Disneywar - James B. Stewart
Disneywar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom - James B. Stewart
Non-Fiction
Pages: 560
I never thought I'd find a business book on the inner workings of corporate executives interesting, but then these corporate executives do work for Disney - and that makes it more interesting than most multi-million dollar corporations, if only because of the dichotomy between its public image and the machinations of executives behind the scenes.
This book charts the twenty years of Michael Eisner as CEO of the Walt Disney Corporation, how he went from being the saviour of the company to more or less the Anti-Christ. If nothing else it's a very credible tale of how power corrupts.
As long as Frank Wells, the Disney chairman, was alive, things worked, if only because Wells was able to serve as a check on Eisner's power, the only one who could, the one who smoothed over the ruffled feathers and was in a position to question Eisner's decisions. Once Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994 there was no-one to hold Eisner back. He took on Wells' position himself, despite pressure to name a successor, and became increasingly autocratic, positioning himself in the role of the natural heir to Walt Disney.
This book could almost be the handbook on how not to perform as CEO. Eisner seemed to subscribe to the divide-and-conquer technique: he would force employees to report back to him on their bosses; he would tell one executive another one had said such-and-such to him and vice versa; he would second-guess and micromanage every decision; he would put executives in untenable positions and then blame them for failing; he was incredibly jealous of his position and anyone who was posited as his successor swiftly found the rug was pulled from under them and an exit was being arranged; he recouped enormous bonuses despite making decisions that cost the company billions; he oversaw a brain-drain of talent as people such as John Lasseter, Jeffrey Katzenberg and the Pixar group left the corporation because of their inability to work for Eisner; he would apppoint his friends to positions and then immediately fall out with them; the list goes on.
It's a fascinating book, and it makes me view Disney in a whole new light. It's always been hard to look past the magic and see Disney as 'just another evil greedy corporation' but this book surely makes it easy to start.
Non-Fiction
Pages: 560
I never thought I'd find a business book on the inner workings of corporate executives interesting, but then these corporate executives do work for Disney - and that makes it more interesting than most multi-million dollar corporations, if only because of the dichotomy between its public image and the machinations of executives behind the scenes.
This book charts the twenty years of Michael Eisner as CEO of the Walt Disney Corporation, how he went from being the saviour of the company to more or less the Anti-Christ. If nothing else it's a very credible tale of how power corrupts.
As long as Frank Wells, the Disney chairman, was alive, things worked, if only because Wells was able to serve as a check on Eisner's power, the only one who could, the one who smoothed over the ruffled feathers and was in a position to question Eisner's decisions. Once Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994 there was no-one to hold Eisner back. He took on Wells' position himself, despite pressure to name a successor, and became increasingly autocratic, positioning himself in the role of the natural heir to Walt Disney.
This book could almost be the handbook on how not to perform as CEO. Eisner seemed to subscribe to the divide-and-conquer technique: he would force employees to report back to him on their bosses; he would tell one executive another one had said such-and-such to him and vice versa; he would second-guess and micromanage every decision; he would put executives in untenable positions and then blame them for failing; he was incredibly jealous of his position and anyone who was posited as his successor swiftly found the rug was pulled from under them and an exit was being arranged; he recouped enormous bonuses despite making decisions that cost the company billions; he oversaw a brain-drain of talent as people such as John Lasseter, Jeffrey Katzenberg and the Pixar group left the corporation because of their inability to work for Eisner; he would apppoint his friends to positions and then immediately fall out with them; the list goes on.
It's a fascinating book, and it makes me view Disney in a whole new light. It's always been hard to look past the magic and see Disney as 'just another evil greedy corporation' but this book surely makes it easy to start.