Walt Disney Valued His Janitor’s Ideas

Walt Disney was holding a meeting with his artists and Imagineers, planning new attractions for Disneyland. The door to the room was open, and he pointed down the hall and said, “See that janitor? He has as many ideas as any of us!” Walt valued feedback from anyone, even the studio janitor.

The moral to the story is that ‘normal’ people can have as much imagination and as many dreams as the ‘creative’, ‘successful’ and ‘visionary’ people. The trick is to (1) Realize the value of your imagination, and (2) Somehow figure out how to make your ideas into reality. Not always easy, but possible. Actually, probably most of the time not easy, but still possible.

Dr. Seuss’ Mother Wanted Him to Be a Doctor

Dr. Seuss was the artist and writer of many favorite children’s books like the Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and Ham, the Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Dr. Seuss was not his real name. He was born Theodore Geisel in 1904 in the small town of Springfield, Massachusetts. As a child, he loved to doodle and draw, but his mother, Henrietta Geisel, wanted him to become a doctor. Also, his college class voted him as least likely to succeed, because they said “A man can’t exactly doodle for a living”.

When he published his children’s books, Theodore Geisel paid homage to his mother by using an author’s pseudonym, using the Dr. title and his mother’s maiden name Seuss.

Theodore Geisel obviously went against his mother’s dream and didn’t let his college friends’ low opinion of him get him down, he went on to become one the most famous and successful children’s book illustrator and author.

I got this information from the How the Grinch Stole Christmas TV special DVD.