Excellent post Grizz!!!! You have echoed what many of us feel in our hearts.
Change is one of the innumerable things in life that we have to face, it is constant, a reminder of our transience in life. Management at the Walt Disney Company has lost sight of what made the company thrive, of what made the company live on in the hearts, minds, in the lives of so many. Management has caused the company to go from cutting edge, to a mere player of catch-up. In most sectors, movies, themeparks, television, it no longer marches to the beat of its own drum, nowadays they follow everyone else's tune.
Now sure, we've all heard, "change is good," but is the change taking place in the company truly beneficial to its survival, is it really smart long term business planning? After all, when everything is said an done, The Walt Disney Company is a major corporation. If the pixie dust isn't important just the money, then lets pass judgement on Disney, based on that alone. From the business stand point, failed investments, projects and relationships have all left Disney in a sort of limbo. Pixar no longer wants to do business with Disney, the Weinsteins want out, ABC Family was a costly mistake, ABC hasn't improved much. Ideas behind the movies Atlantis and Treasure Planet, were flawed and the films terribly marketed. Then the company closes down its animation arm in Florida, where its most recent hit Lilo and Stitch was made...And we're suppose to think thats smart business?
In the end, whats keeping the company afloat IS the pixie dust. The theme parks are a major part of the company. And sure there have been many positive changes and increase spending lately. But its interesting to note, that whats happening in the parks is a microcosm of whats happening through out the company. The pixie dust is being faded out. The classics are being replaced by attraction's whose life span comes to question. The classic attractions, representing the epitomy of what Disney is or was, are being replaced with the product of highly cut-back budgeted ideas (but a mere whisper of what the true plan had been). Management marches ahead more worried about making the money today than making sure there is still money to be made tomorrow. They avoid the ideas of the past; and to save money, they have CHANGED what has worked for decades. There is no vision, just greed.
The present is all about change, it is the door to the future. But success comes from not forgeting about the past, because if the past is forgotten or overlooked then perhaps the change that will precipitate isn't very positive.
Management continues to make the same mistakes. They overlook traditions and have branded the Disney name, erasing Walt Disney's vision. How sad that they resorted to celebrations of Walt's 100th birthday as a mere marketing ploy to make money. The most important CHANGE that needs to come about now, is a CHANGE in LEADERSHIP. Perhaps then things will be better.
Once again Grizz great post!!!
