Dr. Dobb's Journal May 2004
As I write this, a stunning 43 percent of the stockholders of The Walt Disney Company have withheld their support for the company's Chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner. In other words, running unopposed for reelection, Eisner came within seven percentage points of losing. He was immediately stripped of his chairmanship to be replaced by the only marginally more popular Disney board member and former Senator George Mitchell, whose last job was making peace in Northern Ireland, at which he succeeded just long enough to put it on his résumé. This action by the stockholders—of voting in impressive numbers for nobody—suggests an alternative strategy for Democrats in the U.S. Presidential election—run Nobody against GWB. They'd sweep the Anybody But Bush, the None of the Above, and the Registered Anarchist demographics. But I digress.
The word "stunning" is not mine, by the way; it was the precise term used by both CalPERS and the director of some dreary-sounding institution called the Center for Corporate Governance. Sounds like they were reading from the same playbook. Anyway, the latter went on to say that "some sort of change has to take place on the board and at the upper management levels." The board, at least for now, settled on stripping Eisner of just one of his jobs, but Walt's Idiot Nephew (also not my phrase) Roy would like to see a total Eisner ouster: He's campaigned for Eisner's removal so viciously that steam would be coming out of his nostrils if he were a Disney character rather than a Disney nephew. But he's distressed.
One of Eisner's many mistakes, according to his critics, was losing the Pixar deal. Pixar has been so successful in its animated films that the only appropriate comparison is with early Disney. Pixar is filled with Disney alumni, most notably John Lasseter, often called the next Walt D, who is so important to Pixar that one might go so far as to say that Steve Jobs is John Lasseter's agent. And animation fans might go so far as to say that Pixar is today's Disney, and that Disney without Pixar is just another Hollywood company, to paraphrase a familiar Silicon Valley aphorism. ("Apple without Steve Jobs is just another Silicon Valley company, but Steve Jobs without Apple is just another Silicon Valley millionaire" is one version of it; of course, he's back with Apple and a billionaire now. Sic semper aphorisms.) But they obsess.
Obviously, the solution for Disney is to acquire Pixar, so they never have to worry about negotiating with Steve Jobs again, and as an afterthought, bring Steve aboard as a consultant. He'd be happy to help Eisner get Disney back on track, just as he helped Gil Amelio when Apple acquired NeXT. Helped Gil find the door, that is. So, from my incisive insight into the Jobs psyche, I thought I'd offer some helpful advice for the Disney directors in this difficult time. That is, assuming that the whole matter hasn't been resolved by the time this magazine goes to press.
Before Steve Jobs returned to Apple and pulled it back from the brink of death, several experts sketched out the kind of person required to do what Steve, as history records, actually did: "Right now, the job is so difficult, it would require a bisexual, blond Japanese who is 25 years old and has 15 years' experience." [Jean-Louis Gasée]; "The only person who's qualified to run this company was crucified 2000 years ago." [Michael Murphy]; "Apple is a company that still has opportunity written all over it. But you'd need to recruit God to get it done." [Charles Haggerty]; "I don't think anyone can manage Apple." [John Sculley].
Then there are some things you should know about Steve's judgment regarding movies: 1. Up until the moment John Lasseter won his first Academy Award for Tin Toy, Jobs wanted to fire him and shut down Pixar's animation division. 2. On the other hand, he did push through Lee Clow's Clio award-winning 1984 commercial, often called the best commercial ever made, over the shocked disbelief of Apple's board of directors. You'll have to decide whether the balance is positive or negative, weighing in that all-important Riding Roughshod over the Stunned Board of Directors factor.
Finally, if you don't know about his management style, you should consider what Jef Raskin said: "He would have made an excellent king of France." I get the impression, though, that Steve's management style, which evokes such comment in Silicon Valley, would not be that unusual in Hollywood. Good luck.
Michael Swaine
editor-at-large
mike@swaine.com