When Lincoln stood and started talking, audiences were amazed. Photo: Disney

With all the talk recently about Disney having lost its family focus, including my reporting, it would be useful to review Walt Disney’s original success formula as stated in his own words: Strength, Application, and Value.

Strength

Walt Disney was clear about his company’s fundamental Core Strength: making inanimate objects move. He first became fascinated with animation in grade school. “The trick of making things move on film is what got me,” he said. Walt quickly learned the technology behind animation. He then added more technological innovations; syncing audio, inventing the storyboard and the multi-plane camera, cataloging over 1,200 colors and refining the drawing process until his animations were the best in the world.

+ Application

But ‘making thing move’ was not an end unto itself. While the strength made inanimate objects move, the application of that strength was the telling of a story through those inanimate objects.

One example is the Abraham Lincoln robot Walt and his team developed for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Mr. Lincoln stood, moved his fingers, arms, upper torso, head and mouth as he spoke. Fair goers of all ages were enthralled; not with movement, but with the experience of seeing and hearing the Gettysburg address delivered ‘live’ by ‘Mr. Lincoln.’

= Emotional Value

Disney’s Core Strength and the application of that strength led to a specific customer-pleasing result: an emotional value for customers. The emotion of seeing Mr. Lincoln was one example. Disneyland, ‘The happiest place on earth,’ is another. Disneyland was both technically visionary and story based, and it delivered an emotional wallop that made it unique and has sustained it for over half century.

To apply this formula to your organization, ask three simple questions.

1.    What unique core strength do customers and employees say your organization has?

2.    How do/can you apply that strength to deliver a satisfying result?

3.    What emotional value do employees and customers obtain by experiencing that result?

Effective organizations, either intuitively or purposefully, know, follow, and deliver this formula. It can fuel your success too.