What's Harder? Focusing on People or Money?

Thomas O. Staggs, just a year ago at one of his first big media events.

There's a great little interview by Robert N. Jenkins of the St. Petersburg Times of Thomas O. Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Because it was an interview done around the cruise line, he asks about Disney's economic timing with respect to that. He also asks an interesting question about the economic impact on Disney due to Universal's big hit with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

But Tom also discusses his focus on two critical issues:

"One of the most important things I try to think about is allocation of resources. They fall into two really, really important buckets. One is capital. But the other one, which I probably spend more time thinking about and is at least as important, is allocation of our people and our creative strengths — and of our energy and focus. And more often than not, it's the energy and focus that we're worried about making sure we have in the right places, rather than whether we can find the money."

He goes on to acknowledge that the company is well-capitalized, which probably means he doesn't have to focus quite so hard to as the rest of us does. But still, it begs the question, where are we focusing our greatest energy, and why?


Check out the article, it's a short read, but really great.