Interview: Interview Experience In The Walt Disney Company

Interview Experience - Lance

The first interview involved an hour-long discussion with Lance, a Vice President of Information Technology at Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Compared to his peers, Lance is relatively new to the company. He was selected for the interview because of the transformational work he has done in his department since he joined the company in 2013. Before joining Lowe’s, Lance held senior leadership positions at various organizations, including The Walt Disney Company.

I have known and worked with Lance for approximately two years. I met him in his office at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, December 30 to conduct the interview. As I entered his office, he left his desk and we sat at a round table next to his desk. I welcomed the fact

Lance indicated that his father’s professional success never defined him as a person or leader. What defined him as a person was his humility and tireless efforts to uplift everyone he met. Throughout his career, Lance explained, his father was more comfortable in the presence of assembly-line workers than among the highly educated, suit-and-tie wearing executives he worked with every day. Lance also indicated that although his father was tremendously successful in his career, he never realized his father’s success until his was in high school.

Question 2: How do you manage change?

Lance indicated that change is a given in the business landscape and that it is a normal aspect of his job that he deals with every day. He indicated that he was not as much impacted by change as he is driven to keep change alive to ensure the optimal development of his staff and his IT department. Lance further stated that he regards himself as a change leader, and he would probably change jobs if his opportunities to instigate change suddenly dried up.

Question 3: How do you help others manage

When people understand the tremendous energy and progress that change unleashes, Lance explained, then all that remains for leaders to do is to be supportive in helping guide staff through the uncertainty associated with change.

Question 4: What leadership trait do you most value in others?

Without hesitation, Lance announced ‘trust’ as the most valuable leadership trait in others and the leadership trait that he values above all. He further explained that without trust, few other leadership traits matter, because the lack of trust undermines leadership authenticity.

Question 5: What approach serves you best to develop leadership in your organization?

Lance explained that his personal goals involved developing leaders that he would be proud of working for and reporting to in the future. Not leaders in his image, but leaders that one day would be better leaders than him. In this regard, Lance explained, candid and timely performance feedback and allowing his direct reports to make mistakes to learn from first-hand are probably his most effective approaches to leadership