A Story Worthy of Disney

What you can learn from Bob Iger's career

I originally developed this post prior to Bob Iger’s second act as CEO of Disney. True to the knock on sequels,  it looks likely that it won’t be as good as the original. Nonetheless, Iger’s career is packed with essential leadership lessons. Let’s dig in.

Bob started out as an entry level employee working soap operas on ABC in 1974. His rise to the steward of Walt Disney's legacy is a story worthy of Disney. Today Disney has one of the strongest brands in the media business, but when Bob took over as CEO in 2005, the company was struggling.

His story is a PHD in leadership. Here's what I learned from it:

Trust yourself

You must trust yourself and your instinct. When Iger became head of ABC, he wasn't a content guy, he didn't know how to read a script, but he now had to not only read them, but make the ultimate call on which scripts to green-light. He relied on his experienced team to provide feedback and guidance, but also understood that you need to trust your own instincts as a leader. This doesn't mean being an autocratic dictator, but you must take all available information and make the call. Trust in yourself and your judgment.

Disrupt yourself or someone else will

You must be willing to undermine your current business model in order to adapt to changing tech and market conditions. When Iger met with Steve Jobs to discuss Pixar, Jobs pulled out a device that was kept under wraps at Apple - the Video iPod. Jobs asked Iger if he would put some of ABC’s biggest shows on it. Iger said yes on the spot, knowing that there would be implications for their traditional business model. When Amazon launched kindle, they did so with the intent to destroy their physical book business (an incredible story in its own right, can be heard here).

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

You can't survive by playing it safe. If you want to innovate and thrive, you need to take risks. Be bold. When Iger took over as CEO of Disney, the relationship with Pixar was in the gutter. Steve Jobs and Disney were not on speaking terms, and the legendary Disney animation studio was failing. Iger was a master of empathy and a deft deal maker (not shrewd, but firm). He called Jobs, repaired the relationship and proposed that Disney buy Pixar (a wild idea at the time). The Disney board shot the idea down as too risky for the new CEO. What now seems like an obviously great acquisition, was seen as very risky and outlandish at the time. Iger persevered and put the entire deal together, which in hindsight was a huge success. He later did the same with Marvel, paying $4 Billion for a bunch of cartoon characters (Jobs said he was crazy to do so, see “Trust yourself”).

Your reputation for integrity is your most valuable asset

Integrity is critical for the long term health of an organization (and your career). Without it you are lost. Integrity is a theme woven into the fabric of Iger’s life and story. At the beginning of the Lucasfilm discussions, when George Lucas said he “wanted the Pixar deal” (meaning price), Iger immediately told him he wasn't going to get that price, rather than leading him (or misleading him) on to keep talks going. The reason that Lucas was willing to talk to Iger in the first place was because Iger had done right by him on a failed project decades earlier at ABC. When Roseanne Barr made offensive tweets, Iger cancelled the show immediately and terminated her. Iger later said about the Roseanne situation - “everything depends on upholding the integrity of your team”.

Own up when you fuck up

You must be accountable for your mistakes. Everytime Iger messed up, he was the first to step up and say it was his fault. He didn't try to hide it or blame others. When J.J. Abrams and Iger presented the first Star Wars script to George Lucas, they had omitted a major storyline that Lucas had suggested. Lucas was pissed. Iger owned up to the fact that he should have told George earlier that they were going in a different direction rather than surprising him at the meeting.

You aren’t perfect

Humility and subversion of ego are core attributes of Level 5 Leaders. Your imperfection is a feature, not a bug. Iger’s book finishes with this passage - “Hold on to the awareness of yourself even as the world tells you how powerful and important you are, the moment you start to believe it all too much, the moment you look at yourself and see a title emblazoned on your forehead, you’ve lost your way”.

If you want the entire story, check out 'Ride of a Lifetime’. I recommend the audiobook.