美国国家公共电台 NPR Disney CEO Bob Iger Has Lessons On Fostering Creativity — And Acquiring It

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Before Bob Iger took over as CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Disney's stock value was stagnant¹. Its studios and networks and theme parks had lost their magic.

BOB IGER: We were embattled and somewhat discouraged and not as optimistic as we needed to be. And we needed to find our way.

KING: Iger talks about how he turned Disney around in his new book called "The Ride Of A Lifetime." NPR's Elizabeth Blair spent some time with him.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE²: Bob Iger worked his way up the entertainment ladder, starting with menial jobs on soap operas and game shows to running ABC Sports. As CEO of Disney, Iger oversaw³ the opening of the Disney theme park in China and championed blockbuster movies like "Black Panther."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

CHADWICK BOSEMAN: (As T'Challa) Wakanda forever.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) Wakanda forever.

BLAIR: Iger has also had some flops⁴. When he was head of entertainment for ABC, he presided over a legendary⁵ failure - a musical starring police officers.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "COP ROCK")

MIKE FINNEGAN: (Singing, as Lieutenant⁶ Kellogg) Let's be careful out there.

BLAIR: "Cop Rock" was the brainchild of the late Steven Bochco, whose credits included "Hill Street Blues⁷" and "NYPD Blue." In his book, Bob Iger writes he didn't regret trying "Cop Rock" because, quote, "if you want innovation, you need to give permission to fail."

IGER: When you take risks, you have to be willing to process failure because there is inevitable⁸ failure in creativity.

BLAIR: Iger believes in taking big swings. Before the "Cop Rock" fiasco, one of those swings knocked it out of the park - at least initially⁹. Iger convinced his bosses at ABC to broadcast "Twin Peaks," a riveting¹⁰ but oddball murder mystery created by filmmaker David Lynch.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGELO BADALAMENTI'S "'TWIN PEAKS' THEME")

IGER: "Twin Peaks" was, in a way, the "Game Of Thrones" of its time. You know, television was somewhat tame at that point still, and this was unlike anything that was on - extremely well-executed, a very compelling story.

BLAIR: And it gave Bob Iger huge cred in Hollywood's creative community. In his book, he writes that suddenly he was getting calls from major movie directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wanting to know what they might do for ABC. The first season of "Twin Peaks" was a sensation, but it could not sustain. And here's where Bob Iger learned a lot about working with artists. David Lynch was known for offbeat¹¹ films, not a TV series that needed to deliver new plot twists each week. Iger says Lynch didn't want to answer the central question to the "Twin Peaks" mystery, who killed Laura Palmer?

IGER: David was arguing that if he solved the murder, no one would want to come back. That would be it. And I argued the opposite. And ultimately, I prevailed. It was not easy. And the series failed. And looking back, I'm sorry that I pushed it that far with David. Although, I will say, even though I have incredible respect for David, one of the problems with the series was there wasn't much else to it, from a story perspective. I didn't understand that as much then.

BLAIR: Managing the creative process, Iger says, requires both empathy and resilience. To turn Disney around, Iger set about acquiring other companies, starting with Pixar, the studio behind animated¹² classics "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INCREDIBLES")

SAMUEL L JACKSON: (As Lucius Best) Where is my super suit?

KIMBERLY ADAIR CLARK: (As Honey Best) I put it away.

BLAIR: Iger struck deals to acquire Marvel¹³, Lucasfilm and, most recently, 21st Century Fox. He says, when acquiring a company, he tries to keep its culture intact.

IGER: There's a culture and a way of life at the company that you've bought that sometimes can be integral to the creative process or the process of creating product at that company. And if you go about it in too heavy-handed a way, you can destroy spirit and culture and a sense of purpose and, in doing so, destroy the very essence of what you bought or reduce value.

BLAIR: As CEO, Bob Iger turned Disney into one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. But he was not a shoo-in for the job - far from it. In 2005, Disney was in terrible shape, and at the time, he was then-CEO Michael Eisner's No. 2. Iger says, to get the job, he worked on winning over members of the Disney board, the shareholders¹⁴ and, most importantly, he says, the people he would lead. Jennifer Lee, who recently became chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation¹⁵ Studios, says Iger leads with trust.

JENNIFER LEE: He has all the faith in us being grounded when we need to be grounded. But he does know that, you know, that to move forward you have to be able to be bold.

BLAIR: But Iger is not without criticism. Disney has some 200,000 employees, and how those at the low end of the pay scale are treated has come under attack. Disney heiress Abigail Disney has decried¹⁶ the enormous wage gap between workers at Disney theme parks, who make less than $20 an hour, and its executives, whose salaries are in the multimillions. In response, The Walt Disney Company points to its program for hourly employees that pays 100% of the cost of vocational training or a college degree. Iger recalls that when he was fighting for the job of CEO, he knew it was vital to have the support of the people inside Disney.

IGER: It starts with the people who work at the company. You're not going to be admired on the outside unless you're admired on the inside.

BLAIR: The Magic Kingdom Bob Iger has overseen¹⁷ for the last 15 years includes theme parks around the world, movies, TV shows, cable channels. In his book, he writes about where his personal ambition comes from. He grew up in a mostly working-class town on Long Island. His father, a World War II veteran, had trouble keeping a steady job. He'd been diagnosed with manic depression. Iger says he grew up watching his dad feel like a failure.

IGER: Even though I reminded him a number of times that he should be looking at accomplishment¹⁸ in a different way - he had raised two kids. I have a younger sister. And I thought that was an accomplishment in itself. But seeing his disappointment with himself, which was something that not only created a dissatisfaction, but an anger really, at himself, I really promised myself that I would not be him in that regard.

BLAIR: In Iger's new book, optimism is at the top of his list of principles necessary for true leadership. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR [FROM "PINOCCHIO"]")

CLIFF EDWARDS: (Singing, as Jiminy Cricket) When you wish upon a star...

1 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

4 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网

5 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

6 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

7 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

8 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

9 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

10 riveting   

adj.动听的，令人着迷的，完全吸引某人注意力的；n.铆接（法）

参考例句：

• I find snooker riveting though I don't play myself.虽然我自己不打斯诺克，但是我觉得它挺令人着迷。
• To my amazement,I found it riveting.但令我惊讶的是，我发现它的吸引人处。

11 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

12 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

13 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

14 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

15 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

16 decried   

v.公开反对，谴责( decry的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The measures were decried as useless. 这些措施受到指责，说是不起作用。
• The old poet decried the mediocrity of today's writing. 老诗人抨击了现代文体的平庸无奇。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

18 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。