Walt Disney Transformational Leader

The purpose of this essay is to define and outline specific rationale on why Walt Disney was both a visionary and ethical leader. I will expand on why Walt Disney was a visionary leader by using his inspirational behavior to remove waste from his amusement park. I will also explain how he was an ethical leader by using ethical behavior to educate children through the use of his animation and used free thinking to overcome worry over image to implement a fifteen year dream. I will also go over my personal

What led Disney to start his journey to success? The biggest factor was his home life. He had a paper route every day, two times a day. The first shift started at 3:30 a.m., the second was after school. If these papers were not delivered by dinnertime, he was not fed. Disney was also beaten on many occasions. He never found a good reason for his abuse because he was always on his best behavior. Disney’s father released the anger built up from three of his five children running away on Walt.

Try to imagine a world without Walt Disney. A world without his magic, whimsy, and optimism. Walt Disney changed the entertainment industry, into what we know today. He pioneered the fields of animation, and found new ways to teach, and educate. Walt disney was a person that had a great mind and was a better leader. Walt disney was a man that influenced the people minds to join and help during both of the World Wars.

Walt Disney can be described as driven, enthusiastic, innovative, optimistic, intense and a go-getter. His leadership and vision was key during the

Walt Disney changed the perspective of cartoon animation and amusement parks everywhere to a whole new level of production. It wasn’t until Walt felt the desire to branch out into other industries suck as theme parks that made his popularity rocket upwards. Part of Walt’s inspiration was that amusement parks only kept his children interested and not the adults. Little did he know that his amusement park would become one of the most famous in the world? Walt Disney started his career working at Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio in Kansas City.

Overall, through ‘Transformational Leadership’, Walt openly communicated his vision into the infrastructure of Disney and instilled values and a sense of purpose among his employees. With a wanted trust and respect for followers, he was able to encourage and challenge traditional methods to harness better, innovative ways to solutions (Flower 1991). Ruling by consensus, his consideration for the individual needs of his followers made him an ideal teacher and coach for his enterprise (Davis 2008).

Transformational leadership is the ability to get people to want to change, to improve, and to be led. It involves evaluating employees’ intentions, satisfying their needs, and appreciating them.

In an ever changing world, organizations need to encourage effective leaders. To survive, they must also grow, adapt, and continually try out and adjust to new ideas. Transformational leadership plays a vital role in the advancement and success of organizations. This leadership style is the most effective in reaching success today and in the future.

​Walt Disney was more than just the creator of the Disney Company. Walt Disney made theme parks, animations, screenplays, and other businesses. He was a very influential icon in the 1900’s for his works that impacted all walks of life. He had a 64 year life full of glory but eventually he died from chain smoking complications. (He was never seen smoking in public though.) Walt Disney was one of the most influential entertainers in the 1900’s for his numerous awards, his work in popularizing animation, and his use of propaganda to attract all age groups. Walt Disney has a timeless appeal, which is what makes him so influential throughout the 1900's and beyond.

Transformational leadership is a well-known approach that has been studied extensively in leadership development literature (Day & Antonakis, 2012). Transformational leadership, has emerged as one of the most frequently studied models of leadership

In addition, transformational leaders empower followers by encouraging them to be creative, innovative thinkers and to realize their full potential. Further, they set clear, ambitious goals which inspire followers to go beyond their minimum task requirements to achieve extraordinary success. Lastly, they are highly visible leaders that spend

“Walt Disney was a dreamer, just a kid who never grew up,” (University Meghan’s Channel”). He took his dreams and made them real in his motion pictures, sharing them with kids and adults around the world. Walt would become the greatest and most powerful innovator in film. His filmmaking and entrepreneurial skills would make him a lasting figure.

Transformational leaders set the organizational values, aspirations, and ethical measurements required. Additionally, the result of the transformational leader concerns them with creating growth of the follower. Developing the followers into leaders through coaching, directing, and raising their awareness levels to know or expect the unexpected and the overall issues of consequences. This development builds a collective future through the shared values of the leadership and the followership. The developments further drive the followership to accomplish the necessary right and appropriate good that falls within the vision and mission of the organization. Believing in the core organizational values, the transformational leader expects high performance from the followers. The followers enter the process of being a transformational leader by adding increasing influence, inspiration, and intellectual stimulation from the leader. This leadership style engages the follower and increases the expectation and set in motion a value that projects future achievements (McCloskey, 2015). All three styles complement the current leadership genres.

As stated by Northouse (2013) "transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower" (p. 186). The transformational leadership theory focused on bringing about organizational change through the motivation and inclusion of it 's employees. Transformational leaders attempted to bring about that change in the organization by changing and transforming employees. This leadership style encourages and influences followers and focuses on them as people, not just followers or employees.

As discussed in the text, transformational leadership is characteristic of a leader that “helps bring about major, positive changes by moving group members beyond their self-interests and toward the good of the group, organization, or society. The essence of transformational leadership is developing and transforming people (Dubrin)”. A perfect portrayal of this leadership style is Walt Disney. Walt Disney transformed the hearts and minds by setting forth a visionary reality. Walt knew that by taking his visionary strengths and working with his brother to complement each other’s strengths that they would be able to foster a group of followers and visionary leaders working with them. Walt led with four key tenants: Chase your dream, believe