Supporting Leadership for the Disney Century

Coaching for Visionary Executives, Imagineers & Emerging Leaders In a world shaped by AI, immersive experiences, and dynamic global challenges, the future of leadership at Disney calls for more than execution—it calls for magic. As Walt said: “"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” I want to support them in this vision. As an Imagine Coach offer bespoke executive and leadership coaching tailored to the world of Disney—honoring its legendary storytelling, world-class experiences, and pioneering spirit. Drawing upon the power of its intellectual property, the depth of its creative teams, and the immersive magic of its parks, cruises, and resorts, this coaching approach is uniquely designed to help Disney leaders thrive in the next century of wonder.

Key Elements of a Disney Creative Mindset

• Growth-Oriented Thinking - At Disney, we don’t just imagine worlds—we build them. That starts with leaders who believe challenges are gateways to possibility and who see every setback as a story in progress.

• Curiosity & Exploration - From Walt’s original vision to tomorrow’s AI-powered magic, creativity lives in curiosity. Disney leaders thrive by asking bold questions, drawing from diverse voices, and exploring the edges of what's possible.

• Risk-Taking & Experimentation - Whether developing groundbreaking rides or innovating in streaming, leaders must be willing to test, iterate, and celebrate learning—even when it comes through failure.

• Empathy & Collaboration - Behind every magical moment is a team. Disney’s greatest innovations come from collective imagination, deep listening, and shared values.

• Resilience & Adaptability - The future of work is ever-shifting. Creative leaders at Disney know how to pivot without losing the magic, stay focused amidst change, and lead with calm confidence.

How Disney Leaders Develop a Creative Mindset

• Challenge Assumptions - and rediscover the innovative spirit behind the brand.

• Embrace Coaching & Mentorship - Work with a coach who understands the creative economy, global complexity, and the nuances of Disney's culture.

• Foster a Culture of Innovation - Build environments where storyboarding, prototyping, and creative play are not luxuries—they're leadership essentials.

• Engage with Global & Cross-Industry Thinkers - Disney’s reach is global—so should your thinking be. Learn from art, tech, hospitality, gaming, and beyond.

• Create Space for Reflection - Leadership magic happens in the quiet too. Pause, reflect, imagine—and lead from insight, not just urgency.

Coaching That Connects to Disney’s Worlds

Whether you're overseeing a resort, innovating in streaming, leading animation teams, or shaping guest experiences across cruise lines and parks, coaching with Dr. Joynes provides:

• A creative toolkit designed for experiential leadership

• Support for navigating AI and future-of-work transformations

• Strategic reflection grounded in Disney’s storytelling legacy

• Personalized 1:1 sessions and team workshops

• A commitment to preserving the magic while evolving the model

I bring a uniquely positioned perspective to support creatives and executives at Disney as they navigate current strategic transformations including: achieving profitability in streaming, building ESPN into a premier digital sports platform, improving the creative and economic performance of Disney’s film studios, and turbocharging growth in its experiences business. Especially now, there is a clear need for agile, visionary leadership. Working with individuals and teams I seek to align top-flight creative innovation with business outcomes, helping them adapt to structural shifts, drive the future of high-impact storytelling, and strengthen cross-functional collaboration at home and across borders. My coaching supports executives in translating top strategic priorities into actionable goals while empowering creatives to thrive in a performance-driven environment while maintaining artistic integrity and the magic.

That’s me at age 5 in 1968 in my favorite hat! This was my first time at Disneyland and I remember that I could not wait to see everything. I had discovered a truly magical kingdom and you can see from my arms /blurred in their movement that I am impatient to run to see the Matterhorn!

Hi, my name is Les and I am a professional coach for the creative industries. Originally from Santa Barbara, California, I have been visiting Disney’s theme parks since 1968. At Disneyland I saw how magic manifest dreams into reality - where palm trees lined pathways to the Matterhorn. At five I could see that imagination and magic was at work to create dreamed of realities. The world of Disney inspired me to dream and I grew up on the promise of adventure.

Disneyland and Disney cartoons and Disney movies were central to my imagination as a child and as an adult. I still remember sitting wide-eyed at the Carousel of Progress, filled with that distinctive sense of Disney animatronic awe and future wonder. Those early experiences planted the seeds of curiosity, creativity, and global vision that have shaped every part of my personal and professional journey. Tomorrowland inspired me to work as a consultant with tech leaders at 3M, Du Pont and GM. Adventureland inspired me to lead a professional life across 20 countries including exploration in South America and Asia. The imagination of Fantasyland inspired me to become an artist.

In the mid 1980s I wanted to travel and learn. I trained as management consultant and advised US and European Fortune 500s. My creative journey began much earlier. My family were all ardent picture-takers. Family albums brimmed with photos of trips to the Grand Canyon, to the Beach, on cruises and to Disneyland and Disney Florida. In a cupboard in our home in Santa Barbara, we had a box of old 1940s twin lens reflex cameras, an accordion-like folding camera from the 30s, Kodak 110 1970s Instamatics even an ancient Brownie circa 1920. From this box I selected a 1956 fully manual Agfa “Stilette” rangefinder camera. I took the camera with me everywhere.

I was also fortunate to be tutored under Disney cinematographer Wolfgang Lauter (1926–2016). A graduate of Santa Barbara’s Brooks Institute of Photography and UCSB, Wolfgang had a deep love of animals—his pet pigeon “Pidge” starred in the 1958 Walt Disney film The Pigeon That Worked a Miracle. From 1977 to 1979, Wolfgang inspired me to imagine and capture the world through the viewfinder of my camera, and this has shaped how I’ve approached storytelling, framing, and color ever since.

That sparked-imagination took me from a first job in advertising on Madison Avenue in 1986 to a place on Boston University’s M.Sc. Management program in Brussels, where I began to learn about the emerging dynamics of a globalized future. During my MBA at CalPoly, Disney was our top MBA case study. We were inspired by what Walt said “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes people to make the dream a reality” and "If you can dream it, you can do it". 

As young MBAs in 1989 we explored Disney’s navigating corporate governance and strategic control, studio performance, expansion into cable TV, balancing expenditures and risk in theme park expansion plans for Paris and Tokyo. For us this was the best case study experience ever because Disney was part of us all - and each of us felt vested in Disney’s success.

Upon graduation, the ink still wet on my diploma, I joined a management consulting firm at their Brussels headquarters and began to advise Fortune 50 clients—including DuPont, 3M, Dow, General Motors, Bayer and General Electric—on international strategy, branding and marketing, My earlier training in photography with Wolfgang and my business training served me well in imagining potential scenarios and outcomes. Mostly, I learned from listening - listening to my clients, listening to their competitors and listening to my own intuition which helped me innovate creative strategies for the near and long-term.

In the early 1990s, keen on deepening my creative skills, I decided that I wanted to train my creative side. I was offered a place on the BA Fine Art program at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London and four years later was offered a place on the MA Fine Art program at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Both of which were hives of advanced creative thinking and the people who studied there would go on to become leading artists, designers, performers of our day. We felt invincible and free to experiment and explore and felt “if we can imagined it, we can make it.” We learned through trial and error and if failure was not involved then we weren’t doing our job.

In 1997, I was awarded the Japanese Government’s Monbusho (MeXT) Scholarship, to complete an MA in Sculpture at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. Again, a new world opened up. I had visited Japan as university student in 1985 and later to install a museum show in 1996 and I could tell that Asia would be transformative for me. During those years I traveled in Asia in Viet Nam and South Korea. Back home in Tokyo, I, of course, visited Tokyo Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland felt like home - home for my imagination.

Along the way, I’ve led Fulbright public diplomacy projects in Mongolia, China, and India—bringing together art, performance and coaching in unexpected ways, from inventing a new form of basketball on the Great Wall to creating collaborative performances in Singapore, South Korea and Japan. Most recently, I served as a 2022 Fulbright Senior Scholar in New Delhi and launched India’s first coaching initiative for Indigenous youth near Kohima. I’m now preparing to travel to Te Wai Pounamu—New Zealand’s South Island—to further my work as an artist and learn from Māori communities and early settler histories.

Today, I work as an artist (now preparing a project in Dunedin in New Zealand and a show for India). I also coach business leaders and founders at Columbia and with my own leadership and innovation coaching practice support leaders across sectors who are navigating the future of work, AI, and global collaboration.

Through all of this, Disney’s values continue to guide me: curiosity, imagination, collaboration, and the courage to dream forward. I now bring those values to the leaders I coach—especially those working in or inspired by the Disney universe—helping them lead with purpose, empathy, and a creative mindset rooted in both strategy and story.

Core Coaching Competencies

• Group Coaching & Leadership Development and Cross-Cultural Team Facilitation

• Leadership & 360 Assessment Debriefing and Strategic Planning & Goal Setting

• Human-Centric Development and Emotional Intelligence & Empathy Building

• Creative Problem Solving and Innovation and Creative industries coaching to writers, artists, engineers and management

• Entrepreneurship and start-up team coaching

Coaching Qualifications

• New York University certified coach (2019)

• Group Coach Training, GCHQ, New York (2021)

• GoldAward Creative Mentor Training, University of London (2020)

• MEA Trained Transitions Coach (2024)

Education

• Ph.D. (Art, Environment, and Technology), Leeds Metropolitan University, UK; MBA (Organizational Management), California State Polytechnic University, CA, M.Sc (International Management), Boston University and Vrije Universiteit Brussels; MA Sculpture, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK; BA Fine Art (Hons) Central St Martins College of Art & Design, London, UK; BA Cum Laude in History, Boston University, MA. Columbia University Visiting Scholar and Scientist Program. New York.

Testimonials 

“Dr. Joynes is a phenomenal coach who influences how I think, plan, and act, to achieve my ambitions and maximize my potential. His methods combine creative and strategic problem solving techniques that ensure that the paths I define and choose simplify complexities and focus on the most important outcomes. Our work has helped me grow as a more impactful partner to my clients and influential leader and member on my teams” Peter, Consultant, McKinsey & Company

Coaching is recognized today as a value-add resource for international organizations, diplomatic communities and government working in multi-cultural environments. It is my pleasure to recommend Dr. Les Joynes as an experienced and thoughtful leadership coach. Experienced across thirty-five countries, Les works alongside leaders and teams to build strategic goals, team effectiveness, mission focus, and maintain work-life balance. - Anthony Diaz, Chief, Political and Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy

As a venture capital professional, it's easy to get caught up in a daily routine and relegate career development decisions to our "someday" to-do list. A leadership coach, Dr. Joynes engaged unique approaches to align my professional and personal goals and work-life balance. I highly recommend him. - Hugues Dongmo, Vice President, XBTO Humla Ventures, New York

Les’s unique coaching style blends his diverse training and deep experience in both creativity and management enabling him to work effectively with leaders as they build their pathways towards their professional and work-life balance goals. - Paulette Rao MCC, BCC

“I have known Les for thirty-five years from when we were both still studying at the VUB. He continues to impress me as smart, creative, out of the box, and people oriented. An active listener and coaching partner he demonstrates a unique ability to engage clients not only with coaching frameworks but also with a creative mindset which gives executives and leaders a vital edge in decision-making and planning. .” Karsten De Clerck, Chairman Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB), Global Senior Partner Egon Zehnder