Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has led the opposition party to fight for human rights and democracy in Burma for decades. She declared Saturday that the Prize she won 21 under house arrest 21 years ago helped to shatter her sense of isolation and ensured that the world would demand democracy in her military-controlled homeland. Suu Kyi received two standing ovations inside Oslo's city hall as she gave her long-delayed 22 speech to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in front of the 600 dignitaries. The 66-year-old champion of political freedom praised the power of her 1991 Nobel honor both for saving her from the depths of personal despair and shining an enduring spotlight on the injustices in distant Myanmar. “Often during my days of house arrest, it felt 23 I were no longer a part of the real world,” she said to a silent chamber. “There was the house which was my world. There was the world of others who also were not free but who were together in prison as a community. And there was the world of the free. Each one was a different planet 24 its own separate course in an indifferent universe.”

     “ 25 the Nobel Peace Prize did was to draw me once again into the world of other human beings, outside the isolated area in which I lived, to restore a sense of reality to me ... It had made me real once again ... And what was more important, the Nobel Prize had drawn the attention of the world to the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. We were not going to be forgotten,” she said during her 40-minute oration.

Disney got into the consulting business by accident after being featured in the 1984 best seller In Search of Excellence. Many corporations started asking for tips so that the company created a program in 1986 called “The Disney Approach to People Management,” and formalized the business a decade later with the Disney Institute’s creation. Revenue from the Disney Institute has doubled over the past three years, according to Disney, powered in part by its aggressive pursuit of new business. From 2006 to 2009, 300 school systems across the United States have sought its advice. The Disney Institute recently hired several field representatives to sign up clients and started dispatching its executives to companies wanting help; before that, advice-seekers traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida or Disneyland in California. “We’re putting our people on planes all day every day, domestically and internationally,” said Jeff James, who runs Disney’s consulting branch. “Some clients are in great shape and want to improve even further, and some are truly clueless.” Mr. James said the up-and-down economy had put pressure on companies to pay more attention to consumers’ needs. He also cited the importance of the Web, which “gives unhappy customers a megaphone.” Disney, which employs 64,000 people in Orlando alone, has its own employee difficulties, of course. Some “cast members” —Disney-reference to employees—chafe at the company’s strict rules, although it recently lifted a facial-hair ban and now allows women to forgo pantyhose. Disney’s ultra-friendly customer service can also startle visitors who aren’t used to such cheerfulness. But vast numbers of consumers love it, and the company is routinely showcased in business books for its hospitality and efficiency. For instance, the company has spent so much time studying its customers—more than 120 million globally in 2011— that it places trash cans every 27 paces, the average distance a visitor carries a candy wrapper before discarding it. When clients send their employees to Disney Institute for training, some time is spent on seminars on topics like “purpose before task.” They are going through Disney-led workshops that emphasize five principles: leadership, training, customer experience, brand loyalty and creativity. Sessions are often custom-tailored. They also get tours of the parks, where Disney managers demonstrate their tricks in action, like giving directions by point with two fingers instead of one (it’s more polite). A behind-the-scenes stop at “textile services” (the laundry) might emphasize how managers are taught to show appreciation for lower-level workers by pitching in to complete menial tasks.