For the ladder half of this week I spent my time watching & listening to a bunch of Master Classes. – The screen time is killing me. – Well, really it was one long class. It was Bob Iger’s the former CEO of The Walt Disney Company. I learned a lot not only about the importance of leadership and creativity, but also about Disney and how they went from where they were in 2005 to a huge global company that they thought was never possible.

A couple of the lessons that I took away from the class are listed below –

USE YOUR TIME EFFECTIVELY

FOCUS ON STRATEGY, AND PRIORITIZE

TAKE GIANT SWINGS – “You Need To Take Risks To Be Successful.”

CREATE BRAND VALUE. – “The most important thing in terms of maximizing brand value or managing a brand is, first, to completely understand the essence of the brand.”

• Examples of Brand Value
  • Commitment to sustainability and the environment
  • Integrity and transparency
  • An insistence on simplicity and efficiency
  • A casual, fun sense of accessibility
  • Interconnectedness
  • the feeling of welcoming consumers into a community
  • An emphasis on progress, on providing a cutting-edge product
• “Brand is a very, very careful balance between legacy, or heritage, and innovation.”

IGER’S TENETS FOR SUCCESS

• BE AUTHENTIC
• FOSTER CURIOSITY
• OPERATE WITH INTEGRITY
• BE DECISIVE
• BE FAIR AND OWN YOUR MISTAKES
• PRACTICE CANDOR
• PROJECT OPTIMISM

I love these classes so much, throughout the entire class I was mesmerized by both Bob Iger and the Disney story. This class was not only inspiring but extremely helpful for me to see and think about how I want my organization to operate.