The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

I assumed that if the leaders of our businesses felt more involved in making decisions, that would have a positive, trickle-down effect on the company’s morale. I had no idea at the time how dramatic and immediate that effect would be.

Roone taught me the dictum that has guided me in every job I’ve held since: Innovate or die, and there’s no innovation if you operate out of fear of the new or untested.

Instead, it’s about creating an environment in which you refuse to accept mediocrity. You instinctively push back against the urge to say There’s not enough time, or I don’t have the energy, or This requires a difficult conversation I don’t want to have, or any of the many other ways we can convince ourselves that “good enough” is good enough.

That was precious to him, and it cost me and the company so little. A little respect goes a long way, and the absence of it is often very costly. Over the next few years, as we made the major acquisitions that redefined and revitalized the company, this simple, seemingly trite idea was as important as all of the data-crunching in the world: If you

I refer to it as “the relentless pursuit of perfection.”

had to consistently remind myself that Gary Wilson wasn’t my problem. As much as this process was a test of my ideas, it was also a test of my temperament, and I couldn’t let the negativity being expressed by people who knew little about me affect the way I felt about myself.

You can’t wear your disdain for people on your sleeve, though. You end up either cowing them into submission or frustrating them into complacency.

Their business strategy was fairly simple. They were hypervigilant about controlling costs, and they believed in a decentralized corporate structure. Meaning: They didn’t think every key decision should be made by the two of them or by a small group of strategists in corporate headquarters. They hired people who were smart and decent and hardworkin

Don’t be in the business of playing it safe. Be in the business of creating possibilities for greatness. Don’t