J-emine's reflexionando

A company’s culture is shaped by a lot of things, but this is one of the most important-you have to convey your priorities clearly and repeatedly. In my experience, it’s what separates great managers from the rest. If leaders don’t articulate their priorities clearly, then the people around them don’t know what their own priorities should be. Time and energy and capital get wasted. People in your organization suffer unnecessary anxiety because they don’t know what they should be focused on. Inefficiency sets in, frustration builds up, morale sinks.” –The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger

The last entry on this site was in April – did I really have to take so long to complete a book? Yes and No.

Phase 1 (for us here in Singapore) emotions and trying to make sense and juggle the various responsibilities at work and home did do – me in for a while, whilst I tried to grasp the little waves of anxiety, restlessness and sense of loss (possibly?)….at the same time, putting up a strong front and soldiering on with the tasks at hand. Hence, come weekend – or any chance I could – it was under the duvet or trying to perfect that damn chaturanga. And, when I felt the brain needed some further stimulation – all I could muster was light (sometimes frivolous) or inspiring reads.

The Ride of a Lifetime – fell into the latter category. It was unavoidable to outline Iger’s Disney journey, without going into the basics of his roots, which set the scene in the first few chapters giving readers a glimpse of his childhood and how it helped shape his guiding principles both in business and life.

One story that stood out for me was prior to the opening of Disneyland Shanghai and receiving news from back home, an accident that shooked the Disney community and worldwide (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/15/disney-world-alligator-attack-boy-search) – Iger’s stance and decisiveness towards the incident not only as a Leader but also as a Father was a raw display of humility. Other notable passages in the book, such as transactions that have transformed Disney on Iger’s watch – the acquisition of Pixar in 2006, followed by Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012, is peppered with Iger’s witty, down- to- earth and principled disposition. Lively and interesting chapters – especially for the Marvel or Star Wars fans out there!

The business and personal relationships of which Iger carved with some of the most prominent figures in the media/ tech world, especially with Steve Jobs – was heartwarming to read and provided a glimpse that end of the day regardless of the transaction – honesty, transparency and clarity are crucial ingredients. When Iger stepped into the CEO role – he laid out some key actions and the fundamental practice was to ensure everyone was provided a clear focus in their commitment and deliverable to achieve the digital transformation that Disney was set out to ride from 2016 onwards. Keen to read up further on Disney’s innovation, I found an interesting take on Disney’s digital transformation in the following report https://capgemini.com/consulting/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2017/07/disney_0.pdf.

Being close to customers and leveraging on data and analytics to drive decisions was a key area of focus. Pre- Iger’s commissioning as a CEO – Disney had a sizeable team of strategist – building investment, predictions and forecast models; and played a huge part in the makings of some of the biggest investment decisions that Disney undertook – without clear or comprehensible understanding of customer experience, actual ground insights or considered mid-to senior managements’ insight. This team was one of the first to be restructured under Iger’s commencing regime as CEO.

The Ride of a Lifetime – was not only an easy read filled with informative details but also touched on few topics closed to my interest – leadership, org structure and humility. And, with completion of book # 6 and feeling quite inspired – I found myself slowly inching back on the reading routine….