It All Started with a MOUSE …

Leadership

A Complicated Art

I've written about leadership before. I've read a great many books about leadership. So many definitions are out there about what it means to practice leadership. Anyone who has written a book about leadership has a different take on effective leadership. I think I have derived that leadership is the complicated art of moving people and organizations forward with a unifying vision of the future.

The best "vision" poster I have ever seen has Walt Disney on some undeveloped land with a rendering of the Disney World Cinderella Castle behind him. 

Really, though, establishing a vision of where you want to go, getting stakeholders on board, and being at the forefront of the journey is leadership. When we put Disney in front of the castle we establish that he had a great vision. If you read books about the development of the Disney enterprise and — specifically, Walt Disney World — we understand that Mr. Disney had a vision.

His idea wasn't centered about the castle or even the World, his vision was to create a wonderful place for people to go. Isn't that the rhyme and reason behind everything Disney? Is that leadership?