Book Summary: The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger
CEO autobiographies are often stuffy. They tilt toward self-grandeur, empty platitudes, and stiff writing.
Many of these books are popular only because people want to signal they’ve read them.
So I was surprised how much I liked The Ride of a Lifetime, Iger’s recounting of his life and career, from his beginnings as a studio supervisor at ABC up to his reign as CEO at Disney, which continues today.
The tone and writing are accessible—not pretentious—which in line with Iger’s personal brand and leadership style.
In the book, Iger:
Shares valuable lessons on leading from humility
Offers insight on the difficulty, strategy, and importance of taking big risks
Provides interesting details on the personalities and strategies involved in acquiring and integrating Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars
One lesson that runs through the entire book: all business is personal.
Realizing this truth and addressing it makes taking big risks easier—and reduces the chances those risks will go badly.
Chapter-by-chapter notes
Iger begins with the early days of his career and what he learned from mentors, including ABC Sports and News legend Roone Arledge. He covers ABC’s acquisition by Capital Cities and lessons from the executives who led the company, then examines the challenge of guiding creative people without destroying their initiative or creative drive.
The book follows Disney’s acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC and Iger’s move into a larger role, including the difficulty of assimilating ABC into a new corporate culture. Iger also describes his years running ABC under Michael Eisner and his eventual battle to become Disney CEO.
Once named CEO, Iger had to repair relationships with the board, Roy Disney, Pixar, and Steve Jobs while laying the groundwork to transform Disney’s structure and culture.
In discussing Disney’s major acquisitions, Iger shows why negotiating style has to adapt to the person across the table. The Pixar deal depended on his relationship with Jobs. Acquiring Marvel meant navigating licensing complexity, skepticism, and stale assumptions about which characters could succeed. The long effort to acquire Star Wars depended on patience and an understanding of how closely George Lucas’s identity was tied to his creation.
Through each major acquisition, a common trait saved negotiations: Iger understood that business is personal.
Iger’s account of building Disney+ covers the company’s build-versus-buy decisions and the cultural changes required to respond to technological disruption. His instinct to abandon a potential Twitter acquisition also proved prescient; Twitter’s issues could have been devastating to the Disney brand.
The later chapters cover ethical challenges inside Disney and the work of integrating Fox while reorganizing the company around content and technology. Iger closes by reflecting on his tenure and condensing the leadership lessons he learned along the way.
You can pick up The Ride of a Lifetime from Amazon today.
Get book summaries and notes in your inbox:
Email Address
Sign Up
Thank you!