Qualities and Concepts of Mr. Walt Disney
The leadership qualities and concepts of Mr. Walt Disney
“Once upon a time”, now a statement that for most will never be forgotten has been engrained into our minds from the many famous Walt Disney films, books, etc. It’s hard to believe that at many points during Walt Disney’s amazing adventure and life his career path was questioned. According to Gabler (2006) from Walt Disney’s biography, Elias Disney (Walt’s Father) thought his son was the black sheep and constantly questioned that he was going to make a career out of being an artist (Gabler, 2006, p. 41). Walt’s career is blanketed with many successes, but his first position with the Kansas City Film Ad Company was anything but successful as the company filed for bankruptcy.
According to www.disney.go.com/vault, the many successes of Disney include creating 81 movies in his lifetime, earning more than 950 honors and citations from all over the world, being rewarded honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, University of Southern California, and University of California Los Angeles, and also building Disneyland and Walt Disney World and the amusement park empire along with so many other awards and accolades. Although these successes are wonderful to read about, the leadership qualities and overall vision of Walt Disney is what this research will focus on. The “Dream. Believe. Dare. Do” philosophy that Capodagli and Jackson discuss throughout their book captures the essence and vision of Walt Disney. This paper will focus on this philosophy as well as the other areas to Disney’s leadership methodology.
When looking at the attributes that make Disney such as success, it is very tough not to look back at his childhood. Disney’s imagination and ability to “play” were imminent at a very young age. As Gabler (2006) discusses in the first chapter of his biography, Walt was very much the polar opposite of his father. He loved to play pranks and dress up in costumes (Gabler, 2006). His drawings and
“Once upon a time”, now a statement that for most will never be forgotten has been engrained into our minds from the many famous Walt Disney films, books, etc. It’s hard to believe that at many points during Walt Disney’s amazing adventure and life his career path was questioned. According to Gabler (2006) from Walt Disney’s biography, Elias Disney (Walt’s Father) thought his son was the black sheep and constantly questioned that he was going to make a career out of being an artist (Gabler, 2006, p. 41). Walt’s career is blanketed with many successes, but his first position with the Kansas City Film Ad Company was anything but successful as the company filed for bankruptcy.
According to www.disney.go.com/vault, the many successes of Disney include creating 81 movies in his lifetime, earning more than 950 honors and citations from all over the world, being rewarded honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, University of Southern California, and University of California Los Angeles, and also building Disneyland and Walt Disney World and the amusement park empire along with so many other awards and accolades. Although these successes are wonderful to read about, the leadership qualities and overall vision of Walt Disney is what this research will focus on. The “Dream. Believe. Dare. Do” philosophy that Capodagli and Jackson discuss throughout their book captures the essence and vision of Walt Disney. This paper will focus on this philosophy as well as the other areas to Disney’s leadership methodology.
When looking at the attributes that make Disney such as success, it is very tough not to look back at his childhood. Disney’s imagination and ability to “play” were imminent at a very young age. As Gabler (2006) discusses in the first chapter of his biography, Walt was very much the polar opposite of his father. He loved to play pranks and dress up in costumes (Gabler, 2006). His drawings and
References: Capodagli, B., & Jackson, L. (2007). The Disney Way – Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Disney. (2010, August 3). Walt Disney: A biography. Retrieved August 3, 2010, from Disney.go.com: http://disney.go.com/vault/read/walt/index.html Gabler, N. (2006). Walt Disney – The triumph of the American Imagination. New York, NY: Vintage Books. Goldsmith, M., Greenburg, C. L., Robertson, A., & Hu-Chan, M. (2003). Global Leadership – The Next Generation. Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Mayo, A.J., & Nohria, N. Greatest Business Leaders of the 20th Century. Retrieved August 3, 2010, from www.fastcompany.com: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/98/ope,n_3ways-list.html