Lead Like Walt

Whether you are building a small business from the ground up or managing a multinational company, you can learn the 7 key traits for leadership success from one of the greatest business innovators and creative thinkers of the 20th century: Walt Disney. Whether you know him as the first to produce cartoons in Technicolor, the mastermind behind the theme park Disneyland, or the founder of the largest entertainment conglomerate, Walt's story of creativity, perseverance in spite of obstacles, and achieving goals resonates and inspires as much today as it ever has. Author Pat Williams began studying the life and leadership example of Walt Disney as he struggled to build an NBA franchise, the Orlando Magic. Since he was trying to accomplish a goal similar to so many of Walt's—starting with nothing and building a dream from the ground up—he realized that Walt could teach him what he needed to know. And indeed he did. Through Walt Disney's leadership example, Pat found 7 key leadership traits that all great leaders must possess: Vision, Communication, People Skills, Character, Competence, Boldness, and A Serving Heart. Through never-before-heard Walt stories and pragmatic principles for exceeding business goals, you'll learn how to build those skills and implement them to be effective in any leadership arena. As you discover the life of this great leader, you'll realize that no goal is too great and no dream too daring for anyone who leads like Walt.

Whether you are building a small business from the ground up or managing a multinational company, you can learn the 7 key traits for leadership success from one of the greatest business innovators and creative thinkers of the 20th century: Walt Disney. Whether you know him as the first to produce cartoons in Technicolor, the mastermind behind the theme park Disneyland, or the founder of the largest entertainment conglomerate, Walt's story of creativity, perseverance in spite of obstacles, and achieving goals resonates and inspires as much today as it ever has. Author Pat Williams began studying the life and leadership example of Walt Disney as he struggled to build an NBA franchise, the Orlando Magic. Since he was trying to accomplish a goal similar to so many of Walt's—starting with nothing and building a dream from the ground up—he realized that Walt could teach him what he needed to know. And indeed he did. Through Walt Disney's leadership example, Pat found 7 key leadership traits that all great leaders must possess: Vision, Communication, People Skills, Character, Competence, Boldness, and A Serving Heart. Through never-before-heard Walt stories and pragmatic principles for exceeding business goals, you'll learn how to build those skills and implement them to be effective in any leadership arena. As you discover the life of this great leader, you'll realize that no goal is too great and no dream too daring for anyone who leads like Walt.

How to Be Like is a “character biography” series: biographies that also draw out important lessons from the life of their subjects. In this new book—by far the most exhaustive in the series—Pat Williams tackles one of the most influential people in recent history. While many recent biographies of Walt Disney have reveled in the negative, this book takes an honest but positive look at the man behind the myth. For the first time, the book pulls together all the various strands of Disney’s life into one straightforward, easy-to-read tale of imagination, perseverance, and optimism. Far from a preachy or oppressive tome, this book scrapes away the minutiae to capture the true magic of a brilliant maverick. Key Features This is for the millions of Disney fans—those who admire his artistry or his business savvy or the products of his namesake company. The tone and style of the book will capture the imagination of younger readers, especially teens, in the same way as How to Be Like Mike. Support within the Disney world includes the daughter and grandson of Walt Disney; nephew and former vice chairman Roy Disney; and numerous Disney insiders who are already spreading the word.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A memoir of leadership and success: The executive chairman of Disney, Time’s 2019 businessperson of the year, shares the ideas and values he embraced during his fifteen years as CEO while reinventing one of the world’s most beloved companies and inspiring the people who bring the magic to life. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Competition was more intense than ever and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company’s history. His vision came down to three clear ideas: Recommit to the concept that quality matters, embrace technology instead of fighting it, and think bigger—think global—and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets. Today, Disney is the largest, most admired media company in the world, counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and he is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our era. In The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger shares the lessons he learned while running Disney and leading its 220,000-plus employees, and he explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership, including: • Optimism. Even in the face of difficulty, an optimistic leader will find the path toward the best possible outcome and focus on that, rather than give in to pessimism and blaming. • Courage. Leaders have to be willing to take risks and place big bets. Fear of failure destroys creativity. • Decisiveness. All decisions, no matter how difficult, can be made on a timely basis. Indecisiveness is both wasteful and destructive to morale. • Fairness. Treat people decently, with empathy, and be accessible to them. This book is about the relentless curiosity that has driven Iger for forty-five years, since the day he started as the lowliest studio grunt at ABC. It’s also about thoughtfulness and respect, and a decency-over-dollars approach that has become the bedrock of every project and partnership Iger pursues, from a deep friendship with Steve Jobs in his final years to an abiding love of the Star Wars mythology. “The ideas in this book strike me as universal” Iger writes. “Not just to the aspiring CEOs of the world, but to anyone wanting to feel less fearful, more confidently themselves, as they navigate their professional and even personal lives.”

PUT WALT TO WORK FOR YOU! How do you go from dreaming of a theme park to building one? Walt Disney laid the blueprint. Learn how he did it, and how his wisdom can guide you toward achieving the things that you dream of. The experts told Walt it'd never work. A giant theme park, where parents and children could play together? Crazy! So Walt put all of his money into this crazy dream of his. He put his reputation on the line. Anyone else would have quit, discouraged and disillusioned, but Walt built Disneyland. How did he go from dreaming to doing? And how can you do the same, no matter what your goal? In The Wisdom of Walt, Professor Jeffrey Barnes distills Walt Disney's vision, his knowledge, and his methods into a series of actionable lessons. Through historical vignettes about Disneyland, as well as plentiful examples and exercises, Barnes creates a framework through which you can apply Walt's wisdom to improve your career, your company, and your life. Learn to: -Listen to your "Walter ego" and start trusting yourself -Go "beyond the berm" with the secrets of Disneyland's success -Make a "Main Street impression" on everyone you meet -Create "E-ticket experiences" that keep them coming back for more WITH THE WISDOM OF WALT, YOUR SUCCESS IS JUST A DREAM AWAY!

Walt Rakowich brings a real-world perspective to leadership that’s based on experience, not just theory. Walt was CEO of Prologis, the world’s largest owner of industrial warehouses and a critical partner to companies distributing products throughout the global supply chain. The company was near bankruptcy when Walt took over at the height of the Great Recession. While leading Prologis back to prominence, and in the years since, Walt realized leaders today must lean into timeless values and principles, but with a fresh perspective on the new realities of our leadership climates. The modern leadership environment exists at the convergence of three distinct and dynamic climates: the climates of access, diversity, and acceleration. On their own or in the aggregate, these climates produce significant opportunities and tensions that will challenge leaders for generations. With a fundamental understanding of these climates, leaders develop a selfless approach that withstands the toughest storms. Transfluence shows leaders how they can have transformative influence by overcoming their fears and pride, building transparency into their leadership, developing a strong core of authentic values, and passionately pursuing a meaningful purpose. When leaders do this, they seize opportunities, embrace challenges, and make their organizations and communities greater than ever.

Eat Like Walt, explores the lore of each land, beginning with Main Street, U.S.A., an homage to Walt's childhood home of Marceline, Missouri, to Tomorrowland, set in futuristic 1986, a year Disney would not live long enough to see. Although Disneyland opened in 1955, its culinary history dates back to 1923 when Walt Disney first arrived in Hollywood. Walt was a simple eater yet a big dreamer. By 1934, four years before his first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, would be released, Mickey Mouse had made him famous enough to have a recipe published in Better Homes & Gardens magazine. Ask fans what Walt's favorite food was and most will say, "Chili." Chili has a cult status at Disneyland. People want to eat what Walt ate, the way he ate, where he ate it.

“It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.” The secret for creating “magic” in our careers, our organizations, and our lives is simple: outstanding leadership—the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results. No one knows more about this kind of leadership than Lee Cockerell, the man who ran Walt Disney World® Resort operations for over a decade. And in Creating Magic, he shares the leadership principles that not only guided his own journey from a poor farm boy in Oklahoma to the head of operations for a multibillion dollar enterprise, but that also soon came to form the cultural bedrock of the world’s number one vacation destination. But as Lee demonstrates, great leadership isn’t about mastering impossibly complex management theories. We can all become outstanding leaders by following the ten practical, common sense strategies outlined in this remarkable book. As straightforward as they are profound, these leadership lessons include: Everyone is important. Make your people your brand. Burn the free fuel: appreciation, recognition, and encouragement. Give people a purpose, not just a job. Combining surprising business wisdom with insightful and entertaining stories from Lee’s four decades on the front lines of some of the world’s best-run companies, Creating Magic shows all of us – from small business owners to managers at every level – how to become better leaders by infusing quality, character, courage, enthusiasm, and integrity into our workplace and into our lives.