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The Ride Of Lifetime

2023/09/11 08:01:23瀏覽231｜回應0｜推薦8

Synopsis

On January 1, 1992 at age forty - three, Igor became president of the ABC television network. I’d known it was coming for some time, but it was still surreal when it happened. My old mentors — Roone in News, Dennis Swanson in Sports — were now reporting to me. Ted Harbert, who along with Stu Bloomberg had taught me how to be a television executive, took over for me at Entertainment.

Less than a year later, at the end of 1993, Tom Murphy called me into his office. “Dan’s going to retire in February,” he said. “I need you to take his job.”

“I can’t do it,” I said. “I’ve barely started this job. Who will run the network? You gotta wait.” As much as my instinct was to say yes to every opportunity, this felt too fast.

Eight months later, Tom came to me again. “I need you in that job,” he said. “I need help running the company.” In September 1994, Iger became president and COO of Capital Cities/ABC, a year and nine months after becoming president of the network. It was a dizzying and sometimes destabilizing trajectory. I wouldn’t as a rule recommend promoting someone as rapidly as they promoted me, but I will say one more time, because it bears repeating: The way they conveyed their faith in me at every step made all the difference in my success.

Soon after Iger became Chief Operating Officer, in the spring of 1995, Michael Eisner, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, began making inquiries into a possible acquisition of Cap Cities/ABC. It didn’t go anywhere initially, and right around that time, Tom told me that he was planning to talk with the board about my succeeding him as CEO. That July, we were in Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual Allen & Company conference. I was standing in a parking lot talking with Tom, and I could see Warren Buffett, our largest shareholder, and Michael Eisner talking nearby. They waved for Tom to come over, and before he walked away, I said, “Do me a favor. If you decide to sell to Michael, give me some warning, okay?”

It didn’t take long. A few weeks later, Michael reached out to Tom formally to begin the negotiation for Disney to buy Capital Cities/ABC

Michael “re - founded” Walt’s company. When he took over Disney in 1984, its glory days were a distant memory. The company had been struggling since Walt died in 1966. Walt Disney Studios and Animation were in terrible shape. Disneyland and Walt Disney World were still popular, but they were also responsible for nearly three - quarters of the company’s income. In the last two years before Michael came on, Disney’s net income fell by 25 percent. In 1983, the corporate raider Saul Steinberg tried to take Disney over, the latest in a series of takeover attempts that the company barely survived.

The next year, Roy Disney, Walt’s nephew, and Sid Bass, Disney’s largest shareholder, brought in Michael as CEO and chairman and Frank Wells as president to reverse the company’s fortunes and maintain its independence. (Michael had been running Paramount, and Frank was the former chief of Warner Bros.) They then hired Jeffrey Katzenberg, who’d worked under Michael at Paramount, to run Disney Studios. Together, Jeffrey and Michael revitalized Disney Animation, which restored the brand’s popularity and spawned huge growth in consumer products. They also invested more attention and resources in the Disney - owned Touchstone Films, which then produced several live - action, non - G - rated hits like Ruthless People and Pretty Woman .

Michael’s biggest stroke of genius, though, might have been his recognition that Disney was sitting on tremendously valuable assets that they hadn’t yet leveraged. One was the popularity of the parks. If they raised ticket prices even slightly, they would raise revenue significantly, without any noticeable impact on the number of visitors. Building new hotels at Walt Disney World was another untapped opportunity, and numerous hotels opened during Michael’s first decade as CEO. Then came the expansion of theme parks, with the opening of MGM - Hollywood Studios (now called Hollywood Studios) in Florida and Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris) outside of Paris.

Even more promising was the trove of intellectual property — all of those great classic Disney movies — just sitting there waiting to be monetized. They began selling videocassettes of the classic Disney library to parents who’d seen them in the theater when they were young and now could play them at home for their kids. It became a billion - dollar business. Then came the Cap Cities/ABC acquisition in 1995, which gave Disney a big television network, but, most important, brought in ESPN and its nearly hundred million subscribers at the time. All of this illustrated that Michael was a remarkably creative thinker and businessman, and he turned Disney into a modern entertainment giant.

On February 25, 2020, Disney announced the resignation of the Group CEO Bob Iger with immediate effect. Although the news is shocking, it is not sudden: Bob Iger has actually postponed his retirement four times at the request of the board of directors; now that he has resigned as CEO, he and Disney have not parted ways. Bob Iger is still Disney’s executive director until next year The contract expired; after being withdrawn from the tedious management and administrative work, he was able to focus more on Disneys innovative work.

During his initial 15-year stewardship of the company, Iger broadened Disneys roster of intellectual properties, expanded its presence in international markets, and oversaw an increase of the companys market capitalization from $48 billion to $257 billion. He led the major acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, and the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion. Iger also expanded the companys theme park resorts presence in East Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2005 and 2016, respectively. Additionally, he was also the driving force behind the reinvigoration of Walt Disney Animation Studios, the branded-release strategy of its film studios output, and the companys increased investment on its direct-to-consumer businesses, including Disney+ and Hulu. As CEO, Iger is awarded approximately $27 million in annual target compensation, including a $1 million salary, a $1 million target bonus and $25 million in incentive based performance pay.

The subtitle of this book reads: 15 years of reflection on being the CEO of Disney, but in fact the whole book covers Bob Igers 45-year career so far. Bob Iger talked about his learning and injustice from the bottom of the TV station (yes, he also encountered sexual harassment in the workplace), he experienced the promotion or alienation of the supervisor/boss along the way, and after becoming a senior management, he and Experiences of Hollywood prodigies or business giants (e.g. David Lynch, Jobs). In the book, Bob Iger bluntly stated his observations and evaluations of these people many times, which brought out how he was influenced and how to "not be influenced"! For me, this part is the essence of the whole book, and because it is a choice of values.

Bob Iger joined the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the summer of 1974 as Studio Supervisor. According to his description, this job with a weekly salary of 150 US dollars is the lowest position on the ABC ladder. The content of the work is very clear: on call, all trivial matters. Bob Iger usually arrives at the studio at 4:30 in the morning, opens the door for the lighting engineer, and then checks with the carpenter, electrician, props team, makeup, hair, makeup and costume team that have entered the scene one by one to check whether the class is operating according to the schedule. Whether the meal has arrived or not, and whether the temperature in the shed is right, are of course also a matter of course.

At that time, Bob Igers boss often used public equipment for private use and took kickbacks secretly. Bob Iger, who couldnt stand it anymore, asked his colleagues what to do, but the news reached the ears of the boss before he got an answer. The boss confronted him and asked Bob Iger why he "smeared" him. At the time, Bob Iger was 23 years old, or he said he was young and vigorous, or he was honest. In short, he didnt help each other find a way out. “There is no opportunity for promotion! To leave, or find a way to find a job in another department.

In the pre-Internet era, job vacancies were still posted on bulletin boards on the wall. Bob Iger found the only job he could do out of more than 20 ABC job openings. A month later, he transferred to ABC Sports. Misfortune and fortune were unpredictable, so he met a life-changing career mentor: Roone Arledge.

Roone Arledge was the department director of ABC Sports at that time. He gave birth to "Wide World of Sports" and "Monday Night Football", which not only became popular, but also made sports programs a part of ABC TV. big selling point. This is because the sports programs handled by Roone are not only sports reports, but also show the dramatic tension of the competition. Slow-motion playback of wonderful images, aerial bird’s-eye view shooting angles, reverse camera shots... These brand-new technologies and techniques can all be traced back to Roone’s program; Roone is also good at capturing the personality characteristics of athletes, using national competitions as a metaphor for regional political wrestling , and became the benchmark for later sports programs to emulate.

Of course, compared to the all-powerful Roone, Bob Igers position is still low at this time, and the two do not have a deep relationship. Only Bob Iger met Roone on a regular basis when he was in the editing room on weekends. However, even if Roone is not there, Bob Iger and his colleagues will still receive calls from him from the ends of the earth, severely criticizing a certain program that is currently on the air, the camera angle of a certain second is wrong, and the announcer did not catch any sentence at all. to the point.

For Roone, not a single detail is unimportant. Countless times, Roone would overthrow all the sets, lights, and lines at the last moment before the broadcast of the show, even if the team worked overtime until dawn and lost soldiers, it would not hesitate. Bob Iger described in the book: Roone cares more about the show than the people who make it (The show was more important to Roone than to the people who made it).

In 1979, when the World Table Tennis Championships was held in Pyongyang, Roone called Bob Iger into his office and asked him to be in charge of obtaining broadcast rights. Bob Iger first flew from New York to the United Kingdom to talk with the head of the International Snooker Association, and then flew to Beijing—because Americans could not go to North Korea at that time—so he had to go to Beijing to talk to North Korean representatives. After several months of intensive meetings, just as the negotiations were about to be concluded, Bob Iger received a call from the US government, telling him: "What you are doing now! It is illegal. According to the economic sanctions imposed by the US on North Korea, you cannot have any interaction with North Korea for any commercial transactions."

Bob Iger did not give up. In fact, wanting to get Roones affirmation also drove him not to give up (I know I wouldnt have done it had I not been driven in part by his expectations and my desire to please him.) Finally, Bob Iger obtained the copyright from the International Table Tennis Federation. Since the money was not paid to North Korea, the US government gave the green light. The ABC team became the first American media to enter the "Iron Curtain" in decades.

However, according to Bob Iger, he doesnt think Roone is aware of the twists and turns. What really got Roones attention came when Roone used to go all out on a Monday meeting, throwing a fit over not getting the rights to a certain event. When Roone swept across the team with sharp eyes, Bob Iger spontaneously raised his hand, voluntarily acknowledging his negligence. "In an instant, more than 20 people in the meeting room looked at me, but no one dared to say a word. After a few seconds, the meeting continued."

After the "surrender incident", although Roone did not directly comment on it, Bob Iger believes that the way Roone looks at him seems to be different, with a little more admiration.

Bob Iger was deeply influenced by the perfectionist Roone. Among the 10 leadership traits he later condensed, there is the one of "persistence and pursuit of perfection". But what I admire even more is that Bob Iger also saw Roones limitations in leadership and was outspoken.

“He was a capricious boss, and over time capriciousness takes a huge toll on a staffs morale. One day he would make you feel like you were the most important person in the division; the next he would deliver withering criticism or would put a knife in your back for reasons that were never quite clear. …For all of his immense talent and success, Roone was insecure at heart, and the way he defended against his own insecurity was to foster it in the people around him.”

His attitude is erratic and elusive. In the long run, it seriously damages the morale of the team. One day he praised you so highly and called you the brilliance of the team, but the next day he criticized you to the brim without giving specific reasons... Your amazing talent and achievements made Roone feel extremely uneasy. And the way he fights is to spread his anxiety to the partners around him.

Roones extreme personality made some subordinates retreat, and because they were afraid of being scolded for making mistakes, they were unwilling to take risks and only looked at the present. Other subordinates (including Bob Iger) worked harder to win his approval, but they were often pushed to the limit and had the intention to resign.

But Bob Iger survived in the end. He told himself at the time, only look at the positive influence Roone gave, and don’t take those bad words to heart, so he can always live in peace with Roone; at the same time, he is also for his own He is proud of his resilience. After all, looking around, many colleagues have better education and background than him, but they still cannot make it to the end.

But over the years, with more experience and precipitation, Bob Iger has a deeper change of mind and understanding: In fact, most of the great achievements made at that time did not need to pay such a high price. It turns out that "desire for excellence" does not conflict with "reasonable requirements". While pursuing the ultimate perfection, he is always vigilant against himself and must pay attention to the consequences of only focusing on the product and ignoring the team.

In 1985, Roone had been in charge of both the sports and news departments for many years, and the 34-year-old Bob Iger had just been promoted to the vice president of the sports department (Note: The original text is Vice President. From the following text, there should be another layer above. to Roones level). In this year, ABC announced a change of ownership and was acquired by Capital Cities Communication for $3.5 billion.

After the acquisition, ABC ushered in new bosses Tom Murphy and Dan Burke. They were shrewd and pragmatic, cut costs a lot, deleted employee benefits, and caused dissatisfaction; The radio station is local in nature, unlike ABC, which has national influence, and it also makes a group of senior ABC employees feel superior and look down on the new boss. Roone is one of them. He openly criticized the new boss and was late for the meeting. In the end, the new boss showed his sword and asked Roone to choose between the sports department and the news department, and his power shrank instantly.

Roone chose the news department, and a new supervisor named Dennis, who didnt look very good, was parachuted into the position he left behind. Many people asked for him. After watching for a while, Bob Iger also made a job-hopping plan. At that time, unexpectedly, he was told that he would be promoted to senior vice president and take full charge of ABC Sports programs. Dennis asked him to go back and think about it, and he would reply within a day. That night, Bob Iger had a deep talk with his wife, and he thought this way:

"I wasnt sure I was making the right decision. It was probably the safer one, really, to stay at the place I knew. But I also didnt want to leave too impulsively, because my ego had been bruised or because I had some feeling of superiority when it came to Dennis. If I was ultimately going to leave, it had to be because there was an opportunity that was too great to say no, and the ICM job wasnt that."

Im not sure if staying was the right decision, its probably safer to just do it. But I really dont want to work under him just because I think Im better than Dennis. Injured self-esteem, so recklessly leave. If I end up leaving, I hope its because I got a new opportunity that was too good to turn down, which obviously isnt the case with my current one.

Soon, Bob Iger will find that "deciding to stay has become the most correct decision in my career." Dennis has an open-minded style, willing to admit his limitations without posturing. He is willing to let his subordinates go and seize any opportunity to let his big bosses Tom and Dan see Bob Igers ability. For the next 5 years, Bob Iger was like a triple jump in a helicopter. First, he successfully completed the broadcast of the Winter Olympics and became the No. 2 figure of ABC Entertainment. Then, history seemed to repeat itself. Although his boss Brandon Stoddard was experienced and experienced Hollywood contacts, but arrogant attitude, looked down on Tom and Dan, was finally replaced by Bob Iger. After Bob Iger became president of ABC Entertainment in 1989, he left New York to work in Los Angeles. Afterwards, he was promoted in 1994 to concurrently serve as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Capital Cities/ABC, ABCs parent company at the time.

All the way up, of course, is closely related to Bob Igers excellent ability--the book mentions in detail that he encountered a big crisis during the broadcast of the Winter Olympics, and how he turned from sports to an entertainment field that he knew nothing about, and how he saved the day--but it particularly made Bob Iger What I pay attention to is why people around him who are equally outstanding and have more senior qualifications are not so "lucky". In hindsight, from the point of view of the results, in fact, it was arrogance to go too far ahead, giving people opportunities in vain (this style of painting is too real, it reminds people of personal experience, and makes people feel a little uncomfortable: P), but it is still a good reminder, and these Compared with the characters on the stage, my abilities are far behind, so I should restrain my temper a little more. Practice holding your breath, really see who Bole is, and let Bole see you; if you encounter really bad managers, bad colleagues, and bad environment, these fertilizers are also nutrients for growth. If you will leave eventually, I wish you well, "That is For a new opportunity too good to turn down!"

Quotes:

1. When the two people at the top of a company have a dysfunctional relationship, there’s no way that the rest of the company beneath them can be functional.

2. I flew back to New York and sat down with my wife. We’d agreed before I went out there that I wouldn’t make any final decision without our talking it through first. This job meant living in L.A., and we had a life we loved in New York. We’d just renovated our apartment; our girls were at a great school; our closest friends were in New York. Susan was an executive producer of news at WNBC and one of those Newlive anywhere else. I knew this would be hard for her and that in her heart she wouldn’t want to go. She was incredibly supportive. “Life’s an adventure,” she said. “If you don’t choose the adventurous path, then you’re not really living.”The next day, Thursday, Tom and Dan announced that I would be the new head of ABC Entertainment. Three days later I flew out to L.A. and started the job.

3. Its quite leaping without a parachute, but it felt a lot like free fall at first. I told myself: You have a job. They’re expecting you to turn this business around. Your inexperience can’t be an excuse for failure.

So what do you do in a situation like that? The first rule is not to fake anything.

4. recently signed a lucrative ten - series deal with ABC. I mentioned to Steven that I was anxious about reading scripts. I didn’t even know the lingo and yet there was pressure to make decisions, quickly, on so many shows. He waved it off in a way that I found comforting coming from someone like him. “It’s not rocket science, Bob,” he said. “Trust yourself.”

5. To Tom’s credit, that’s what won him over. He was my boss, and he could have said, “Sorry, I’m overruling you.” But he understood the value of our winning over creative people in Hollywood, and he accepted my reasoning that this was a risk worth taking.

6. Managing creative processes starts with the understanding that it’s not a science — everything is subjective; there is often no right or wrong. The passion it takes to create something is powerful, and most creators are understandably sensitive when their vision or execution is questioned. I try to keep this in mind whenever I engage with someone on the creative side of business.

7. Dan finally said. “But when the shit hits the fan, and it’s going to hit the fan, my skirt isn’t wide enough for you ” — he pointed at me — “to hide behind.”

It was another example of my being willing to take risks in part because of the faith Dan and Tom placed in me. They gave me this job, and I’d delivered quickly, and that gave me an enormous amount of latitude with them. I couldn’t do whatever I wanted, but I had the freedom to exercise a considerable amount of authority. It’s a trust that Brandon Stoddard, my predecessor, never earned. He refused to respect them, and therefore they didn’t respect him

8. Finding that balance between accepting credit for real achievements and not making too much of the hype from the outside world has only gotten more necessary during my years as CEO. I often feel guilty in front of other people with whom I work, when so much attention and credit is being directed toward me.

9. F OR THE NEXT three years, Michael ran the company without a number two. Our relationship grew closer in the wake of Ovitz’s leaving, but I also sensed from time to time a wariness on Michael’s part, that he felt I had an eye on his job and could never fully trust me. It resulted in a kind of ongoing approach and avoidance. Michael would bring me in on decisions at times and confide in me, and then suddenly he would go cold and keep me at arm’s length.

It was true that I’d stayed on after but that didn’t mean I was angling for Michael’s job. It meant I was committed to doing my own job as best I could, and to learning as much as I could about all aspects of the company.

10. Their focus on the small thing in the distance became a problem. They grew impatient with where they were. They didn’t tend enough to the responsibilities they did have, because they were longing so much for something else, and so their ambition became counterproductive. It’s important to know how to find the balance — do the job you have well; be patient; look for opportunities to pitch in and expand and grow; and make yourself one of the people, through attitude and energy and focus, that your bosses feel they have to turn to when an opportunity arises. Conversely, if you’re a boss, these are the people to nurture — not the ones who are clamoring for promotions and complaining about not being utilized enough but the ones who are proving themselves to be indispensable day in and day out.

11. aware enough that you don’t cling to the notion that you are the only person who can do this job

12. Zenia Mucha has said to me, in a way only she can: “Bob, you know you did that, but the world doesn’t need to know, so shut up!”

13. Among the many ripple effects of the attacks was a global slowdown in tourism that lasted long after September 11. The impact on Disney’s business was devastating. The stock market as a whole fell sharply, and Disney lost nearly a quarter of its value within days of the attacks. Then our largest shareholder, the Bass family, were forced to sell a massive amount of Disney stock — 135 million shares, worth about $2 billion — to cover a margin call, which precipitated another steep drop in our share price. Companies around the globe would struggle to recover for some time, but our issues were piling up, and this marked the beginning of a long slide into controversy

14. No one could have handled the stress that Michael was under perfectly, but optimism in a leader, especially in challenging times, is so vital. Pessimism leads to paranoia, which leads to defensiveness, which leads to risk aversion.

15. Optimism sets a different machine in motion. Especially in difficult moments, the 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. This isn’t about saying things are good when they’re not, and it’s not about conveying some innate faith that “things will work out.” It’s about believing you and the people around you can steer toward the best outcome, and not communicating the feeling that all is lost if things don’t break your way. The tone you set as a leader has an enormous effect on the people around you. No one wants to follow a pessimist.

16. Jeffrey Katzenberg met me for breakfast near the Disney lot in Burbank. “You need to leave,” Jeffrey told me. “You’re not going to get this job. Your reputation has been tarnished.” I knew that distinguishing myself from Michael was going to be a struggle, but I hadn’t up to that point considered that the outside world perceived me as being tainted.

17. If you approach and engage people with respect and empathy, the seemingly impossible can become real.

18. We needed to change, we needed to be more nimble, and we needed to do it soon.

19. I knew that it would have an immediate practical effect, but the announcement that they would no longer have such an iron grip on all aspects of our business had a powerful, instantaneous effect on morale. It was as if all the windows had been thrown open and fresh air was suddenly moving through.

20. Leading:

“First, we have to try to bury the hatchet with Roy, it was important for the image of the company not to be in an ongoing battle with a member of the Disney family. Clear the air face, It was so personal, and involved so much pride and ego”

“Second, we have to try to salvage a relationship with Pixar and Steve Jobs. From a new idea about iTune- available for download on iTunes, and for consumption on the new iPod with the video player.”

“Third, transforming the perception of the company from within via Startplanning-reconstitute Strat Planning by reducing the size of the group and begin streamlining our decision making by putting more of it in the hands of the business leaders.”

21. I felt deeply for him, but I knew there was little I could do to make it easier for him.

22. Disney problems:

1) The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis, Lilo and Stitch, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, and Home on the Range . Some were mild commercial successes; several were catastrophes. None had been met with any critical exuberance. Over that stretch, Animation had lost nearly $400 million. We’d spent well over a billion dollars making those films, marketed them aggressively, and yet we had little to show for the investment.

2) Disney Animation was the brand. It was the fuel that powered many of our other businesses, including consumer products, television, and theme parks, and over the last ten years, the brand had suffered a lot. The company was much smaller then, before Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm were acquired

3) I then described what I saw as three possible paths forward. The first was to stick with current management and see if they could turn things around. I quickly expressed my doubts about this option, given what they’d delivered so far. The second was to identify new talent to run the division, but in the six months since being named, I’d scoured the animation and moviemaking world looking for people who could do the job at the level we needed, and I’d come up empty. “Or,” I said, “we could buy Pixar.”

Pixar

1)“A few solid pros are more powerful than dozens of cons,” Steve said.

2)new CEO shouldn’t be trying to make huge acquisitions.

3) At the very least I had to exhaust every possible way of making it happen before I gave in. Never to say uncle till you try all your best!

4)Even in the best of circumstances, the merger process is delicate. You can’t just force assimilation. And you definitely can’t with a company like yours

5)Iger respect different culture in different company. This attitude wins the chance.

6)“It was too expensive, too risky.”” When Animation soars, Disney soars. We have to do this. Our path to the future starts”

7)Steve’s pancreatic cancer was back. Iger still makes the deal of the mergers and acquisitions, what a sharp intuition for the market.

8)Before I spoke, someone gave me a Luxo lamp as a present to commemorate the moment.

A leader need to follow their first sense to gamble with their decision to face all the different challenges.

Marvel

1) urgent need to revitalize Disney Animation, but it was also the first step in our larger growth strategy: to increase the amount of high - quality branded content we created; to advance technologically, both in our ability to create more compelling products and to deliver those products to consumers; and to grow globally.

2) The acquisition of Marvel of Ike, not friendly, comes to USA from nothing to something, Iger invited both wives for the business meeting. Iger uses a very soft weapon and brings the powerful outcome.

3) “Would we possibly destroy some of their value by acquiring them” what he thinks not only the benefit but also the value!

23. Disney will be saved by Pixar and we’ll all live happily ever after.

24. Turning Animation around will totally change the perception of Disney and shift our fortunes. Plus, John and Ed will have a much larger canvas to paint on

25. Two hours later, the pros were meager and the cons were abundant, even if a few of them, in my estimation, were quite petty. I felt dispirited, but I should have expected this

26. John was up first. He showed me a virtually finished cut of Cars, and I sat there in the theater mesmerized by the quality of the animation and by how far the technology had advanced since their last release. I remember being awed by the way the light reflected off the metallic paint on the race cars, for instance. These were images I’d never seen in computer - generated animation. Brad Bird then showed me his work in progress, the scorned “rat movie,” Ratatouille . It struck me a lot.

27.

Conclusions:

1. In five years from 1992-1995, and oversaw an increase of the companys market capitalization from $48 billion to $257 billion.

Iger jumped from the president of the ABC television network to the COO of Capital Cities/ABC and then he became Disneys president and chief operating officer in 2000. What a dizzying and destabilizing trajectory! His sincere and graceful attitude make all mentors help him see the magic and he pays back with more magic: Roone Arlege, Dan Burke, Michael Eisner, Steve Jobs and his wife Willow.

2. With the tarnished reputation, Iger is a lame duck to reorganize the company. Even need to do some pro bono work to rehabilitate your image. Under this stress, Iger suffered from the anxiety attack. It’s the time to learn earned lesson about the importance of tenacity and perseverance, but also about the need to steer clear of anger and anxiety over things you can’t control.

Book Title: The Ride of a Lifetime (Shannon the leader)

Author: Robert Iger

Summary:

The Ride of a Lifetime is a memoir, though the author doesn’t think this book is a memoir, by Robert Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney Company, who has led the company through a period of unprecedented growth and success. In the first half of the book—learning, Iger shares his personal and professional journey, from his humble beginnings as a production assistant at ABC to his rise to the top of one of the world’s most iconic and influential media companies, followed by being appointed as the CEO of Disney after a long and painfully scrutinized succession process. During his career development, there have been several business leaders, such as Roone, Tom, Dan, and Michael, that shape his leadership qualities. In the second half of the book—leading, he reveals the challenges, risks, and decisions he faced along the way, such as acquiring Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, and launching Disney+. He also reflects on the principles and values that guided him as a leader, such as optimism, courage, integrity, and humility. The book is a candid and inspiring account of what it takes to lead with vision, creativity, and excellence in a rapidly changing industry. The Ride of a Lifetime is not only a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment business, but also a valuable lesson on how to achieve your dreams and make a positive impact on the world.

Mentors that shaped Iger’s principles of leadership from “Learning:”

. Willow:

I was thankful for Willow. I couldn’t have done it without her faith and wisdom and support. She was rooting for me the whole time, of course, but time after time, she told me this was not the most important thing in my life, in our lives.

• Roone Arledge: He was the president of ABC News and ABC Sports, and one of the most influential figures in the history of television. He hired Iger as a production assistant in 1974 and gave him many opportunities to advance his career at ABC. He inspired Iger with his relentless pursuit of perfection, creativity, innovation, and risk-taking. Iger first witnessed him supervise the rehearsal of Frank Sinatra in his early 20s and later absorbed and internalized his way to create compelling and distinctive content that appealed to a wide audience.

No matter 70-year-old Roone was the president of ABC News and ABC Sports and he used to hire Iger as a production assistant. When Iger needed to move him to his side and execute the Millennium Celebration broadcasting for the world. Peter Jennings anchored our millennium coverage from Times Square. They were there on the scene when the clock struck midnight in Vanuatu, in the first time zone to welcome the new millennium. Over the next twenty - four hours they were live from China and Paris and Rio de Janeiro, from Walt Disney World and Times Square and finally from Los Angeles before we went off the air. Roone was proud of himself. He was proud of Iger. He was grateful that Iger had given him the chance to do this. He is a man with vision and doesn’t care who is the boss. But care more about the mission-impossible dream! What a dreamaker, and Iger is a kingmaker!

• Dan Burke: He was the president of Capital Cities, the media conglomerate that acquired ABC in 1985 and later merged with Disney in 1995. He was Iger’s boss and mentor for many years, and taught him valuable lessons on focus, integrity, and humility. He and the other boss of Cap Cities, Tom, were both fatherly figures, accessible, warm to Iger. They believed in decentralized corporate management. He cleared the path for Iger, offered him his strong faith in Iger, and advised Iger to avoid getting distracted by irrelevant or trivial matters, to be honest and ethical in his dealings, and to respect and empower his subordinates.

Tom and Dan were perfect models in this regard. They were invested in my growth, they conveyed how much they wanted me to succeed, and they cleared a path for me to learn what I needed to know in order to move up and eventually run the company.

“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”

• Michael Eisner: He was the CEO of Disney that Iger succeeded. During his first decade of tenure, he successfully led Disney to its iconic achievements and establishment as a global entertainment company. However, the excess amount of success and praise made him impatient and dismissive to staff and new ideas, agonized by lengthy inefficient Strategic Planning, which imposed so much centralization that deterred Disney from catching up with the rapid tech emergence, leading to the premature ending of his tenure. Though his second decade of tenure was dissatisfying and marred with numerous failures and misjudgments, he offered Iger chances to smoothly transit from Cap mCities/ABC, a media conglomerate, to Disney, a Hollywood entertainment corporation, and eventually promoted Iger as his second, the COO of Disney five years before he stepped down.

Even more promising was the trove of intellectual property — all of those great classic Disney movies — just sitting there waiting to be monetized. They began selling videocassettes of the classic Disney library to parents who’d seen them in the theater when they were young and now could play them at home for their kids. It became a billion - dollar business. Then came the Cap Cities/ABC acquisition in 1995, which gave Disney a big television network, but, most important, brought in ESPN and its nearly hundred million subscribers at the time. All of this illustrated that Michael was a remarkably creative thinker and businessman, and he turned Disney into a modern entertainment giant.

Michael gave me access to much of his thinking and decision making. It’s not an exaggeration to say that he taught me how to see in a way I hadn’t been able to before. These were great teaching moments for me. I learned so much about how to manage the business, but more important, I learned what the creative and design essence of our parks should be.

Michael primary oversight of the Walt Disney Studios, as well as Parks and Resorts, while I concentrated on the media networks, consumer products, and Walt Disney International.

Thanks to my years working for Roone Arledge, I didn’t need to be convinced that the success or failure of something so often comes down to the details. Michael often saw things that other people didn’t see, and then he demanded that they be made better. That was the source of so much of his and the company’s success, and I had immense respect for Michael’s tendency to sweat the details. It showed how much he cared, and it made a difference.

Michael was an oppressive perfectionist and micromanager. For his part, he’d say, “Micromanaging is underrated.”

Michael was proud of his micromanagement, but in expressing his pride, and reminding people of the details he was focused on, he could be perceived as being petty and small - minded. I once watched him give an interview in the lobby of a hotel and say to the reporter, “You see those lamps over there? I chose them.” It’s a bad look for a CEO.

No one could have handled the stress that Michael was under perfectly, but optimism in a leader, especially in challenging times, is so vital. Pessimism leads to paranoia, which leads to defensiveness, which leads to risk aversion.

Optimism sets a different machine in motion. Especially in difficult moments, the 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. This isn’t about saying things are good when they’re not, and it’s not about conveying some innate faith that “things will work out.” It’s about believing you and the people around you can steer toward the best outcome, and not communicating the feeling that all is lost if things don’t break your way. The tone you set as a leader has an enormous effect on the people around you. No one wants to follow a pessimist.

Michael had been right to reject Steve’s terms. It would have been fiscally irresponsible to accept the deal Steve proposed. The cost to Disney was too high and the benefits were too low. But the public perception, which was amplified by all of the coverage of the busted negotiations and the rift with Steve Jobs, was that Michael had screwed up badly, and it was a blow to him.

(boast to his accomplishment, pessimistic to face the 911, failed to have a leverage negotiations with Steve Jobs of Pixel, He’d poured himself into that job and wasn’t quite ready to relinquish it, but if he had to be succeeded by someone, he believed he was happy that that person was Iger)

• Steve Jobs: He was the co-founder and CEO of Apple and Pixar, and one of the most visionary and influential entrepreneurs of all time. Putting aside the animosity he had with Michael Eisner, he was willing to communicate constructively with Iger after Iger assumed the CEO post; later, friendship and partnership were developed after Iger convinced both Steve and the Disney Board to acquire Pixar in 2006, which served the means to rescue the dying Disney Animation. Iger’s visit to Pixar’s campus was an eye-wide-open experience that made Iger think differently to embrace technology and to pursue excellence. Steve also shared with Iger with his insights on leadership, strategy, and culture. Iger revealed that he adopted Steve’s way to elaborate Pros and Cons on a whiteboard for Disney’s acquisition of Pixar while he was trying to push through the acquisition of Fox in front of Disney Board years later.

Despite the artistic and financial success of Pixar’s films, tension built up between the two companies (mostly, between Michael and Steve). When the original deal was made, Pixar was still a startup, and Disney had all the leverage. Pixar gave away a lot in the deal, including ownership over all the sequel rights to their films.

As their success and stature grew, the unequal dynamic between the two companies began to gnaw at Steve, who hated it when anyone tried to push him around. Michael was more focused on the specifics of the deal that had been negotiated, and seemingly unaware or uncaring of Steve’s feelings. In Steve’s mind, he and Pixar deserved more respect from Disney, and he wanted the contract to reflect the shifting leverage.

The challenges/ achievements Iger faced/ made while leading Disney from “Leading:”

• Fixing the relationship with Pixar: Iger inherited a strained and bitter relationship with Pixar, the animation studio that had produced some of Disney’s most successful films, such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Pixar’s co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, was unhappy with the terms of the distribution deal with Disney and threatened to end the partnership after the release of Cars in 2006. Iger recognized the importance of Pixar for Disney’s future and made it his priority to mend the rift with Jobs. He negotiated a new deal that gave Pixar more creative control and financial benefits, and eventually acquired Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006, making Jobs the largest shareholder of Disney.

• Fixing the mess in his own animation house: While Pixar was thriving, Disney’s own animation division was struggling to produce hits and had lost its reputation as the leader in the industry. Iger realized that Disney needed to revitalize its animation studio and restore its magic and quality. He appointed John Lasseter, Pixar’s chief creative officer, as the head of Disney Animation Studios and gave him the authority to overhaul the culture, processes, and projects of the division. Under Lasseter’s leadership, Disney Animation Studios produced acclaimed films such as Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana.

• Shepherding overseas expansion: Iger also faced the challenge of expanding Disney’s presence and influence in the global market, especially in Asia. He oversaw the development and opening of two new theme parks: Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005 and Shanghai Disneyland in 2016. He also pursued strategic partnerships and acquisitions to increase Disney’s reach and relevance in different regions, such as buying UTV, India’s largest media conglomerate, in 2012, and launching Hotstar, a streaming service for Indian audiences, in 2015.

• Acquiring Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars: One of Iger’s most notable achievements as Disney’s CEO was acquiring three of the most valuable and popular entertainment franchises: Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. These acquisitions not only added billions of dollars to Disney’s revenue and market value, but also diversified and enriched its content portfolio and fan base. Iger had to overcome various obstacles and risks to seal these deals, such as convincing Jobs to sell Pixar, persuading Marvel’s shareholders to accept Disney’s offer, and negotiating with George Lucas to buy Lucasfilm.

• Launching Disney+: Iger also faced the challenge of adapting to the changing consumer preferences and behaviors in the digital age. He recognized that streaming was the future of entertainment and that Disney needed to have its own direct-to-consumer platform to compete with Netflix and other rivals. He invested heavily in BAMTech to build Disney+, a streaming service that offered exclusive access to Disney’s vast library of content from its various brands and studios. He also made bold moves such as acquiring 21st Century Fox’s assets for $71 billion in 2019 to bolster Disney+s content offerings, (and releasing some of Disney’s blockbuster films such as Mulan and Black Widow on Disney+ during the COVID-19 pandemic.)

(post notes:

-This book doesn’t cover anything after the pandemic broke out. The COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge for Iger and Disney, as it forced the closure of its theme parks, resorts, cruise lines, movie theaters, and retail stores around the world. The pandemic also disrupted its film and TV production schedules and delayed its release dates. Iger had to make difficult decisions such as furloughing tens of thousands of employees, cutting executive salaries, suspending dividends, raising debt, and restructuring its media and entertainment divisions. He also had to balance the health and safety of its guests and employees with the financial impact of reopening its businesses amid changing regulations and restrictions.

-Iger left Disney as CEO in Feb, 2020, succeeded by Robert Chapek, who was dismissed by the board for some undisclosed reasons, such as how he handled the pandemic, the Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit , and Disney+. Iger returned to be CEO in Nov., 2022 and he is going to retire in Dec., 2023. )

List of his ten principles of leadership:

Optimism

Courage

Focus

Decisiveness

Curiosity

Fairness

Thoughtfulness

Authenticity

The relentless pursuit of perfection

Integrity

Questions for discussion:

1) Below is how Iger dealt with the alligator attack on Lane Grave:

• He issued a statement expressing his condolences and sympathy for the Graves family and said that his heart goes out to them as a parent and a grandparent.

• He called the family personally from Shanghai, where he was attending the launch of Shanghai Disneyland, and offered his support and assistance.

• He closed all beaches on Disney’s resort properties in the area and cooperated with the authorities in the search and rescue operation.

• He took several measures to prevent such incidents from happening again, such as building a stone wall around the lagoon, adding warning signs and fences, and removing references to alligators from Disney’s attractions.

From your viewpoint, what principles did Iger employ while dealing with this crisis, based on above information or your impression of the opening part of the book?

Optimism stands on the first priority, just like he said” What I’ve really learned over time is that optimism is a very very important part of leadership. He always finds the positive way to deal with the dead end. “You have to hear out other people’s problems and help find solutions. It’s all part of being a great manager.” A great leader has the great courage with thoughtfulness to focus on all the problems.

Do you agree to how he dealt with Lane’s family? Would you do the same if you were the CEO then?

2)There have been several people in Iger’s life that shape his personality or leadership. Can you describe one of those people’s influences on Iger, such as his dad, Roone, Dan, or Michael?

※I flew back to New York and sat down with my wife. We’d agreed before I went out there that I wouldn’t make any final decision without our talking it through first. This job meant living in L.A., and we had a life we loved in New York. We’d just renovated our apartment; our girls were at a great school; our closest friends were in New York. Susan was an executive producer of news at WNBC and one of those Newlive anywhere else. I knew this would be hard for her and that in her heart she wouldn’t want to go. She was incredibly supportive. “Life’s an adventure,” she said. “If you don’t choose the adventurous path, then you’re not really living.”

The next day, Thursday, Tom and Dan announced that I would be the new head of ABC Entertainment. Three days later I flew out to L.A. and started the job.

※In 1985, ABC was acquired by Capital Cities Communications for $3.5 billion. The ABC Capital Cities acquisition had a huge impact on young Bob Iger’s career because it introduced him to him Tom Murphy and Dan Burke, who became his role models for good management.

“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”

※Robert was born to a Jewish family in New York City. He is the oldest son of Mimi and Arthur. His father was a World War II Navy veteran who was the executive vice president and general manager of the Greenvale Marketing Corporation, and was also a professor of advertising and public relations. His mother worked at Junior High School in New York. His grandfather was cartoonist Jerry Igers brother.

Bob Iger’s Career Beginnings

After college, Bob Iger (now former Disney CEO) worked for a year as a reporter and weatherman for a small Ithaca TV station. He’d once dreamed of becoming a big-time news anchorman, but his mediocrity at the job and the unclear path upward convinced him to try something else.

In 1973, at 23, he moved to Manhattan and got a job as a studio supervisor at ABC. It paid $150 per week and was the very bottom of the totem pole. His job was to do anything needed to get shows ready for airing, including showing up at 4:30 AM to let the stagehands onto the set, checking on catering, and keeping the staff happy however he could.

This was a pivotal experience for Bob Iger’s career. He learned how shows of all kinds were made, from soap operas to news shows to game shows. He learned to work with all kinds of television staff, from makeup artists to electricians to carpenters. Most importantly, the grueling hours and workload developed a flinty work ethic that stays with him today.

Iger’s run in the department ended when he clashed with his boss. Iger’s boss was corrupt and used company resources for himself and his mistress. Iger asked other people what he could do about it, and his boss accused him of spreading rumors. In an argument, Iger was told to transfer to another department or lose his job.

How about yourself? Have you been influenced by any person in your life? Who are they to you? How?

What influenced me a lot is my elder sister who has strong leader charisma.

3)Cap Cities adopted a decentralized management method while Disney was a centralized corporation. Which one do you think better for a business? Why?

Walt Disney began using a centralized decision-making process. A centralized system offers more control to the higher-ranking officials in the organization, therefore offering a focused vision with a transparent chain of command. Walt Disney was a perfectionist and wanted the ultimate say in all decisions. His way of doing things worked for a while, but inevitably the company became a global sensation with operations in over eighty countries. Because of the distance between the home office and subsidiaries, Disney began transitioning to a "decentralized cooperative multidivisional organization structure" (1). This structure is ideal for companies that have their hands in many pies. Under a decentralized decision-making style, highly competent managers in host countries are allowed enough autonomy to make business calls for the company. The goal of implementing the new type is to shorten the time it takes to make vital business decisions, and here in America, we firmly believe that time is money. "Disney breaks down operations into geographical divisions to help manage various subeconomic and cultural differences among the companys many markets" (1). To remain in control as much as possible, Disney works its way back to a centralized process as it breaks business down to a more manageable size. Once subsidiaries are put into their geographical division, Disney takes it one step further by separating operations into these six categories 1.) Disney parks, experiences, and products 2.) Disney media and entertainment distribution 3.) Studio content 4.) General entertainment content 5.) ESPN and sports content 6.) International content and operations "Functional groups, comprised of all six areas, work together so that each segment benefits from the others. Centralized corporate management fosters effective coordination between the various groups" (2). Executive leaders report directly to the CEO and ensure the groups perform as they should. Disney operates in many different markets with various experiences and products, making a hybrid sales model the only logical answer for the company. Disney products are produced in over forty-thousand facilities worldwide. "A manufacturing network and global footprint this large creates a complex network of suppliers, of which many are removed from direct operations" (3). An indirect sales model is the practical choice when dealing with foreign operations. Disney uses a direct approach to distribution for domestic and online sales and when delivering a store or park experience. "Disney also license their characters and stories to third parties who produce and sell Disney branded products, making Disney the largest consumer products licensor in the world" (3)When at all possible, Disney prefers an internal control approach. They prefer face-to-face meetings that allow for a hands-on approach to conducting evaluations and offering feedback to management and staff members. Unfortunately, this is not always possible, especially for offices operating in foreign countries. In these instances, Disney will use an external approach that relies heavily on reliable management in these locations and written reports sent back to the home office. Disney believes the best way to ensure quality products and experiences is to focus on the people delivering those products and experiences. Keeping employees happy and committed to the company mission is the easiest way to ensure they provide the perfection consumers associate with the Disney brand. Disney designates the first Friday in March as employee appreciation day and helps them celebrate their accomplishments.

4)Iger focused on three priorities while he was reconstructing Disney as a new CEO, which were high quality branded content, embracing technology to the fullest extent, and becoming a truly global company.

Can you summarize what he has done for each?

About future:

1) We must devote most of our time and capital to the creation of high-quality branded content. In an age when more and more ‘content’ was being created and distributed, we needed to bet on the fact that quality will matter more and more. With an explosion of choice, consumers needed an ability to make decisions about how to spend their time and money. Great brands would become even more powerful tools for guiding human behavior.

2) We need to embrace technology to the fullest extent, first by using it to enable the creation of higher quality products, and then to reach more consumers in more modern, more relevant ways. Technology was always viewed as a powerful storytelling tool; now it was time to double down on our commitment to doing the same.

3) We needed to become a truly global company. We were broad with our reach, doing business in numerous markets around the world, but we needed to better penetrate certain markets, particularly the world’s most populous countries, like China and India.’

‘Don’t be in the business of playing it safe. Be in the business of creating possibilities for greatness.’

About now:

MY FIRST ALL - ON - ONE

1) I’d committed to participating in a triathlon in Malibu that day, and I didn’t want to leave my team in the lurch.

※Would you like to talk about successes of other companies that meet these three priorities?

From CPU to GPU, Jensen Huang create the market of 60 trillion.

The car started to drive automatically, the PC appeared 40 years ago, and then we invented AI. Let the computer execute automatically.

AI will create new job that didn’t exists before, like prompt engineering

automated job will obsolete some job

AI will change every job

-confronting our mistake and with humility

asking for help saved NVIDIA

-the journey forged our character , to endure pain and suffering is needed for vision

in 40 years we created the PC, internet, mobile, clouds, and now the AI era ,from a giant phone market to create robotic market

now we stared a new industry

retreat does not come easy

for bright people like you

but strategic retreat, deciding what to give up

decide the core of success

-either you’re running for food

or you’re running from being food

5)Disney’s acquisition of Fox faced strict regulatory scrutiny. The approval of AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner offered a certain assurance for this deal, why?

Telecom giant AT&Ts acquisition of Time Warner is not illegal but a bit too easy. After completing the merger, AT&T will become an entertainment giant. Head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said he was disappointed with the court’s decision.

Trustism creates market monopoly

Political trick is the dirty hand in the business.

The Disney-Fox Deal Sails Through, a Bit Too Easily,too.

The Department of Justice spent nearly two years investigating AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner and bringing an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit against the deal that involved two companies not directly in competition with each other. So it was stunning when the department announced on Wednesday — just six months after the deal was announced — that it had approved Disney’s $71 billion purchase of the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, one of Disney’s top rivals.

The approval of the Disney-Fox transaction took about half the time that regulators usually need to evaluate deals of this size. And the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division attached only one requirement — that the companies divest 22 regional sports networks. Government officials appear unconcerned that the combined Disney-Fox will account for about half of the box office revenue nationally this year and about 30 percent of scripted TV programming, according to the Writers Guild of America West, a Hollywood labor union.

The Trump administration has denied that politics plays a role in its antitrust enforcement decisions. But it’s hard not to be skeptical of the possible motivations behind the Justice Department’s approach to these deals.

After all, Mr. Trump and his aides have publicly criticized the AT&T-Time Warner deal — the president said last November that it’s “not good for the country.” And he regularly lambastes CNN, the news network owned by Time Warner.

But he’s all praise when it comes to 21st Century Fox and its executive chairman, Rupert Murdoch. In December, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told reporters that the president congratulated Mr. Murdoch on the impending Disney deal. In addition, Mr. Trump praises Fox News and its hosts every chance he gets — and they regularly return the favor. While Disney will not acquire Fox News or the Fox network and stations as part of this deal, the acquisition will make the Murdoch family the largest individual shareholders in Disney, increasing their wealth by billions of dollars.

The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, will surely argue that the president’s feelings about CNN and Fox News have no bearing on his decisions. But it is mystifying why Mr. Delrahim took such a hard line against AT&T-Time Warner, which legal experts argued would be a difficult case to bring because of the nature of the merger, while going so easy on Disney-Fox.

By acquiring Time Warner, AT&T was seeking to buy a supplier — a classic vertical integration move that is hard to challenge because it involves businesses in different parts of an industry. In recent decades, judges have typically concluded that such combinations generate efficiency gains that more than offset any harm they might cause to consumers. That’s why regulators have tended to approve these deals as long as the merging companies agree not to take unfair advantage of their market power.

By comparison, antitrust regulators and judges are usually much more dubious of horizontal deals like Disney-Fox. In these cases, it’s much easier to show that the combined company would have the power to raise prices and limit choices. In the movie business, for example, Disney already wields considerable clout — its studios accounted for more than a third of box office sales in the first five months of the year. The additional 15 percent share of box office sales that the company will gain through this deal no doubt will increase Disney’s clout when it negotiates with movie-theater chains. For instance, the company might be able to demand top billing for its movies and a bigger share of revenue than smaller studios get. According to a handful of theater owners who talked to The Wall Street Journal last year, Disney has already engaged in such tactics, forcing them to accept more onerous terms if they wanted to show its blockbuster “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

Superior Patties, Scallops and Other Unexpected Wine-Bar Food

Mr. Delrahim told The Times in the fall, “All enforcement decisions will be based on the facts and the law. Not on politics.” It is becoming harder and harder to believe that.

Do you know what’s happened to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard? Why has Microsoft experienced a hard time getting the approval from many governments?

Microsoft is attempting to persuade regulators around the world to clear its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard — the biggest deal of its kind the gaming industry has ever seen.

Amid concerns about its effect on competition in the industry — particularly in the nascent cloud gaming market — and in the face of ardent lobbying against the deal by competitor Sony, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority first decided to block the acquisition, then agreed to further talks with Microsoft and Activision. What to do is to put legal action on hold and see if a compromise can be worked out. People are shocked, people are disappointed, and people’s confidence in technology in the U.K. has been severely shaken. There’s a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom.

6)Let’s see how omnipresent Disney is in our life? Please share your personal experience.

-Have you visited any theme parks of Disney? If yes, what are they? How are they?

I went to the Disney parks in LA, I can’t imagine that all the service personnel wear the skates to serve. So fashionable and interesting!

-Have you ridden any Disney cruise? If yes, what are they? How are they?

-have you seen any Disney movies? If yes, what are they? How are they?

-Have you subscribed to Disney+? If yes, how is it? If you can compare it with others, like Netflix, please offer your opinions.

-Have you bought any Disney consumer products, like princess towels, character outfits, toys, etc.? What prompts you to buy them?

-What behavior of yours about Disney has changed after the pandemic? What do you think Disney need to work harder on to improve this?

Summary Book Club Meeting: September 11.

Today was Shannon led us through the book, The Ride of a Lifetime, which is the memoir of Bob Iger who was, for 15 years, CEO of Walt Disney. Reading this book was a “must” not simply because Iger is a captain of industry but because he represents many of the same principles and values the book club always encourages. Compassion, care and the importance of treating everyone with respect come through this book. Shannon spoke at length about the two different points of view, of the acquisition of Pixar by Walt Disney, probably the most significant action that Iger did as a relatively new CEO of the company which is also the liveliest part of the book.

Iger himself describes the book as not so much a memoir as an effort to share the knowledge and leadership skills he’s gained after more than 45 years of working in different organizations. We are lucky because there are many members who are both entrepreneurs but also business women who have their own inspiring stories to tell. Where Iger falls short on delivering truly replicable leadership knowledge, Shannon was able to step in. She and Lydia as well as Rosalyn helped to illustrate their own great examples of leadership experience.

The first part of the book illustrates the origins of his career, from part-time jobs to his real beginning at ABC, where he then moved through the management ladder, sometimes assisted by good luck and a good heart as Faye pointed out. We also discussed the deal for the acquisition of Pixar which MingLi pointed out was probably able to be pursued because Steve Jobs was sick. Iger had to push his entire weight with the board of Disney to get this investment approved. Iger went on with the deal, as we know, as his goal of reaffirming the centrality of Disney with animation was a key focus. But this example perfectly shows how much CEO’s decisions are down to very human relationships. It was a great meeting and we have to give a great deal of thanks to Shannon who was working long past her bedtime in Chicago to lead us. Thank you as always to MingLi for staying up and for Lydia to join us from Tokyo. Thank you also to our new faces today and hope they will join in from now on.