Disney and Apple have always been companies with an important resemblance. Right from the founding, Walt Disney and Steve Jobs have a whole host of similarities that make the two companies a natural fit. Pixar’s history, saved by Steve Jobs until its sale to Disney gave it a seat on the Mickey Mouse Company’s board of directors, is one more curiosity in a long list of similarities.
The different cooperations and nods between the two companies or the fact that the Pixar building on the Disney campus is called the Steve Jobs Building, is another example of their interrelationship. But the similarities go much deeper, because In both cases, there is a very strong and clear corporate culture and, sadly, both their leader and their founder left the company almost suddenly due to his death.
A very brave gesture from someone who has things very clear
Walt Disney and Steve Jobs could see from the start that in order for the company they were creating to come to fruition, they had to give it a soul in the form of guidelines. At Apple, we’ve often heard the phrase “corporate DNA” in reference to certain guidelines that, when firmly established, extend far beyond the lifetime of its founders.
And companies with this vision have been lucky, as the sudden departure of their respective CEOs has left both companies very affected. Of the two, the more sudden march was that of Walt Disney. Hardly anyone knew about his illness and it was in a very short time that the company’s address was released. Faced with this situation, the The question that hung over every head of the board when making the decision was “what would Walt do?”.
And who knew what Walt would do? Person. If the creator of Mickey Mouse was characterized by anything, it was being able to be unpredictable in certain key strategic decisions and knowing how to move them forward. No one wanted to take the lead, and as much as his brother Roy Disney came out of retirement to take command of the company, many decisions were extremely weighed.
Years later, remember that Walt Disney died in 1966 and Steve Jobs was born in 1955, the effects of wondering what Walt would still do marked some decisions. Steve Jobs took notice. When ill health forced him to leave management of Apple in the hands of Tim Cook, Jobs wanted Apple to be unlike Disney in this key element. He didn’t want “what would Steve do?”.
One of the clearest instructions Steve Jobs gave Tim Cook, as he admitted in an interview, was to do things his way. That he didn’t try to imitate her or imitate her. Let him make his own decisions and avoid entering into doubt. A key piece of advice, extremely valuable and typical of someone who has very clear ideas.
Steve Jobs’ legacy is not in the way he does things. It’s not even so much in their products, but in the ideas and values of the company and the team of people who create these products. Under Tim Cook’s leadership, Apple has grown across the board and made some brave decisions. Would Steve Jobs have made the same decisions? Maybe not exactly, but in a broad sense yes. Like Walt Disney, Steve Jobs still somehow runs his business.
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