The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommended by Bill Gates as one of the business books that he’d actually recommend someone about how to run a business. And sure enough, the book gives you that narrative from Robert Iger. I picked this book as I generally enjoy reading memoirs and specifically about global business. Even with that, it takes a while for the book to engage you. Probably because Iger might not be as well-known or popular CEO as other names that come to your mind like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, etc when you think of CEOs. Another reason might be because of the lack of knowledge about the sheer scale of The Walt Disney Company.
Unless you’ve followed or grown up watching the ABC network shows or Disney, this book doesn’t grow on you until Chapter 4 about Disney. A lot of times the content didn’t seem very relatable and hence difficult to continue reading. Also after reading the book, it seems like Iger has been a relatively low-key or underrated CEO. This is partly corroborated by the rigorously long and repeated interviews he’d to been subject to for the position of Disney’s CEO after having worked as the COO with the previous CEO Michael Eisner. The lack of that rockstar or eccentric streak might make the book a mundane read.
However the book is a tremendous illustration of the long and enduring principles followed by Iger during his tenure at ABC and subsequently Disney. It serves as a reminder that not all CEOs have the mad streak or make a lot of noise and still run colossal companies with perpetually changing global landscape in face of incredible challenges with dignity, grace and respect. And as vouched by Bill Gates, this book has some remarkably valuable lessons to live and work by.
If you’re not interested in reading the entire story about Iger or ABC Television or Disney and just want to learn the lessons or philosophy to live by then simply refer the Appendix section about ‘Lessons to live by’. Very useful and pragmatic lessons enlisted by Iger for easy reference.
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