The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger — Book Review
on Book Review
Let me start from the beginning; so I came across this book through Bill Gates Books recommendation. As I follow him and the book’s first look looked really promising, I decided to read it.
Before reading this book, I really didn’t know what an empire Disney is. I always had that feeling, that it’s just Princess and stuff, but Oh dear, how wrong I was…
The most striking and distinguishing thing that I found in this book was that it was not really a biography; it never intended to be. Biography tend to bore the individuals because, of course, what are we supposed to do with the author’s family tree, XD jokes aside…
This book is a set of awesome stories of the lessons he learned over time from others and situations. Personally, I think I grasp stuff better when someone tells me in the form of a story; I find it easy to relate to and hence learn.
Starting from literally nothing to the CEO of Disney hints you the potential of this book to unravel the awesome lessons that might help us shape our professional lives.
The root of every success story is a Growth mindset. Nothing is ever achieved by just being cornered by your fears and never really risking anything. So with that let’s discuss the lessons and what I found interesting in them…
To tell great stories, you need great talent
The world where Disney is and where Robert came originally from, i.e., ABC Sports, are all entertainment industries. They’re never constant, as people’s attention span is reducing more than ever. It becomes a skill in itself to tell a story that’d hook your viewers till the end.
Innovate or Die
Throughout this book, Robert has described the need and hunger for innovation. When he became CEO of Disney, it was not in promising conditions, and things were becoming vary. Still, despite the pressure he was under to make Disney great again, he set aside his fear and innovated and took risks that turned out a great deal for Disney’s future.
Let me tell you one scenario when Robert was carrying out the acquisition of Marvel, people had beliefs that Marvel would destroy the Disney brand but time tells this risk was worth taking!
Also, during the time Steve Jobs was leading the Pixar Animation, Disney animation was not doing great, it lacked the innovation and sprint that Pixar had, and though it was hell great of a deal, they carried it anyway. It surprises us with what they’ve achieved together!
The relentless pursuit of perfection
Robert says that it’s not about perfectionism at all. It’s more of a mindset than a specific set of rules. It’s about creating an environment in which people refuse to accept mediocrity.
Steve Jobs is an excellent example of the above, and we all see that in his products, he takes pride in.
Take responsibility when you screw up
We are human beings, and we all make mistakes, and instead of masking or putting them on someone else, if we own them, that’ll bring us more peace and respect than ever.
Robert also took bad decisions, but he owned up his mistake and acknowledged them and learned from them and as a CEO set an example throughout his company that it’s okay to screw things up sometimes and promoted growth mindset.
Be decent to people
This can be traced back to his former boss Tom and Dan, they’d always treat people with compassion and empathy, and in turn, people had confidence that they’ll be heard and would be given second chances for their genuine mistakes.
Excellence and fairness don’t have to be mutually exclusive
Robert has done wonders but never at the expense of fairness. With everything they’d build together, they’d always thought about people and values and never just their profit and products.
True integrity
Throughout the book, Robert had operated on his instinct, that doesn’t mean he’d carried rash decisions, but rather he’s visionary and have a secret sense of right and wrong and is guided by it.
There’s one example in the book regarding Twitter’s acquisition, so Robert decided against it because he sensed that they’d be taking more overhead than they can currently handle.
And as Robert says, if you trust your own instincts and treat people with respect, the company will come to represent the values you lived by.
Value ability more than experience
I can’t agree more with this. So during his time at ABC, Tom and Dan put him to a job that they think would require more of him than he ever thought he had, and he grew exponentially.
Ask questions you need to ask
Ever seen a child feeling shy while asking a question? We aren’t born that way. Still, over time, we grow this false sense of pity that we’ll come out as idiots if we ask questions. I mean you’ll be an idiot if you don’t ask, as you opt for a fixed mindset and your fear of coming as bad before people.
As a CEO of the entertainment industry, it was a very different scenario than what he’d come from, and he asked and admitted without apology what he didn’t understand and did the work to learn what he needed to learn as quickly he could, and that’s a growth mindset.
Managing creativity is an art, and not a science
He means that you can’t just measure quantitatively that this project will get this much budget and that this is just not going to work regarding this thing and that abandoning is the only option left after this idea failed. Everything has to be thoroughly thought and seen from the presenter’s eyes and what is at stake. It takes an artist’s mind to swim across it, though I myself, coming from a technology background, truly believe that science is an art!
Don’t let ambition get ahead of opportunity
We often find ourselves in a scenario where we’re fixated on a future job or project that we become impatient with where we are and don’t put our full potential and become counterproductive.
I’ve seen it in Robert during his time at ABC. He knew an awesome position awaited him and that Tom and Dan would anytime appoint him to his new job. Still, instead of growing impatient in his current position, he demonstrated through his attitude, energy, and focus that he’s the best person Tom and Dan would turn to when the opportunity arises.