Great Leadership Lessons for Tough Times From Disney CEO Bob Iger's Memoir As Iger's career proves, leaders must embrace agility.
By Eric Hanson Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Like many people throughout the pandemic, I took the extra time at home to re-invest in hobbies that had fallen to the wayside – specifically reading more regularly. I recently completed Bob Iger's book, The Ride of a Lifetime, where he shares lessons learned from his early days at ABC to serving as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company for 15 years.
Having followed Iger's accomplishments throughout my own career, I knew his book would provide me with tips that I could apply to my daily professional life. Specifically, there were five main takeaways I immediately resonated with after reading the book:
- Integrity is critical.
- Don't be afraid to ask tough questions.
- Be decent and kind to people.
- Take responsibility when you make a mistake.
- Innovate or die
However, after witnessing firsthand the turbulent business environment over the last 18 months, one theme rang especially true: In order to ensure business continuity and success during times of uncertainty, leaders must embrace agility.
Embracing Change
The biggest roadblock to success is being afraid to fail. Innovation isn't just a product or service – it includes business decisions and leadership styles – and true leaders will look for opportunities to re-invent their brand, team, or even personal leadership tactics. I've learned over the years that it's okay to fail because if you're not failing, you're not trying, and if you're not trying, you're not innovating. In fact, some of the world's most successful companies emerged out of failure.
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Disney has redefined itself 100 times over since its inception, evolving from a corporation focused on traditional animation to building theme parks globally and investing in live-action films – and later expanding their addressable market with the acquisition of Pixar, Marvel, and LucasFilm. On the other hand, companies like Blockbuster Video and Blackberry were both perceived as too big to fail, and this complacency led them to miss massive market opportunities to transform and evolve, leading to their demise.
Without taking risks and capitalizing on windows of opportunity in the market, companies remain siloed within their original business model, limiting their growth potential. While the onus is on leaders to kickstart this change, they must also create a trusting environment that sets their teams up for exploration, experimentation, agility and success.
Trusting Your Team's Abilities
Similar to Iger, I've worn many different hats throughout my career – from working in sales, to the creative industry, to product management, to leading global marketing teams. While my role has shifted over the years, I've held one central tenet: Lead with empathy and trust to establish confidence across my team and get the job done.
When looking at team dynamics in the wake of COVID-19 and remote work, a recent survey found that only 54% of respondents believe that management is more trusting of remote work – showing that just under half of workers don't feel like their current performance is valued. As leaders, we must work to change this statistic. As long as business results remain positive, teams should be given a level of control to work wherever and whenever drives the best result for their role within their team. We also must remember that we are working toward business outcomes, not business activity. Focus on what will create the best environment for the highest quality output rather than the hours, the face time, or working locations.
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Continuity is what keeps brands relevant, and team dynamics are a key aspect of maintaining that continuity throughout times of disruption. Leaders must empower their teams to create their best work, while also holding them accountable. In the same vein, a leader must recognize that they cannot accomplish everything on their own, and must rely on their employees to act on their behalf in some cases and also provide the expertise that they may not have.
Teamwork is like an ecosystem, and it must be embraced across the value chain, with each member coming together to play their part. This will help create efficient business processes that can quickly evolve to changing market demands, and ensure continuity remains while the evolution takes place. It also provides for a diversity of perspectives that can trigger creativity and unlock new ideas.
Looking Towards the White Space
While embracing change and building strong team dynamics will set a company up for success, leaders must look for white space within the market in order to effectively innovate to meet shifting market demands. The same survey found that 86% of respondents feel as or more productive as they did before the pandemic. As the world of business continues to evolve, leaders should take advantage of this moment of productivity to help drive innovation and results.
When looking at market trends, products & services can become generalized over time, leaving gaps in the market. In order to unlock opportunities that will drive business continuity and growth, businesses must look to specialize in areas of the market with unmet needs. While other industry players continue to stay within their lane, true leaders will look to take advantage of a market's complacency and build solutions that will drive the next wave of innovation.
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Some people forget that Apple failed miserably with its Newton PDA in the mid-90s. However, applying what it learned from its experience with the Newton, in conjunction with the emergence of the worldwide web, the iPod, iTunes and identifying white space in the mobile phone market, Apple launched what is arguably the company's greatest innovation – the introduction of the first iPhone.
It's easy to stick to the status quo, but Bob Iger's career has proven that innovation and an openness to embrace change are keys to success, and having strong team dynamics is the best way to drive business impact through innovation. As the business community continues to evolve to meet modern demands spurred by the onset of COVID-19, the digital revolution and other factors, agile leaders and teams that embrace this change will drive success for their business. While some may be overwhelmed by change, I'm excited by it. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I encourage businesses to tackle market challenges head-on, leading with trust, empathy, creativity, and agility.
