It’s my opinion that Walt Disney is, so far and by far, the greatest CEO of all time. He wasn’t perfect and, yes, I know about the strike and his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and, no, I don’t believe the exaggerated “dark side of Disney” allegations. The breadth of Disney’s accomplishments remains unmatched, and I feel that no other entrepreneur before or since has achieved his level independence, originality, and creativity.
Disney was supposedly uncomfortable being the host of his own TV series, but you wouldn’t know it from watching him explain how artists need to each develop their own style in order to be proficient at collaborating on creating art the Disney way. It’s interesting that Marc Davis’ rendering of the tree is the most conventional of the four paintings. Davis was primarily an animator, not a background artist.