Good Morning,
I want to announce a change in the frequency of bookletter posts. Starting from this issue, I will be publishing once a month. Each issue will be posted on the first weekend of every month.
This week’s book is The Ride of a Lifetime, by Bob Iger. Bob is the now-former CEO of Disney. In this memoir he recounts his career, starting as an employee at ABC (which was acquired by Disney) and culminating with his tenure as one of the most highly regarded CEO’s today. In his 15 years as leading Disney, he turned it into the entertainment giant that it is today.
As I read this book I had a strong feeling that Bob gets a lot of his thinking from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (or, at least his thinking is very in line with the ideas from the book). For readers of Stephen Covey’s book, this memoir is an excellent example of putting some of those 7 Habits to use.
10 Principles of Leadership
Bob begins with the 10 principles of leadership which he learned throughout his career:
Optimism: Leaders should be enthusiastic about what can be achieved. People are not motivated by pessimism, a good leader stays optimistic even in the face of challenges.
Courage: “The foundation of risk-taking is courage”. In order for a business to adapt to disruption or change, it needs a leader who’s willing to take risks. Innovation can’t happen in an environment where you can only play it safe.
Focus: It’s important to know and communicate your priorities clearly. An effective person allocates their time and effort to the problems and projects which matter most. This is very similar thinking to the prioritization ideas in 7 Habits.
Decisiveness: Indecision is inefficient, counterproductive and also deals a blow to team morale. Leaders should encourage a diversity of opinion, and be able to make the right call.
Curiosity: Curiosity enables the discovery of new people and ideas. It also enables one to understand the changing dynamics of the world, and not get left behind by disruptive innovation.
Fairness: Empathy and fair treatment of people is essential. “Nothing is worse to an organization than a culture of fear”.
Thoughtfulness: “One of the most underrated elements of good leadership”. It’s important to take the time to gain knowledge and form informed opinions.
Authenticity: “Be genuine. Be honest. Don’t fake anything. Truth and authenticity breed respect and trust.”
The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection: Refuse to accept mediocrity or make excuses like “this is good enough”. If you know something could be done better, put in the effort to get it done.
Integrity: Nothing is more important than the quality and integrity of an organization’s people and its product. “The way you do anything is the way you do everything”.
Part One: Learning
Starting at the Bottom
Bob reflects on his childhood and upbringing. He thinks about the ideas that his parents instilled in him, and the traits he always embodied:
Bob’s parents were worriers, they were typically concerned about what problems would come next. His family didn’t struggle financially, but they didn’t go past a bare minimum either.
“We always had a roof over our heads and food on the table, but there was little or no money for much else … We had enough clothes to look presentable, but nothing extra, and when I tore a pair of pants in the fall, I was typically told to wear them with a patch until we had the money to replace them, which could be months”.
However despite his parents’ worried nature, he found himself to naturally be opposite to that. “I’ve never worried too much about the future, and I’ve never had too much fear about trying something and failing.”
He started his career in 1974 with a job he got through his uncle: studio supervisor for ABC television. The job was “about as low as you could go on the ABC ladder”, and he earned $150 a week (adjusting for inflation, that’s $800 a week in 2021). Unbeknownst to him, this would be the beginning of Bob’s 45 year long career at ABC and Disney, the last 15 of which he spent as CEO.
One story from this chapter stood out to me:
A few years later Bobwas working on ABC Sports. One morning his boss Roone Arledge came in and was furious with the team for missing the coverage of a new track and field world record. The reason it wasn’t covered was because Bobwas unable to get the rights for the race in time. “From the outer edges of the room, I raised my hand and said that it was my mistake”. Later, many people from the meeting approached Boband told him “I can’t believe you did that”, referring to his admission of fault. His boss didn’t reprimand him, instead he treated him with a higher regard after the event. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone has the integrity to admit them in difficult situations. Ultimately it’s the good character that others remember, not the mistakes.
Betting on Talent
At 34, (about 11 years after his first job) Bob was promoted to vice president of ABC sports. This was around the same time that the company was sold to a smaller corporation, Capital Cities. After the sale, the new leaders of ABC were Tom Murphy and Dan Burke.
A while after the acquisition, Tom and Dan called Bob in for a meeting. They wanted to make him the vice president of ABC television, the number two position. The job would require him to run all the television programming, as well as the business for the entire network. Bob had no experience with this, but Tom and Dan valued “ability more than experience”. They made a bet on Bob’s character and his ambition, and trusted him to be a good fit for the job.
This reminds me a lot of the story of Francis Hesselbein, who became the girl scout’s CEO at age 55 with no prior experience. When you exemplify good character, the right people will want to bet on you.
As time went on Tom and Dan spent more time with Bob, helping him navigate his new role. They acted as mentors for him to grow and learn. Eventually Bob was made the new head of ABC entertainment.
Experience and skills aren’t the best judge of a person’s potential. If you take someone with the right mindset and ambition, help them grow, and give them responsibility, you’ll unlock their potential and build loyalty.
Know What You Don’t Know (and Trust in What You Do)
Bob found himself in an unknown territory with this new job. “It felt a lot like free fall at first”. But he reminded himself that inexperience isn’t an excuse for failure. His first rule for navigating a situation like his: don’t fake anything. If he didn’t know something, he would admit it “without apology”.
An important piece of advice Bob got from a colleague was “It’s not rocket science, Trust yourself”. In situations where you’re required to make a decision, but still don’t know if you understand enough, just make the best judgement you can. Be decisive.
Every year, ABC network executives come out for pilot viewings for potential shows to run. Bob recounts the first time he viewed the pilot for a new show from David Lynch. It was about the murder of a prom queen in the town of Twin Peaks. He recalls that his immediate thought was “This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and we have to do this”. However, many others (who had much more experience than Bob) were unsure about Twin Peaks. It was considered too dark for television back then. The final decision still laid with Bob, and he decided to run the show based on his instincts. As we know today, Twin Peaks became a cultural phenomenon. Bob’s risky decision got lots of praise in the creative community, he received calls from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
Many years later during the production of Marvel’s Black Panther, Bob would tell director Ryan Coogler “I have tremendous faith in you”. He assured Ryan that he wouldn’t put bounds on his creativity. “If you want innovation — and you should, always — you need to give permission to fail”.
After a string of successes (and some big failures) with ABC, Bob was eventually made the president and COO of Capital Cities/ABC. Soon after he entered his new position in 1995, Micheal Eisner, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, began to inquire about buying Capital Cities/ABC.
Enter Disney & Second in Line
Disney’s acquisition of the company had a rocky start. The company’s culture didn’t mix well with ABC’s. Additionally, Bob was unsure about his role at the company, he considered if it was still wise to stay. He was previously the number 2 to Tom Murphy at Capital Cities/ABC, but Micheal Eisner didn’t give Bob that role. Bob knew that the day when Eisner would step down as CEO he wanted to be the one to succeed him. However, he didn’t let this detract from his current job.
“I’ve been asked a lot over the years about the best way to nurture ambition—both one’s own and that of the people you manage. As a leader, you should want those around you to be eager to rise up and take on more responsibility, as long as dreaming about the job they want doesn’t distract them from the job they have. You can’t let ambition get too far ahead of opportunity.”
With Tom and Dan, Bob’s character was enough to demonstrate to them that he was worth promoting. With Eisner this wasn’t the case. Bob approached this still by doing his job well and demonstrating that he can handle responsibility.
Years after the acquisition, Micheal called Bob into his office, and gave him the role of COO, and made him a member of the board. “And now the hard times were about to begin”.
Good Things Can Happen
Bob discusses Micheal Eisner’s impact on the Walt Disney Company:
“I’ve often said that Micheal ‘re-founded’ Walt’s company”. When Eisner became CEO in 1984, Disney was far from an entertainment giant. The company struggled since the death of Walt Disney in 1966. Disneyland and Disney World were still popular, but the Animation and Studios weren’t doing well. Eisner’s first stroke of genius was to leverage all the assets Disney was sitting on. He added more to the parks, he created VHS of all the iconic films which became a billion dollar business. In addition, his plan to expand Disney as an entertainment company through the ABC acquisition, was very successful. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that he taught me how to see in a way I hadn’t been able to before”.
Despite the changes Eisner made early in his tenure, in the late 90’s, things began to go downhill for Disney. One of the greatest moves Eisner had made was partnering with Pixar when it was still an early startup. However, as Pixar grew, and Disney’s animation team fell further behind, tensions built up. Steve Jobs, who was then the CEO of both Apple and Pixar, disagreed with the partnership terms, and felt that Pixar deserved a better deal with Disney. This led to a very public fallout between the companies and some hostility between Jobs and Eisner.
Disney’s struggles continued into the early 2000’s and Micheal Eisner would often tell Bob “The sky is falling”. This sense of pessimism permeated the entire company. This is an example of why a leader should be optimistic. Roy Disney, a board member and the nephew of Walt, began to lose faith in Eisner. Roy brought this up to the board, and eventually left the company’s board himself out of disagreement with Eisner’s leadership, he believed that he should resign as CEO. Not long after this, Roy and his lawyer began the “Save Disney” campaign where they publicly criticized Eisner. This only made things worse for Micheal and Disney.
Eventually, the board voted to remove Micheal Eisner as CEO and begin searching for someone to replace him. As Eisner’s second in charge, the board and the public lacked faith in Bob as well, and he felt that his chance to lead the company was lost.
It’s About the Future
While Eisner’s tenure was coming to an end, Bob felt an immense amount of stress about getting the board to pick him for CEO. Most of the board was openly opposed to picking him due to his relationship with Eisner. Bob was contacted by Scott Miller, a political campaign manager who told him “you’re about to embark on a political campaign, you understand that, right?”. Miller told Bob that in order to get the job the first thing he needs to do is clearly define his priorities.
What you focus on as a leader defines the direction the organization will go in. It’s crucial to convey your ideas clearly. But having too many priorities means you essentially have none. This applies outside of business too. It’s very important to define a small number of key focuses that you have.
”If leaders don’t articulate their priorities clearly, then the people around them don’t know what their own priorities should be”.
Bob presented his priorities to the board:
Disney needs to create branded content
Embrace technology to the fullest extent
Become a truly global company
He made it clear that his vision for the company was about the future, not the past.
After 15 interviews, some of which induced a lot of anxiety and frustration in Bob, the board selected Bob for the role.
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Thanks for reading,
Sid