I have been reading “The ride of a lifetime” by Bob Iger - a pretty inspiring journey for Bob Iger and the becoming of Disney.

I would recommend it to anyone interested in leadership, stakeholder management, and the importance of trusting people and most importantly the people themselves.

Some of the excerpts from the book I find particularly worth remembering:

  1. “I can’t do anything about the past. We can talk about lessons learned, and we can make sure we apply those lessons going forward. But we don’t get any do-overs. You want to know where I am going to take this company, not where it’s been. Here’s my plan…”

  2. “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 articular 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.”

  3. “Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech, which has long been an inspiration: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.””