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

I make sure to connect and speak with every person at the table. It’s a small gesture, but I remember how it felt to be the overlooked sidekick, and anything that reminds you that you’re not the center of the universe is a good thing.

Sometimes, even though you’re “in charge,” you need to be aware that in the moment you might have nothing to add, and so you don’t wade in. You trust your people to do their jobs and focus your energies on some other pressing issue.

Michael Eisner used to say, "micromanaging is underrated." I agree with him-to a point. Sweating the details can show how much you care. "Great" is often a collection of very small things, after all. The downside of micromanagement is that it can be stultifying, and it can reinforce the feeling that you don't trust the people wh

Be genuine. Be honest. Don’t fake anything. Truth and authenticity breed respect and trust.

When hiring, try to surround yourself with people who are good in addition to being good at what they do. Genuine decency-an instinct for fairness and openness and mutual respect-is a rarer commodity in business than it should be, and you should look for it in the people you hire and nurture it in the people who work for you.

Thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness is one of the most underrated elements of good leadership. It is the process of gaining knowledge, so an opinion rendered or decision made is more credible and more likely to be correct. It's simply about taking the time to develop informed opinions.

Managing creativity is an art, not a science. When giving notes, be mindful of how much of themselves the person you're speaking to has poured into the project and how much is at stake for them.

The way they conveyed their faith in me at every step made all the difference in my success.

Managing creative processes starts with the understanding that it’s not a science—everything is subjective; there is often no right or wrong. The passion it takes to create something is powerful, and most creators are understandably sensitive when their vision or execution is questioned.

Projecting your anxiety onto your team is counterproductive. It's subtle, but there's a difference between communicating that you share their stress-that you're in it with them-and communicating that you need them to deliver in order to alleviate your stress.