At the height of his business success, Walt Disney was so revered that industry leaders and CEOs who met him were starstruck and intimidated.
Even highly successful leaders were often nervous in his presence.
Disney came to expect this and decided to do something about it—physically.
He would deliberately loosen his tie and leave it slightly askew. He sometimes would wad up his hat and flop it on his head without adjusting it.
He had a plan.
Leaders who initially felt intimidated in his presence began to relax.
They thought Disney was simply being folksy and unpretentious, when the truth was, he was doing this intentionally to put people at ease.
Whenever he detected that someone in the room was intimidated by him, he physically altered his own appearance to reduce his status in that person’s eyes.
Not surprisingly, Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, learned to do the same thing. In Walton’s case, he purchased many of his clothes from Walmart and would point out this fact when meeting with leaders and dignitaries who visited him.
Despite the obvious fact that he could buy and wear the finest clothes, he was proud of the merchandise Walmart sold and knew that wearing the Walmart label made him more ordinary and relatable.
The fact that he drove an old pickup truck and lived in a humble house helped his cause as well.
Walton was determined to make people comfortable in his presence, not flummoxed by his status or wealth.
Exceptional leaders can be very inventive when purposely trying to lower their status.
Stories abound of successful leaders who get on the ground to play with children and dogs, bag groceries alongside their company’s cashiers, leave their office to visit someone in theirs, serve coffee, and ask junior team members to teach them how to work an app on their phone.
The examples are plentiful and often legendary in the organizations they lead. Perceived status differences magnify discomfort and self-doubt, especially in business and formal settings.
Good leaders instinctually know this, so they often go to great lengths to make people more comfortable by altering the physical manifestations of their status.
By putting people at ease, they typically find they receive more honesty, openness, and disagreement than they would otherwise.
The best leaders are conscious of the impact their perceived authority, influence, and status have on other people and the conversations that unfold.
There are many ways to lower status to encourage comfort and candidness. Add physical to that list.
No wonder Mickey Mouse was so likable.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
