Disney Transformational Leader

Since the 1930’s, the Walt Disney Company is known for producing characters, images, as well as stories which have created happiness for audiences around the world. This corporation has grown from a small cartoon studio run by famous Walt and Roy Disney to a million dollar business. In Janet Wasko’s novel, “Understanding Disney”, Wasko explains Disney as corporation calling it “The Disney Empire”. Throughout her novel, Wasko argues that Disney is set up like a typical profit seeking corporation, as well as creates and manufactures fantasy, and lastly re-invents folk tales by “Americanising” them.

Imagine yourself as one person trying to totally reinvent the way that families are entertained. I will be talking to you about a farmer that became an animator. A farmer as a visionary leader, impressive. That is the story of Walt Disney. By all rights, Walt Disney was an excellent animator, but he had the self-awareness to know that he could not make his vision a reality on his own. I believe that Walt Disney is a visionary leader and I will show you how he used “Team Building”, “a group organized to work together”, (Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012)(p.2) skills, “Diversity”, “a composite of individuals characteristics, experiences, and abilities”, (Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012)(p.3) skills, and Full Range Leadership Development, “Contingent Reward”, “When the follower fulfills the leader’s expectation, a reward is provide to reinforce the demonstrated positive behavior.”,(Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012),(p.14) skills to inspire people to buy into his vision and motivate others to help him accomplish his vision. I informed you earlier that I believe Walt Disney is a visionary leader, but that doesn’t make him an ethical leader. Through Walt Disney’s violation of “Honest”, “the bottom line is we don’t lie”, (United States Air Force Core Values, 1997), (p.1), “Openness”, “the free flow of

Walt Disney’s greatest achievement is the impact he made on America’s mass media industry. Disney took his talent for art and design to the next

Walt Disney was a visionary and transformational leader that used Inspirational Motivation and Intellectual Stimulation and an easy to follow vision that inspired his people to achieve their shared dream of providing the best family entertainment possible. Walt Disney’s vision was clear, simple, and easy to follow. Dream, Believe, Dare, Do. (Capodagli & Jackson, 2007). He spoke so passionately about his dreams that others around him couldn’t help but

Walt Disney was a transformational leader as described as one “who serves to change the status quo by appealing to followers’ values and their sense of higher purpose” (Northouse, 2013). Walt Disney had a vision and did everything that he could to make that vision a reality. Walt Disney had four main transformational leadership characteristics: Vision, rhetorical skills, image and trust building and personalized leadership. Along with these four qualities, Walt Disney also had charisma and inspirational motivation (Northouse,

Walt Disney was a very influential man to the entertainment industry. He made animation a whole new type of entertainment. Although Walt went through many struggles and problems, he pushed on and eventually saw results for all his hard work. Many hardships got in Disney’s way such as unsupportive parents and even bankruptcy; Walt pushed on through, always creating, working hard, and persevering to accomplish his dream.

There were many men that made America the way it is today and they did not achieve that by sitting back and doing nothing they put their heart and soul into their work.”No man becomes rich unless he enriches others. -Andrew Carnegie”(Andrew Carnegie Quotes). There are many reasons why Andrew Carnegie and Walt Disney are alike and why they are different. They both believe that a good leader is persistent, enthusiastic, honest, and courageous. But most of their differences have to do with how they were raised, Carnegie grew up working and having to support his family and he had no idea what he was going to do as an adult, while Disney dropped out of high school and left his family to pursue his dreams.

A Transformational Leader is a person who assesses a country, or organization/company, and recognizes the need for a change in the entity and is able to envision what this change should be. The transformational leader not only envisions the necessary change but has the required personality and strength of character that will enable them to influence others to buy into their vision and make it their own, and hence be willing to follow the leader in the quest to bring about the vision.

Walter Elias Disney also known as Walt Disney is known for his imagination that changed the world. He is an inspiring person who is known for never giving up and always dreaming. He created the well-known character Mickey Mouse and he was the founder of Walt Disney Corporation. Although of al the challenged in his life, he went to Hollywood to pursue his dream, and he became very successful. Walt Disney changed the entertainment industry by creating his own business of cartoon animation. He never stopped believing and kept taking a countless of risky decisions until he got what he wants. Walt Disney has shown many different leadership styles, but in the end of the day he was the definition of an effective leader.

Walt Disney created an empire that has played a role in each of our lives. Whether it impacted our childhood or still impacts our lives today.

Walt Disney’s influence on American culture cannot be overstated. Every child who’s grown up from the 1950s on, grew up in in a world where Disney’s universal entertainment products, marketing and values were everywhere. From the catchy theme songs to the exhilarating theme parks, Disney has built the fantasy empire. He used his animation and film making skills to not only make fantastic movies but to also bring joy into times of war, fun into times of education, and excitement into times of vacation. Without Walt, the world would be a little less joyful and a little less magical without his signature and everlasting touch.

Transformational leadership. Burns (1978) is recognized as one of the earliest theorist on transformational leadership, who introduced transformational leadership over 30 years ago. Transformational leaders are perceived as leaders who uplift their employee morale, subsequently uplifting the entire organizational. Transformational leaders are known by their capacity to inspire followers to forgo self-interests in achieving superior results for the organization (Clawson, 2006). Avolio and Yammarino (2002) shared Bass’s explanation of transformational leadership as leaders who act as agents of change that stimulate, and transform followers’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivate from lower to higher level of arousal.

Walt Disney Company for eighty years has captured the attentions of millions of people around the world, offering family entertainment at theme parks, resorts, recreations, movies, TV shows, radio programming, and memorabilia (David, 2009). Today, Walt Disney possesses four main business segments: Disney Consumer products, Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, and Media Networks. Each of Disney's business units increased profits apart from its interactive division, which was recently restructured (Garrahan, 2011). By combining Disney's long history with the commitment to quality, Disney Consumer Products has had a large and steady presence in the toy marketplace (Anonymous, 2010). Studio entertainment has been somewhat of

Disney has become a marketing goliath and the #1 entertainment company in the US. They have been able to develop a creativity-driven philosophy that over time was tempered by financial responsibility and that benefitted from powerful synergies between its divisions. From the very beginning, Disney has been synonymous with innovation within the children’s entertainment industry, from their introduction of animations with synchronized audio, full-length animated feature films and then later into theme parks and on-ice and Broadway shows. One important element of Disney’s success was the extent to which they integrated and expanded into different

Being able to lead a group or someone is a very powerful action. Being a leader in general is very powerful. Leadership is an art that is painted, sculpted, and displayed in all sorts of ways. There are many different styles of leadership that correspond with different tasks. From transformational leadership to laissez-faire leadership, there are various styles throughout the continuum. A transformational leader is one of the best, more successful leadership style. When going down the continuum, the leadership styles only become less effective. Everyone also falls in distinctive categories when it comes to leading others. The leadership style that is displayed depends on the person leading and those who are being led along with the task.