Here’s a list of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s leadership lessons from his new book – The Ride of a Lifetime.
- To tell great stories, you need great talent.
- Innovate or die.
- There can be no innovation if you operate out of fear of the new.
- Push back against the urge to say good enough is good enough.
- Take responsibility when you screw up.
- Be decent to people.
- Value ability more than experience.
- Put people in roles that require more of them than they know they have in them.
- Ask the questions you need to ask.
- Admit what you don’t understand.
- Managing creativity is an art, not a science.
- Don’t start negatively and don’t start small.
- Grant permission to fail.
- Create possibilities for greatness.
- Don’t let ambition get ahead of opportunity.
- Don’t invest in energy sapping small projects.
- Good leadership is about helping others to be prepared to step into your shoes.
- Demand integrity from your product and your people at all times.
- Lead from a place of courage.
- Leaders are Optimists; pessimism leads to paranoia and risk aversion.
- Convey your priorities clearly and repeatedly.
- Keep internal messaging simple. ‘This is where we want to be. This is how we’ll get there.’
- Technology will make older business models obsolete.
- You have to do the homework. You have to be prepared.
- If something doesn’t feel right to you, it won’t be right for you.
- When hiring, hire people who are good in addition to being good at what they do.
- In any negotiation, be clear about where you stand from the beginning.
- Projecting your anxiety onto your team is counterproductive.
- If you’re in the business of making something, be in the business of making something great.
- It’s no good to have power for too long.
KR
