Disney Article Summary

Disney Article

For this paper, I was asked to review an article dealing with one of the “keys” of Disney’s success. Below, I will summarize the information presented in the article and then write how it could impact schools and school leadership.

The chapter “Michael Eisner Sets the Record Straight” by Connelan (1997) begins by introducing a class that has gathered at the Magic Kingdom for management training. Mort, the teacher in this management seminar instructs five management students, which are called the “Gang of Five.” One early morning, as the theme park was just opening, The Gang of Five observe Mort helping a visiting family find their way around the park. Here, he introduces the main theme for the chapter—being able to walk the

Other sub-themes that permeate throughout the chapter include the notions of paying attention to detail, commitment to quality, and using common sense.

An interesting scene in the chapter occurs when the students are confronted by a person they believed was a custodian that had spoken to them the day before. It just so happened the custodian that was picking up trash was Michael Eisner, CEO of the Walt Disney Company. This exemplified the notions of walking the talk, as even the CEO needs to lead by example to demonstrate that no one is above a company’s principles—the belief that it is “just as important, probably more so, the fact that every supervisor do the same thing…[to] pick up litter like everybody else” (Connelan, 1997, p.

The first principle is the notion of walking the talk. As an example of walking the talk as an administrator, I offer the example of morning duty. In our school, teachers are responsible to attend to posts during the morning on-rush of students. Some posts are as simple as ensuring that students enter the building with proper uniforms to more complex functions such as directing traffic in coordination with others through three intersections. Though I do fault our school’s administration in some areas of management, one instance where they do walk the talk is in morning duty. All administrators and support staff are actively involved in morning duty, from ensuring that all classrooms are ready to receive students to directing traffic themselves. The fact that staff observe them actually doing the activity encourages a sense of teamwork in attempting to accomplish the same goal. However, administration is derelict in this principle in other areas, such as enforcing uniform policies. They berate teachers for not enforcing uniform policies while allowing students to enter the building wearing improper uniforms. This lack of “walking the talk,” among other scenarios, disheartens morale and leave teachers feeling as less than