EISNER Michael Eisner: A Lesson in Leadership

Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

Professional Development

In 1964, NBC clerk Michael Eisner made $65 a week. Though he only took one business course in his life, he obviously had a proclivity for business: in 1997, as CEO of Disney, Eisner earned over half a billion dollars. With absolutely no foundation in finance, he averted a Disney takeover when he became chairman in 1984 and by May 1998 he earned over $80 billion for Disney stockholders.

Education

Eisner went to boarding school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey in the 8th grade. "I had always breezed through academically at Allen-Stevenson (my previous school), where I was used to being a leader in a class of twenty kids. Now, Suddenly I found myself in a highly selective, academically rigorous school, with about 180 boys in my grade -- a very small fish in a large pond." (Eisner et al., 1998) Eisner did reasonably well academically, especially in the subjects of History, English and Latin -- he was, however, no where near the top of his class. Eisner's children often remind him of his less than perfect high-school GPA.

Early on, Eisner was a problem solver and entrepreneur. "Even then, I didn't quit testing the limits. In 10th grade lights had to be out at 10 P.M. In my dormitory, which was accomplished by turning off a master switch for the whole house. I rigged up a system that allowed me to siphon electricity from an outlet in the bathroom, where the light was left on." (Eisner et al., 1998)

Although his father had aspirations of him going to Princeton University, Eisner chose to attend Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He applied to the college without ever visiting or telling his parents until he was admitted....

The school was originally a Baptist college, and although Eisner is Jewish, this did not seem to impact him academically or socially at Denison. "There were perhaps a half dozen Jews, and we were considered more an oddity than a threatening social minority." (Eisner et al., 1998) Upon graduation from Denison University, with a degree in English, Eisner spent some time in Paris, France. After a few weeks, he had the urge to return to the United States.
Early Career

In 1964, after returning from Paris, Eisner found an apartment in New York City. He had a very difficult time finding employment, even with excellent reference. Eisner's first job was with NBC as an Federal Communications Commission (FCC) logging clerk, the job paid him the princely sum of $65 per week. He quickly became bored with this job and became a traffic researcher for WNBC radio in New York. This position gave him his first taste of show business.

His next job was with CBS as a liaison between the programming and sales departments. At this time, his salary moved to $140 per week. All of these smaller roles gave him the determination to launch a letter writing campaign in order to seek out a better career for himself. Eisner ended up working for Harry Silverman, who had asked him during an interview to listen to audio tapes, "It turned out that he had studio tapes of two new game shows, one called Hollywood Squares, the other The Face Is Familiar. I considered myself something of an expert on game shows, having been at one time an usher on Jeopardy. Still, without being able to actually watch the show, I was completely confused by what I was hearing on the audio tapes." (Eisner et al., 1998) Eisner told Silverman that the Hollywood Squares tape was better. Silverman had already chosen The Face Is Familiar; later The Face Is Familiar was a flop and Hollywood Squares became a hit. This made Silverman hold Eisner in high esteem and later he got him a coveted interview with Leonard Goldberg, who was an assistant for a powerful…