The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
If you and I would have bought Disney stock in 1981 we’d have made a return of about 16.300% – that is an insane return. While this doesn’t tell us how Disney is going to perform in the future, it is interesting to observe why it did so well in the past. The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger offers those insanely interesting insights. The former CEO of Disney ran the company for 15 years. In The Ride of a Lifetime, he offers his story through the ranks at Disney and the lessons he has learned on the way.
Marvel, Pixar, 21st Century Fox and Lucas Film
What do you think of when you hear Disney? Mickey Mouse? Many people will. The big-ear mouse was created by Walt Disney himself and represents the history of the company like no other character. But in recent years the company expanded massively. And by expanding, I mean buying up other companies.
Marvel, Pixar, Fox, Lucas Film, National Geographic, ESPN. All belong to the Disney empire and were not part of it initially.
That is what makes Disney’s success even more fascinating. The ability to keep growing the company inorganically and still achieve such high level of quality content. It is also what makes Bob Iger’s The Ride of a Lifetime worth your time.
All these acquisitions are mentioned in detail. From board discussion, to negotiations with other CEOs, to bidding wars with comcast. It is all in there. With great detail and a great personal note.
I found the storyline behind the Pixar acquisition the most fascinating. Then owner Steve Jobs did not have a good relationship with Disney when Iger stepped in as CEO. But the two buried the hatchets and moved on. And they moved on big time! Disney bought Pixar for 7.4 billion USD in 2006.
And it is fun. It is fun to read about negotiations with one of the most controversial, but also beloved business owners: Steve Jobs. There is a certain mystique that comes with this part of the book and it makes the Pixar-Disney history even more fascinating.
Innovate or Die
At my university we are currently pursuing the course “Management of Organizations”. The required literature is filled with useless management and leadership models. Countless definitions and graphs that explain how teams develop and form. Nobody really enjoys the course, but it is little work. So that’s nice.
Writing the post about The Ride of a Lifetime was not easy to be honest. For some reason it was way harder than usual to know what to write about. The words didn’t come to me like they usually do, and it was a little pain in the ass.
But then it struck me. In essence, The Ride of a Lifetime takes the key lessons from my Management of Organizations course and applies them to real life. You get to find out what kind of leader it takes when the company has an image problem, you get to find out how you must manage diversity and how to handle a public scrutiny. It is all in here. And much more, too.
Screw the theory. I don’t care about models. At least not management models. Do leaders lead by models? I doubt it.
That is where the joy of The Ride of a Lifetime comes from. All these personal anecdotes hold so much value because they are from real-life.
Yes, often these are values and principles that we all know about already. Like “take responsibility when you screw up”. That stuff has been written in thousands of books already. Just not from the former Disney CEO. And there might be a reason why people keep writing about it.
Have we understood those lessons? Apparently not.
Trombone Oil
From the beginning of The Ride of a Lifetime I was impressed by the humbleness of Bob Iger. He writes very honest, reflected, and seems extremely open-minded. A trait valued highly by many. Iger is funny and smart, and his book is insanely interesting to read.
But it does come behind the biography Shoe Dog from Nike founder Phil Knight. Which I recommend to you, too.
Avoid getting into the business of manufacturing trombone oil. You may become the greatest trombone-oil manufacturer in the world, but in the end, the world only consumes a few quarts of trombone oil a year!
Dan Burke, former boss of Robert Iger at ABC
The Disney Way
We might not have bought Disney stock in 1981 and made 16.300%, but that makes this story intriguing. Be creative folks and read the book. It is worth your time!
Enjoy!
Get In Touch
How did you like this post? Have you read the book? What did you think? Or is there something else on your mind? Let’s get in touch! Write a comment or contact me directly below.
