The Myers-Briggs Type of Walt Disney

Recently, we received a request to analyze Walt Disney’s Myers-Briggs personality type. I’ve been wanting to study more real life examples, so I jumped on the opportunity, and it didn’t disappoint. To get a well-rounded picture, I watched a couple of documentaries that can be found on YouTube, and I also checked out interviews and quotes of either Walt Disney himself or those who knew him personally. I’ll share links of the relevant ones at the end of this article. Of course, as per usual, after I started to form an opinion, I checked out popular consensus, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything obvious. I’ll be keeping all of that in mind as I proceed.

An Overview of Walt Disney’s Personality

When people hear the name Walt Disney, they think of the entertainment empire that he built, filled with stories that kindle the imagination, that tell everyone that dreams do come true. Disney himself was known for his imagination, for being a dreamer and a visionary. However, he was more than just that. He was also a successful businessman, entrepreneur, and risk-taker. Looking closely, I essentially saw two sides to this man: the nostalgic dreamer and the demanding boss. Naturally, these create the basis for the dissenting opinions on his personality type.

The Cognitive Function Analysis of Walt Disney

The most prominent theories on Walt Disney appear to be ENFP, ENTJ, ENTP, and even ESTJ. If you’re familiar with the cognitive functions, I’m sure you’ve spotted the pattern. The argument is basically between Te dominant and Ne dominant…for good reason. I spotted both the Ne and Te almost immediately. Initially, when I first started writing this article, I wanted to withhold my opinion while leading you through the evidence. However, my stance becomes abundantly clear almost immediately, so I might as well state up front that I think Walt Disney is an ENFP. So, with that said, I’m going to start by discussing the Walt Disney’s perceiving axis, and then his judging axis. After that, I’ll directly discuss why I believe he’s prioritizing Ne over Te.

Walt Disney’s Perceiving Axis: Ne/Si

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

“I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination.” – Walt Disney

“Diversifying breaks the monotony of things.” – Walt Disney

“This was a man that had one foot in the past because he loved the nostalgia and used it in many motion pictures and television shows to get through to the public, and one foot in the future because he loved the technology.” – Marty Sklar

Walt Disney loved experimenting with whatever was new and interesting. (Initially, he didn’t want to get into animation at all, because he thought it wasn’t new enough.) Disney’s work was often known for being way head of it’s time, or highly experimental (like Fantasia). He would always stay on top of any new technology or methods, and find ways to utilize them better. For instance, he re-shot Flowers and Trees (which was already halfway done) in order to incorporate Technicolor’s brand new 3-strip process. This ultimately tripled the cost, but he also got himself exclusive rights to the new Technicolor process for the next three years. Walt’s willingness to restart halfway through this project demonstrates his lack of a specific vision, and showcases a more opportunistic nature. This is more characteristic of high Ne rather than Ni. In addition, his active pursuit of the new and the novel for the sake of it points to Ne.

As stated in one of the documentaries, “many of Walt’s ideas were risky, and some saw them as ridiculous and impossible.” His first feature length movie, Snow White, is a good example of this. People sneered at the idea that an audience would sit through a feature length cartoon, but he wrapped up all his money in the idea, risking everything on the film. One of Disney’s employees, Joe Grant, explained, “He was great for spontaneous ideas.” Whenever Walt Disney was overseeing or checking in on a project, he was quick to produce ideas or suggestions for any issues or holes that he spotted. During meetings, he would also spontaneously act out his ideas to give people the essence of the idea. He was described as a natural actor. In addition, he was always open to new ideas or input, and encouraged others to improve upon his ideas. No one was allowed to just shoot down an idea, without producing an alternative of their own.

Of course, Si has to be coupled with Ne, and that can be seen in Walt. His daughter talked about his would “bring things from way back and reuse them again.” In addition, she expressed a belief that in today’s world, he still wouldn’t abandon old-fashioned drawing for computer animation. He would find way to use both. As a whole, I didn’t see an overwhelming amount of Si in Walt Disney, like I saw Ne, but these were some common themes that would come up which suggested low Si. (Although, I will be covering more Si evidence in the final section.)

Walt Disney’s Judging Axis: Te/Fi

“…Dad had a confidence that if he liked it, a lot of people would like it.” – Walt Disney’s daughter

“When I was a kid, a book I read advised young artists to be themselves. That decided it for me. I was a corny kind of guy, so I went in for corn.” – Walt Disney

“If you live right, things happen right.” – Walt Disney

Of course, with Walt Disney, you have the classic story of an artist risking his future to his passion. The theme sounds Fi, but I’m not going to claim that all artists are FPs. Looking more specifically at the way he was, Walt Disney leaned into his own preferences, anticipating that what he liked other people would like to. In this way, he seems more self-referencing, which indicates Fi rather than Fe. Some people would make criticisms, such as calling his work ‘corny’, but he’d either shrug it off, or in the case of his daughter, ban her from previewing the dailies in their den. Walt Disney liked what he liked, and he didn’t particularly care if other people validated it. When approaching Dick Van Dyke and the author of Mary Poppins with a proposal for the movie, he was described as being incredibly enthusiastic and excited.

However, as a boss, Walt Disney came across a bit harsher or colder. I did consider Fe due to his focus on family and building communities, but his interactions with others don’t strike like that of an FJ. Walt was outspoken about the things he didn’t like, and he wasn’t the type to flatter or even compliment. Walt would simply say “that’ll work” when someone did a good job, produced a good idea, etc. He actively avoided giving too much validation. In addition, Walt would break up teams once the members started to like each other too much, because he believed that the best work was born out of conflict or competition. Walt could also be rather bull-headed about pursuing his goals, or doing things a certain way. When it came to Walt’s grand plans like Disneyland and Disneyworld, Harrison Price learned to always say “yes” to his ideas, before talking about the restraints. His final project, EPCOT, showcased his Te rather well, demonstrating that Walt had a controlling, dictator-like side to him, but I’m going to talk about that more in the next section.

Walt Disney’s Dominant Function: Ne vs. Te

“That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.” – Walt Disney

“…EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.” – Walt Disney

“So that’s what EPCOT is: an experimental, prototype community that will always be in a state of becoming.” – Walt Disney

Walt’s never-to-be-completed EPCOT project provides a great example for the interplay between Ne and Te. Walt was essentially designing a playground for himself, to test ideas and new technology. In EPCOT, everything would be updated with the newest technology, even down to the household appliances. His goal was to ensure that EPCOT would always be 25 years ahead of it’s time. Marc Davis said, “It was his philosophy not to build a city that would solve all the urban problems all over the world. But to give a chance to American industry to experiment, and show to the world just how the problems of traffic, and housing could be solved.” EPCOT perfectly demonstrates what I would consider dominant Ne, and inferior Si in the lack of stability such an environment would provide. Everything always changing, including the residents themselves.

Walt originally wanted permanent residents, but he was advised that residents would have to have a say in how things were run. They’d want to be able to vote, to hold offices, to generally participate in the local government. However, Walt didn’t want people getting in the way of his experimental society, so he decided to make all residents temporary. No more than 9 months. Of course, no one would have a say in their high-tech houses being constantly updated either. As far as Walt was concerned, he knew what was best for EPCOT and for the people in it. Ward Kimble, a long time friend, tried to warn him, saying, “You can’t experiment with people’s lives.”

Overall, I’d like to sum up this section by calling out the main points I derived.

1. Walt Disney’s ultimate goal is Ne driven, with the Te being used in service to the Ne goal.
2. The complete lack of permanence of any kind indicates inferior Si.
3. Fe is all around unlikely because when the people began to conflict with the goal, the people were essentially discarded.

In Conclusion…

I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Of course, the accuracy of my conclusion is also dependent on the accuracy of the information that I found, although it all appeared to be fairly consistent, in addition to demonstrating both a positive and negative side to Walt Disney. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to hear them!

Resource Links

Walt Disney interview

My Dad Walt Disney – Diane Disney Interview – DisneyAvenue.com

Interview: Working for Walt Disney

Roy E. Disney on Walt Disney’s on-screen persona and his relationship with him

60+ Best Walt Disney Quotes to Inspire You

Defunctland: Walt Disney’s City of the Future, E.P.C.O.T.