Originally posted by VILLAINSRULE
I think the Frank Wells as savior concept has become a rallying cry for anti-Eisner people......It is too easy to say that things would have been better with Frank around because no one knows what he would have done. He was a nuts and bolts guy, a business man first and foremost, and I think his course would have been to watch the bottom line, as is the way with businessmean.......I am not an Eisner apologist, but I do think that he has done a LOT right, and I think that he deserves credit----Disney is not great by accident, it had to have a strong guiding hand, and for better or worse for the last 20 years it has been Eisner. My fervent hope is that he doesnt shut the doors on the Disney Stores, because just my opinion, but I think they are an important arm of the Disney company...........:animwink:
A few other things of note in regards to Eisner is that he was considered to be more of a creative guy by many in Hollywood before he ended up with Disney. In fact, several board members from Disney in the 80’s had been quoted as saying they often had to scale him back when his ideas would get too far fetched (a hotel in the shape of Mickey?)… Also, some of the greatest modern rides to come out of Imagineering happened when they reported directly to Eisner. At one time, it was reported that his level of involvement with all things Disney ran so deep that more than once, he made the final decision on things like light fixtures in resorts…
The problem with this is that the head of one of the world’s largest entertainment company cannot micromanage every aspect of it and he was criticized for this heavily. That is when he started bringing in all these other people and when things seem to have begun to slide. It truly seems to me that his biggest error has been in poorly picking those who would serve under him.
A lot of people try to compare him to Walt and that is hardly fair. Walt was the founder and is also dead – that makes him a sort of legend. People can always talk about what “Walt would have done” but what they are really talking about is what they would have wanted Walt to have done… The company has grown to many times the size it originally was under Eisner’s watch. As it continues to get larger it is only natural that things become more corporate. Large companies become more conservative and move slower. Those that don’t make a dangerous gamble with the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people that work for them and all of those who invest in them.
It is easy to say I would do this and I would do that and everything would be ok but I like most of us have absolutely no experience in running a company one tenth the size of Disney. It isn’t easy and simple and we take a lot for granted when we try to paint it as being such. I wouldn’t want Eisner’s job (and all the stress that comes along with it) for all the money in the world. Like him or hate him, the guy is married to the Disney Co., it IS his life. When do you think the last time he had a vacation where the world Disney didn’t come up?...
Sorry for the rant but I think a lot of people forget that running an entertainment empire isn’t quite the same as playing Roller Coaster Tycoon. There is a bit more to it and if it were so easy and simple, we would see a lot more success in that industry right now. I mean, take a look at Universal and AOL Time Warner. Compared to them, Disney is doing great.
BTW, interesting note, MGM is one of the current bidders for the Universal Entertainment Group which includes the theme parks…
