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Leaders should always develop a futuristic approach when considering their strategy. Having open and sensitive channels permits early detection of disruptive tendencies within their industry. Once those tendencies have been detected, it takes great courage to accept them and leave behind the old ways of doing business.

However, those who take advantage of the opportunity and flex reap great rewards, and those who don’t get to watch their business slowly die out.

People Appreciate Breaking the Status Quo the Right Way

The Walt Disney Company includes a tremendously diverse bundle of businesses, so it makes it hard or, more accurately, pointless to try and define one specific audience that Disney is targeting throughout its businesses. Maybe the best (or frankly the only) term we can use to approximate it is “families”. “Families” in the broadest possible definition of the word and beyond.

What is making Disney uniquely appealing is the remarkable trait of its products to be enjoyed by almost the whole range of ages. Its animation movies may be targeting young children, but they are far from a drag for their parents to watch them together – at least for the first couple of times, after the 100th, it becomes unbearable.

Disney University

Disney takes the training of its employees very seriously. From very early on, Disney realized that the first and biggest champions of their brand should be the people working for it. The first Disney University was created in 1962 at Disneyland to train new employees and with an extensive preparation process to introduce them to the Disney culture, its ways and traditions, and the communication and collaboration practices of the park.

A fun fact about Disney is that the company doesn’t refer to its park’s employees as employees, instead, they are called “Cast Members” that wear “costumes” instead of uniforms and entertain “guests” instead of visitors.

This reinforces the idea that cast members are entering a stage when they come out and perform their roles. That way the magical experience that guests are invited to have is deeply immersive and exciting.

Since 1962, Disney has opened several facilities near its biggest theme parks with the same name and purpose while expanding its activities digitally with online courses. However, there is one common experience that every cast member goes through on their first day of work called “Traditions”.

The class is a welcoming ceremony and highly emotional, where new cast members learn about the legacy of Disney and their responsibility towards it. In just a few hours, they get the first real glimpse behind the scenes, are inspired, surprised, and taught about the new culture they are becoming a part of.

People working in Disney have many opportunities to get training and propel their careers forward. Even though Disney University is not an accredited institution, it includes highly valuable courses that experienced professionals teach.

Hiring, Diversity & Inclusion

Disney has a variety of programs and processes when it comes to hiring new people or offering internships. However, because of its massive size and diverse segments, the company has created a website to guide, inform and facilitate the process.

Over the last few years, Disney has demonstrated an impressive attempt to create products and tell stories that accurately represent the vastly diverse human world. This is evident in Disney’s storytelling, where fresh, inspiring, and modern messages are depicted and inside their culture.

Inside the company, there is a growing intention of leveraging the reach of the brand by welcoming and including people with various backgrounds and cultural traits. They make public statements of their support of communities like LGBTQ, offer internal cross-cultural mentoring, and take important initiatives.

For example, since 2012, Disney has established a program called “Heroes Work Here” dedicated to offer opportunities and help their reentrance to the society of returning veterans.

Another display of the company’s commitment to the promotion of aspirational themes and underrepresented or even forgotten communities, Disney+ has inserted advisories to certain titles that appear before them. The message is shown below

Although Disney has still a long way to go to become a brand and company reflective of humanity’s multilateral and terrifyingly flavor-rich realm, it has displayed serious effort to advance in that direction.

Key Takeaway: Honoring the responsibility of international brands means focusing on the people.

Disney recognizes its ability and responsibility to shape cultures and opinions and has started taking them seriously and handling them with great maturity. It’s not easy to transform an organization the size of Disney and make it an exemplary brand, yet they are determined to pursue it actively.

Maybe the company’s nature and size enable this process or maybe not. But, the truth is that seeing this honest and efficacious attempt to tackle important issues and provide a serious focus on people and culture has an inspiring effect. It sends the message that inclusion is possible and the differences that people bring into the room are not obstacles to overcome, but rather blessings that, if utilized, introduces precious qualities that can’t be bought another way.

Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways

Disney is a multifaceted corporation. It offers unique experiences and stories. It is a very rare kind of organization, because of the strong correlation between its segments. Its separate business influences the other and works as a multiplier. The brand equity of The Walt Disney Company increases the aggregated value of its part, making it significantly more than their sum.