Dennis Hightower was originally tasked with recruiting the next Disney Consumer Products (DPC) however, as the finalist were narrowed down, “Hightower was appointed vice-president of DCP-Europe in June 1987” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 414). Dennis developed a strategic plan to lead eight country managers to increase Disney’s revenue. Although Dennis was a success story, it took a carefully formulated plan complete with risks and rewards to reap the benefits of the decisions he made. Dennis recognized that the time was right for increased risk and began eliminating redundancy, yielding immediate savings, and enabling Dennis to meet his targets (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, pp. 416-418). Later recognizing England’s country manager was not willing to work as a team, Dennis replaced her. Eventually, Disney’s retail value grew from $650 million to $3.5 billion in only seven years. (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 421). …show more content…
He manages to unite eight different country managers with a goal of increasing Disney’s European revenue using a balanced leadership approach. As noted, “I believe not in ordering, but in a persuading people to go along because they see the logic of what I want to do…” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 418). In other words, Dennis uses his power of persuasion to sync the entire region and other times replacing managers as required. On the other hand, you have Jack Welch arguably one of the most successful business leaders of our times and 20-year tenured CEO of General Electric who has a similar leadership approach to Dennis yet, varies either way. Both are charismatic, transformational leaders however, where they differ is Welch’s “pedal to the metal approach”. Others