Essay Sample: Walt Disney Is a Leader

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” once said one of the world's most accomplished imaginers; this mentality led him to become what the world remembers him as now. Walt Disney is a leader because he showed determination, commitment to community, and was inspirational to others.  

Throughout his life, Walt Disney has shown determination.  However, one point often overlooked, transpired before the world started watching.  When Walt was still young, his father would move the family around the country constantly for his various jobs.  This prevented Walt from having a stable education which led him to drop out in ninth grade.  When Walt was sixteen, he joined an art class at The Academy of Fine Arts.  This was the beginning of Walt's career to be one of the most famous animators in history (“Walt Disney Company" 2).  This story shows Walts leadership because it illustrates how even when his life may not have been as easy as he had hoped, he still found a way to use determination to accomplish his dream .

Even with his confusing student  life, Walt was committed to his community in many ways, but the most prominent way is that he was someone who was willing to put down his own life.  When Walt was seventeen he dropped out of high school to serve in WWI.  Later, he attempted to join The Navy alongside his brother Roy, but was underage and, consequently, rejected.  Eventually, he forged his birth date and was accepted to work for The Red Cross ("Walt Disney" 6).  To elucidate, Walt was someone who was committed to community because he was willing to put his life in harm's way on multiple occasions to serve his country. 

Unfortunately, granted that no one is perfect, even if they do all those good deeds, Disney also had some negative traits.  Most notable of all, his business  was sexist.  Starting from the beginning of Disney, princess characters such as; Cinderella, Snow white, Arora etc., have been portrayed with stereotypical, old fashioned, feminin personalities.  Another noteworthy incident was that in a music number in Cinderella,  there were some particularly sexist lines.  It also must be remembered that even in the movie with Tiana as the protagonist, she wasn't able to have the life she wanted, with a restaurant, until a male was in the picture (Sousa 1).  This indicates that Walt may have had a not so good influence on family entertainment at the time, due to the fact that there was so much sexist content in his earlier films (Sousa 6).

As we and billions of other people have seen throughout our lives, we can see how inspirational Disney is to the world.  After Walt Disney’s sudden death from lung cancer, the company didn't know if it would survive.  However, after many people had quit in the belief that they would lose their jobs anyway, the company got back on its feet and continued to grow.  Eventually, they even opened a new park Walt had been putting together during his last years (Hanson 17).  This part in history communicates that the world loved Walt and without him to depend on and inspire them, his company felt lost.  

As can be seen, Walt Disney had a full life, he inspired others, was committed to community, and was never deterred; he accomplished more than he could have ever imagined. 

Works Cited

"Walt Disney." Business Leader Profiles for Students, edited by Sheila Dow and Jaime E. Noce, vol. 1, Gale, 1999. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1604000058/BIC?u=azstatelibdev&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=a1e25fa5. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021..

Hanson, Steve. "Disney (Walt Disney Company)." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Online, Gale, 2013. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/UZMUMR542332287/BIC?u=azstatelibdev&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=606e2ca2. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

"Walt Disney Company." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2015, pp. 1434-1438. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3611000967/BIC?u=azstatelibdev&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=7b2ee816. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.  

Sousa, Lauren. “Fixing the Princess Problem.” Reporter Magazine, 10 Mar. 2014, reporter.rit.edu:8443/views/fixing-princess-problem. Accessed 11 Dec. 2021.