Thursday, July 19, 2007

Daily Figment 15

daily_figment_02After the death of Walt Disney the man, something happened to Walt Disney the company. You see, Walt Disney was a three-time rifter. He was one of the few people who have successfully managed to find a rift in the continuum of life, to bet everything on it, and to make a profit by doing so. And he did it three times.

What's a rift? It's a big tear in the fabric of the rules that we live by. It's a fundamental change in the game, one that creates a bunch of new losers -- and a handful of new winners.

Most people who build important businesses build them on a rift, usually one that they find by accident, and usually only once. Sometimes, after they've succeeded once, they fool themselves into thinking that they're so gifted that everywhere they look, they can see a rift. But Disney was different: He really was rift gifted. After all, he did it three times.

"Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, my mom -- and now you -- have shared the secret of rifting." Seth Godin, FastCompany,  Issue 32, February 2000, Page 258.

Seth wrote this seven years ago. It is interesting to see his take on what he feels are really Walt's rifts. In the article, he looks at Steve Jobs (before the iPod and iTunes--probably one of the biggest rifts ever) and his mom. All from different perspectives.

Have you experienced a rift? Have you bet it all and come out a winner?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm currently riding a rift right now. Talk to me in a year or two and I'll be able to tell if I capitalized on it or not

Jeffrey Pepper said...

Great read--thanks for point it out.