change the world. Roy managed to take Walt's unbound fantasy and somehow squeeze enough of it into the real world to make us feel that magic had indeed happened. Walt might have been the architect of the Disney dream, but Roy Sr. was the guy that built it.
For over 30 years, until Walt's untimely death on December 15, 1966 (ironically, 43 years and 1 day before Roy's death today) the two skated on the edge of bankruptcy. It was never about profit. It was about delivering on a promise to the world.
After Walt's death, the company lost direction. It has stumbled since..several times in fact. But Roy Sr. and Roy Jr. have never once abandoned the legacy they inherited. It's always been about more than a balance sheet. Roy E. Disney has launched more than one boardroom war because he believed, deeply, that Disney has to live up to the promise that was made. The world is too gray a place to abandon to the black and white of a income statement. The world needs the color of Disney.