Transcript
Introduction
In 1965, a publisher suggested that I write a biography of Walt Disney. Knowing that Walt was heavily involved with a full production schedule, his television show, a proposed theme park in Florida, new attractions for Disneyland, and a host of other projects, I expected to write the book from file material. But Walt insisted on giving me 4 lengthy interviews. He dwelled on his early years on the farm in Marceline as a newspaper delivery boy in Kansas City and as a student and mailman in Chicago. He seemed eager to sum up the lessons he had learned as a boy and tell young people how he applied them in his later life. He died within a year after the interviews.
So that paragraph comes from the introduction to the book that I want to talk to you about today, which is Walt Disney: An American Original. And I love how it explicitly states why we spend so much time studying these biographies and autobiographies of entrepreneurs, where it talks -- where he says, it's some -- he seemed eager to sum up the lessons he had learned as a boy and tell young people how he applied them in his later life, which is exactly the point of this podcast, for us to learn lessons from people that have come before us that have built companies and apply those -- what we learn in our own lives.