Arts & Entertainment, Business

Tenets for Success

Bob Iger

Lesson time 16:36 min

Bob shares his tenets for successful leadership, including how to foster curiosity, practice candor, project optimism, be authentic, and own your mistakes.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: The Role of Humor • Foster Curiosity • Be Authentic • Operate With Integrity • The Pursuit of Perfection • Be Fair and Own Your Mistakes • Be Decisive • Practice Candor • Project Optimism

Preview

- Tonight is the night. [BEAST GRUNTS] You must be bold, daring. - Bold. Daring. [BEAST VOCALIZES] [MUSIC PLAYING] - Over the years, I've learned a tremendous amount-- 45 years at the company and 14 years as its CEO. And as I look back, there are lessons that I've collected that clearly have served me well, have worked for me. And I've articulated many of them to other people, but always with the notion that those are things that basically served me well, worked for me, don't necessarily apply to everyone in every circumstance or every industry or every business. But I've tried to be generous, at least, with the lessons that I've learned, because again, you know, they've served me incredibly well. [MUSIC PLAYING] I believe that being curious is vital to being successful. And when I talk about curiosity, I talk about a desire to learn new things, to have new experiences, to visit new places, to meet new people. When you're not curious, then you never innovate. And because innovation is incredibly important to a company into a business, particularly in a world that is changing so rapidly-- in order to innovate, you have to have curiosity. It's the route of innovation. I think it's difficult to teach people how to be curious, but I think it's easy to encourage people to be curious. I think everybody has some level of curiosity in them. Sometimes it has to be drawn out. Sometimes it also takes time to be curious, and you have to give yourself time for that. It's a form of energy consumption, to be curious. But it's something that I always encourage in people, and it's something that I look for when I hire people, as well. [MUSIC PLAYING] When I talk about authenticity in leadership, what I really mean is being honest, being straightforward, being genuine, being real, never faking anything, never saying anything that you don't mean or that isn't believable, that isn't real, that isn't rooted in the truth. That's what authenticity is. And it's a is a very important quality in leadership. 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 before. I was being called upon to lead a important division of a company without any experience in that particular side of the business. And I had to admit to those that I was working for that I was lacking in knowledge and lacking in experience in the specific 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. At the same time, I was being asked to lead the unit that I was given responsibility over. When you try to fake something, if it's optimism, where you're simply behaving like too much of an idealist and not enough of a realist, or if you express an opinion abou...

About the Instructor

In an era of disruption, Disney CEO Bob Iger led one of the world’s most beloved brands to unprecedented success with the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Now, through case studies and lessons from 45 years in media, Bob teaches you how to evolve your business and career. Learn strategies for expanding a brand, leading with integrity, and making big moves—from risk management to the art of negotiation.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Bob Iger

Disney CEO Bob Iger teaches you the leadership skills and strategies he used to reimagine one of the world’s most beloved brands.

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