Walt Disney incorporated Laugh-O-Gram films at age 20. But Disney was completely incompetent as an artist and couldn’t draw Mickey if asked. Disney was the visionary instead. But by the late 1920s, Laugh-O-Gram had failed as a viable business with Walt doing (unfortunately) a good portion of the drawings for his cartoons. What Walt realised was that his talent did not lie in actually drawing cartoons. Instead Walt Disney had the intelligence to hire and train quality artists rather than try to improve his skill as an artist and persist in failure. Kansas City Film Ads introduced him to puppet joints but he was unsuccessful in animating them. Only after moving to the West Coast could he, his brother and Iwerks realise their full potential as artists, project managers and entrepreneurs. Disney famously invested in training his employees in an art school to improve the visual quality of the backgrounds and character craft. “I put all my artists back to school” then set up a new art school within Disney Burbank Studios to control the education more closely. Because they were dealing with action, reaction and motion, these animators had to try to bring the animals to life while making the act realistic.
Audiences had to believe in the animals and Disney’s perfectionism made sure that this was realised. He knew what he wanted to do but then realised his weaknesses and shifted his career. Other artists would provide the human-like characteristics to characters in all the Disney movies. The human like features were essential to allowing viewers to connect with Bambi or Jiminy Cricket, as examples. So in short, Disney trusted in the creative genius of his team rather than micro-manage his team and the creative process. He had the ability to trust in others and focus on what he could bring to the table which was vision, financial backing and business acumen.
By 1983, the operating profit of Chrysler was $925 million, which was the best performance in Chrysler history. A new stock offering of 12.5 million shares was made. Within the first hour, 26 million shares were sold with a market value of $432 million. Since any new issue of equity dilutes the existing outstanding shares the price typically dips but at $16.63 the shares then surged to $25 and then $35 per share.
Fortunately, Chrysler was in a position to repay its government loan guarantee that was made from 1980 in 1983 which was 7 years earlier then expected. Unfortunately, the government could force Chrysler to issue 14.4 million shares at $13 at anytime until 1990, this also includes the interest rates of 24%. When Iacocca asked the government to not impose this indecent profit that it had been privy to, the public outcry was massive. Chrysler ended up buying back the warrants at $350 million and the government used those funds not help laid off workers (which might have been appropriate) but rather towards the US deficit.
The final cherry on top for Chrysler was the production of the world’s first minivan. Hal Sperlich developed the Mini-Max at Ford with initial R&D of $500,000 in 1974. There were 3 rules for its creation. 1) the step up height had to be low, 2) the car to fit in a North American-style garage, 3) there had to be ‘nose’ with an engine up front to protect the occupants in the event of an accident. Unfortunately, Henry Ford shot the idea down because he did not want to experiment. So Chrysler released the mini-van in 1984 with major traction and Ford and GM quickly scrambled to develop their own minivans.
This is a synopsis & analysis based on Iacocca: An Autobiography and other miscellaneous research sources. Enjoy.
According to Thomas Cronin at the University of Maryland, animals see things rather differently from human beings. Not really a surprise but it’s worth your time to see what that actually looks like as a human being. Cronin studies visual physiology. Through his research, it has been determined that certain animals see the world in a certain way. I guess the best way to determine the visual experience of an animal would be to base that experience on visuals.
Pan left for Human Views & Pan Right for Animal Views
Chris Hadfield has popularised space exploration using social media and in the process marketed the objectives of NASA better than any living or past astronaut. The photos he took of us while on the International Space Station were pretty killer, my friends. Despite his somewhat inflamed ego, Hardfield continues to inspire us at PNerdster. He’s a truly sharp pilot, astronaut and all around solid person.
Watch his TedTalk below, I found this version of his TEDtalk which is half length of the original:
Walt Disney incorporated Laugh-O-Gram films at age 20. But Disney was completely incompetent as an artist and couldn’t draw Mickey if asked. Disney was the visionary instead. But by the late 1920s, Laugh-O-Gram had failed as a viable business with Walt doing (unfortunately) a good portion of the drawings for his cartoons. What Walt realised was that his talent did not lie in actually drawing cartoons. Instead Walt Disney had the intelligence to hire and train quality artists rather than try to improve his skill as an artist and persist in failure. Kansas City Film Ads introduced him to puppet joints but he was unsuccessful in animating them. Only after moving to the West Coast could he, his brother and Iwerks realise their full potential as artists, project managers and entrepreneurs. Disney famously invested in training his employees in an art school to improve the visual quality of the backgrounds and character craft. “I put all my artists back to school” then set up a new art school within Disney Burbank Studios to control the education more closely. Because they were dealing with action, reaction and motion, these animators had to try to bring the animals to life while making the act realistic.
Audiences had to believe in the animals and Disney’s perfectionism made sure that this was realised. He knew what he wanted to do but then realised his weaknesses and shifted his career. Other artists would provide the human-like characteristics to characters in all the Disney movies. The human like features were essential to allowing viewers to connect with Bambi or Jiminy Cricket, as examples. So in short, Disney trusted in the creative genius of his team rather than micro-manage his team and the creative process. He had the ability to trust in others and focus on what he could bring to the table which was vision, financial backing and business acumen.
