Michael Eisner's rise from NBC clerk to Disney CEO

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.

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 producer named Barry Diller. Eisner was immediately offered a position as Diller's assistant at ABC. He was 24 years old and finally, for the first time, he had his own office -- and it was next to Warren Lyons, head of casting at ABC. One year after his arrival at ABC, he was given his first big break. After everyone else had refused to go to San Francisco to oversee the construction of a new theme park called Marine World, Eisner took the lead and volunteered to go. He flew into Pebble Beach, California and convinced Bing Crosby to give ABC the rights to his annual golf tournament in exchange Crosby ABC agreed to revolve their marine park theme around Crosby and some of his Hollywood friends. His next break came a few years later when he was given a job as Director of East Coast Prime Time Development.

The Magic Kingdom

Taking the Helm

Eisner's first dealing with Disney were in 1980 when he met with Card Walker, then-chairman of Disney to try to make a deal regarding a plot of land in Burbank, California. Eisner was offered a job by Walker's successor, Ron Miller, who asked Eisner if he wanted to run a studio at Paramount Picture. Paramount was Disney's first attempt to try to take over a non-Disney film label. He declined this job offer. In 1982, when Disney was opening EPCOT, Card Walker announced his retirement and Miller became the new CEO. At that time, Disney was struggling because of cost over runs at EPCOT forced the company to take on substantial debt. Walker offered Eisner a position as President of Disney, after discussing the matter with Roy Disney, Eisner accepted the offer. In a surprise move, Disney's board of director voted Miller out and Eisner in as both President and CEO of Disney.

Laying the Foundation

The first challenge that Eisner faced at Disney was re-entering the film and television business. Under Walker, Disney had completely dropped out of both businesses altogether. They immediately hired Jeffery Katzenberg away from Paramount Pictures. They shored-up Disney's debt by having ABC invest $500,000 in Disney Land and also to guarantee loans of up to $4.5 million. This move reduced debt and took a huge financial burden off of Disney's executives so that they could focus on the future.

Road to Profits

Expanding the Brand

The first films that Disney produced with Eisner and Katzenberg at the helm was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Davy Crockett. They then created The Disney Channel, which played a Disney movie every Sunday night. The Disney Theme parks became very lucrative under Eisner because he re-designed and updated them. "I devoted many hours to walking through Disney Land in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Orlando. Each park was impeccably run reflecting Disney's passionate commitment to service and meticulous attention to detail." (Eisner et al., 1998)

Bumps in the Road

Unfortunately for Eisner and Disney, most of the movies were box office failures.

Conclusion