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The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company (Random H...Amazon Videos

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The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company Kindle Edition

by Robert Iger (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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'One of the best business books I've read in years.' BILL GATES
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019
_____________________________

The CEO of Disney, one of Time's most influential people of 2019, shares the ideas and values he embraced to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.

Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Morale had deteriorated, competition was intense, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. His vision came down to three clear ideas: Recommit to the concept that quality matters, embrace technology instead of fighting it, and think bigger-think global-and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.

Fourteen years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world, counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and he is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our era.

In The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger shares the lessons he's learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees, and he explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership, including:

Optimism. Even in the face of difficulty, an optimistic leader will find the path toward the best possible outcome and focus on that, rather than give in to pessimism and blaming.
Courage. Leaders have to be willing to take risks and place big bets. Fear of failure destroys creativity.
Decisiveness. All decisions, no matter how difficult, can be made on a timely basis. Indecisiveness is both wasteful and destructive to morale.
Fairness. Treat people decently, with empathy, and be accessible to them.

'Bob Iger has not only lived up to ninety-six years of groundbreaking history but has moved the Disney brand far beyond anyone's expectations, and he has done it with grace and audacity. This books shows you how that happened.' STEVEN SPIELBERG

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I expected a book written by the person who has led Disney for decades to be defined by both gripping storytelling and deep leadership wisdom. Bob Iger delivers, and then some! The Ride of a Lifetime is leadership gold—you won’t forget the stories or the lessons.”—Brené Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dare to Lead

“Nurturing creativity is less a skill than an art—especially at a company where the brand alone is synonymous with creativity. That’s a lot to live up to. Bob Iger has not only lived up to ninety-six years of groundbreaking history but has moved the Disney brand far beyond anyone’s expectations, and he has done it with grace and audacity. This book shows you how that’s happened.”—Steven Spielberg

“People have been waiting years for Bob Iger to share his leadership secrets. Now he has, and they are utterly brilliant. The Ride of a Lifetime is not merely a memoir; it’s a personal, all-access session with the wisest CEO you’ve ever met and a playbook for handling the key challenges of our age: how to drive change, leverage technology, build an enduring culture, and empower people. It’s a rippingly good, revelatory read.”—Daniel Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code

About the Author

Robert Iger is the CEO of The Walt Disney Company and directs the company’s creative endeavors. He served as CEO from 2005 to 2020 and as executive chairman from 2020 to 2022. He previously was president and COO from 2000 to 2005. Iger began his career at ABC in 1974, and as chairman of the ABC Group he oversaw the broadcast television network and station group, managed the cable television properties, and guided the merger between Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., and The Walt Disney Company. Iger officially joined the Disney senior management team in 1996 as chairman of the Disney-owned ABC Group and in 1999 was given the additional responsibility of president, Walt Disney International. In that role, Iger expanded Disney’s presence outside of the United States, establishing the blueprint for the company’s international growth today. In 2023, he was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of the Year.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Starting at the Bottom

This book is not a memoir, but it’s impossible to talk about the traits that have served me well over the course of my professional life and not look back at my childhood. There are certain ways I’ve always been, things I’ve always done, that are the result of some inscrutable mix of nature and nurture. (I’ve always woken early, for example, as far back as I can remember, and cherished those hours to myself before the rest of the world wakes up.) There are other qualities and habits that are the result of purposeful decisions I made along the path. As is the case with many of us, those decisions were partially made in response to my parents, in particular my father, a brilliant and troubled man who shaped me more than anyone.

My father made me curious about the world. We had a den lined with shelves full of books, and my dad had read every one of them. I didn’t become a serious reader until I was in high school, but when I did finally fall in love with books, it was because of him. He had complete sets that he ordered from the Book of the Month Club of the works of all the American literary giants—Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Faulkner and Steinbeck and so on. I’d pull down from the shelves his copy of Tender Is the Night or For Whom the Bell Tolls or dozens of others and devour them, and he’d urge me to read even more. We also spent our dinners discussing world events, and as young as ten years old, I’d grab the New York Times on our front lawn and read it at the kitchen table before anyone else woke up.

We lived in a split-level house in a small working-class town on Long Island called Oceanside. I was the older of two kids; my sister is three years younger. My mother was warm and loving, a stay-at-home mom until I went to high school, at which point she got a job in the local junior high school library. My dad was a Navy veteran who came back from the war and played the trumpet with some “lesser” big bands, but he figured he could never make much of a living as a musician, so never tried to do it full-time. He majored in marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and his first job was working in marketing for a food manufacturing company, and that led him into advertising. He became an account executive at an advertising agency on Madison Avenue—he handled the Old Milwaukee and Brunswick bowling accounts—but eventually lost that job. He changed agencies several times, almost always lateral moves. By the time I was ten or eleven, he’d changed jobs so many times that I began to wonder why.

He was always deeply politically engaged and had a very strong liberal bias. He once lost a job because he was determined to go to the March on Washington and see Martin Luther King, Jr., speak. His boss wouldn’t give him the day off, but he went anyway. I don’t know if he quit and went to the speech or if he was fired for going after he’d been told he couldn’t, but it was just one of several such endings.

I was proud of his strong character and his politics. He had a fierce sense of what was right and fair, and he was always on the side of the underdog. But he also had trouble regulating his moods and would often say things that got him into trouble. I later learned that he’d been diagnosed with manic depression, and that he’d tried several therapies, including electroshock therapy, to treat his illness. As the older child, I bore the brunt of his emotional unpredictability. I never felt threatened by his moods, but I was acutely aware of his dark side and felt sad for him. We never knew which Dad was coming home at night, and I can distinctly recall sitting in my room on the second floor of our house, knowing by the sound of the way he opened and shut the door and walked up the steps whether it was happy or sad Dad.

He would sometimes check in on his way past my room to make sure I was “spending time productively,” as he put it. That meant reading or doing homework or being engaged in something that would “better” me in some way. He wanted my sister and me to have fun, but it also was very important to him that we use our time wisely and work in a focused way toward our goals. I’m certain that my vigilance (some might say obsessiveness) about time-management comes from him.

The extent to which I tend to be emotionally consistent with the people in my life, or dependable in a crisis, comes from him, too. My sister and I were never deprived of love as kids, but we were deprived of consistency. I felt early on that it was my job to be the steady center of our family, which extended even to practical matters around the house. If something broke, my mother would ask me to fix it, and I learned as a young kid how to repair whatever needed repairing. That’s part of where my curiosity about technology comes from, too, I think. I liked using tools and taking things apart and understanding how they worked.

My parents were worriers. There was a sense with both of them that something bad would soon be coming down the pike. I don’t know how much of it is a fluke of genetics and how much is a learned reaction to their anxiety, but I’ve always been the opposite of that. With few exceptions in my life, I’ve never worried too much about the future, and I’ve never had too much fear about trying something and failing.

As I grew older, I became more aware of my father’s disappointment in himself. He’d led a life that was unsatisfying to him and was a failure in his own eyes. It’s part of why he pushed us to work so hard and be productive, so that we might be successful in a way that he never was. His employment troubles necessitated that I find jobs if I wanted to have any spending money, and I started working in eighth grade, shoveling snow and babysitting and working as a stock boy in a hardware store. At fifteen, I got a job as the summer janitor in my school district. It involved cleaning every heater in every classroom, then moving on to the bottom of every desk, making sure they were gum-free when the school year started. Cleaning gum from the bottoms of a thousand desks can build character, or at least a tolerance for monotony, or something . . . .

I attended Ithaca College and spent nearly every weekend night my freshman and sophomore year making pizza at the local Pizza Hut. I got mostly B’s and a few A’s in high school, but academics was never my passion. Something clicked for me when I went to college, though. I was determined to work hard and learn as much as I could learn, and I think that, too, was related to my father—a function of both my admiration for how learned he was and a growing feeling that I never wanted to experience the same sense of failure that he felt about himself. I didn’t have a clear idea of what “success” meant, no specific vision of being wealthy or powerful, but I was determined not to live a life of disappointment. Whatever shape my life took, I told myself, there wasn’t a chance in the world that I was going to toil in frustration and lack of fulfillment.

I don’t carry much pain with me from those early years, other than the pain that my dad didn’t live a happier life, and that my mother suffered, too, as a result. I wish he could have felt prouder of himself. We always had a roof over our heads and food on the table, but there was little money for much else. Vacations were usually spent driving to mundane places in our car or going to the beach a few minutes away from our house. We had enough clothes to look presentable, but nothing extra, and when I tore a pair of pants in the fall, I was typically told to wear them with a patch until we had the money to replace them, which could be months. I never felt poor, and no one viewed me as such. Things were a lot thinner than they looked, though, and as I grew older I became aware of that.

Late in life, after I’d become CEO of Disney, I took my father to lunch in New York. We talked about his mental health and his perspective on his life. I told him how much I appreciated everything that he and my mom had done for us, the ethics they instilled, and the love they gave us. I told him that was enough, more than enough, and wished that my gratitude might liberate him in some small way from disappointment. I do know that so many of the traits that served me well in my career started with him. I hope that he understood that, too.

I started my career at ABC on July 1, 1974, as a studio supervisor for ABC Television. Before that, I’d spent a year as a weatherman and feature news reporter at a tiny cable TV station in Ithaca, New York. That year of toiling in obscurity (and performing with mediocrity) convinced me to abandon the dream I’d had since I was fifteen years old: to be a network news anchorman. I’m only half-joking when I say that the experience of giving the people of Ithaca their daily weather report taught me a necessary skill, which is the ability to deliver bad news. For roughly six months of the year, the long bleak stretch from October through April, I was far from the most popular guy in town.

I came to ABC thanks to my uncle Bob’s bad eyesight. My mother’s brother, whom I adored, spent a few days in a Manhattan hospital after eye surgery, and his roommate was a lower-level ABC executive, who for whatever reasons wanted my uncle to believe he was a big network mogul. He would fake taking phone calls in his hospital bed, as if there were important network decisions that only he could make, and my uncle fell for it. Before he was discharged, my uncle mentioned to his roommate that his nephew was looking for a job in television production in New York. The guy gave him his number and said, “Tell your nephew to give me a call.”

He was surprised and a little confused about who I was when I actually followed through. Based on what my uncle had described, I was expecting a powerful network executive whose influence was felt at the highest reaches of the company. He was far from that, but to his credit, he did manage to get me an interview in the small department he ran at the network, Production Services, and not long after that I was hired on as a studio supervisor.

The position paid $150 per week and was about as low as you could go on the ABC ladder. There were a half dozen of us who did all manner of menial labor, on game shows and soap operas and talk shows and news shows and made-for-TV specials—basically anything produced at ABC’s sprawling Manhattan studios. I was assigned to a whole gamut of programming: All My Children and One Life to Live and Ryan’s Hope, The $10,000 Pyramid and The Money Maze and Showdown. The Dick Cavett Show. Geraldo Rivera’s Good Night America. The ABC Evening News with Harry Reasoner.

The job description was pretty simple: Show up whenever they needed me, for whatever task. Often that meant being at a studio at 4:30 a.m. for “lighting calls.” Soap opera sets were set up the night before a shoot, and my job was to let in the lighting director and stagehands long before the sun came up, so the lights would be in place when the director and actors arrived for their first run-throughs. I coordinated all the carpenters and prop masters and electricians, makeup artists and costume people and hairstylists, checking everybody in and making sure they had their marching orders for the day. I kept track of their hours and their grievances and their violations of union rules. I made sure catering was in place and the air-conditioning had cooled the studios enough to begin shooting under the hot lights. It was the opposite of glamorous, but I learned the ins and outs of all of those shows. I spoke the lingo. I got to know all of the people who made a TV show work. Maybe most important, I learned to tolerate the demanding hours and the extreme workload of television production, and that work ethic has stayed with me ever since.

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 than is possible once the daily triage kicks in. I’ve come to cherish that time alone each morning, and am certain I’d be less productive and less creative in my work if I didn’t also spend those first hours away from the emails and text messages and phone calls that require so much attention as the day goes on.

It was a very different industry back then. In some ways it was better. The competition was simpler, the world less atomized. Certainly there was a mostly shared American narrative, organized around a general societal belief in basic facts. In many other ways, though, it was worse. For one, there was a shrugging tolerance of a level of disrespect that would be unacceptable today. It was without a doubt much more difficult on a day-to-day basis for women and members of underrepresented groups than it ever was for me. But even in my case, being low on the food chain meant exposure to the occasional, casual abuse that people would be fired for now.

One example that captures so much of that time: The Evening News was broadcast at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The moment we wrapped, the anchorman Harry Reasoner and his stage manager, a man called Whitey, would walk off the set and park themselves at the bar of the Hotel des Artistes on West Sixty-seventh Street. (The Evening News was broadcast from a converted ballroom in the old hotel.) Every evening, Harry would down a double extra-dry Beefeater Martini on the rocks with a twist.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07QX448KF
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital (September 23, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 23, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 12.5 MB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 261 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #583,522 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #18 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals
- #26 in Biographies of Business Professionals
- #68 in Business Leadership

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Robert Iger

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Robert Iger is chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. He previously served as president and CEO, beginning in October 2005, and was president and COO from 2000 to 2005. Iger began his career at ABC in 1974, and as chairman of the ABC Group he oversaw the broadcast television network and station group and cable television properties, and guided the merger between Capital Cities/ABC and the Walt Disney Company. Iger officially joined the Disney senior management team in 1996 as chairman of the Disney-owned ABC Group and in 1999 was given the additional responsibility of president, Walt Disney International. In that role, Iger expanded Disney's presence outside of the United States, establishing the blueprint for the company's international growth today.

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Customers find this autobiography engaging and easy to read, with a fast-paced narrative filled with amazing stories and encounters. Moreover, the book provides valuable leadership insights, with one customer noting how it delves into managing the creative process. Additionally, they appreciate the author's humility, sharing real emotions, and consider him an amazing human being with exemplary character.

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Readability Leadership Story quality Humility Humanness Biography Look Pacing

619 customers mention "Readability"600 positive19 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as an easygoing memoir that flows like a novel. One customer notes it's a must-read for Disney fans.

"...I wolfed it. It reads like a fast-paced thriller, but a one that actually happened and described from the first-person perspective...." Read more

"...most inspiring was Iger’s emphasis on the importance of innovation, integrity, and trust in leadership...." Read more

"...I enjoyed this book as I continued to discover how his intelligence, integrity and very human philosophy, carried him to his success and how he..." Read more

"...It was a somewhat inspiring read! Interesting to see how this new era of Disney played out on the backend and what motivated them to do so." Read more

469 customers mention "Leadership"469 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the leadership lessons in the book, with multiple reviews highlighting its powerful insights and practical advice for both new and experienced leaders. One customer specifically notes its depth in managing the creative process.

"...sprinkles some celebrity's names along the way, but it still is a business book...." Read more

"...The book is filled with personal stories and practical advice that can be applied in any leadership role, whether in business or other fields...." Read more

"...as I continued to discover how his intelligence, integrity and very human philosophy, carried him to his success and how he handled setbacks." Read more

"...different perspective to how one moves through their career, balances life, and does so without losing their sense of self...." Read more

252 customers mention "Story quality"252 positive0 negative

Customers praise the book's storytelling, highlighting its amazing encounters and events, with one customer noting that each chapter is a self-contained story.

"...The book is filled with personal stories and practical advice that can be applied in any leadership role, whether in business or other fields...." Read more

"...The story makes it all easy and compelling reading. And he shares explicit lessons in two places in the book...." Read more

"...Although the book told a coherent, clear storyline with interesting vignettes, it ultimately glossed over key moments in the general sense, rather..." Read more

"...major business stories include major acquisitions, which while really interesting, are not exactly applicable to the average reader...." Read more

93 customers mention "Humility"86 positive7 negative

Customers appreciate the book's humility, noting it is told from the heart with honesty and is very open about real emotions.

"...Well, in plain English: with a single person. Relationships are paramount in business. In fact, it's the 80% of the business...." Read more

"...Also, and extremely important, is the very human emotions..." Read more

"...denial of it; and about operating, always, with integrity and honesty in the world, even when that means facing things that are difficult to face...." Read more

"...The most emotional scene with the most well-painted character -- Roone -- touched me not because Roone was dying, but because of all they had been..." Read more

51 customers mention "Humanness"51 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's humanness, describing him as an amazing human being with exemplary character who is humble and down-to-earth.

"...beginnings through the trajectory of his career, all in a very real, human and conversational style that made me feel like he was telling me the..." Read more

"...Mr Iger is respectful of his readers, making sure that he/she can take away lessons and advice from this book that are useful not only if you run a..." Read more

"...a great CEO and as I learned from the book, also an empathetic leader with real integrity – such a page turner that I read it in a single sitting!..." Read more

"...He comes off as a genuinely good, down to earth guy who cares about his people (as all such biographies seem to do) with some good, honest lifetime,..." Read more

50 customers mention "Biography"37 positive13 negative

Customers find the biography engaging and informative, providing behind-the-scenes details about well-known people and Disney's operations.

"...Characters -- A story involves interesting personalities and the dynamics between them...." Read more

"...Ride Of a Lifetime is a brief, simple read, but it is filled with captivating information...." Read more

"...It was a page turner in it's own right! He seamlessly flowed through his history and I found myself thirsting for more as if I didn't know the..." Read more

"...I think I should warn people on what to expect. This is not a detailed account on the life of Bob Iger. It’s not really a long book either...." Read more

43 customers mention "Look"43 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's appearance, noting its great detail and beautiful layout, with one customer highlighting its well-illustrated preface.

"...For example, “thoroughness” is well illustrated in the preface, on pages x through xiv...." Read more

"...multiple pictures of the author with his wife including a colorful photo image of the author with his wife who is wearing a Yoda dress, and much..." Read more

"...He's a strong communicator, making some pretty complex ideas accessible for all readers...." Read more

"...Great behind the scenes look into some huge acquisitions: Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Fox...." Read more

38 customers mention "Pacing"32 positive6 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing, describing it as fast-moving and quick to read, with one customer noting it can be finished in one sitting.

"...He is quick with great intuition and great writer." Read more

"...all his insights & lessons into a list you can synthesize & ruminate over quickly. Found that very handy...." Read more

"I loved this book and read it in about 5 days- which is fast for me! Part memoir, part business advice, Bob Iger delivers his nuggets of wisdom and..." Read more

"...His legacy is one for the history books. It read very quickly and I wish it could have gone on even longer." Read more

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MS
Reads like a thriller, teaches better than a business textbook
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020
Verified Purchase

I usually start my reviews from the CONs, but there is little to be choosy about here.

The only drawback is there are not a lot of business lessons in the book. It's a great read, but I have only 11 highlights and notes. So, I didn't learn a lot.
Oh, and despite all the challenges, the whole story felt a bit lukewarm. Maybe Mr. Iger always calls every a**hole a "strong personality", or maybe he is just nice to the core? Well, it didn't feel very authentic.
On the other hand, maybe the life in the 0.01% earners in the world is so nice, how would I know?

PROS
1. Great Read.
"The Ride of a Lifetime" reads amazingly well. I wolfed it.
It reads like a fast-paced thriller, but a one that actually happened and described from the first-person perspective.
My guess is Mr. Inger had a world-class ghostwriter ;) If not, then hats off to him; he would probably made more money as a writer than the CEO of Disney.
I haven't enjoyed a book to this degree in a long time. I read it like I read the best fiction- almost in one sitting, and putting my whole life on hold to finish the book.

2. A Sneak-Peek into the Billion-Dollar World.
I've lived on this planet over 41 years and I haven't bumped yet into a person who earns billions of dollars, or the one who signs billion-dollar deals. This book was my next-to-best experience.
I appreciate the author let me into his world and showed me around a bit. Steve Jobs, George Lucas... Now, I feel like I interacted with them.

3. Business Lessons.
"The Ride of a Lifetime" reads as a thriller, sprinkles some celebrity's names along the way, but it still is a business book.
My takeaways were few and far between, yet each time they were significant. Let's go over a few of them:
"Don't let your ego get in the way of making the best possible decisions."
We are emotional beings and most of emotions are related to our ego. It's enough to just take a step back and assess the situation to notice extraordinary solutions.
It applies as to life decisions as aptly as to business decisions.

"Long shots aren't usually as long as they seem."
You never know till you try. NEVER!

"What people think of you, they will think of your company."
It was the hurdle between Disney and Pixar in the first place. The two CEOs didn't think of themselves too high. So, there was no space for doing business. The shift of the relationship was possible only with the personal changes.

"Each deal depended on building trust with a single controlling entity."
Well, in plain English: with a single person. Relationships are paramount in business. In fact, it's the 80% of the business. And the fabric of each relationship is always the mutual trust.

And a couple of lessons from between the lines:
1. "Stay humble; be persistent."
Just being humble and making decisions with a clear head would've been worthless without perseverance. The grit of Robert Inger demonstrated throughout his career is simply superb.

2. "Emotions, emotions, emotions."
When the author described the biggest deals which build the power of Disney as it is now (Pixar, Marvel, LucasArts), he was all about navigating the emotions of the other man. There are some business considerations sprinkled over his narration, but the main thing was always considering the other person's emotions.
LucasArts was the legacy for George Lucas. It couldn't be treat as a common business decision. Yes, Inger had to consider the financial aspect, but even the price Lucas obtained was the result of how much George identified with his universe than an effect of logical calculations.
Once Robert built a rapport with Steve, the deal between Pixar and Disney was almost seamless.
Emotions are paramount, too.

Summary
"The Ride of a Lifetime" is a fascinating read AND you can learn something from it in the by-the-way manner.
The insight into the lives of the most powerful people in the world was an icing on the cake.
During my lecture, I really liked the author as a person. Reading his story I appreciated how he found a balance between remaining a human being and becoming the top corpo official at the same time.

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Alex Covtun
Inspiring Leadership Lessons from a Legendary CEO
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2024
Verified Purchase
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger offers invaluable insights into leadership, business strategy, and personal growth. Robert Iger shares the lessons he learned over his 15 years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at how he led Disney through incredible challenges and transformed the company into the entertainment giant it is today.

What I found most inspiring was Iger’s emphasis on the importance of innovation, integrity, and trust in leadership. He reveals how staying true to your values and taking calculated risks can lead to monumental success. The book is filled with personal stories and practical advice that can be applied in any leadership role, whether in business or other fields.

The Ride of a Lifetime is a must-read for anyone interested in leadership, business strategy, or the entertainment industry.

Read more

Alex Covtun

Inspiring Leadership Lessons from a Legendary CEO

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2024
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger offers invaluable insights into leadership, business strategy, and personal growth. Robert Iger shares the lessons he learned over his 15 years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at how he led Disney through incredible challenges and transformed the company into the entertainment giant it is today.

What I found most inspiring was Iger’s emphasis on the importance of innovation, integrity, and trust in leadership. He reveals how staying true to your values and taking calculated risks can lead to monumental success. The book is filled with personal stories and practical advice that can be applied in any leadership role, whether in business or other fields.

The Ride of a Lifetime is a must-read for anyone interested in leadership, business strategy, or the entertainment industry.

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One person found this helpful

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Student
Enjoyable book presenting his exciting professional life which illustrated his profound philosophy
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020
Verified Purchase
This is a fabulous book!

Not only is it: “Lessons learned from 15 years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company”, it is his underlying philosophy which stood him well. And it includes the background of what was going on so you get the full flavor of the situation. Also, and extremely important, is the very human emotions (that we all have, but some people are able to delude themselves to believe that they don’t) that he had during several of the very stressful situations that he encountered.

The book cover lists the eight “principles that are necessary for true leadership” and the book explores and documents how these principles guided him.

For example, “thoroughness” is well illustrated in the preface, on pages x through xiv. On these pages are described the events, emotions, concern for his employees safety and well-coordinated efforts of the Disney World staff when a mass murder occurred June 12, 1998, just 15 miles from Disney World. In particular, when it was discovered that the original target of the mass murderer, was Disney World.

“Focus” which also includes “find another way” was displayed on pages 18 & 19 when the 1979 World Table Tennis Championship would be held in North Korea, which was under “strict U.S. sanctions against doing any business with North Korea.” This was while he worked for ABC Sports and long before Iger worked at Disney. Robert Iger found a legal way to ENTER North Korea
and cover this sporting event.

“Integrity” is illustrated one pages 19 & 20 where he failed to get coverage of a major sports event and the next morning, the boss (Mr. Roone) asked, “Who was at fault?”. Bob Iger raised his hand and you can read what happened on page 20.

“Courage” on page 34 was displayed while he was still at ABC Sports when he was offered a significant promotion and he objected, saying “I don’t know that part of the business.” Those offering the position to him said, “You’ll be great.” And he was.

He takes you through the mechanics of his success and the emotions and self-control including when on, pages xiv through xix also he relates that in Shanghai China, the night before Disney to open the Disney theme park and escort high Chinese officials through parts of the park and also meet with the press, Robert Iger was told that an alligator had attacked a child at Disney World. Read how he handled himself and how he and his staff handled this tragedy of the alligator attack and the good front he made in front of his Shanghai guests.

There are more than 200 pages in the book. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it.

I enjoyed this book as I continued to discover how his intelligence, integrity and very human philosophy, carried him to his success and how he handled setbacks.

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Lorena Sanchez-Gallastegui
Interesting and humanizing!
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2025
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It’s really easy for someone in their early career to see CEOs as figments of the imagination, like Big Brother at your current role. Reading this book brought a completely different perspective to how one moves through their career, balances life, and does so without losing their sense of self. It was a somewhat inspiring read! Interesting to see how this new era of Disney played out on the backend and what motivated them to do so.

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THE Apple
Patience and Focus
Reviewed in the Netherlands on July 24, 2021
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It’s a fun book to read with lots of stories “Disney” style. Interesting to see how patience and boldness played a huge role in all his career.

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Dodo
Best book I ever read about management
Reviewed in France on May 24, 2024
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Easy to understand- and super logical way of thinking. Thank you Bob for this wonderful book! I learned a lot from you.

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João Felipe
Best business book
Reviewed in Brazil on December 13, 2019
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I’ve read some books prior to this one which told the stories of some famous CEOs, their lives, work and leadership lessons, but Iger has such a unique way to present his life and work and so many invaluable lessons, that this one has become my favorite. Also, the book has an extra chapter in the end with the main points Bob wants the readers to learn, which are already present throughout the book, but by being highlighted in the end, result in a better fixation.

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Gaia
Ottimo libro
Reviewed in Italy on January 19, 2025
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Ottimo libro

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Mert
Anlaşılır dil
Reviewed in Turkey on February 28, 2024
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Kitabın boyutu, tasarımı ve dili oldukça iyi.

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The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company Kindle Edition

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5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable book presenting his exciting professional life which illustrated his profound philosophy

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4.0 out of 5 stars Patience and Focus

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Reads like a thriller, teaches better than a business textbook

Inspiring Leadership Lessons from a Legendary CEO

Enjoyable book presenting his exciting professional life which illustrated his profound philosophy

Interesting and humanizing!

Patience and Focus

Best book I ever read about management

Best business book

Ottimo libro

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