Running Head: Business Leader Review 1
Running Head: Business Leader Review 1
Running Head: Business Leader Review 1
Student’s Name
Facilitator’s Name
Date
BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 2
1. Describe the education background and Job History of the leader you are reviewing.
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
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
2. Describe the key contribution this leader is best known for to their Industry and
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
3. Describe this leader Emotional intelligence and give example to support your
answer
BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 4
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
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
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
BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 5
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
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
School and the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. In addition to artistic skills, he had
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
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
BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 6
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.
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
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.
BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 7
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
standards.
7. Leading change is difficult. Give an example where this leader led change, what was
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).
BUSINESS LEADER REVIEW 8
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
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
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.
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
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
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
training is a program tailored to solve specific business needs. For example, the training
understand Walt's philosophy and the quality required by the company. Such an approach
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
References
Alef, D. (2009). Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Mouse. Titans of Fortune Publishing.
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
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
no. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00933.x
Stojanova, R., Sofijanova, E., & Andronikov, D. (2021). Employee motivation-factor for
Sutcliffe, J. (2009). Walt Disney. Lerner Publications. Schickel, R. (2019). The Disney version:
The life, times, art and commerce of Walt Disney. Simon & Schuster.
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