In How to Be Like Walt, Pat Williams cites the six qualities that made Walt Disney's work so creative and innovative. In re-reading How To Be Like Walt, it was a great refresher on what contributed to Walt's success. The Six [...]
Film producer and innovator Walt Disney used to think-up and refine ideas by breaking the process into three distinct chunks. The dreamer, the realist, and the spoiler (or critic). The Dreamer This stage was for fantasizing. Creating the most fantastic and [...]
The image below is a relic from my first out-of-college job with the Disney Company. A page from a "While You Were Out" message pad. (I re-discovered this as a bookmark in my copy of George Orwell's 1984). I [...]
Lewis, the child inventor, waited while his invention warmed up. It was a peanut butter and jelly dispenser, designed to portion evenly onto bread. The switch clicked ON, followed by a hiss of compressed air. At first, it didn't seem like [...]
Most brainstorm sessions start with the meeting lead proclaiming, “Okay guys… think out of the box and remember, there are no bad ideas!” We say “there are no bad ideas” before we brainstorm the same way we say “bless you” after someone [...]
Huh? Am I asking you are from Belgium? Or have a cold… phlegmish? No. No. Do you flemish? To “flemish” is to coil the loose end of the lines* (ropes) used when boating. It is an attractive and safe way (reduces [...]
Imagineer Jargon: "Weenie"The Imagineer Term Weenie - Walt Disney's playful term for a visual element that could be used to draw people into and around a space. According to Disney Imagineers, a weenie is big enough to be seen from a [...]
The Imagineers at The Disney Company, the folks who dream-up theme parks and make them a reality, have created their own terms that allow quick understanding. The Imagineer TermsBerm - A raised earthen barrier, typically heavily landscaped, which serves to prevent [...]
Michael Michalko (author of "Thinkertoys" and "Cracking Creativity") was interviewed by Dan Keldsen from BizTechTalk. They discussed Michael's perspective on various techniques for creative thinking. During the discussion, Michael mentions a technique Walt Disney would use for drumming up ideas... Dreamer, [...]
In Tom Kelley’s new book The Ten Faces of Innovation, the second ‘face’ he discusses in the book is called the "Experimenter." These are folks who "strive for inspiration but never shy away from perspiration." Walt Disney called this "sticktoitivity." Kelley [...]
