Lessons on Leadership & Learning Contracts
I’ve recently taken my first Masterclass on Business Strategy & Leadership by Bob Iger. It’s been an absolute blast to learn how he has led the Walt Disney Company for over 15 years, turning it into the entertainment behemoth it has become through their digital transformation and M&A strategy, having acquired great companies such as Pixar, 21st Century Fox, National Geographic or Marvel.
Disney has created its digital leadership magic using a number of key ingredients. These include strong digital leadership, a far-reaching vision, and an ongoing investment in digital initiatives. Combining these with a careful brand management, a brilliant acquisition strategy, and an eye on the future, Disney is turning profits like no other entertainment company has in history — and the company’s rise over the last 15 years coincides exactly with Bob Iger’s leadership.
As a consumer, it has been interesting to see what once was mainly a film and amusement park company turned into a multi-company group that has expanded the customer experience to new touchpoints, expanded their customer base to new segments, while always keeping their magic.
As a consumer, it has been interesting to see what once was mainly a film and amusement park company turned into a multi-company group that has expanded the customer experience to new touchpoints, expanded their customer base to new segments, while always keeping their magic.
I have to say I’ve enjoyed the whole masterclass, but in this post, I would like to highlight one of the final lessons in which he tries to summarize his main leadership values. Note: the following lessons have been extracted from the Masterclass.
To be curious
- Being curious is vital to being successful. It means having the desire to learn new things, to have new experiences, visit new places, meet new people.
- If you’re not curious you will not innovate. Curiosity is the route to innovation.
- It’s difficult to teach people how to be curious but it’s easy to encourage them to be curious because everybody has some level of curiosity in them. Occasionally, it just needs to be drawn up.
- Sometimes it takes time to be curious and you need to give yourself time for that. It’s a form of energy consumption.
- Regardless, it is something we need to encourage in people and try to meet people likewise.
It’s difficult to teach people how to be curious but it’s easy to encourage them to be curious because everybody has some level of curiosity in them. Occasionally, it just needs to be drawn up.
Authenticity
- Being honest, straightforward, genuine, real; never faking anything nor saying things that you don’t mean or are believable. Avoid saying things that aren’t real, or rooted in the truth. It’s a very important quality in leadership.
- If you are being too optimistic or expressing an opinion that doesn’t feel genuine or real, people read through that very quickly.
“One example of being authentic and genuine in my case goes back to the late 80s, when I got a job at ABC running primetime television at a time when I had never read a script. I was being called upon to lead an important division of a company without any experience in that particular side of the business. And I had to admit to those I was working for that I was lacking in knowledge and lacking in experience in the area, even though I was called upon to be their leader. I showed up every day basically not faking the fact that I knew what I was doing but actually being honest and candid about what I needed to learn about what I was doing.”
- It’s vital to operate with high integrity, meaning that you set high standards for yourself and your company, for the people around you, and behave and adhere to those high standards.
- Warren Buffet used to say fondly, “When you hire someone you look for three things: brain, energy, and integrity, and when someone doesn’t have the third one you better watch out because the first two will kill you.”
The pursuit of perfection
- Everybody should set out to achieve perfection and in doing so, work the hardest to make something great.
- However, this doesn’t mean that perfection can be achieved all the time. There might be some external factors out of your control that sometimes you need to accept.
- The relentless pursuit of perfection often means never accepting mediocrity if there is an opportunity to make something better.
- There’s friction, maybe, associated with working harder to make something better. That friction can mean spending more time, energy, or resources. But in the end, an organization is better off if it overcomes that friction if it commits itself to spend the money to turn something mediocre into something good, and something good into something great. It always pays off in the end.
Be fair and own your mistakes
- Be accessible and give people the opportunity to state their case, to be present, to express their opinion, to give you a sense of who they are.
- When we talk about fairness, it’s important to be empathetic and to put yourself in other people’s shoes.
- Being fair means giving people a second chance in honest mistakes. It’s important to allow people to try something and fail if it has been an honest attempt. If someone has done something that is lapse of judgment or discredits themselves or the company, Bob doesn’t think a second chance is something that someone should have.
- There is great value in being candid, holding oneself accountable, and taking responsibility.
Being fair means giving people a second chance in honest mistakes. It’s important to allow people to try something and fail if it has been an honest attempt
Be decisive
- When a decision needs to be made, it is important to reflect on them in advance and to take the time to study its ramifications or the various issues it might encompass
- But of equal importance is being decisive and making decisions on a timely basis. Organizations demand decisiveness, in part, because it’s the most productive way to manage them.
- Indecisiveness is one of the most counterproductive means of behaving in an organization, as it not only takes time, but it drains people of energy and motivation.
- People like to know what it is they’re expected to do and when they’re expected to do it by some time. That often requires decision making on a timely basis.
- It’s important to learn if the decision made was right or wrong, so that if it was wrong the mistake isn’t repeated or if it was right, so that one can make the right decision again. It’s not encouraged second-guessing decisions.
- There is a lot of instinct and courage required when you need to make a decision quickly, as you need to process all ramifications and potential consequences without the privilege of time.
- Nowadays, with all the news that travel faster than ever before and opinions are formed quickly, you sometimes need to take decisions preemptively to get ahead of how the marketplace actually is behaving and what it thinks about something because ultimately, a decision can be made for you through market reaction even before you get the chance to make it.
- It’s important for a leader to have the instinct of knowing what decision needs to be made and when. That requires a lot of experience and sometimes a lot of courage, but it is key.
Practice candor
- It’s important to let the team know what you expect from them and to demonstrate it over time — to hear the good and the bad of the activities.
- Communicating good news is very easy, but it’s more important to learn how to communicate bad news too, as it often requires some kind of action or reaction.
- That’s why it is important to encourage people to share and inform about bad news, and to be accountable, owning up to one’s mistakes.
- Be candid about the performance, taking into consideration the circumstances, and knowing that it’s a safe environment. Creating a safe environment for honesty, candor, and ease of communication is extremely valuable in any place, and it’s a very valuable trait for a leader to have.
Project optimism
- People don’t want to follow pessimists, that’s pretty clear. But the leader doesn’t necessarily have to continuously say things like “we’re going to win” or “this is going to be great,” but leaders shouldn’t be saying “we’re going to lose” or “this is going to fail.”
- Pessimism does not, in any way, create energy; it does not, in any way, inspire people to do their best work.
- Optimism, on the other hand, can inspire people, give them a sense that the work that is expected of them is for a good cause and that results will likely be good
- A leader doesn’t necessarily have to be an idealist. A leader can be realist, but it’s very important to infuse some level of optimism into everything that a company is doing and that a leader is asking others to do.
Pessimism does not, in any way, create energy; it does not, in any way, inspire people to do their best work.
Optimism, on the other hand, can inspire people, give them a sense that the work that is expected of them is for a good cause and that results will likely be good
The role of humor
- It’s important to be surrounded by people who are serious about the work they do but aren’t always serious — people who can tell a good joke or laugh every once in a while, at a situation or even at themselves.
Looking to the future
- It’s important to look as far ahead as we possibly can with a certain degree of clarity. The farther out you look the less clarity you find. It’s important to define and share where the limits of future thinking are and what the limits in terms of loss of clarity are.
- When managing people who are required to think about the future, try to set some kind of parameters, for example, looking at a five or ten-year horizon. If you’re just saying “let’s look into the future” without a tangible parameter, it might be confusing and leave the employee wondering “what does it mean?” “How far are we looking?” Looking to the future might be meaningless without that roadmap.
- In leading people to think about the long term, it’s very important to define what “long term” means.
The reason why I wanted to share these principles of Bob Iger’s leadership is because, as I analyzed them, I personally related to them. I like the way he talks about the importance of being a good and authentic person, of promoting curiosity as an engine for personal development and learning, about the importance of being optimistic and trying to generate a positive mood in the teams where we work, aiming to create a space of safety and confidence over time, where people are not afraid to try and take risks. I also connected with his insights on the importance of being decisive in decision making, being guided by our instinct when we are the ones who must take the first step.
The above principles may seem obvious when you first read them, but they require a great deal of skill to stay consistent and apply them in your daily life. Leadership and its principles are topics that I am deeply interested in since I have a great personal will to continue developing as a better individual and thus be able to assume more and more responsibilities in the different communities I am part of, with the ultimate goal of generating a positive impact.
For example, to do so, once a year (sometimes twice) I try to write a personal learning contract where I reflect on my development in the previous months, both in the professional and personal aspects of my life. I use this time to check whether I’m advancing in the right direction and I’m aligned with my goals and values, as well as to define which are my future goals and which steps should I take to keep progressing towards them. During these introspective sessions, I explore the following questions:
- Where have I been? What have I learnt?
- Where am I now?
- Where am I heading to?
- Who are the people I want to meet and work with?
- Which are the projects I want to develop?
- Which are the skills I want to acquire?
- How am I adding value to my communities?
- How will I know that I’m there?
I believe it is a good habit to do so, providing yourself with quality time to dig deeper and find ways to continuously improve. Ultimately, that’s all I’m aiming for.
