“I never viewed myself as exceptional, so whenever I got a job, I was relying on hard work more than anything and a level of enthusiasm and optimism." says Bob Iger in a New York Times interview.
Good day, my readers! 🫡
Bob Iger's rise from a local weatherman to CEO of The Walt Disney Company is a classic Disney fairytale.
His remarkable 47-year career is a testament to the power of perseverance, adaptability, and a relentless drive.
Today, I proudly present 4 lessons that we can all learn from Bob Iger.
Sit back and enjoy! 🙂
What to expect 🔎
Bob's Early Beginning — At ABC, everybody there went to Stanford, or Dartmouth, or Columbia. Bob went to Ithaca college.
Roone Arledge, Bob’s early mentor — Roone never took “no” for an answer.
Running ABC Entertainment — Bob learns to manage and work with creative people. This experience was valuable when he became Disney CEO in the future.
Relationship with Steve Jobs — An unlikely friendship. Disney ends up acquiring Steve Job’s Pixar for $7b.
Lessons you will learn 📚
Success does not require exceptional beginnings.
Do what others won’t, so you can accomplish what others can’t.
The steepest learning curves often lead to the highest peaks.
Building great long-lasting relationships is like compounding interest. Small, consistent investments lead to big returns over time.
Early Beginnings
Bob Iger graduated from Ithaca College in 1973 with a degree in television and radio. He briefly worked as a weatherman for a local cable station. However, very soon realized that being in front of the camera was not his forte.
In 1974, he moved behind the scenes in New York City, joining ABC as a studio boy. This role involved a range of tasks, from cleaning sets to preparing for early morning recordings, all for a modest salary of $150 a week.
He said: “When I went to ABC, everybody there went to Stanford, or Dartmouth, or Columbia. I went to Ithaca college. I didn’t have an inferiority complex, but I knew I wasn’t one of them. But I knew I had a work ethic that was prodigious.”
At ABC, Bob's tenacity and reliability quickly earned him the respect of his peers. People began to rely on him because they knew he would any job done.
Lesson 📚
Success does not require exceptional beginnings.
Soon, Bob would move to ABC Sports and worked for Roone Arledge, the president of ABC Sports, who became a key mentor.
Roone didn’t take no for an answer. A near-herculean task in Roone’s mind was just something he felt everyone should do.
When Bob was a junior programmer for ABC’s Wide World of Sports, Roone wanted him to get the rights to the 1979 World Table Tennis Championships, in Pyongyang, North Korea. 🏓
Not the easiest thing in the world to do.
It resulted in meetings with the North Koreans in Beijing. Then, having to find a way to pay the North Koreans indirectly because of US sanctions. Eventually, they resorted to paying the World Table Tennis Federation out of Wales, who would pay the North Koreans.
Ultimately, ABC got the rights through tremendous amount of perseverance and ingenuity. They were the first US television crew that went to Pyongyang since the Korean War.
Lesson 📚
Do what others won’t, so you can accomplish what others can’t.
Running ABC Entertainment
Brief Timeline of Bob's Career 🕰️
1974 – Bob joins ABC
1989 – Bob is named head of ABC Entertainment
1993 – Bob becomes President of ABC
1994 – Bob becomes President & Chief Operating Officer of ABC’s parent, Capital Cities/ABC
1995 – Disney acquires Capital Cities/ABC
1999 – Bob becomes President of Walt Disney International
2000 – Bob becomes President and Chief Operating Officer of Disney
2005 – Bob becomes CEO of Disney
2021 – Bob retires as CEO of Disney
2023 – Bob comes out of retirement to become CEO of Disney for the 2nd time
In 1989, Bob was promoted to run ABC Entertainment.
He was used to doing business in New York. But this was Hollywood. He had no clue how to run an entertainment division, manage and work with creative people.
The learning curve was steep.
He recognized that he needed to adapt his approach.
He said, "I have to take a different approach to doing this. I have to zig when other people are zagging."
This led him to greenlight unconventional content, trusting his instincts, and taking risks on projects that others might have dismissed.
In 1990, he greenlit "Twin Peaks”, which combined detective fiction, soap opera, and horror to create a unique and unsettling viewing experience that defied genre boundaries.
Arguably, being assigned to run ABC entertainment would become a very important part of Bob’s career – which enabled his 16-year run as Disney CEO between 2005 and 2021.
Lesson 📚
The steepest learning curves often lead to the highest peaks.
Learning to Work with Creators
At ABC Entertainment, Bob would truly understand that creativity was essential to an entertainment company’s success.
He developed an empathy and a deep understanding towards the creative process.
He understood how to build rapport with creative people.
Yet, he didn’t get there since Day 1. He had to learn things the hard way.
“Twin Peaks” started production the same year Bob becomes the head of ABC Entertainment.
About Twin Peaks:
Twin Peaks was a groundbreaking and unconventional television series that defied genre boundaries when it premiered in 1990.
Despite its short run of only two seasons, Twin Peaks left a lasting impact on television history, paving the way for more experimental and genre-blending shows in the decades that followed.
While Bob was a huge supporter of the show “Twin Peaks”, both Lynch and Frost (creators of Twin Peaks) were critical of Bob's over-interference in the storytelling.
Bob had insisted on revealing the identity of Laura Palmer's killer early in the second season.
Lynch had always believed that the mystery should remain unresolved for as long as possible.
Bob, who was focused on ratings and audience engagement, pressured them to provide answers.
Frost noted that they had "a gun to our head from the network," indicating the intense pressure they faced from Bob and ABC executives to resolve the central mystery quickly.
Lynch later reflected on how Bob's interference negatively affected the storytelling, stating, "After that, the storytelling became a mess. There was no engine propelling the story after the mystery was resolved."
This change contributed to a decline in ratings and ultimately led to the show's cancellation.
In his book, The Ride of a Lifetime, Bob admitted that "David [Lynch] might have been right all along" regarding the decision to keep the mystery alive.
Relationship with Steve Jobs
“I love that guy,” said Steve Jobs to his wife Laurene Jobs, referring to Bob.
The relationship between Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney, and Steve Jobs, co-founder of Pixar, deteriorated significantly during the early 2000s.
Jobs publicly labelled Disney as “completely mismanaged” and a “dead company” under Eisner.
Tensions had escalated over the terms of Pixar's deal with Disney – which culminated in Pixar walking away from its distribution agreement with Disney at the end of their original three-film contract.
The Disney board ultimately forced Eisner to step down from the company.
On Oct 2005, Bob officially became the CEO of Disney.
One of his first acts as CEO was to reach out to Steve Jobs to mend the fractured relationship between Disney and Pixar.
On the day he was appointed, Bob called Job and expressed his intention to meet face-to-face to discuss ways to collaborate and strengthen their partnership.
Importance of Pixar:
Pixar's significance to Disney cannot be overstated.
Pixar had established itself as a leader in animation, producing blockbuster hits like "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," and "The Incredibles."
However, Disney's own animation division was struggling, having lost approximately $400 million during the same period.
Revitalizing Disney's animation legacy required a partnership with Pixar, which had become synonymous with high-quality storytelling and innovation.
Ahead of their first meeting, Bob had been entertaining the idea of buying Pixar. But he did not immediately bring it up to Steve.
Instead, Bob proposed a collaboration between Disney and Apple. Bob committed to providing Disney and ABC content for Apple's new video iPod.
This was a time when media executives were saying, “Tech is evil. They’re going to pirate all our stuff.” 👿
This olive branch was well-received by Jobs, who was impressed by Bob's willingness to embrace technology.
At the Apple keynote that summer in 2005, Steve announces the video iPod.
Bob Iger walks out on stage and says, “All of our Disney and ABC content, you’re going to be able to purchase it, you will be able to download it, you’re going to be able to watch it on the go on Apple products.”
This was beginning of an unlikely friendship with the mercurial Steve Jobs.
In the months after, Disney and Pixar reached an agreement for Disney to acquire Pixar for $7.4 billion.
This acquisition brought into Disney a wealth of talent, technology expertise and creative culture. It restored Disney's reputation as a leader in animation. Ultimately, leading to a series of successful films that revitalized the company's animation division.
Lesson 📚
Building great long-lasting relationships is like compounding interest.
Small, consistent investments lead to big returns over time.
After the Pixar acquisition, Bob didn’t stop there.
He pursued his vision aggressively. One, was to own extremely high-quality content. Two, was to invest in technology and distribute to consumers in modern ways. Third, was to grow globally.
In 2009, Disney bought Marvel for $4bn, which was the purchase of the century, given what would happen with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2012, they bought Lucasfilm for $4bn.
In 2017, Disney bought Fox for $71.3bn in one of the largest acquisitions ever.
For $1bn, Disney bought BAMTech – a technology provider and the best in the business for delivering streaming content both for live sports and entertainment content. With BAMTech, they built out Disney Plus.
A podcast host once asked his friend who worked in Disney’s strategic planning group under the leadership of Kevin Mayer for several years.
The host asked, “What is Bob really like?”
His friend replied, “I will be in meetings with him, and he would listen to me as intently as he did to Kevin. He truly has a very low ego, very low pride. He wants the best decisions, and he respects everybody.”
Ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Bob Iger.
Thank you so much for reading up to this point. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Bob & Disney.
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Take care and till next time! 🫡