Walt Disney Essay

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

Mickey Mouse is pretty much a household name in the American society, so it was not surprising that theme parks, Disneyland and Disney World, were soon created inspired by the little mouse. Disney’s theme parks are on both the east and west coast in America and the company wanted to spread the joy across the globe. When the company decided to spread their wings across the ocean they faced challenges because “global expansion is difficult for any business” (Ferrell, O., Hirt, G., & Ferrell, L., 2009), but more so when dealing with an American icon. When expanding globally there are many things that need to be taken into consideration such as cultural, legal, and economic differences. When Disney first attempted to establish a theme park in Europe, they did not research cultural differences and faced hardships in the beginning. There were protesting and low attendance were their main concerns for the first few year, but then with restructuring, the park including a name change to something more culturally accepted the park was able to turn around. When they expanded to China, they hired a specialist to assist with the cultural differences and that seemed to help somewhat. When building Disney in China they took into consideration the cultural superstitions associated with numbers, but that did not stop protesters from voicing their opinions about things such as the park being too small and not offering enough. Although there are protesters against Disney, they are helping

Similar problems occurred in Disneyland Tokyo, where management didn’t even think about the height difference of Asians and Americans, resulting in too high public phones for Japanese guests. Concluding it is clear that the American company originally tried to implement a standardization strategy, when launching theme parks in other countries, without taking the local culture into consideration. Country specific procedures and regulations, and different local customer preferences forced Disney to adapt features of the US theme park business model to the local markets.

The Walt Disney Company has created theme parks throughout the world for guests to undergo a specific experiences that recalls the guests’ inner child through rides, visuals, and music. Disney has proved to be more than just a theme park; it is portrayed as a “world” or “land” of acceptance and integration of all cultures into one place. The universality aspect is what draws people in from different countries to visit the parks. Ultimately, the Disney parks are based off of two key concepts: commoditization and Americanization. Since Disney is an imagined utopia, guests buy into, literally and figuratively, the commodities and experiences it offers. Through music and visuals, Disney intertwines a message of Americanization through a single world culture that the guests accept. Disney’s limited understanding of cultures became much more apparent as theme parks were erected in different countries with cultural values that differ from American norms. Disney is a utopian society that exposes a narrow interpretation of the different cultures throughout the world.

The Walt Disney Company has seen their share of success in taking their parks and resorts into global markets. “60 years ago, the first Disney theme park opened, in California and was the brainchild of Walt Disney himself, who was motivated by the lack of entertainment options available to him and his two young daughters.” (Forbes, 2016). Disneyland California penetrated the market rapidly, and its popularity led to the opening of Disney World in Florida, followed by global expansion in Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. Their latest expansion came in June 2016, on a 963 acres’ site in Shanghai, China (Xu, 2012). After one year in operation, Shanghai Disneyland is outpacing their most optimistic projections, and the park’s

     Walt Disney; When that name is spoken faces of children and adults alike light up with looks of sheer joy. When debating what to see at the movies the newest Disney flick is almost always decided upon over the others. With Disney people are 100 percent sure to walk out of the theater happy and smiling. From the catchy theme songs to the thrilling theme parks Disney has built the fantasy empire. Although he built the fantasy world Disney was not a man who walked around with his head in the clouds. 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

     At a time in American history when jobs were scarce and money was hard to

Colin Wells Sherry Minkowski Government 12 26 March 2000 Disney’s Influence on American Culture How does one begin to describe a king? As generations change, society calls for new leaders and kings, that will continue to push the boundaries. Steven Watts describes it as: Hollywood’s leading fantasy factory… (187) Disney is much more prominent in society, its impact now lives in every household, as well as a place in everyone’s soul. Behind it all is a thriving business that will out live most humans now and in the future. Steven Watts breaks it down quite simply: Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck embodied a collective desire to escape the pressures of modern life and return to childhood. (127) The escape from reality, which Disney has provided

Hi, I’m Emma Ann my companions names are Minnie and Daisy. We work at the propaganda stage that I lead at Walt Disney films. It’s 1942,and also in the middle of World War 2. Mr. Disney asked us personally if we could make a very special propaganda video for the war. “ It wasn’t personally,” “ It was through an assistant.” Said Minnie and Daisy. Ok what ever, as I was saying, it’s about dropping a bomb city in japan . “ No.” Yes it does you two. What do you girls know you're just stupid animals. “That’s what you think of us!” Said Minnie. I’m so sorry you two I didn’t mean it, you guys think you know more than me when I’m the boss. Anyway who should star? “I think Donald, Mickey, Goofy, Pete, and Pluto.” “ Ok Minnie.” You two are so right.

1. Attention getter: Walt Disney was a talented producer who made one of the most phenomenal contributions to the film industry by forming the world’s largest film production house, the Walt Disney Company. By now many of you are familiar with the popular ‘Mickey Mouse’ cartoon animation icon, which stands out as one of Walt Disney’s formal exhibition of his inherent talent and skill in production. Even after his death, his influence and presence has still remained for many years culminating in the creation of the infamous Disney World fan house 2.

When the subject of the Disney Enterprises is brought up, one often thinks of cartoons, musicals or other movies, amusement parks, and famous characters such as Mickey Mouse.

(Bhasin, SWOT analysis of Walt Disney - InternaL analysis of Walt Disney, 2018). The company’s wide range of assets could be a weakness because managing the different theme parks, products and services they offer could reduce efficiency and result in Disney losing its strategic focus. Another limitation Disney parks face is that most of its target audience are children and while they play a part in influencing how adults spend their money they aren’t revenue drivers. Disney’s opportunities come from the advantage they have when investing, developing, and creating new attractions for their theme parks that draw in new visitors year-round. Disney world is threatened by the competition of other theme parks in the same geographic area such as

With these two, quite different, experiences in operating a large theme park and resort facility outside of the continental United States, the Eisner management team was ready to move into China. Two locations were “in the running” early in 1999, representing quite different operating and financial strategies and structures. Either Hong Kong or Shanghai would likely be the site of the next Disney theme park. This was the challenge faced by the Disney management team, with a target decision date of June 1999.

When people think about Walt Disney they will most likely think about Disneyland, Disneyworld, or even Mickey Mouse. What people do not realize is that he started with an advertisement company and built one of the most widely recognizable companies in the world. Walt Disney was a great in his visionary leadership, but he was not effective in his ethical leadership. Disney inspired his company to achieve his dream, but he was an egoistic leader during the process. This paper will explore Walt Disney’s use of dispositional flexibility and inspirational motivation in his visionary leadership. In doing so, it will explain how he handle the change in his company and inspired his employees during the construction of Disneyland. Then it will describe Disney’s unethical leadership and how he fell into the ethical trap of worry over image and failed to have intellectual humility. It will explain how he was consumed with the image of his name and how he ran his company like a dictator. Finally, this paper will cover my personal relevance to his visionary and ethical leadership. It will explain how I tried to drive a change in my work center and a time when I was not effective in my ethical leadership. Walt Disney was an expert at dispositional flexibility and inspirational motivation.

The aforementioned article encompses Disney’s Internatinal expansion, and consequently the strategies and decisions took by Disney to ensure the success of their brand not just in America but globally. It sheds light on the changes that had to be undertaken to adapt to the vastly different markets Disney was trying to penetrate. It highlights specific strategies such as changing the architecture of theme parks, changing the main attractions, redesigning fundamental rides to better adapt to certain cultures, and crafting new stories to ensure being as adaptable to a new culture as possible.