Walt Disney: An American Original
, subject: Biography of Walt Disney covering his entrepreneurial career, creative philosophy, licensing strategy, and the founding of the Walt Disney Company and Disneyland, 1976
Walt Disney's rule of innovating first and determining the cost afterward puts a hard question to founders: when should the numbers enter the decision?
About the book
Thomas traces Disney from his Kansas City animation failure through Mickey Mouse, feature films, wartime disruption, television, and Disneyland, drawing on studio cooperation and firsthand interviews.
Why read it
Best if you want to weigh Disney's rule of innovating before counting the cost, in a biography built partly on its author's interviews with Disney.
Key themes
- Innovate first, work out the cost later
- Disney as the author heard him
Evidence and original sources
Sources: official Founders episodes — #39, #40
David praises the book specifically for drawing on firsthand interviews the author conducted with Walt Disney before his death.
- Walt Disney: An American Original — David opens the episode by reading from the book's introduction and names Walt Disney: An American Original as the subject of the episode.
- Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid — David identifies Bob Thomas's book from the prior week and applies its Walt Disney line about innovating first and determining the cost afterward to Edwin Land.