The Ride of a Lifetime - Prologue

The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger:

Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Prologue:

Also a best-seller, ‘The Ride of a Lifetime’ by Rober Iger is a fascinating book describing the life of Robert Iger as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company. The book focuses on outlining key moments in Iger’s life during that time and principles on the type of leadership that is appropriate in a business environment. This book was highly recommended by Bill Gates. This is evident from the following blog post on his website: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Ride-of-a-Lifetime

At the outset, Iger points out that he was CEO of the Walt Disney Company for eleven years when Disney was to open Shanghai Disneyland in 2016 and he subsequently had plans to retire. He described his experience as CEO as “thrilling”, and the creation of Shanghai Disneyland was the greatest accomplishment of his professional career. However, things in life do not necessarily go as one expects. There have been tragic events in Shanghai, Paris and Orlando where Disney employees or people associated with Disney have either been killed or injured. Hence, Iger remained as CEO until 2020. 

Iger also pointed out that his routine for the days leading up to the amusement park’s opening in Shanghai was extremely busy: “leading park tours and giving interviews and attending rehearsals to give final notes on the opening ceremony performances; hosting lunches and dinners and meetings with shareholders and vendors and members of our board; meeting with Chinese dignitaries to pay proper respects; dedicating a wing of the Shanghai Children’s Hospital; practicing a brief speech, part of which was in Mandarin, that I’d be giving at the opening ceremony.” 

June 16, was the opening day for the park and (it is interesting to look at the habits of highly successful people) Iger woke up at 4:00 A.M. and worked out to clear his mind and relax.

As a CEO, the author emphasises that it is necessary to be able to continuously adapt and re-adapt. “You go from plotting growth strategy with investors, to looking at the design of a giant new theme-park attraction with Imagineers, to giving notes on the rough cut of a film, to discussing security measures and board governance and ticket pricing and pay scale.” It is “challenging and dynamic” day in and day out. 

Lastly, Iger continued to state that throughout his time as CEO, he identified 10 principles that are essential to true leadership. 

1. Optimism. As Iger emphasises, optimism is vital to leadership and he rightly acknowledges that optimism is necessary for people to be motivated. 

2. Courage. In an organisation that seeks to attain long-term success, complacency is not an option. Therefore, true innovation requires courageous people. As Mark Zuckerberg once said, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."

3. Focus. Assigning priorities effectively is also vital. 

4. Decisiveness. Indecisiveness by a leader will render an organisation unproductive. 

5. Curiosity. Iger put it best: “A deep and abiding curiosity enables the discovery of new people, places, and ideas, as well as an awareness and an understanding of the marketplace and its changing dynamics. The path to innovation begins with curiosity.”

6. Fairness. Being fair to the people within the team/organisation is crucial to strong leadership as well as the quality of being empathetic. Leading by force and fear will also kill innovation, which is a terrible idea.  

7. Thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness is “the process of gaining knowledge, so an opinion rendered or decision made is more credible and more likely to be correct.” In fact, it is the attribute of being objective, meaning knowing the facts prior to making conclusions. 

8. Authenticity. “Truth and authenticity breed respect and trust.”

9. The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection. Do not mistake this principle with trying to be a perfectionist all the time. Rather, it is about denying to settle for mediocrity.

10. Integrity. Integrity is incredibly important in everything that one does. Warren Buffett famously said: “We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don't have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you're going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.”

P.S. any comments that are made by the author of this blog are outlined in Italics.