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A review by rossbm
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
5.0
(Read as e-book)
What's it about?
Robert Iger tells the story of his career, from his first job at ABC to his acquisitions of Marvel, Pixar, Fox Entertainment and Lucasfilms as CEO of Disney. It focuses on his work rather than his personal life and tries to sum things up and offer lessons. It starts off with one of Iger's most "compartmentalized" days: the opening of Disneyland Shanghai which coincided with a nightclub shooting in Orlando and an alligator attack in DisneyWorld.
Robert tells how he rose up through the ranks in ABC,before it was acquired by Disney. At Disney, Iger continued to lead ABC, while getting mixed signals about the possibility of succeeding to the CEO role at Disney. Iger ultimately became CEO of Disney in 2005 after Michael Eisner was forced out. In his efforts to mend Disney's relationship with Pixar, Iger developed a good friendship with Steve Jobs and ended up acquiring Pixar.
What did I think?
I really like this book. I don't normally go for these kind of business stories, but I found Ride of a Lifetime to be very engaging. Iger's career arc is very interesting. He clearly had a lot of luck and help, but I like that he acknowledges that. The book is fairly short, and does a good job of incorporating lessons into the story. Except for the opening prologue, the story is told sequentially.
What's it about?
Robert Iger tells the story of his career, from his first job at ABC to his acquisitions of Marvel, Pixar, Fox Entertainment and Lucasfilms as CEO of Disney. It focuses on his work rather than his personal life and tries to sum things up and offer lessons. It starts off with one of Iger's most "compartmentalized" days: the opening of Disneyland Shanghai which coincided with a nightclub shooting in Orlando and an alligator attack in DisneyWorld.
Robert tells how he rose up through the ranks in ABC,before it was acquired by Disney. At Disney, Iger continued to lead ABC, while getting mixed signals about the possibility of succeeding to the CEO role at Disney. Iger ultimately became CEO of Disney in 2005 after Michael Eisner was forced out. In his efforts to mend Disney's relationship with Pixar, Iger developed a good friendship with Steve Jobs and ended up acquiring Pixar.
What did I think?
I really like this book. I don't normally go for these kind of business stories, but I found Ride of a Lifetime to be very engaging. Iger's career arc is very interesting. He clearly had a lot of luck and help, but I like that he acknowledges that. The book is fairly short, and does a good job of incorporating lessons into the story. Except for the opening prologue, the story is told sequentially.