Running head: BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 1

Business Leader Review

Student’s Name

Facilitator’s Name

Date
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1. Describe the education background and Job History of the leader you are reviewing.

Describe how these experiences aided in their professional development.

Walt Disney was born on December 5th, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois, as one of

Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney's five children (Pontius, 2016). His passion for art

started when he was seven years in Marceline, Missouri, where he began to draw and sell

his work to his family members and neighbors. Walt attended McKinley High School in

Chicago and took drawing and painting classes. He also took evening courses at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. Walt's passion for art grew, and he was contributing to

the school paper as a cartoonist. At 16, he dropped out of school, joined Red Cross as an

ambulance driver, and was sent to France (Alef, 2009). After a year, he returned to the

USA to pursue his career.

His education and passion shaped his profession as a cartoonist and animator.

While he had a friend outside their farm, he spent most of his time with animals. This

helped him develop the imagination to create anthropomorphized animals in his cartoon

work and animated movies, such as Mickey Mouse (Alef, 2009). Walt honed his

creativity under the hand of his father, who did not support his passion. In 1923, Walt

moved to California, where his brother found him a job at Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio.

Later, he moved to Kansas City Film Ad Company. Around this time, the two brothers

pooled resources together and constructed a camera stand for recording hand-drawn cel

animation (Sutcliffe, 2009). They started an animation business and received their first

order with Alice Comedy.

2. Describe the key contribution this leader is best known for to their Industry and

what the lasting impact is /was

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Walt revolutionized the entertainment industry through innovation. He pioneered

ideas and development in the creation of animated movies. For instance, he synchronized

sound with the character Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie (Sutcliffe, 2009). He was

also among the first to introduce full-length animated pictures using cel animation. At the

time, such projects were considered risky and costly, but Walt took the risk. In 1939,

Walt Disney was awarded an honorary award by Academy Award to recognize Snow

White and the Seven Dwarfs as the best innovation and production of the first full-length

movie (Inge, 2004). The US Library of Congress selected the Snow White and the Seven

Dwarfs movie for its aesthetical significance for preservation in the National Film

Registry. 

Furthermore, the success of the lengthy animated movies set the benchmark for

quality production. This innovation provided a learning platform for the other filmmakers

and was considered path-breaking in the film industry. Initially, the budget for the

production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was $250,000, but Walt did not want to

compromise on quality, thus pushing the cost to $1.488 million (Frome, 2013). Walt was

hailed for artistic and technical success that inspired his competitors such as MGM,

Warner Bros., and Fleischer Studios. Production of risker and the expensive film is a

common phenomenon. For instance, Disney Studio adopted a tentpole strategy that

involves allocating a bigger budget and marketing for selected films to create a global

appeal and make huge margins.

3. Describe this leader Emotional intelligence and give example to support your

answer
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Walt Disney had high emotional intelligence and used a different strategy to

persuade and convince his team to support his agenda. Leaders with high self-awareness

develop and communicate clear purpose and vision to stakeholders (Lindebaum &

Cartwright, 2010). Walt inspired and motivated his team through communication. He also

understood that communication goes beyond conveying information. In 1933 when he

planned to produce the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, he told the story casually with

workers and observed their reactions (Inge, 2004). He repeated the story in a new version

each time to a new employee to refine it. In 1934, he assembled the top animated in a

dark room and performed each part of the movies to communicate his vision and give the

animator direction.

  However, Walt did not combine self-awareness with empathy. Empathy is the

ability to understand and respond effectively to what others are feeling. For instance, he

could not listen to the advice of his brother, who was well versed with financial matters

on his proposed plan to produce the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs as it was too risky.

When it turned out the initial budget of $250,000 was not sufficient, he mortgaged his

house to raise the additional fund (Frome, 2013). The strong desire to achieve his

objective assumed the ideas of others and would have been worse if the film had

performed poorly.

4. There are four sources of personal power. Please describe which source of personal

power best describes this leader’s career.

Walt's leadership style provided him with numerous opportunities to use multiple

sources of power. First, he used reward power which is the ability to use rewards such as
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high pay pack, training, and offering a good working environment. Walt hired skilled

artists and offered to pay for schooling to sharpen their skills (Stojanova, Sofijanova, &

Andronikov, 2021). He invited his employees to his home for Sunday barbeque, playing

games, and swimming. He also recognized the length of services and evaluated his

employees with outstanding performance rewarded and mentioned in the company's

newsletter. The employees who took this offer increased their loyalty and commitment to

the company.   

He used expert power, which is regarded as the most powerful. Walt had a strong

educational background in drawing and painting, which he acquired at McKinley High

School and the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. In addition to artistic skills, he had

worked with different studios where he acquired relevant experience in animation

production (Pontius, 2016). The skills and experience gave him the leadership capacity to

communicate his vision and aspiration. He led by an example and performed the story he

envisioned to direct the team of what he expected as a final product. Although he

engaged his employees during the production process, he made the final decision.

5. Does this leader empower others? Find examples to support your answer

In the 1930s, Walt Disney empowered his employees in various ways. First, Walt

insisted on high standard work from his employees. Training and development are vital

programs to enhance employees' performance and boost their morale. Walt hired skilled

employees and went further to pay for their admission to art schools to increase their

skills. This enhanced creativity among employees who went beyond his expectation

(Bass & Riggio, 2006). Despite the great recession of the 1930s, Walt was committed to
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improving the lives of his employees by paying hire parks to caution them from the crisis.

The team was motivated and optimistic when they began the production of the Snow

White and the Seven Dwarfs, giving all their skills toward the project. 

However, in the 1940s, Walt adopted an autocratic leadership style. The

autocratic leadership style is when the leader has little trust with others and controls every

activity without any meaningful participation of the team. For instance, at Disneyland,

which became his priority, he policed every activity conducted in the Studio. This was

terrifying to the employees as it created a toxic working environment (Owen, 2015). Walt

could not compliment his workers directly when the employee showed effort; instead, he

could use a proxy to convey his message. Additionally, he became vindicative and could

not solve employees' conflicts amicably. He could fire any employee who had a contrary

opinion and ensured he was under the control of everything (Gabler, 2008). To this end,

employees were limited to utilizing their creativity and left to follow his direction.

6. How did the leader build effective team? Provide examples of teamwork within the

organization and the results that were achieved.

Walt was a perfectionist and visionary leader, and from the start, he had a diverse

team to carry his vision. His brother was proficient with financial matters and spent most

of his time with lawyers and consultants (Gabler, 2008). Walt also hired Ub Iwerk, who

complimented his skills and was an experienced animator. On the other hand, Walt

handled sales and managed the company. The three were instrumental in forming Disney

studios that have expanded and acquired Marvel Studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm, among

others. 
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He also envisioned Disneyland and was responsible for inspiring his team to

realize the dream. Walt molded his employees through Disney's philosophy. To

accomplish this, he created Disney University to instill his philosophy the way he wanted

the guests at Disneyland to perceive his company (Alef, 2009). Cast members were

trained on providing high-quality art and were well-groomed and specifically suited for

their roles. He also propelled his ideas of storyboarding, which essentially is making the

story into manageable portions understood by the cast members. Storyboarding helped

create synergy in the team and avoid conflict during production. To this day, Disney

University continues to train on the Walt philosophy, which emphasizes high-quality

standards.

7. Leading change is difficult. Give an example where this leader led change, what was

the change, and what was the result.

In the 1930s, Walt decided to go beyond the cartoon short and envision a full-

length movie (Inge, 2004). Thus, he envisioned and proposed the idea of Snow White and

the seven dwarfs. At the time, such projects were considered very risky, and Walt

received little support from his brother Roy and his wife. His commitment and risk-taking

attitude helped him overcome the challenge and used multiple plane cameras to create a

more attractive final product against the odd. Although he faced financial challenges, he

had to use all the available means, including mortgaging his house to finance his idea

(Gabler, 2008). Walt almost gambled all his success with these changes.

Eventually, in 1937, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs featured for the first time at

Carthay Circle Theater and was later released to other channels in 1938 (Gabler, 2008).
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The Snow White film also incorporated features such as synchronized sound, technicolor,

and technology that could move. This technology had proven impossible before Walt

decided to take the brave step, but Walt and his team did the face-breaking workload to

realize such a change. His effort resonates across the world today, and many filmmakers

have followed the trend.

8. What did you learn from this assignment? How will this help on your professional

journey?

First, I have learned that it's essential to possess expert power in leadership. As a

leader, Walt understood what he wanted from the start and communicated it to the team.

He had both relevant education and experience to command his vision. The assignment

emphasizes that whether leading a small or large team, the team is willing to trust a

leader who demonstrates good judgment, wisdom, and proven competence. As an

aspiring transformative leader, I now understand the value of possessing expert power,

which will allow me to lead my team by example. I believe leadership is all about

servanthood, which can be more efficient when one can lead the team to desired goals.

However, it is equally important to possess good communication skills to pass the

knowledge to the team.

  Secondly, I have learned the importance of having a clear vision and working

towards it. Walt was a visionary leader who was committed to delivering what he dreamt.

For instance, he pursued many visions such as short cartoons, full-length movies, and

Disney land. Despite the risk and discouragement from his brother and wife, he remained

focused on his vision. The clarity of a vision provides an essential lesson to my

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professional journey since I now understand the importance of having a clear vision and

believing in it. This is because it takes courage and high tolerance of risk to realize the

vision. Walt, for example, did not leave a project unfinished even if he had to mortgage

his home. As a result, I will strive to state the desired vision to my team and commit all

my effort in realizing it.

Thirdly, I learned it is essential to empower your team and allow them to use their

creativity. This is an area that Walt scored lowly in his leadership because he would

control every activity. He never trusted his employees could work without policing them.

Workers require a good working environment where they can use other creativity and

brainstorm ideas with their leaders to arrive at an informed decision. Walt, on his part,

could fire employees who disagreed with his directives. Empowering employees goes

beyond giving them higher pay parks and includes allocating them more responsibility

and delegatory powers. This provides the leader with more time to supervise and offer

guidance where required.

Lastly, I have learned the importance of conducting in-house training. In-house

training is a program tailored to solve specific business needs. For example, the training

program conducted at Disney University offered the employees an opportunity to

understand Walt's philosophy and the quality required by the company. Such an approach

is desirable to communicate to the existing and on-boarding employees what is expected

of them in the company. Consequently, the leader and the workers read on the same page,

leading to less work-related conflict and costly high turnover. Additionally, it creates a

robust organizational culture of achieving quality objectives.

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References

Alef, D. (2009). Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Mouse. Titans of Fortune Publishing.

Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational

leadership. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410617095

Develop your self-awareness. (2015). The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, 63-

80. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119193289.ch04

Frome, J. (2013). Snow White: Critics and criteria for the animated feature film. Quarterly

Review of Film and Video, 30(5), 462-

473. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2011.585300

Gabler, N. (2008). Walt Disney: The Biography. London: Aurum Press Ltd.

Inge, M. T. (2004). Walt Disney’sSnow white and the seven dwarfs. Journal of Popular Film

and Television, 32(3), 132-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2004.10662058

Lindebaum, D., & Cartwright, S. (2010). undefined. Journal of Management Studies, no-

no. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00933.x

Owen, N. (2015). Charismatic leadership. Training Journal, 28-31

Pontius, S. (2016). Walt Disney. University of Idaho, College of Education.

Stojanova, R., Sofijanova, E., & Andronikov, D. (2021). Employee motivation-factor for

success. Journal of Economics, 6(2), 56-63.

Sutcliffe, J. (2009). Walt Disney. Lerner Publications. Schickel, R. (2019). The Disney version:

The life, times, art and commerce of Walt Disney. Simon & Schuster.