The change in leadership style from Eisner’s structural style to Iger’s combination of symbolic and Human resources is the main reason for Disney Co.’s newfound success. His 20-year tenure with Disney was full of success, but his leadership style was too outdated to keep up with the changing entertainment industry. Iger, on the other hand, offered a fresh perspective and vision for how the company should go forward in the future.
Bob Iger is a mixture of two leadership frames Bolman & Deal. Iger’s “multi-frame view” is the best approach to adopt as CEO. Although Iger was a Disney employee for many years, it became clear that he did not possess the necessary skills to lead Disney into a new period of growth. He gave his team more autonomy and didn’t try to get involved in every deal. This allowed him to focus on his organizational goals. He didn’t attend potential deal meetings, even though he knew he had the right teams to accomplish his goals. He allowed them to do their jobs well and took a step back, but he made sure that they were aware that he was available to help them when they needed it. This autonomy was a great way to combat the lack of commitment and motivation that erupted during Eisner’s “Where is my wow?” period. From the beginning, he stated that he was open to more communication in the company. He made morning meetings more casual and moved his office to a corridor with more traffic. This also helped improve communication within the company. Iger’s return to animations, his family-oriented approach to making a deal to make Disney movies available on the iPod and his superior online presence have all contributed to Disney’s growth. He was clearly a key part of Disney’s growth, as the stock price of Disney rose 51% in his first 15 months.
He used a symbolic approach to his work by setting an example and giving them a sense of purpose. His colleagues were able to make more creative deals by giving him more autonomy. This is evident in the $70 million annual deal that Iger made with Comcast for Peter Murphy, Disney’s top strategist planner. Murphy was able to make the deal work for him, which led to Disney making more than any of his previous deals. This framework is very similar to Linus Torvalds’ Linux one. He gave programmers greater creative freedom which made the software more efficient and more effective than Microsoft’s.
The combination of multiple leadership styles creates a more productive company and keeps employees happy. Iger created an atmosphere that encouraged creativity and was a great addition to Disney’s leadership.
