Leading an innovative company is hard. Why Bob Iger, Disney’s un-retiring CEO, can bring balance to the Force (again).

A new type of leader required by complex technology-driven creative organizations must have a multi-disciplinary, multi-horizon, multi-stakeholder approach to business.?Neglecting even one of those domains will prove detrimental in the long run.

Bob Iger is back and I applaud his return, even though I lament the fact that it is needed. One of the world’s best(-performing) CEOs of this century has not only had a long – and often extended – tenure, but he is definitely the right person to bring balance?back?to the Force (again). Balance has always been front and center for Iger, who combines a number of seemingly contradictory qualities as a leader.?

Having followed his work during my entire career as an innovation leader (spanning 20 years and having seen the inner workings of 华特迪士尼公司 , Hulu and the likes), I can safely say that the top job of a magic-creating behemoth is unlikely to have been done better by anyone else. Why is that? And what should Disney do in case Iger decides to take retirement seriously one day and goes fishing??

It's hard to create, launch and scale something new, especially something ‘magical’. It is exponentially harder to do it over and over again. It requires a holistic, balanced way of thinking and operating (aside from a whole bunch of support and luck, of course).?I like to summarize the nature of this balance in a three-fold approach to leadership:?multi-disciplinary, multi-horizon?and?multi-stakeholder. Bob Iger has mastered all three.

1. Multi-disciplinary leadership breeds innovative products, services & ventures

Innovation is not a goal in itself, it is what happens when human needs can be met in new, more appealing and useful ways that are financially sustainable. At IDEO and other places I’ve worked, we called it a combination of?‘desirability’?(generally considered the domain of design),?‘feasibility’?(the domain of technology) and?‘viability’?(the domain of business). In other words, an almost John Nash-like equilibrium of what people want, what value can be created and what value can be captured by the entity offering the new solution. If any of these three ‘disciplines’ consider the outcome suboptimal then there is innovation potential left unachieved.

Iger understands the power of technology, as he constantly inspires pushing of the proverbial envelope. Secondly, he greatly respects (if not loves) the creative process and finds ways for the business to capture a lot of the value created for its customers - maximizing return for shareholders.

2. Multi-horizon leadership ensures the seizing of new commercial opportunities today, tomorrow and past that

Aside from the interdisciplinary balance, there is temporal (multi-horizon) balance. A good innovation leader – or any leader, really – understands that there is near-term, mid-term and long-term potential that needs to be addressed simultaneously (rather than sequentially!). Consulting firm 麦肯锡 refers to this concept as?the ‘three horizons’.?

Horizon 1 is focused on improving a current offering, often incrementally and usually to achieve efficiency gains. Horizon 2?is aimed at developing new products and services, often with a different business model. Horizon 3 is about exploring the potential of emerging technologies and what those enable at a certain cost and level of development. While these three horizons are always on the leadership team’s mind and worked on simultaneously, they should not require the same number of resources.?Typically, the bulk (70%) of the money, people and management attention is allocated to near-term objectives. The medium-term commands about 20% of resources. The long term (7+ years) should get about 10%, so as to not be surprised by paradigm shifts and, therefore, disruption.?

At Disney, Iger has always focused on making more of what was working well in the near term, on creating new offerings for the next 4-7 years that were trend-based and gaining traction (e.g. direct-to-consumer business models).?In terms of long-term competitive advantage, the need for a much bigger content library with potential for innovative future exploration is well understood - especially with the company's focus on Imagineering, various research labs and outside startups.

3. Multi-stakeholder leadership brings people along to make the ride better and longer

Lastly, there are the various people and organizations involved in a company’s ecosystem. It is no secret these days that shareholder capitalism is making way for stakeholder capitalism. This means that the direction and activities of an organization should be supported by nearly everyone involved (e.g. clients, employees, partners, governments). By definition, this is almost impossible to do.?I’m not advocating satisfying every stakeholder to a similar degree, but it is vital to consider all angles before, during and after doing something truly innovative. The more consumer-facing the output, the more delicate this balance is.

Disney is a company that needs?balance?more than most. Think about the type of products, services and experiences it offers to families and individuals all over the world. These are magical worlds to escape to, where everything can be seen in Technicolor and nothing ever ends badly. This association is worth many Billions and is therefore well-guarded. For the leader of such a company, it is important to combine a first-class reputation with the interests of all involved, multi-faceted balance and entrepreneurial boldness. Iger did a fantastic job growing and modernizing the company, and making the Studios profitable, without diluting the brand or tarnishing the reputation.

Magic requires more than one trick

Finding a successor presented a challenge, even though there were quite a few candidates. I have been fortunate enough to briefly meet with each of the three frontrunners a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away, called California). Two of them, along with a few others, were top-notch corporate leaders with a strategic skillset, who later gained operational experience running one of the company’s business units.

There was Tom Staggs (right), Disney's former CFO and COO, who was tasked with running Parks & Resorts before not getting the top job. Then there was Kevin Mayer (left), Disney’s amazing Strategy EVP who masterminded the major acquisitions before building and running the new Direct-To-Consumer unit (offering Disney+), who almost became CEO. Eventually, Bob Chapek’s long and successful tenure as an operator of various business units (including Studios, Consumer Products and Parks & Resorts) was considered crucial for the company’s future success.

However, Chapek’s relatively limited corporate/strategy experience is likely to have contributed to his recent departure, as balancing the strategic with the tactical is one of the aforementioned keys to success. Staggs and Mayer had both?sides covered. They are no longer with the company, nor available. They even teamed up to form Candle Media , a new Force to be reckoned with. Iger is probably best suited to stabilize the company and set a new direction for growth anyway. And of course, to help find and groom a (second) successor - who can fill his shoes, walk the tightrope and longer than a few years.

It is often more tempting for Boards to choose a leader who is close to the company’s (work) culture and employees. Therefore, an operator with a lot of business experience, rather than a strategist with an understanding of the three balancing acts, would seem like an obvious?choice. By far the most important of these is an appreciation for how the future is likely to differ from the present, and – subsequently – the ability to carefully yet boldly navigate the business in that direction. Being the CEO of a company in a fast- and ever-changing environment requires more than industry expertise and a good fit with the status quo.

I would argue that it is in the best interest of a company to start with a long-term perspective and let entrepreneurial, multidisciplinary visionaries with a solid track record for near- & medium-term execution do what they do best, until there is proof that their focus and timing are way off. Iger is back because his balancing act never stopped working. His new two-year contract might be up before that moment arrives. Let’s hope that is the case. For him, Disney and the many stakeholders that are involved with – and in love with – its magic.