CENTRAL PHILIPPINE UNIVERSITY

Dr. Lucio Tan College of Hospitality Management

College of Business and Accountancy
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Doctor of Management Major in Tourism and Hospitality Management

Running Head:
The Case of Walt Disney: A Transformational Leader

Submitted to:

DR. GEORGE RUDOLPH BUD WEST, Ph.D.

Professor

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Subject:

DMGT-756: Transformational Leadership

Submitted by:

FEBE ROSE L. TORRES

August 17, 2018

THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 2

The Case of Walt Disney: A Transformational Leader

ABSTRACT:

This case study aims to explore Walter Elias Disney, also known as Walt Disney, as a
transformational leader. The four elements of Bass' Theory on Transformational Leadership:
idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized
consideration were used to analyze Disney's leadership practice.

Study Questions

Transformational leadership is characterized by the ability to bring about significant

change in both followers and the organization. Transformational leaders have the ability to lead
changes in an organization's vision, strategy and culture as well as promote innovation in
products and technologies. It focuses on intangible qualities such as vision, shared values, and
ideas in order to build relationships, give larger meaning to separate activities and provide a
common ground to enlist followers in the change process. It is based on personal values, beliefs,
and qualities of the leader rather than on the exchange process between leaders and followers
(Daft, 2008).
Walt Disney was a leader who exemplified many leadership capacities throughout his 43-
year Hollywood career. He demonstrated a strong moral purpose and worked hard to make a
difference in the lives of everyone who had interactions with Walt Disney Productions. His
moral convictions were instilled in him by his parents at a young age. Walt was always striving
to make people happy. His first priority was always to his family. Although he struggled to
balance work and family at times, he was always there for his wife and daughters (bartleby.com).
David Low, the late British political cartoonist, called Disney the most significant figure in
graphic arts since Leonardo. He is a pioneer and innovator, and the possessor of one of the most
fertile imaginations the world has ever known, Walt Disney, along with members of his staff,
received more than 950 honors and citations from throughout the world, including 48 Academy
Awards and 7 Emmy's in his lifetime. Disney is the creator of Mickey Mouse and founder of
Disneyland and Walt Disney World (d23.com).
The names of the Presidents change; that of Disney remains. Sixty-two years after the
birth of Mickey Mouse, twenty-four years after the death of his master, Disney's may be the most
widely known North American name in the world. He is, arguably, the century's most important
figure in bourgeois popular culture. He has done more than any single person to disseminate
around the world certain myths upon which that culture has thrived, notably that of an innocence
supposedly universal, beyond place, beyond time - and beyond criticism (Kunzle in Chris, 1995).
Disney company had incurred a significant loss in 1940. Thus, it was an opportune time for Walt
Disney to display the charismatic leadership for which he became famous (Amernic and Craig,
2000). To some extent, the components of transformational leadership have evolved as
refinements have been made in both the conceptualization and measurement of transformational
leadership. Conceptually, leadership is charismatic, and followers seek to identify with the leader
and emulate him or her (Bass & Riggio, 2006).
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 3

In the context, this study will explore the leadership of Walter Elias Disney or Walt
Disney as a transformational leader. It will seek to answer the following question:
1. Is Walter Elias Disney a transformational leader?
2. Why is Walter Elias Disney a transformational leader?
3. Did Walter Elias Disney practice transformational leadership in his company?

Propositions

Walt Disney is a transformational leader since he has been, arguably, the most influential
American of the twentieth century. Beginning in the late 1920s, his immense and multifaceted
entertainment enterprise-short cartoons, feature-length animations, live-action films, comic
books and records, nature documentaries, television shows, colossal theme parks - inundated the
United States, much of the Western world, and beyond (Watts, 1995).
Bass & Riggio (2006) stated that transformational leaders motivate others to do more than they
originally intended and often even more than they thought possible. They set more challenging
expectations and typically achieve higher performances. Transformational leaders also tend to
have more committed and satisfied followers. They empower followers and pay attention to their
individual needs and personal development, helping followers to develop their own leadership
potential.
Bass identified three ways in which leaders transform followers: increasing their
awareness of task importance and value; getting them to focus first on the team or organizational
goals, rather than their own interests; and activating their higher-order needs.
Transformational leadership according to Bass can measure Disney's account as a
transformational leader. Bass also noted that authentic transformational leadership is grounded in
moral foundations that are based on four components: Idealized influence, Inspirational
motivation, Intellectual stimulation, and Individualized consideration. And also, Bass noted the
three moral aspects: the moral character of the leader; the ethical values embedded in the leader's
vision, and articulation, and program (which followers either embrace or reject); and the morality
of the processes of social ethical choice and action that leaders and followers engage in and
collectively pursue.
Thus, it is proposed that Walt Disney is a transformational leader being recognized as a
legend, a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideas
which his name represents: imagination, optimism and self-made success in the American
tradition (d23.com).
With the context of Bass' Theory, Walt Disney set a social, political, and economic
context of America exerted a significant influence over Walt and the Disney Company, soon
after it had been established. The Walt Disney Company built by Walter Elias Disney had done
many transformations since the Laugh-O-gram Films Inc., Disney Brothers Studios, and Walt
Disney Studio. Unless it is already predominantly transformational, the overall amount of
transformational leadership in an organization can be increased substantially by suitable
organizational and human resources policies. Transformational leadership can make a big
difference in the firm's performance if it is nurtured at any level, not just at the top level of
leadership (Bass & Riggio, 2006).
Attaining charisma in the eyes of one's employees is central to succeeding as a
transformational leader. Charismatic leaders have great power and influence (Bass, 1990). As for
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 4

the Disney Company itself, it was a partnership between Walt and Roy (and for a short time,
Ubbe) until 1929, when the Walt Disney Studios incorporated as Walt Disney Productions. The
company went public in 1940. In 1986, the company changed its corporate name to the Walt
Disney Company. This Fortune company employs 150,000 people worldwide. In 2008, eighty-
five years after Walt and Roy went into business as Disney Brothers Studios, the company had
revenues of over $37 billion. The Walt Disney Company defines itself as a leading diversified
international entertainment and media enterprise and is currently divided into four segments: The
Walt Disney Studios, Disney Consumer Products, Parks and Resorts, and Media Networks
(Sustanin, 2011).

Unit of Analysis

The research method for this study used was the exploratory method of digging into
several documents and archives of Disney's biography and rhetoric on his works. The unit of
analysis for this study, who is Walt Disney, will be assessed using the components of leadership
according to Bass which composed: Idealized influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual
Stimulation, and Individual consideration. Documents about Disney's life and his activities in his
company will be analyzed and explored.
This study will be guided with Bass' Elements of Transformational Leadership defined
with its moral elements or the ethical concern and sample MLQ (Multifactor Leadership
Questionnaire) Item indicated in Table 1.

Table 1: Components of Transformational Leadership, Its Moral Elements, and Sample MLQ
item

Transformational Leadership Element Definition, Ethical Concern, and Sample MLQ Item

Idealized influence Transformational leaders behave in ways that allow to

serving as role models for their followers. Followers
identify with the leaders and want to emulate them;
leaders are endowed by their followers as having
extraordinary capabilities, persistence, and
determination

Ethical concern indicated that whether puffery or egoism

on the part of the leader predominate and whether the
leaders are manipulative or not

MLQ item stipulated that leader emphasizes the

importance of having a collective sense of mission and
that the leader reassures others that obstacles will be
overcome

Inspirational motivation Transformational leaders behave in ways that motivate

and inspire those around them by providing meaning
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
Intellectual stimulation
Individualized consideration
Source: Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational Leadership, 2nd ed. Mahwah,
New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
5
and challenge to their followers' work. Team spirit is
aroused, enthusiasm and optimism are displayed and
leaders get followers involved in envisioning attractive
future
Ethical concern indicated that whether providing for true
empowerment and self-actualization of followers or not
MLQ item indicated that leaders articulate a compelling
vision of the future.
Transformational leaders stimulate their followers'
efforts to be innovative and creative by questioning
assumptions, reframing problems, and approaching old
situations in new ways. Creativity is encouraged and
there is no public criticism of individual members'
mistakes. New ideas and creative problem solutions are
solicited from followers, who are included in the process
of addressing problems and finding solutions. Followers
are encouraged to try new approaches, and their ideas
are not criticized because they differ from the leader's
idea
Ethical concern indicated that whether the leader's
program is open to dynamic transcendence and
spirituality or is closed propaganda and a line to follow
MLQ item stated that the leader gets other to look at
problems from many different angles
Transformational leaders pay special attention to each
individual follower's needs for achievement and growth
by acting as a coach or mentor. Followers and
colleagues are developed to successively higher levels of
potential. It is practiced when new learning
opportunities are created along with a supportive
climate. Individual differences in terms of needs and
desires are recognized. The leader listens effectively and
delegates tasks as a means of developing followers
Ethical concern indicated that whether followers are
treated as ends or means, whether their unique dignity
and interests are respected or not
MLQ item was that the leader spends time teaching and
coaching
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 6

Linking Data to Proposition

The following data explored will answer if Walter Elias Disney is a transformational
leader and why. It will also discuss transcripts and documents that he practiced in his company.
Disney's Idealized Influence

Young Disney's first business venture ended in bankruptcy in 1923. Set up in Kansas City
studio, the young Disney drew crude cartoon strips for local theatres and sketched
advertisements for a barber shop. Despite the disappointments, Disney dreamed on. With only
$40 in his pocket, and carrying a leather suitcase containing a shirt, underwear, and drawing
materials, the 21-year old cartoonist headed for a dusty former cattle ranch called Hollywood
(Grover, 1991).
Idealized influence as a component, according to Bass & Riggio (2006), where
transformational leaders behave in ways that allow serving as role models for their followers.
Disney, on this context, being an enormously gifted entertainer in search of laughs, innovation,
and sales, had stumbled into the arena of modernist art and became an experimenter with its
forms and techniques. His true aesthetic heart, however, continued to beat to an internal rhythm
of nineteenth-century sentimental realism (Watts, 1995). Disney believed in his mission and put
his people first. In turn, his people also believed in the mission, and continue to believe and
pursue those leaders' goals to this day. He was visionary. He followed his dream and pursued
them through all opportunity until his project was completed, The Disneyland (Yoshimura,
2016). Walt wanted to entertain whole families. And he did just that better than anyone else has
ever done for more than 30 years. Believe in yourself: Every time Walt succeeded, he used that
success as the building block for the next big risk, the next big idea. The fact that no one else had
done it was never an obstacle to Walt. Go Big or Go Home: In Walt's case, to paraphrase an old
Disney ad campaign — Walt went big and then went to Walt Disney World. His wife and
brother tried to persuade him to stop Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. He kept going. People
thought he was crazy to buy thousands of acres of the swamp near Orlando. Most people had
never heard of Orlando. They've heard of it now. Don't lose sight of what you are: Walt Disney
said, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse"
(Loftus, 2014). Walt did not turn twenty-one until seven months after Laugh-O-Gram's
incorporation, a fact that did not prevent him from assuming the leadership of a company, but
which gave him an escape hatch in the event the company failed. He named himself and his
investors – Red Lyon, William and Fletcher Hammond, and Edmund Wolf – as the Laugh-O-
Gram Board of Directors. Walt hired Leslie Bryan Mace to be the sales manager (Susanin,
2011).
Followers identify with the leaders and want to emulate them; leaders are endowed by
their followers as having extraordinary capabilities, persistence, and determination (Bass &
Riggio, 2006). Disney worked at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he made
commercials based on cutout animation. Around this time, Disney began experimenting with a
camera, doing hand-drawn cel animation and decided to open his own animation business. From
the ad company, he recruited Fred Harman as his first employee. (biography.com)
Transformational leader emphasizes the importance of having a collective sense of mission (Bass
& Riggio, 2006). Disney's company employed 187 staff. He led to expanding into the feature
film business since it was increasingly difficult to combine the growing costs of with the
inherently limited returns that could accrue. The company's first feature-length animation movie,
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 7

Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs a great success, at first critically commercially. The
company began other animated features (Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi) while continuing to
produce cartoon shorts. It soon outgrew its studio facilities. Plans for a new, custom-designed
studio were hatched in the summer of 1938, and the company, now with about 1,100 employees
and called Walt Disney Productions. The decision to focus much of the company's efforts on
very expensive but potentially very profitable feature animated films, as well as the related need
for new production facilities, prompted the company to raise funds from the public through a
preferred stock issue on April 19 (Amernic & Craig, 2000). As Disneyland is launched in 1955
as a fabulous $17 million Magic Kingdom, soon increased its investment tenfold and entertained,
by its fourth decade, more than 400 million people, including presidents, kings and queens and
royalty from all over the globe. A pioneer in the field of television programming, Disney began
production in 1954 and was among the first to present full-color programming with his
Wonderful World of Color in 1961 (d23.com). Walt Disney World and Epcot Center opened to
the public in 1981 and 1982 respectively. Prior to his death on December 15, 1966, Walt Disney
took a deep interest in the establishment of California Institute of the Arts, a college level,
professional school of all the creative and performing arts (d23.com). This school was
considered as places where all the performing and creative arts would be taught in one roof in a
community of the arts as a completely new approach to professional arts training (d23.com). By
1940, Walt Disney was acclaimed widely as an international success. Indeed, even by the early
1930s, Disney had reached a position of eminence that matched the greatest of Hollywood stars.
His admirers included Italian conductor Toscanini and Russian film director Eisenstein, among a
glittering array of adoring fans. Disney's Mickey Mouse character became a national figure, an
international attraction, and finally a cultural totem (Armenic & Craig, 2000). The Walt Disney
Company is also offering dependent health care coverage to domestic partners (Herman & Gioia,
1998).
A transformational leader reassures other that obstacle will be overcome (Bass & Riggio,
2006). In Susanin (2011), in the wake of Walt Disney's disastrous meetings with Charlie Mints
in New York in 1928, with the assistance of Roy (his brother), Ubbe and the remaining studio
staff, created the first Mickey Mouse reel. Unable to find a distributor for the first two Mickey
cartoons, Walt – providing Mickey's voice – set the series' third short, Steamboat Willie, to
sound and in the process created one of the earliest cartoons with synchronized sound. Willie
premiered at the Colony Theatre in New York on November 18, 1928. Mickey Mouse became an
international phenomenon and earned Walt a Special Academy Award in 1932.
According to Tut (2013), two studies have attempted to measure the impact of Disney's
ideology. Real (1997) generated data from 192 respondents (university students), through a
questionnaire. In one component of the study, the respondents distinguished the moral virtues
that they felt were approved, and the vices disapproved by Disney. The respondent's found many
virtues to be approved by Disney; some of these were: kindness, honesty, truth, happiness,
innocence, money, obedience, cleanliness, patriotism, black versus white, consumption,
imperialism, benevolence, and escapism. Among those vices disapproved by Disney were (to
name only a few): sex, violence, crime, un-American activities, left politics, individuality,
hoarding money, debauchery, controversy, bohemianism, urbanism, adulthood, and intelligence.
Real noted, that the consistency of answers of virtues, vices, and ideology indicates that Disney
presentations possess the definition necessary to have a considerable effect on the individual and
the social system. With that being said, Real also concluded that the Disney Universe seems to
compete with religious, educational, political, economic, and familial forces in setting ultimate
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 8

standards for reality and behavior. And Phillips (2001) summarized that, through a total of 1252
respondents (comprised of university students) who represented a total of fifty-three different
nationalities, the reading of the Disney text within this diverse audience may have generated
relatively similar understanding. However, each respondent's understanding was also
contextually shaped to some degree through the lens of his or her respective cultures. In this
study, nineteen terms were offered to describe the values associated with Disney. Among them,
"fun" and "fantasy" ranked in the top two of the world rankings. Nearly half of the respondents
in this study identified Disney with having uniquely American traits, while others felt it to be
more universal. What set this study apart from Real's research was its international sample and
the discovery of some explicit resistance to Disney, which was "attributed to a growing
sophistication in awareness of Disney and its activities.
The effects of Disney's influence, as a master storyteller, on both the fairy tale genre and
commercial market were so profound that this particular version of the tale refuses to be
forgotten, its shadow haunting successors who aimed to counter or redefine its understanding of
fairy tale in light of shifting American values and culture. Therefore, even as the fairy tale is
frequently understood to have moved beyond its folkloric origins (Gheling, 2018). Disney
combined technical innovation with a progressive outlook and a keen sense for popular tastes,
serving as the force behind some of the nation's best-loved cultural icons. The world of Walt
Disney, asserted a 1983 Esquire magazine profile, is etched in the American mind almost as if
we were born with it there. No American child born since 1940, indeed, hardly any kid anywhere
the world over, has escaped Disney's influence (UXL biography).

Disney's Inspirational Motivation

Walt Disney was the unquestioned spark behind his company. It was he who dreamed up
new characters and the storyline for his cartoons. After moving to California, he was joined by
his brother, Roy, where they set-up their new venture called Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.
Walt was with the creative force working with a small crew of animators he had assembled. In
three years after launching Disney Brothers Studio, the company's name was changed to Walt
Disney Studios. Later in 1929, the company became Walt Disney Productions. From the
beginning, it was Disney with his intuitive knack for storytelling who created the magic. A
stickler for detail, he insisted that Disney cartoons be lavishly done, regardless of the expense.
Invariably he insisted that his company be among the first to use every technical innovation in
the film industry. Walt created the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound and four years
later, he became the first to add full color. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the
industry's first full-length animated movie. This basically showed how Disney challenged his
followers to work, making innovations and growing his company in a few years.
Inspirational motivation explains that transformational leaders behave in ways that motivate and
inspire those around them by providing meaning and challenge to their followers' work (Bass &
Riggio, 2006). Disney used expectancy theory in his message: we are motivated by the desirable
things we anticipate we are able to achieve." He is being open to others opinions and new ideas.
He changed the name of Mickey Mouse from Mortimer because of his wife's opinion. He sets
high expectations. One time, Walt visited the park and noticed things were a little sloppy. He
found the maintenance engineer of the park and told them to paint them. The engineer replied
that they will do it over the weekend but Walt insisted and wanted to finish it by the morning.
Dozens of painting crews painted through the night and finished before the park opened.
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER 9

Moreover, the rules for those playing theme park characters include never using the word "no",
never breaking character or sitting down and never pointing a direction with a single finger
(Yoshimura, 2016). In USA Today/CNN/ Gallup Poll, researchers found that 51% of the
employees surveyed would take time off to volunteer in the community if the company paid for
it and the Walt Disney Company is committed to contributing one million volunteer hours
(Herman & Gioia, 1998).
Team spirit is aroused, enthusiasm and optimism are displayed and leaders get followers
involved in envisioning an attractive future (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Disney has always used
experience marketing; it began in the 1930s with their animated films and tie-in merchandise.
Their film efforts grew into the ultimate embodiment of experience marketing with the opening
of their first theme park: Disneyland (Dudley, 1999). As a historical chronicler, mass culture
magnate, and engineer of enchantment, Disney was a popular mediator of historical change. He
labored as a cultural mediator at several crucial junctures. A committed producerist, he helped
clear the path for advancing consumerism. A firm believer in the self-controlled character ethic,
he became an architect of a culture devoted to leisure and self-fulfillment. An advocate of self-
reliance, he helped ease millions of his fellow Americans into an embrace of corporate
definitions of selfhood. A fan of naturalistic, sentimental art, he helped shape a popular
accommodation with the vitalism of artistic modernism (Watts, 1995).
Disneyland, a huge theme park in Anaheim, California, which in part celebrates America's
hometown and small-town values, was opened by Disney in 1955. Disney's California
Adventure, a second, smaller theme park in Anaheim, opened adjacent to Disneyland in 2001.
An even bigger park, Walt Disney World, opened near Orlando, Florida in 1971 as a theme park
and resort, and Epcot Center, Disney-MGM Studios, and the Animal Kingdom have been added
there. Disneyland parks have also opened near Tokyo (1983), in Marne-la-Vallee, near Paris
(1992), and Hong Kong (2005) (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).
He set a culture of excellence, right down to the way the sidewalks were cleaned at his
namesake amusement parks. He created a culture of caring for customers, ensuring that visitors
to Disneyland and Disneyworld had a great time in the Magic Kingdom. Walt also set the
expectation of staying in character, regardless of what happens in the park. He was a man of
vision, well exceeding that of most leaders (McAfee, 2014).
Walt Disney is a legend, a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was
based upon the ideas which his name represents: imagination, optimism and self-made success in
the American tradition. Walt Disney did more to touch the hearts, minds, and emotions of
millions of Americans than any other man in the past century. Through his work, he brought joy,
happiness and a universal means of communication to the people of every nation. Certainly, our
world shall know but one Walt Disney (d23.com). Walt Disney set the social, political, and
economic context of America exerted a significant influence over Walt and the Disney
Company, soon after it had been established. This situation too would shape the ideological
undertones in Disney's productions. It was only six years after Walt had developed his company
that the assault of the Great Depression would spank America on the bottom with economic
strife. During the wartime, the whole of Hollywood undertook a patriotic responsibility to
produce wartime propaganda films, a role to which Disney was no exception (De Roos, Gomery,
Burton-Carvajal, Piedra, Cartwright & Goldfarb, and Raiti in Tut, 2010). Disney was able to do
this partly because he enjoyed a special relationship with his vast audience. He styled himself
"Mr. Average American." Deeply and genuinely concerned with the values and needs of his
popular audience, he reached out to grasp and understand them. He regularly showed works in
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
10

progress to his assembled studio staff and then distributed questionnaires and suggestion sheets
to help guide the process of production. He secretly previewed films at local theaters, sneaking
into the balcony with his creative artists to view moviegoers' reactions. Disney made his loyalties
clear, insisting throughout his career that if the public "doesn't like what you've done, in nine
cases out of ten you've done the wrong thing (Watts, 1995).
The successful implementation of Disney's brand of Performance Excellence begins and ends
with their guests. In fact, Disney projects widespread brand recognition beyond the ubiquitous
image of Mickey Mouse. This brand recognition is evident in the Theme Parks, resorts, and
stores - and it is manufactured with the same precision as our products, except that it is re-created
with each and every interaction a cast member has with a guest (Taylor and Wheatley-Lovoy,
1998)
Once at Disney, Michael Eisner had to absorb quickly the basic elements of the Walt
story. Disney had always aloof from Hollywood – its glamour and hedonism, its star system and
cutthroat deal-making. immigrants from Eastern Europe and New York City had created
Paramount and other big Hollywood studios: Walt and his older brother and business partner
Roy grew up in Missouri farm, without electricity or indoor plumbing. An idealized view of life
in rural middle America at the turn of the century permeated Walt's imagination, showing up
repeatedly in Disney films especially at Disneyland, where Main Street was modeled on
downtown Marceline, Missouri, Walt's hometown. Despite Eisner's sense that he had little in
common with Walt, there were certain elements of the Walt story that especially appealed to
him. He was fascinated, at a personal level, by Walt's resilience, optimism, and relentlessness in
the face of endless obstacles that begun with a very difficult childhood and continued in his work
life right up until his death in 1966. Moreover, he was awed, at a professional level, by Walt's
creativity and originality, both as an artist and businessman over a remarkable forty-year period
(Stewart, 2005). This showed true empowerment and self-actualization of followers (Bass &
Riggio, 2006) being adapted by Disney leadership.
Near the end of his life, Disney dropped anchor at a final ideological port, embodying in
the Disney World / EPCOT project in Florida a kind of technocratic populism. Still enamored of
the American folk, he now sought to engineer their contentment through technology and to
assure their dominance through expertise. Disney World would stimulate and channel dream life
through highly sophisticated rides and management techniques, while the accompanying
Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) would demonstrate a nourishing
urban environment programmed by technocratic experts. Through such structures, Disney
believed, much of the industrial residue in American life -crime, poverty, alienation, inefficient
public services, urban overcrowding, and grime - could be cleansed away (Watts, 1995).

Disney's Intellectual Stimulation

Transformational leaders stimulate their followers' efforts to be innovative and creative

by questioning assumptions, reframing problems, and approaching old situations in new ways
(Bass & Riggio, 2006). Disney was a risk-taker. Disney was hell-bent on creating a feature-
length animated Snow White film despite everyone else's doubt. Some in Hollywood even
referred to the project as Disney folly. They were real fools though – Snow White earned more
than $8 million during its original release. He never stopped creating new cartoons and trying out
new things (Yoshimura, 2016). During most of its early years, Walt Disney Productions lost
money. From these early financial struggles emerged a flexible and creative business plan that
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
11

paralleled and enhanced Walt's genius in creating not only cartoons but also a wide variety of
promotional efforts. These began on a business trip to New York in 1929. Walt approached by a
stationery company executive with a proposal to pay the company $300 for the right to imprint
Mickey Mouse on school writing tablets. These writing tablets were the beginning of the cross-
promotion of Disney cartoon characters that eventually made Walt Disney Productions.a model
of what business school would later call synergy (Grover, 1991). Moreover, Grover (1991)
discussed that Disney hired a Kansas City advertising man to license Mickey Mouse and other
Disney characters. Within a decade, 10 percent of the company's revenues came from royalties
derived from licensing of cartoon characters.
Disney and his brother Roy soon pooled their money and moved to Hollywood. Iwerks
also relocated to California, and there the three began the Disney Brothers' Studio. Their first
deal was with New York distributor Margaret Winkler, to distribute their Alice cartoons. They
also invented a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and contracted the shorts at $1,500
each (biography.com). During the fall of 1918, Disney attempted to enlist for military service.
Rejected because he was only 16 years of age, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas,
where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His
ambulance was covered from stem to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with drawings and
cartoons (d23.com).
Creativity is encouraged and there is no public criticism of individual members' mistakes.
New ideas and creative problem solutions are solicited from followers, who are included in the
process of addressing problems and finding solutions (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Disney's $17
million Disneyland theme park opened on July 17, 1955, in Anaheim, California, with an actor
(and future U.S. president) Ronald Reagan presiding over the activities on what was once an
orange grove. After a tumultuous opening day involving several mishaps (including the
distribution of thousands of counterfeit invitations), the site became known as a place where
children and their families could explore, enjoy rides and meet the Disney characters
(biography.com). At McKinley High School in Chicago, Disney divided his attention between
drawing and photography, contributing both to the school paper. At night he attended the
Academy of Fine Arts (d23.com). Just as Walt Disney pursued the addition of color and sound to
his work, corporate Disney has a reputation for investigating upcoming technology as a means to
communicate their product (Maney in Dudley, 1999). What is true is that Disney carefully
shapes each project of each division to its target audience. There are no artists on record who
claim that Disney Theatricals "controlled" their aesthetic. However, Disney won't hire artists to
produce avant-garde works on Broadway because they know the product probably won't attract a
significant audience (Dudley,1999).
Followers are encouraged to try new approaches, and their ideas are not criticized
because they differ from the leader's idea (Bass & Riggio, 2006). When sound made its way into
the film, Disney created a third, sound-and-music-equipped short called Steamboat Willie. With
Walt as the voice of Mickey, the cartoon was an instant sensation. (biography.com) Thus Mickey
made his screen debut in Steamboat Willie, the world's first fully synchronized sound cartoon,
which premiered at the Colony Theatre in New York on November 18, 1928 (d23.com). One of
the most popular cartoons, Flowers, and Trees, was the first to be produced in color and to win
an Oscar. In 1933, The Three Little Pigs and its title song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
became a theme for the country in the midst of the Great Depression (biography.com). In all,
more than 100 features were produced by his studio. Disney was also among the first to use
television as an entertainment medium. (biography.com)Disney's last major success that he
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
12

produced himself was the motion picture Mary Poppins (1964), which mixed live action and
animation (biography.com).
Even more important, the crisis of the 1940s prompted Disney to revamp his earlier
populism. Embittered by a growing perception of the overweening bureaucratic power of labor
unions and big government, by the end of World War II he had mobilized the anti-bureaucratic,
anti-intellectual, provincial elements of his populist creed while shoving the egalitarian elements
deeper into the background. This hardened political viewpoint came to the surface in Disney's
testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. This congressional body had
come to Los Angeles in 1947 at the urging of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of
American Ideals -Disney was a founding member along with Sam Wood, Gary Cooper, King
Vidor, and Adolphe Menjou, and the group's primary spokesperson was the writer, Ayn Rand -
to investigate the influence of communism in the entertainment industry (Watts, 1995).
According to Herbert Mitgang of the New York Times, from 1940 until his death in 1966
Disney served as a secret informer for the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Most disturbingly, Disney allowed J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, to
censor and modify scripts of Disney films such as That Darn Cat and Moon Pilot so as to portray
Bureau agents in a favorable light (Chris, 1995).
Walt Disney's personal awards included honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, the
University of Southern California, and UCLA; the Presidential Medal of Freedom; France's
Legion of Honor and Officer d'Academie decorations; Thailand's Order of the Crown; Brazil's
Order of the Southern Cross; Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle; and the Showman of the World
Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners.(d23.com)

Disney's Individualized Consideration

Individualized consideration according to the components of leadership by Bass

stipulated that transformational leaders pay special attention to each individual follower's needs
for achievement and growth by acting as a coach or mentor (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Disney
considered the goal-setting theory. Workers need and desire different types of objects which
motivates in various ways. He recognizes an individual's effort and he is known for rewarding
their hard work and dedication (Yoshimura, 2016). A bitter labor strike at the Disney Studio in
1941-literally a case of suspended animation provided the first and most disillusioning
encounter. The studio had paid most of its employees' good wages throughout the depression-the
top animators were practically movie stars - but complaints had begun to well up from the ranks.
Events escalated. When many employees first agitated for a labor organization, Disney countered
by trying to form a company union. When they instead adopted an American Federation of Labor
Union, he avoided serious negotiation and refused to meet their demands. Many employees
finally went on strike in July 1941, but the studio head tried to break it and angrily denounced
the participants. As a highly publicized picket line nearly closed the studio gates for some two
months, an embarrassed and angry Disney unburdened himself in a private letter. For the
embittered studio chief, the strike signaled that American traditions of participatory government
had given way to pressure-group agitation. Disney proved so intransigent that federal labor
mediators were able to settle the strike only when he left town on a goodwill tour of South
America sponsored by the State Department (Watts, 1995).
Followers and colleagues are developed to successively higher levels of potential. It is
practiced when new learning opportunities are created along with a supportive climate (Bass &
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
13

Riggio, 2006). Walt's inquisitive mind and a keen sense for education through entertainment
resulted in the award-winning "True-Life Adventure" series. Through such films as The Living
Desert, The Vanishing Prairie, The African Lion and White Wilderness, Disney brought
fascinating insights into the world of wild animals and taught the importance of conserving our
nation's outdoor heritage. Walt Disney turned his attention to the problem of improving the
quality of urban life in America. He personally directed the design on an Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT planned as a living showcase for the creativity of
American industry (d23.com).
Individual differences in terms of needs and desires are recognized. The leader listens
effectively and delegates tasks as a means of developing followers (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Walt
sent his sales manager, Leslie Mace on a month-long trip to New York to look for a distributor.
Laugh-O-gram participated in a South Central Business Association parade where Walt, Leslie,
and Rudy represented the studio. The parade film made by his staff may have run as part of a
Topics-News feature shown at the Isis on July 25, a Screen Snapshots segment that ran the
following night (Sustanin, 2011). At one point, Walt tried to improve the staff's ability by
conducting an art class for them. Rudy said that Walt thought that they should all have more
training in art and he got the idea of having a night class once a week, a life class. The young
Laugh-O-gram staff members developed personal bonds as they labored together to produce
Walt's cartoon fairy tales. They were under 25 back then. Happy spirit existed. They had many
bellies laughs when discussing a story or material and Walt would explode some wild gag to
incorporate into the story. Evidence of the youthful exuberance permeating the air at Laugh-O-
gram is evident in a number of gag photographs made by young artists (Sustanin, 2011)

Criteria for Interpreting the Findings

Findings of Disney being a transformational leader showed that there are significant
situations and activities that Disney experienced in his leadership. Walt Disney is a man whose
life is surrounded by leadership opportunities and he ran with them. He is a transformational
leader who owned one of the world's most well-known brands that the world knows and loves.
Disney was a transformational leader in every aspect: He showed idealised influence, having
earned the trust and admiration of his staff; inspirational motivation where he was able to
motivate his staff to see and support his vision for the company; intellectual stimulation where
his staff were driven to be innovative and creative in their work; and individualised
consideration, where the needs and individuality of each staff member were understood and
supported (Bass & Riggio, 2006).
Walt Disney is a role model in his mission by putting people first and though undergone
financial struggles, his persistence and determination opened the door to grow his company and
build Disneyland and California Institute of Arts and to this day, The Walt Disney Company
which comprises The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Parks and
Resorts, and Disney Media Networks
Disney at the social, political, and economic context of America made a great impact. He
set a culture of excellence and his ideas of imagination, optimism, and self- made success
touched the hearts and minds of millions of American than any other man in history. He
challenged his followers in his direction to excel and build the Walt Disney Company that is a
global phenomenon in the entertainment and hospitality industry.
THE CASE OF WALT DISNEY: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
14

Disney ‘s creativity and innovation stimulated his followers brought the Disney Brothers
Studio to The Walt Disney Company today. The accolades and honors of Disney do not only
speak of his achievements but that of his team. And he was able to put to the pinnacle of success
on the Disney cartoon characters that are now a symbol of his endless pursuit of innovation and
creativity.
Individual consideration is evident in Disney's practice as he was able to recognize the
individual's effort and he is known for rewarding their hard work and dedication. He knows what
he is capable of and what is not. He delegates tasks to his team and jokes around to keep the
creativity burning up to the point of labor struggles in which he was able to manage. Having
Disney's charisma during the time of downfall showed he is a leader who is also capable of
growing and so thus his company.
With Bass (1990) indicating that transformational leaders achieve these results in one or
more ways: they may be charismatic to their followers and thus inspire them; they may meet the
emotional needs of each employee; and/or they may intellectually stimulate employees. Disney
has achieved the dream, the dream of transforming the world. Disney's name as reflected in
today's generation is a concrete evidence of being a transformational leader who shaped the
world of fantasies and magic to children and young at heart adults who believed that dreams
come true. Certainly, how would you imagine the world without Disney anyway? Disney is a
transformational leader who did not only transformed America but the whole world.

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