52nd Book of 2020: Iger for President?

Ride of a Lifetime packages a few blindingly obvious life lessons in a bite-sized book. This was the first time that I read a business book and wanted to be more like the author, as the way he was able to describe truly difficult situations and people with a kind touch revealed how it’s done in the pro leagues.

  • **Be Decent to People: ** What impressed me the most about the book is the way that Iger was able to describe characters and situations in a way that I ended up respecting the people more involved. Iger was able to describe Jobs’ famously irascible personality while also praising his pursuit of quality and integrity.

“Who wouldn’t want Steve Jobs to have influence over how a company is run?” I wasn’t worried about how he would act, and I was confident that if he did do something that was out of line, I could call him out on it. He was quick to judge people, and when he criticized, it was often quite harsh. That said, he came to all the board meetings and actively participated. […] He rarely created trouble for me. Not never but rarely. “

  • He describes the nasty “Save Disney” fight between Michael Eisner and Roy Disney in a way that legitimizes the intent of all parties involved and approaches the insiders with empathy.

[Roy was] just someone looking for respect, and getting it had never been especially easy for him. It was so personal, and involved so much pride and ego, and this battle of his had been going on for decades.

  • The theme of the book, and perhaps Iger’s success (from this reading) was his unique ability to work with tough personalities that made the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox media assets, in a way that then enabled the Disney+ strategy to have a hope of success.

  • Surround yourself with people who are good in addition to being good at what they do. Over the course of the book, Iger spends a lot of time talking about others, and the things that he learned from them. He learned the pursuit of quality from Roone Arledge, how to trust and delegate from Tom and Dan, and the keys of his first political campaign to become CEO that he got from a consulting firm. He also talks about tougher decisions, like firing Lassater, Rosanne, and others embroiled in scandals.

Iger presents himself as the person that every leader tells themself they can be on their better days, and paints a picture of how one can do the right things, pair them with hard work good mentors and good luck to do big things. I’m sure the truly hard parts of Iger’s career and head-smack worthy mistakes were not included in this book, but it’s still useful as a template for how things can go right.

Other Random Notes: *Good enough isn’t good enough (never let mediocrity of the crowd drag you down) *No one wants to follow a pessimist *Don’t let ambition and the promise of future opportunity distract you from the job at hand (common problem for the ambitious) -Not much talk from his reports and what they accomplished