Behind the Magic: Disney's Leadership Strategy for Success

Lisa Trupiano,Verrazzano Class of 2026, completed major in Business Management and minor in Business Marketing

For my capstone, I chose to research how The Walt Disney Company’s leadership strategies affect their organization’s success. I chose to focus on Disney because not only are they one of the world’s largest entertainment organizations, but I’m passionately inspired by their legacy of creative storytelling, and I aspire to work within the company.

For my research, I focused on three areas of management in the company: three pivotal leadership figures in Disney’s history, managing the company’s diverse portfolio by keeping both the brand’s unique identity and the core values of Disney’s brand, and how each pivotal leader’s management strategies influenced Disney’s employees’, also known as cast members’, behavior, creativity, and job satisfaction.

The three pivotal figures I chose were the company founder Walt Disney, the transformative CEO Michael Eisner, and the company’s current CEO Robert (Bob) Iger. Through my research, I found that Walt Disney was a creative risk-taker who prioritized storytelling and innovation. While Michael Eisner continued the creative leadership approach for the company’s films, he was also a strategist who expanded the company to foreign markets. Then, Bob Iger took over as CEO after Eisner, and he demonstrated both innovation and strategic approaches by incorporating technology into new products and acquiring major brands to add to their ever-growing portfolio. In Disney’s huge portfolio, I explored how they combine storytelling with innovation to create their films and theme parks, as well as expand their brand into new markets and introduce new products and services for a wide range of audiences. In addition, I explained how Disney acquired major entertainment brands that align with Disney’s beliefs but also maintained their individual identities. Lastly, each leader’s strategies affected cast members’ behavior, creativity, and job satisfaction. Walt Disney was a charismatic leader who cared about the animators’ well-being. Michael Eisner was a controlling leader who supervised every cast member's tasks. Lastly, Bob Iger ensured a collaborative work environment and used the trust approach when he returned as CEO. Overall, my research showed that Disney’s leaders contribute to their success by balancing creativity and innovation, strategic management, and cast member well-being. 

The outcome was what I expected with the capstone. I initially thought it was going to be like any other academic essay, but deeper into my study of management. The challenges that I faced while I was writing my capstone were when I had writer’s block. There were many times when I planned a general outline of how I wanted to write my sections, but I didn’t know how to start my paragraphs, or I would become stuck at points on what to write. The easier part for me was writing the history of the company and demonstrating how Disney manages their company through the examples that I provided. However, I was surprised when I was researching how Walt’s leadership style changed after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and how it led to the animator’s strike in 1941.

If I were to expand on my research, I think it would be interesting to compare Disney’s leadership styles to other entertainment brands' leadership styles, like Universal or DreamWorks Animation. This experience has taught me two things about how an organization can be successful long-term: how leadership, communication, and creativity are connected with one another and that a variety of different leadership styles affects an organization’s culture and performance.