Lessons from , The Ride of a Lifetime
By: Samer Abukwaik
Tags: Learning, Books, Leadership, Disney

The book takes you in a journey, when “Bob Iger” started at ABC back in 1974 as a studio supervisor. The job as he described it was “pretty simple: Show up whenever they needed me, for whatever task”. Fast forward, after 31 years in 2005, Iger became the CEO of Disney. The journey was full of lessons and challenges, and surprisingly Iger made it enjoyable !

The book gives you answers on how Disney over the last 15 years had the courage to make bold changes, and how the whole brand was revived, while maintaining a spirit of creativity, humbleness, and authenticity which can be even more challenging in such a corporate environment !

The book has 14 chapters, grouped into 2 parts

(Learning, and Leading).

It doesn’t matter what position you are in, or what you do, you will still find the lessons in the book relevant and inspiring ….

LEARNING

This book is about being guided by a set of principles, that help nurture the good and manage the bad.

The bond you form in high-stress moments, is a powerful one.

The job requires an ability to constantly adapt and re-adapt.

True innovation occurs only when people have courage.

Be genuine. Be honest. Don’t fake anything. Truth and authenticity breed respect and trust.

Nothing is more important than the quality and integrity of an organization’s people and its product. A company’s success depends on setting high ethical standards for all things, big and small.

To this day, I wake nearly every morning at four-fifteen, though now I do it for selfish reasons: to have time to think and read and exercise before the demands of the day take over. Those hours aren’t for everyone, but however you find the time, it’s vital to create space in each day to let your thoughts wander beyond your immediate job responsibilities, to turn things over in your mind in a less pressured, more creative way.

“The relentless pursuit of perfection.” In practice that means a lot of things. It’s not, at least as I have internalized it, about perfectionism at all costs. Instead, it’s about creating an environment in which you refuse to accept mediocrity. You instinctively push back against the urge to say there’s not enough time, or I don’t have the energy, or this requires a difficult conversation I don’t want to have, or any of the many other ways we can convince ourselves that “good enough” is good enough.

It’s a delicate thing, finding the balance between demanding that your people perform and not instilling a fear of failure in them.

In your work, in your life, you’ll be more respected and trusted by the people around you if you honestly own up to your mistakes. It’s impossible not to make them; but it is possible to acknowledge them, learn from them, and set an example that it’s okay to get things wrong sometimes.

True authority and true leadership come from knowing who you are, and not pretending to be anything else.

I didn’t want to be in the business of playing it safe. I wanted to be in the business of creating possibilities for greatness.

A company’s culture is shaped by a lot of things, but this is one of the most important — you have to convey your priorities clearly and repeatedly. If leaders don’t articulate their priorities clearly, then the people around them don’t know what their own priorities should be. Time and energy and capital get wasted.

LEADING