A Management Lesson From Walt Disney

Developing the processes to harness dreams

For those who have already heard of Disney’s creative strategy, you may not be aware that the romantic notion of it coming directly from Walt Disney himself is actually untrue. The first mention of the dreamer, the realist, and the critic was taken from an interview with two of Disney’s original animators, Ollie Johnstone and Frank Thomas.

They said: “There were actually three different Walts: the dreamer, the realist, and the spoiler. You never knew which one was coming into your meeting.”

This quote was picked up by Robert Dilts, one of the pioneers of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), who then developed the creative strategy after further interviews with Disney’s friends and colleagues to learn more about the infamous business leader’s successful strategies.

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Teams consist of Dreamers, Realists and Critics

Using this model, I have found that teams consist of all three:

A dreamer who can imagine the future
A realist who can implement the dream
and a critic who can find all of the tarpits in the dream and the plan

Most of my job as a facilitator is to interpret between the critic and the dreamer and the realist.

Critics say: "We wouldn't want to have the same kind of problems with had with the last project."

The dreamers and realists think: "Of course not...what's your question?"

When I translate the critic's statement into a question: "How can we avoid the kind of problems we had with the last project?"

The dreamers and realists can immediately figure out how to improve the dream and the plan.

To watch a video about this go to: http://www.qimacros.com/Moneybelt/lean-six-sigma-team-motivation-styles.html