Walt Disney's Impact On The World

Walter Elias Disney had a great impact on American television and entertainment all over the world. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 outside of Chicago, Illinois (“Walt Disney Biography”). Walt Disney moved to Missouri when he was five years old, where he developed a love for drawing (“Walt Disney’s Life”). When Disney was sixteen, he dropped out of school and was sent to France with the American Red Cross (Nix, Elizabeth). In 1919, Disney moved to Kansas City to become a newspaper artist. After his time as a newspaper artist, Disney made commercials based on animation with the Kansas City Film Ad; after making commercials, he decided to open his own animation studio. Walt Disney and Fred Hartman created cartoons, called laugh-o-grams

A few years later, the Disney Brothers Studio was moved because of a growing staff. Disney created a series of twenty-six episodes called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. (“Walt Disney’s Life”). A few years later, Walt and Roy Disney created Mortimer Mouse; Mortimer’s name was later changed to Mickey Mouse. In 1928, Mickey Mouse debuted in a film named Steamboat Willie; Disney did not like how the voice of Mickey Mouse sounded, so he became the voice of Mickey Mouse (Nix, Elizabeth). Walt Disney Studios became Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Later that year, Walt Disney Productions signed with Colombia Pictures (“Walt Disney’s Life”). The 1940’s and 1950’s were huge for Walt Disney; Cinderella, Treasure Island, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, and many more movies were created during that twenty year span (“Walt Disney Biography”). In 1954, Walt Disney announced that he would be creating a theme park, Disneyland, in California; the funding for Disneyland came from ABC’s network (“Walt Disney’s Life”). Originally, Disneyland was supposed to be a small park, but when Disneyland was created it was 160 acres (Nix,

Transformational leaders respect the power of teamwork and positivity, but their main motive is the mission of the organization. Disney was a transformational leader because teamwork took place in his company, but he wanted his animations to strive. During the beginning of his career as an animator, Disney worked with Hartman and took his ideas into consideration. Since Walt Disney was a transformational leader, his laugh-o-grams did well in theater because he took the opinions of Fred Hartman (“Walt Disney Biography”). Walt Disney had a team of about twenty animators at Walt Disney Productions, so his classic films excelled because he took the inputs of all the other animators (“Walt Disney’s Life”). Disney wanted his company to flourish, but he also cared about teamwork and how his employees were doing, this shows Disney as a transformational leader. Disney showed expert power; expert power is power that comes from what team members know. Disney showed expert power through his knowledge of drawing because it made him able to realize talent in his animators. Compared to all his workers, Walt Disney was the most experienced animator, which caused him to excel and produce multiple movies and theme parks (“Walt Disney Biography”). Since Disney started drawing in his teens, he had more experience than his animators which led him to have expert power on drawing and