Cjshipper.files.wordpress.com



The Leadership of Walt DisneyChristopher ShipperCIS663Project Communication Management & LeadershipDr. Arnetra ArringtonFebruary, 2015For a project to be successful in today’s business environment, it takes a great sense of business acumen, an understanding of the respective industry, and a strong commitment. But, above all, to be successful, it takes an individual at the helm who knows what it means to be an effective leader. The importance of an effective leader on the success of a project cannot be understated. An effective leader knows how to get his or her team to follow them to achieve a specific goal. What is more, a leader knows how to motivate others to actually want to follow him or her (Lewis, 2003). Without this individual’s capabilities in leadership, it is far less likely that the project will be successful in achieving its aims. As such, for those individuals who are not as effective in their leadership capabilities, it is important that they learn how to improve upon their skills to increase their overall effectiveness. One way of doing so is by examining the leadership style of past leaders to understand what made them so successful in achieving their respective goals. With this understanding, project managers are then able to apply the same principles to their own leadership capabilities in the hopes of increasing their effectiveness in leading others. While many leaders throughout history stand as great examples of leadership success, the effects of only a few are still evident on their respective industry today. One of such leaders is that of Walt Disney. While Disney is known for many things, few recognize the brilliance of his leadership, the effects of which are directly attributed to the longevity of the Disney brand. But in fact it was his leadership style that led him from a simple cartoonist with a dream into an international phenomenon that has influenced millions of adults and children alike. As such, Walt Disney stands as a prime example for which current project leaders can examine and apply the same leadership principles in order to increase their own capabilities, and therefore increase the likelihood of their project’s success.The History of Walt DisneyBorn December 5, 1901, Walt Disney began his pursuits in entertainment from a young age. When he was a child growing up in Missouri, he started drawing and painting pictures for his friends and neighbors. After moving to Chicago, IL, his love for art continued as he took several drawing and photography classes during the day at his high school and similar course at the Chicago Art Institute at night. Sometime after graduating, Disney moved to Kansas where he developed animated commercials for the Kansas City Film Ad Company. During this time, he began experimenting with film and cell animation, and decided to open his own animation studio. While this studio had minor successes, Disney found himself becoming surmounted with intolerable debt and was forced to close down his studio in 1923. Undeterred, Disney, with his brother Roy, relocated to Hollywood, CA where they started the Disney Brothers’ Studio. It was here that Disney’s most iconic creation, Mickey Mouse, was developed, which was showcased in the 1928 short, Steamboat Willie. One thing that attributed to the success of this cartoon was that it incorporated a synchronized sound track, something that had not been accomplished before. Following this success, Disney continued to create cartoons featuring not only Mickey, but other new characters as well. This led to his first Oscar in 1932. Riding on the coat tails of this success, Disney began work on the first feature-length animated movie ever produced; Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. While filming the $1.5 million film, Disney faced another bout of debt that threatened to ruin him but again he refused to let this deter him. Against the better judgment of his friends and family, he pushed forward with production. His perseverance ended up paying off when the film was released in 1938 to a standing ovation and netting him $8 million in profit. With the success of this film, Disney refused to let up on his production, but instead decided to reinvest the profits from the film into a new animation studio set in Burbank, CA, which opened in 1939. Over the next couple decades, despite a few setbacks such as an animator strike in 1941, Walt Disney’s studios produced over 100 features, both animated and live-action, with many receiving significant critical acclaim. Additionally, during this time, Disney also set plans into motion for Disneyland, a new theme park the likes of which had never been heard of before. Disneyland opened to the public in 1955 and quickly became a success that families flocked to from around the country. While a tremendous success, Disneyland would prove to be only the beginning. Always wanting to out-do himself, in 1965, Disney announced a new theme park that would eventually far exceed anything in terms of the level of entertainment and immersion presented by Disneyland. Sadly, Walt would not live to see his greatest creation come to fruition, as he would end up dying in December of 1966 from lung cancer. However, knowing how important the new theme park was to his brother, Roy continued with its construction, which opened to the public in 1971 as Walt Disney World (Loftus, 2014; Walt Disney, n.d.). As is evident, in spite of the numerous setbacks that could have derailed him and his team at any point, Walt Disney experienced so many successes over the course of his life and career that can be attributed to many aspects of the man. However, more than anything, his success can be directly attributed to his understanding of the importance of being an effective leader in order to realize his dreams and goals.Disney’s LeadershipAs previously discussed, Walt Disney was extremely successful throughout his life and career. However, with as many adverse situations in which Disney found himself in, his legacy could have gone in a completely different direction. What saved him time and time again was his recognition that in order to be successful, Disney had to rely on the talents and commitment of his staff members. Furthermore, he knew that these individuals would not have followed him and bought into his dreams if he had simply ‘managed’ their efforts. Instead, he knew that he had to ‘lead’ them in order for them to be energized and motivated toward achieving his dreams and goals (Jones, 2014). However, because Disney was constantly trying to push himself and the entertainment industry towards new heights, which included the introduction of numerous technological and cinematographic advancements, he adopted the transformational leadership style in order to lead his team to success (Walt Disney – Transformational Leader, 2013). This is evident by examining the specifics of his leadership capabilities, each of which can be directly correlated to the project management industry.In general, a transformational leader is someone who attempts to look beyond the status quo of their industry and push his or her followers to greater heights. These types of leaders tend to have higher expectations and hold not only their team to these standards but themselves as well. Furthermore, they tend to exemplify fairness and integrity, and utilize the values and emotions of their team members to motivate them to achieve a greatness that might otherwise be unheard of. Lastly, these types of leaders utilize praise and recognition strategically to instill greater motivation within their team members. Leaders who utilize this type of leadership typically exemplify four specific capabilities that are characteristically associated with being a transformational leader: the ability to conceptualize a vision, the ability to motivate others to achieve the vision, the ability to facilitate the realization of the vision, and the ability to create and maintain lasting relationships with team members (, n.d.). As can be seen by the subsequent discussion, Walt Disney’s leadership style exemplified each of these four capabilities throughout his career. The first capability of being a transformational leader, being able to conceptualize a vision, is by far the most important. The leader’s vision must be compelling. A compelling vision sets the tone for the team and provides them with a sense of purpose. However, the leader must develop their vision with their team and organization’s current capabilities in mind. As such, the leader’s vision must also be obtainable. Lastly, the vision that the leader has devised must be communicable (, n.d.). This capability was something that Walt Disney embraced. Through both the conceptualization of his films and cartoons and the conceptualization of his theme parks, Disney had a vision for engaging and immersive family entertainment where adults and children alike would be inspired to dream and explore (Koper, 2013). To express this vision to others, Disney would convey it through the use of story-telling and even resorting to acting out different aspects as necessary. Additionally, he did so with a strong sense of conviction and passion towards achieving his vision. This served to instill in his staff a sense of importance and motivation towards carrying out his vision (Jones, 2013). As it pertains to project management, this capability is paramount to the success of a project, as it provides the project team with a sense of direction and purpose. Without a strong, obtainable, and communicable vision, it is far too likely that the project team will become confused during its execution, which will result in conflicts arising over how the project should proceed (Juli, 2010). The next capability of a transformational leader is the ability to motivate others to achieve his or her vision. Being able to craft and communicate a vision is not enough to garner the acceptance and execution of it. Leaders must be able to motivate their team members to want to achieve their goals. This is often accomplished by the leader linking his or her vision to their team member’s values and goals. Furthermore, leaders must effectively utilize praise and encouragement to facilitate the individual motivations of each team member (, n.d.). As he knew that he would never achieve his dreams and goals alone, this capability was something that Disney fully embraced throughout his entire career (Jones, 2014). Primarily, it was the way in which he communicated his vision that contributed to the motivation of his team members (Goh, 2007; Jones 2014). However, this was not Disney’s sole tactic for motivating others. The air of confidence in which he explained things and carried himself was similarly a motivating factor for others (Goh, 2007). Additionally, because of Disney’s background in entertainment, he was able to communicate with his team in terms that were meaningful to them. Furthermore, Disney refused to dole out praise for just any situation but instead reserved for only those that truly deserved it. This served to motivate his team to rise to greater heights and produce higher-quality work in order to garner his praise and approval. And lastly, he would instill motivation in his team by taking them out of the studio and have them visit with children in their own environments, such as schools and playgrounds, to remind them who and what they were working towards (Koper, 2013). In terms of project management, the motivation of a project team means the difference between a project’s success and failure. It is highly probable that an unmotivated team member will be less effective at completing his or her tasks and/or will produce subpar work. In order to avoid this, the project manager must assign tasks that are aligned with his or her team members’ personal goals and provide them with opportunities to learn and grow personally and professionally. Furthermore, the project manager must foster an environment in which risk-taking is encouraged. Without this type of environment, the project team will become afraid to take chances and make mistakes. As such, they will lack the motivation to find new and innovative solutions to old problems (James, 2014; Juli, 2010; Murthy & Sreenivas, 2014). The third capability, the ability to facilitate the realization of the vision, is essential as the leader must take ownership of their vision to ensure it is actually achieved. The transformational leader knows that for his or her vision to become a reality, they too have to put in the work to achieve it. Furthermore, they know that the realization of their vision will not come easily, and that they must be resilient towards tackling any issues that they and/or their team may incur during the execution of their vision. Lastly, the transformational leader knows that they must remain visible to their team in order to address any issues and make any changes to the direction of their vision as necessary (, n.d.). Likewise to the previous capabilities, this too was one that Disney wholeheartedly embraced. First off, Disney was very hands-on with each feature, often working directly with his team to craft each feature throughout each phase of production (Koper, 2013). Additionally, he knew that his business would not grow on its own without his intervention. As such, he used his own funds and the profits from his works to fund his studio’s expansion and other works (Loftus, 2014). Lastly, Disney was no stranger to adversity throughout his career. However, as each situation arose, he remained optimistic which allowed him and his team to persevere and surmount each situation (Jones, 2014). This capability is likewise important for the project manager. Project managers need to take ownership of the project and ensure that their teams are executing their vision accordingly. If the project manager is not demonstrating a commitment towards the project, it is improbable that the individual team members will be committed either. Similarly, the project team wants to know that the project manager believes that the project can be completed successfully. If the project manager shows doubt, especially in the face of adverse situations, the project team will likewise become disheartened; this in turn will lead to lost efficiency and productivity (Barry, 2012; Juli, 2010).The final capability of the transformational leader is that of the ability to create and maintain lasting relationships with his or her team members. None of the proceeding capabilities will be effective without a strong relationship built upon trust and mutual gain. The transformational leader demonstrates this by first being open and honest about his or her intentions. Furthermore, the transformational leader spends time with each of his or her team members individually to understand their individual personal goals. With this understanding, the leader then works to not only achieve his or her own goals but also those of their team members. (, n.d.). Disney’s ability to cultivate relationships with his team was one of his greatest assets. As previously stated, he knew that he needed his team members in order for his vision to succeed. As such, he placed a significant amount of effort into building and maintaining relationships with each individual on his team (James, 2014). This was demonstrated by the fact that Disney genuinely cared about his team members and their personal lives (, n.d.; Kinni, 2013). Furthermore, he took caring for the professional development of his team to a new level when he had an art school created in order to increase their skills and effectiveness. Lastly, he cherished his personal relationships with his staff so much that he insisted they call him ‘Uncle Walt’ (Koper, 2013). Likewise in project management, relationship-building is an important aspect of project success. Project managers must be able to cultivate strong relationships with their individual team members if they expect their team to operate effectively and collaboratively (Juli, 2010). This is accomplished by demonstrating not only concern for their personal lives but also demonstrating trust in their abilities to make decisions and complete tasks. If project managers fail to build the necessary relationships with their project team, no other aspect of leadership will matter when it comes to leading their teams as these individuals will lack the necessary engagement and commitment towards the project to compete it successfully (Barry, 2012; Hill, 2011; Juli, 2010). As is evident, Walt Disney thoroughly exemplified the transformational leadership style. It was his creation and commitment to his vision as well as his ability to build relationships with and motivate his team that led to his numerous successes throughout his life and career. As such, if these same principles are applied by the modern project leader, he or she too can expect similar successes in their own endeavors.ConclusionFrom his charismatic personality to his infectious sense of wonder to his astounding passion for his craft to his willingness to always push himself and others (Carmichael, 2009), Walt Disney has shown to be one of the most intriguing figures in not only the entertainment industry, but in any industry. But what has truly made him stand out above all others is his sense of and commitment to being an effective leader. It was his ability as a transformational leader that allowed him and his team to weather the negative situations that arose while achieving his dreams and goals. Had he not been as effective of a leader as he was, it is far more likely that Disney would not have achieved the success he did in his life. As such, Walt Disney stands as a prime example for the type of leader that project managers in today’s business environment should emulate if they wish to both increase their own leadership effectiveness and achieve their own similar successes. . (n.d.). Walt Disney Leadership Style. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from , T. R. (2012, May). Top 10 leadership qualities of a project manager. Retrieved from , E. (2009, April). Walt Disney documentary – Disney’s success story. Retrieved from , T. (2007, December). Walt Disney: A brilliant leader. Retrieved from , K. J. (2011, May). Effective project teams: The importance of cooperative relationships. Retrieved from , J. (2014, April). How to inspire your team: Leadership lessons from Walt Disney. Retrieved from , B. (2013, October). Leadership lessons from Walt Disney: Letting go. Retrieved from , B. (2014, June). Leadership lessons from Walt Disney: Communicating a vision. Retrieved from , T. (2010, February). The five principles of effective project leadership. Retrieved from , T. (2013, September). Leadership lessons from the world of Walt Disney. Retrieved from , C. (2013, October). Walt Disney – Transformational leadership. Retrieved from , J. P. (2003). Project Leadership. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Loftus, G. (2014, May). The keys of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse leadership. Retrieved from . (n.d.). Transformational Leadership: Becoming an inspirational leader. Retrieved February 18, 2015, from , A. S. & Sreenivas, S. (2014, August). Does people behavior impact projects? How? And what do we do about it? Retrieved from Disney. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2015, from Disney – Transformational Leader. (2013, October). Retrieved from ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download