Walt Disney is one of the most well-known names in the film industry. The company he built continues to make millions and take home Academy Awards more than fifty years after his death. How did Disney become so successful? While he was a hard worker, there were several hidden factors and special opportunities that made him so prosperous.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success, the author introduces readers to several reasons a person may be successful, other that exclusively individual merit. After examining Disney’s life through the biographies Walt Disney: Master of Make-Believe by Elizabeth Rider Montgomery and Disney’s World by Leonard Mosley it becomes clear that Disney was helped along his way by many of the advantages Gladwell pointed out. For example, Disney has been the beneficiary of practical intelligence and the 10,000-hour rule, in addition to many other factors. In this research paper, Disney’s life and his opportunities will be analyzed.
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Elias and Flora Disney. At four years old, Disney moved to a small farm in Marceline, Missouri. Some of his fondest childhood memories were made here. In 1911, when
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Disney’s parents taught him about meaningful work at a young age. In Outliers, Gladwell describes meaningful work as work with “…autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward…the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.” (Gladwell, 149). He was born to a family in poverty, and worked very hard as a child, as explained in Walt Disney: Master of Make-Believe: “…Mr. Disney bought a Kansas City Star paper route of 2,000 customers. He hired a number of delivery boys at three dollars a week, but he paid his sons nothing for delivering papers twice a day.” (Montgomery,