Disney is the quintessential American Dream story. His father’s endeavors failed multiple times; sometimes, because his father was a poor businessman and, at least once, because his father had health issues. Walt’s own endeavors also didn’t always go as plan. During a summer job on the trains selling refreshments to passengers, Walt ended up owing more money than he made. Walt’s business with Ub Iwerks, Laugh-O-Grams in Kansas City, went bankrupt. Walt fled the town and met up with his brother Roy in Los Angeles. Walt had $40 and a reel of Alice Comedies that he was able to sell to start up the Disney Bros. animation business.
Even the Disney Bros. Studios faced it share of mistakes and failures. The contract regarding the distribution of Oswald the Rabbit and an unscrupulous negotiator left Walt’s original, most popular cartoon in the hands of another studio, and many of his animators went with Oswald. Fortunately, this event led to the creation of Mickey Mouse, and Walt refused to give up the rights to his characters after that.
Walt’s mistakes and failures didn’t torpedo his goals or his desires. He used them. He learned from them, and he expected his employees to do the same. When Disneyland was being built and in its early years, Walt knew his people would make mistakes, but they would learn from those mistakes.
People who are engaging in creative activities will fail. Doing something new means doing it wrong. It isn’t the failure that matters. It’s what they learn from the failure. May Walt’s dream bring you greater joy and inspiration through creativity.
If you want to learn more about the lessons that Walt’s Disneyland has for becoming more creative, check out my book: “Disneyland Is Creativity: 25 Tips for Becoming More Creative.”
For more about Walt or the Disney Company and Creativity, check out these articles:
- Walt Disney and Creativity
- Walt Disney World and change
- Disney gets dangerous
- Disney cuts the cord
- Disney Jumps to light speed with creative properties
- Disney Fox Merger and the Death of Creativity
- Dream It! Do It! by Marty Sklar
- Creativity Inc
For more about Disneyland, check out these articles:
- The Birth of Disneyland
- Dispatch from Disneyland
- The last original disneylander
- Seen UnSeen Disneyland
- My Favorite Disneyland Attraction
- The American Disney Properties