One example of a successful leadership transition in a large company is the transition from Michael Eisner to Robert Iger at Disney. Despite initial skepticism from the board due to Iger's association with Eisner's poor business decisions, Iger was able to successfully lead the company by focusing on the future and his plan for it, rather than dwelling on past mistakes.
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Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger, tells his story and lays out the principles that successfully guided the legendary brand thr...
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Tom Murphy and Dan Burke, who bought ABC in 1985, taught Robert Iger that true integrity – being guided by your clear sense of right and wrong – can be a secret weapon in a competitive business. In Iger's words: "The way you do anything is the way you do everything." Iger still has a note that Dan Burke handed him early in his career: "Avoid getting into the business of manufacturing trombone oil...the world only consumes a few quarts of trombone oil a year!" In other words, only invest in building things that people need. When Disney's board was considering Iger to be the new CEO, they questioned how he could be trusted when he'd been Michael Eisner's number two throughout several poor business decisions. Iger refused to rehash the past and determined to focus on the future: "You want to know where I'm going to take this company, not where it's been. Here's my plan." Relationships at the top matter. Former CEO Michael Eisner and company President Michael Ovitz constantly clashed. This...