Book Club: The Ride of a Lifetime
BQ rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)
In this post, I will collect my notes on The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger. I’ve made it a habit to read a couple of books related to management every year, and I found this one in the library of our small town, Balatonfüred. At the same time, I don’t think this is a classical management book, but rather a collection of stories from Iger’s life and how his experiences shaped him.
Overall, the book highlights the main turning points in the life of a legendary manager. He worked at the same company for more than 40 years, which is a feat in itself. I enjoyed reading it, although at times it felt a bit like a list of acquisitions: I hadn’t realized that Disney bought Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, and that most of the movies I’ve watched over the years actually belong to the same company.
Acquisitions, acqusitions everywhere
I was bothered by how much Mr. Iger talked about acquisitions; and had expected more leadership examples from the book. It is interesting that my personal experiences (and those of people close to me) with companies buying other companies do not match what is described in the book at all. I am pretty sure Disney’s acquisitions are just the tip of the iceberg, and many deals do not end up like these.
Iger made sure that when they bought companies, the main reason was to make Disney a better company, so destroying the culture of the acquired company did not make sense. He was also part of ABC when Disney acquired it, so he had firsthand experience of the situation from the other side.
One more thing that caught my attention was how many of the cases hinged on a single person: Steve Jobs sticking his neck out for him, and Iger handling the personal feelings and sensitivities of Jobs and George Lucas in the right way, which ultimately made it possible to close so many deals.
Humility
Iger’s idea for turning around Disney Animation was to buy Pixar - a company that performed better in the core competencies to make great animation movies. Just imagine what it takes to convince a company about what they have been doing for a long time — and are known for — can only be fixed from the outside. It must have been a humbling experience for everyone, yet he was able to focus on the future and the opportunities such a move can create. As we all know, sometimes even the simplest change is hard to enact at a company, nevertheless he was willing to thake the risk. Of course, he was the CEO, and thus had a lot of influence, but he also reported to the board of directors — and, as Michael Eisner learned, the board can push you out if your ideas are not paying dividends.
On the other hand, he also shared a surprising story about toying with the idea to become the President of the United States, even puttin effort into studying topics ranging from foreign policy to education — areas that even the CEO of a multinational company would not have experience in. He never came close to realizing his dream; it was simply interesting how casually he mentioned it and gave a glimpse into how - at times - he also put aside his humility hat.
Ideas to take away
At the end of the book, he also shared a number of leadership principles — in my opinion, a not fully developed manifesto — referring back to the stories he had told earlier. This is a nice touch and serves as a great summary of his approach to leading companies.
Here are the ones I liked the most (note that I read the book in the Hungarian translation and am translating them loosely back into English):
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“I became comfortable with failure - not with lack of effort, but with the fact that if you want innovation, you need to grant permission to fail.” This resonates with me, because it signals trust and a grounded approach to working with other people.
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Reinvent yourself/your company, or you die! There is more truth to this now than ever - but there can be no reinvention when fear is the main motivator.
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Ruthlessly pursue quality - perfect solutions. But not perfectionism - it means people do not accept “good enough” as truly good enough.
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Don’t start from a negative place, and don’t focus on a small scale. People who focus on small-scale problems often try to hide the fact that they lack clear, long-term, overarching thoughts or strategy.
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Michael Eisner said that micromanagement is underrated. It shows how much you care about the product and the decisions. However, it can undermine you and overload the person practicing it.
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Value ability more than experience, and put people into situations that require more from them than they thought possible.
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If a leader does not do their job, everyone around them will notice, and they will lose their respect. We may need to attend meetings we would otherwise skip, listen to other people’s problems, and help them find solutions.
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Be upfront in all negotiations. Your starting point should be honesty and transparency. There is no short-term gain worth losing the trust of others if initial expectations later turn out to be false.
📖 There is much more in the book; read it yourself! 📖
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