Saturday, October 12, 2019

Book review - "The Ride of a Lifetime" by Robert Iger (2019)

Iger's reputation has shot through the roof in recent years as he helped steer Disney from a bit of a slump in the second half of Eisner's territory. He's the third great CEO Disney have had after Disney and Eisner himself - it'll be interesting to see how long he hangs on.

The book is readable and full of common sense, conciseful tips on leadership - it's quite valuable in that regard. There's not a lot of personal life stuff - the divorce from his first wife is dealt with very quickly - but the best stuff in the book is personal: up close looks at Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch, and especially George Lucas whose reluctance to sell Star Wars is very touching.

Iger is best known for being "man who buys stuff" - but that takes its own skill. Massive purchases were made which could have backfired - Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox - but they didn't. He backed away from buying Twitter.

My main note is that Iger champions innovation in the book yet Disney is rapidly becoming known as the place for sequels/remakes only. Time will tell.

Enjoyable read though.

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