Ldr 531 - Walter Disney Leadership Style

Leadership Style

Stacy Strawn

LDR 531

September 14, 2015

Wilmer Marengo

Leadership Style

Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group to achieve a vision or a set goal (Robbins, 2012). A leaderships style is the style in which the leader chooses to provide direction, motivate people and implement plans with their team (Leadership Style).  There are six different leadership styles coercive, authoritative, affilitative, democratic, pace setting and coaching (Goleman, 2000). Coercive leaders demand immediate compliance and is considered to have a negative impact (Goleman, 2000). Authoritative leaders will organize people toward a vision (Goleman, 2000). Affilitative leaders will create emotional bonds (Goleman, 2000). Democratic leaders will build a consensus through participation (Goleman, 2000). Pace setting leaders set high standards for performance and coaching develops people for the future (Goleman, 2000). The best leaders are those who don’t rely on just one leadership style but use a combination of styles based on the situation, people or goals involved (Goleman, 2000).

Walter (Walt) Disney had a great vision and did everything in his power to make his vision a reality. Walt Disney was a great leader because he had a combination of leadership styles.  Walt was considered a risk taker, he was innovative, creative, he strived for excellence, he was charismatic and he built sociable and casual relationships with his employees (Walt Disney Leadership Style). Walt’s greatest trait was innovation as this allowed him to keep up with technology and he was often the inventory of technologies (Walt Disney Leadership Style). Walt was a risk taker and didn’t like to spread his money around; instead he preferred to sink all of his money into one big project at a time (Walt Disney Leadership Style). Walt started production on Alice in Wonderland but half way through the project was broke and didn’t finish the film. The New York distributor who was paying for the film owned the rights to the rabbit character Walt had created and actually paid him less money than was agreed upon (Walt Disney Leadership Style). After that Walt knew he needed to create a new character and needed a new distributor. This was how Mickey Mouse was born (Walt Disney Leadership Style). Walt’s’ strive for excellence made him determined to be better, more effective and more successful than any other distributor (Walt Disney Leadership Style). Walt came up with the synchronization animation that made it possible to run the cartoon, the sound effect, the characters voice and music all simultaneously (Walt Disney Leadership Style). In 1963 Walt built his enterprise in Los Angeles and highered 700 highly artistic employees (Walt Disney Leadership Style). Walt demanded excellence from his employees and in return he offered to pay for schooling and even had Sunday barbeques at his house (Walt Disney Leadership Style).  Walt developed personal relationships with his employees and insisted that they call him by his first name or Uncle Walt. His sociability with his employees helped him gain trust and confidence and the employees were happy to work long hours without pay to achieve his vision (Walt Disney Leadership Style).