Lessons from Walt Disney's banker

Not many people would know that just outside of San Francisco is the Disney Family Museum. It’s in The Presdio district, somewhat away from the main San Francisco tour route.  I was on holidays and given that a good chunk of this was to be spent at DisneyWorld, one of my kids suggested we go have a look.

The museum tracks the ancestral roots of Walt Disney, and how he built his empire. When Disney took a punt on creating Snow White, it was truly a make or break play on Disney’s future. As part of that Disney chapter, the museum had a small section dedicated to his banker at the time; a Bank of America banker named Joe Rosenberg. In Walt’s words:

“.... we had decided there was only one way we could successfully do Snow White, and was to go for broke, shoot the works. There would be no compromise on money, talent or time. We did not know whether the public would go for a cartoon feature, but we were darned sure that audiences would not buy a bad cartoon feature. As the Snow White budget climbed, I did begin to wonder whether we would ever get our investment back. 

There was a period of great tension because, for us, a million and a half dollars was a terrific investment. We had been spending thirty thousand dollars on a cartoon short, but it was guaranteed to us, practically, by our distributor. We got that when we delivered the picture. But if we had flopped with Snow White, we were gonna flop with our own money.

I had always objected to letting any outsider see an incomplete motion picture, but I had to sit alone with Joe Rosenberg of the Bank of America and try to sell him a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of faith. He showed not the slightest reaction to what he viewed. After the lights came on he walked out of the projection room, remarked that it was a nice day – and yawned! He was still deadpan as I conducted him to his car. Then he turned to me and said “Walt, that picture will make you a potfull of money.” To this day, he’s my favourite banker.”

I certainly don’t deliberately go searching for banking stories when I’m on holidays, but I love the simplicity of this message. Customers will look to us in times of tension or opportunity, often hoping that we will see their vision.  Joe would never have understood the power of what Walt was creating, by reading about it in a business plan, or in a set of financials.  Sometimes, it is better to touch, feel, witness and absorb, in order to best understand.