Art Petty usually gets to good books before I do. I rarely read or review a book until it’s been out for six months or more. Art doesn’t do that, so I often wind up reading books that Art was excited about first. Bob Iger’s The Ride of a Lifetime was like that. My full review is here.

Art loved the book when he read it. So, I read it. We both loved it. When you listen to the podcast, you’ll know why.

Listen now:

Show Highlights:

Art reiterates his love affair with biographies as teaching tools and highlights how much he enjoyed getting to know Bob Iger in this one (1:45)

Wally dittoes my sentiments on biographies and confesses that until reading The Ride of a Lifetime, he didn’t know much about Bob Iger and ended up liking him as well (2:40)

High-praise from a book coach: Wally describes Ride as a “Very well written book.” (3:15)

More high-praise from Wally: “One of the best leadership books I’ve read, period. Art concurs! (3:40)

Art shares some highlights from his background research on Bob Iger, including a quote: “No one expected Bob Iger to be Bob Iger.” (4:12)

The book succeeds in part because it doesn’t come off as a CEO ego trip (5:50)

Wally relishes catching Art in a mistake (6:30)

The prologue, including Iger’s principles and his end of book summary of leadership lessons, are worth the price of the book, according to Wally (7:05)

We come to the same conclusion from different points on the book structure (9:10)

Wally offers: “There’s one of those mind-jarring insights in every chapter.” (10:24)

Eiger changed the face of the entertainment industry dramatically (11:25)

Wally: “There wasn’t a master plan, but rather it was collecting opportunities and seeing linkages.” (12:15)

Art suggests there’s a book in the content on Iger’s partnering and deal-making found here (13:19)

Powerful moments (14:10)

Wally segues into his perspectives on Steve Jobs and then ties it back to Iger’s story (15:40)

Art’s favorite segment of the book: board games and how the under-estimated Bob Iger ultimately prevailed (17:15)

Wally highlights his favorite takeaway from this book: how Iger blended the best of so many people in his life (18:45)

Art remark’s on Iger’s notable value on optimism. “Optimism sets a different machine in motion… .” (20:30)

Wally: “This is a nice guy!” (21:20)

Two resounding votes for this as a great read! (22:45)

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