THINKER'S ALMANAC - June 9

BACKWORDS - Word Game

What were the four words that Walt Disney used to define success?

Subject:  Innovation - Disney’s Four Cs 

Event:  Debut of Donald Duck in the cartoon “The Wise Little Hen.”

Walt Disney began his career as an illustrator while he was serving as a soldier in France during World War I.  He supplemented his soldier’s salary by drawing and selling caricatures of his comrades in arms.  They were more than happy to buy them so they could sent them home to their families in the United States.  

After the war he worked for the Kansas City Slide Company, drawing advertisements that were projected onto movie screens.  Seeing his drawings on the big screen fueled Disney’s imagination:  Would it be possible to combine moving pictures with his cartoons?  Although Disney did not invent animation, he did become the first to create animated cartoons that were more than just advertisements.  On November 18, 1928, Disney’s Steamboat Willie premiered introducing the world to his most famous creation Mickey Mouse.  Five years later, on this day in 1934, Disney introduced another of his iconic cartoon characters Donald Duck in The Wise Little Hen.

                                                Image by Welcome to All ! ツ from Pixabay

What truly made Disney an iconoclast, however, was his idea of producing a full-length animated film.  Cartoons were seen as light entertainment to be shown before a film, but no one -- besides Disney -- ever imagined that a long cartoon feature could become a box office hit.  Even though banks rejected his loan applications for the project and even though his critics called his project “Disney’s Folly,” Walt was undeterred.  On December 21, 1937, Snow White debuted.  It grossed $8 million dollars, a record for its time.

The profits from Snow White propelled Disney’s other projects and made his company a great success.  In 1955. he fulfilled another of his imaginative visions by building and opening the theme park Disneyland in Anaheim, California.  Just like with Snow White, his critics said the project was too risky and was doomed to failure.  Walt didn’t listen and forged ahead to make his dream come true.  

Walt Disney summarized his recipe for success in four words:

“I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scared by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true.  This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in Four Cs.  They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence” (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What are Walt Disney’s Four Cs and how did his work exemplify them?

Sources:

1-Berns, Gregory.  Iconoclast:  A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently.  Boston, Massachusetts:  Harvard Business Press, 1020 (37-9).