Takeaways from "The Ride of a Lifetime" from Robert Iger - Walt Disney CEO

Lessons from the CEO of The Walt Disney company

I love reading autobiographies/look-backs of leaders as they always reveal plenty of insights and help us learn through their experience. Even the leaders would admit that it is tough to distill the principles and frameworks they live by when they are going through the journey and lot of it starts to make sense when they look back and start connecting the dots.

“The Ride of a LifeTime” is written by Robert Iger who was the CEO of Disney for 15 years. He worked for the same company for forty five years:twenty two of them at ABC and another twenty three at Disney. The Walk Disney Company as you all know is an iconic media and entertainment company and during Bob Iger’s tenure which started in 2005 the company has grown strength to strength.

In the prologue, Bob distills his learning into a set of 10 principles the he sees as important to true leadership. Through the entire book there are great examples where we can contextualize those principles. The approach and stories around acquisitions (Bob made 5 big ones - Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Fox and Hulu) were all great but I picked the learnings which resonated with me as a mid level manager. I personally believe in the Power of 3 so here we go

Be an Optimist

Leaders need pragmatic enthusiasm on what can be achieved. Especially in difficult moments, pessimism leads to paranoia which leads to risk aversion. Optimism sets a different machine in motion  - people you lead need to feel confident in your ability to focus on what matters and not to operate from a place of defensiveness and self-preservation. No one wants to follow a pessimist.

Approach people with respect and empathy

As leaders there are plenty of times when you have to deliver tough decisions and a little respect and empathy goes a long way. Even though this was articulated in a different context by Satya Nadella(Microsoft CEO), empathy remains a key trait which is even more important than talent and experience. If you approach and engage people with respect and empathy the seemingly impossible can become real.

Be courageous

Foundation of risk taking is courage and true innovation occurs only when people have courage. We should be willing to take big risks as you cannot have big wins without them. Careful analysis and study will tell you a lot, but it ultimately comes down to instinct.

The book was a easy weekend read and the link to book in Amazon is here. Drop a comment or share your thoughts on what struck you after reading the book.