Michael Eisner says his main mission after the September 11th attacks was to create a sense of calm within the ranks of Walt Disney, those he calls his "fellow cast-members".

Like thousands of others that day, Mr Eisner turned to the internet to spread that message.

Mr Eisner, who has been chairman and chief executive of Walt Disney since 1984, said he had just returned from a business trip to Asia, when New York and Washington were attacked. Not long after arriving at his Burbank offices early that morning, Mr Eisner sat down to write the first of a stream of e-mails to Disney employees that have continued almost daily since.

After expressing outrage, sorrow and condolences in his first note to the cast, Mr Eisner concluded with a pledge to carry on the company's business.

"Let me say our company around the world will continue to operate in this sometimes violent world in which we live, offering products that reach to the higher and more positive side of the human equation."

The e-mail, and dozens that have arrived at Disney employees' inboxes since, was key to Mr Eisner's strategy for holding his company together since the attacks.

"The first thing you do in any kind of challenge is communicate," Mr Eisner said. "You have to create a sense of security, for your employees, hotel guests, shareholders and your news organisation."

Mr Eisner said corporate heads would do well to examine the role of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as an example of strong leadership during a crisis. "He did what he was supposed to do: he became visible. He gave people a sense of leadership, of presence."

Although Mr Eisner has striven to maintain a business-as-usual front, the job of instilling that sense of security was challenging at times. Earlier this week, he held a meeting with the staff of ABC News in New York - just hours after it was learned that the child of an ABC employee had been infected with anthrax.

There have been challenges on the business side, too. The company closed its theme parks and some retail stores on the day of the attacks. WABC-TV in New York lost its broadcast antenna, and the group's Broadway shows were also closed.

Like most US media companies, Disney shares were hit by concerns about TV advertising, which ground to a halt in the days after the attacks. The shares also fell after a long-time investor sold off a large block of stock. And there have been worries about Disney's theme parks, particularly those in the US. Few companies are identified more closely with the US than Disney - a fact reinforced when President Bush told Americans to take a trip to Disneyland as a way of returning to normal.

"First you have to check on the morale of the employees, but at some point you have to look at the financials," Mr Eisner said. "After all, you're a for-profit organisation."

He acknowledges that Disney's businesses depend on the confidence of consumers, including their willingness to venture out to one of Disney's parks, hotels or restaurants. "We interact with the public in every part of our business."

He says much of the concerns about the company's business has been overdone, a message he has tried to communicate in the e-mails and interviews. The message? That people are returning to the theme parks and advertisers are beginning to return to the airwaves.

Yet he says he knows that some things have changed for Disney. In film and TV, success depends on correctly guessing what the public wants to see. Mr Eisner says it is clear that appetites have changed, so he is encouraging his employees to get out in the world.

"When you make decisions about movies or scripts, those decisions are layered on top of your gut," he said. "So you have to be alive and be out there."

Mr Eisner says there is a clarity to managing during a crisis that is perhaps not there when times are good. "It's amazingly uncomplicated," he said. "What's complicated is when everything is going well - everybody's an expert on what you should be doing.

"In a crisis, it's pretty much black and white, on and off."