Ron, Frank, and Jim: The Three Mouseketeers
Excerpt from Fortune Magazine, November 1st, 1986
Your kids might be watching Mickey, Donald, and Goofy on Saturday Mornings, but the Entertainment Industry is watching its own Three Mouseketeers: Ron Miller, Frank Wells, and Jim Henson. This winning triumvirate is guiding the venerable Walt Disney Entertainment Company into a new renaissance of filmmaking, parks, and attractions.
CEO Ron Miller has steered a bold new strategic path for Disney, expanding the business into new markets and moving beyond its child friendly roots with Oscar-winning dramas and once-taboo subjects. Chairman and President Frank Wells has restructured the company, streamlining management and drastically reducing overhead while simultaneously increasing the profitability of the parks and attractions. Chief Creative Officer Jim Henson has been a creative shot in the arm for the studios and parks alike, bringing bold new visions and creative decisions to Disney that are piling up the statuettes and filling the theaters and couches of America. Together, this Disney triumvirate is demonstrating the advantages of a diversified leadership capable of working in concert and counterbalancing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Modest and a bit camera shy despite towering over everyone, the broad-shouldered 6’ 5” Ron Miller stands in sharp contrast to the Big Name, Big Ego corporate leaders one expects to find at the helm of a
Fortune 500 company. Miller, in reflection of his sporting roots, is big on teamwork and consensus. While modern Celebrity CEOs are working hard to put their name out front and seize credit for any successes, Miller is quick to shine the spotlight on his underlings and focus on the accomplishments of the team. All for one and one for all.
Miller almost literally inherited the helm of Disney after marrying Walt Disney’s daughter Dianne and then joining the company after a brief career in professional football. Walt and former CEO E. Cardon Walker groomed Miller to lead the company from an early point in time. During this extended apprenticeship, Miller came to see the side of Walt that few others did, namely his secret desire to expand beyond children’s entertainment. “After seeing
To Kill a Mockingbird together,” said Miller, “my father-in-law told me and Dianne that he wished that he could make films like that. Now he can. And if that’s all I can claim at the end of my time at Disney, then I’ll be ok with that.”
Such self-effacing modesty seems ironic from the man who created Hyperion Pictures, now a rising juggernaut in live action film, including
The Ballad of Edward Ford, which won the Palm d’Or and nearly swept the Oscars in 1986. Greenlighting such a picture with its definitively un-Disney-like subject matter took guts and trust in your subordinates. And yet when asked about it, Miller points to Jim Henson, Tom Wilhite, and Bernie Brillstein, and also to his father-in-law. “This was Walt’s
To Kill A Mockingbird.”
Miller’s firm but gentle right hand is Chairman, President, and COO Frank Wells. Another soft-spoken and considerate man, Wells has an aura of quiet strength and confidence. He’s a man who has climbed mountains both literal and metaphorical, and whose steady hand has produced tangible results, seeing profits increase 500% and stock prices soar since he joined the team in late 1984, peaking at over $200 per share this year. Analysts predict that Disney stocks will split three or even four ways at the end of the year. Wells is a man who has every right to pride, and yet the urbane and considerate Wells displays the same sense of self-effacing modesty as his CEO, reportedly carrying a slip of paper in his pocket saying “Humility is the final achievement[1].”
Wells first joined the Disney team as an advisor and coordinator during the chaotic months of the ACC hostile takeover bid, where he quickly caught the attention of the Board of Directors with his confidence and composure under pressure. When the White Knight campaign succeeded, he was soon asked to join the company, assuming the roles of President and COO from Miller and, more recently, the Chair from Ray Watson. Wells has earned a reputation as a tough but fair arbiter of disputes, an open ear for ideas and complaints alike, and a laser-focused leader with an attention to detail that has let him navigate the rapids and rocks of show business timelines and egos and keep the ship running at peak efficiency. His “Mickey’s Glove” organizational structure has even been the study of numerous graduate theses at business and management schools alike.
Wells was up front about his achievements, and yet humble. “We’ve accomplished big things,” he said, matter-of-factly, “and each day offers a unique set of challenges for the Disney team.” Asked about where he goes from here, Wells was to the point. “Why would I want to go anywhere else?”
Finally, Miller’s creative and agile left hand is Jim Henson, who shares Miller’s height, Well’s gentleness, and both of their humility. Henson is a living creative legend and a man who has managed to do impossible things, like get adults to tune in to watch puppet shows and cartoons. With a keen eye for talent and a willingness to take real creative risks, Henson has more than achieved Miller’s dream of expanding the limits of what a Walt Disney production can mean. His films have broken box office records and raked in the awards, and he is credited with saving Walt Disney’s animation studio in particular and feature animation in general. He has produced or greenlit everything from Oscar winning dramas to fun-filled children’s animation and helped develop truly mesmerizing rides and attractions for the Disney theme parks. He’s even had a hand in hotels, being a driving force in the creation of the new Grand Floridian Resort and Villa Romana Hotel, both set to open next year.
Henson, for all of his great success, remains almost childlike in his sincerity and playful optimism. If asked, he will gladly bring out any number of felt alter egos and bring them to such uncanny life that it’s hard for even the most jaded of men to not think, even for only a second, that a felt frog is indeed a living, breathing being. Kind, gentle, colloquial, and even sweet, it’s easy to overlook just what a force of nature the “Gentle Giant” is. A man who leads by example and inspires inspiration in others, his soft smile hides one of the industry’s great leaders. Productivity at the studios has soared under Henson to a level not seen since the passing of Walt Disney himself, and no threats or hardball tactics were required. Some have credited him with having the “Magic Touch”, but Henson demurs.
“I feel that it is a fundamental truth that most people want to do great things,” said Henson. “Every person has a great imagination in them and if given the right environment to grow in, then they will amaze even themselves with what they are willing and able to accomplish.” He added, “There’s nothing magical about it, at least not in the literal sense.”
These Three Mouseketeers of Disney may be quiet and modest, but there’s no hiding that they are a highly effective team with productivity, profitability, and morale all soaring along with the stock price. We sat down with all three men for an in-depth look into their business and management philosophies and how they see the “Disney Model” as a new way forward for creative endeavors. Ron Miller for one…
Article continues on Page 21.
* * *
The Board of Directors for the Walt Disney Entertainment Company, January 1987:
Ronald “Ron” Miller, CEO
Frank Wells, Chairman, President, and COO
James M. “Jim” Henson, CCO, President, Walt Disney Studios
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President, Disney Recreation
Roy E. Disney, Vice President, Walt Disney Animation Studios (head of Shamrock Holdings)
Al Gottesman (President, Henson Arts Holdings)
Dianne Disney Miller (Partner, Retlaw Enterprises)
Peter Dailey (former US ambassador to Ireland and Roy Disney’s brother-in-law)
Charles Cobb (CEO of Arvida Corp.; representing the interests of Bass Brothers)
Alfred Attilio “Al” Checchi (representing Marriott International)
Advisory Board Members (non-voting, ad-hoc attendance):
E. Cardon “Card” Walker, Chairman Emeritus
Donn Tatum, Chairman Emeritus
Sid Bass (CEO of Bass Brothers Enterprises)
Steven Spielberg (Partner, Amblin Entertainment)
John Sculley (CEO & President of Apple Computer, Inc.)
George Lucas (CEO of Lucasfilm, Ltd.)
J. Willard “Bill” Marriott, Jr. (CEO of Marriott International)
Ray Watson, Chairman Emeritus (former head of the Irvine Company)
Caroline Ahmanson (head and founder of Caroline Leonetti Ltd.)
Philip Hawley (Carter Hawley Hale)
Samuel Williamson (senior partner, Hufstedler, Miller, Carson, & Beardsley)
Stan Lee (Chairman of Marvel Entertainment)
The Disney Executive Committee:
Ronald “Ron” Miller, CEO
Frank Wells, President and COO
James M. “Jim” Henson, CCO and President, Walt Disney Studios
Richard “Dick” Nunis, President, Disney Recreation
Thomas “Tom” Wilhite, President, MGM Studios
Carl Bongirno, President, Walt Disney Imagineering Workshop
Roy E. Disney, Vice President, Walt Disney Animation Studios
* * *
Stocks at a Glance: Walt Disney Entertainment (DIS)
January 12th, 1987
Stock price: $49.44 [following 4:1 Stock Split Jan 1st, 1987]
Major Shareholders: Henson family (19.4%), Roy E. Disney (13.4%), Disney-Miller family (12.3%), Sid Bass (9.6%), Bill Marriott (6.3%), Amblin Entertainment (1.3%), Apple Comp. (0.7%), Lucasfilm Ltd. (0.42%), Suspected “Knights Errant” (4.6%), Others (31.8%)
Outstanding shares: 150.4 million
[1] True!