The Walt Disney Company

I just spent two-and-a-half weeks working at the corporate headquarters of our company. I've been there before on fun trips to learn about the history of the studio lot and to visit the company archives, but i've never been there to work.

Here's a picture i found online of the Team Disney Burbank building (aka The Michael D. Eisner Building), which was designed by Michael Graves. I wanted to post this because if you looked at this building, where do you think the CEO's office would be? The truth is the senior executives' offices are all located in the back of the building, nowhere close to Dopey or any of the other dwarfs. Here's a picture i took of the building from the south side. Do you see the two half-circle windows on the very top left (the 6th floor)? That's Bob Iger's office. And all the other senior executive offices are further in the back. Who's on the 6th floor?

• Robert A. Iger -- President and CEO
• Alan Braverman -- Sr. Executive VP, General Counsel and Secretary
• Thomas O. Staggs -- Sr. Executive VP and CFO
• Richard Cook -- Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios
• Jay Rasulo -- Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
• Andy Bird -- President, Walt Disney International

I was working for our CFO. I've know Tom and his family for about three years now because i'm his guide when he visits Disneyland. Because i'm his guide i've worked with his assistants in the past, but while i was in DSA (see my 6/6/06 post---wow, i did not do that on purpose, but if the shoe fits...) i worked with his assistants almost on a daily basis. So after they found out i was moving back to Guest Relations, they decided to ask me to help them out for a couple of weeks.

Now the question is: what did i do while i was there? And the answer is: shhh, it's a secret. No, if i told you, then i wouldn't have to kill you, i'd just get fired. Well, that's only true for some of the projects i was working on. I was basically assigned a variety of small projects, some for the company and some for Tom. Now i can claim i helped design the custom china and glassware used in the company boardroom - hah!

I did learn a lot about the company while i was up there. Working there and working at Disneyland is like working for two different companies. I took this picture on Halloween---Tuesday. The studio had activities, games, display booths, specialty foods, and even a costume contest---right in the middle of the work week! And look who we had as the judges---the three on the right are Bob Iger, Anne Sweeney, and Dick Cook! I will miss that kind of environment---people having fun, but still able to do good work and get it done. If that ever happened at Disneyland, then i'd have to prepare for an impending disaster because the balance of good and evil in the universe would have to readjusted. I should note though, Jim Clark, Diane's husband, who works for Marty Sklar, pointed out i have a somewhat skewed view of what it's like to work in Burbank because i was working exclusively on the 6th floor.

Here's a picture of my make-shift work area in a little corner of one of Tom's assistant's office. People would walk in to say hi to her and all the sudden i'd have Bob Iger, Dick Cook or John Lasseter standing in front of my desk. When John walked in, wearing one of his trademark Hawaiian shirts, i couldn't help but think, "I just saw you on my DVD last night." I had just watched Hayao Miyazaki's US release of Howl's Moving Castle the night before. I don't think i'd ever get used to that. I can't imagine the kind of visitors Dick Cook gets...

One of the best things about going up there was finally meeting everyone i've worked with via phone or email for so long and putting a face with the name and voice. Oh, and walking through Walt's wing in the animation building was pretty cool too. You'll find squirrels (that's a hard word to spell) all over the studio lot. They're very friendly; animators have been feeding them ever since the lot was built back in 1939. And they look very similar to the squirrels you'll find in The Sword in the Stone---i wonder why...