Michael Eisner: "Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-15/michael-eisner-working-together-why-great-partnerships-succeed
![Michael Eisner and Barry Diller at a Forbes "MEET" event, 2006 - Flickr user sdk](http://thedianerehmshow.org/sites/thedianerehmshow.org/files/imagecache/620xH/images/headline/eisner.jpg "Michael Eisner and Barry Diller at a Forbes "MEET" event, 2006 - Flickr user sdk")
The former Disney CEO offers a personal look at some of America's most successful business collaborations - including his own with the late Frank Wells.
Guests
Michael Eisner
Founder of the Tornante Company, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, co-author of "Working Together" with Aaron Cohen.
Comments
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Disney and the others - there's only about 6 companies - by their synergy, and other business practices, ruined the arts, the media and their own companies. The arts, by reducing it to safe generic art that made money, they ruined the media, because to get ad dollars they have to praise this false art, and refuse to talk about the art and media revolution of quality in every art, and they ruined their companies, because though the immediate return in money was high, they have no legacy, no real art that will last.
They have done great harm to our country.
I'm interested in Michael's thoughts on partnerships that clearly are not working. Based on his knowledge now, is there a way to salvage the relationships? Looking back on his relationship with Katzenberg, is there anything he could have done differently to possibly change the outcome?
Did Eisner actually write this book? Given the question the caller asked about the difficultly fostering partnerships in a competitive environment made me wonder. Isn't partnership pretty difficult when the person wanting partnership is in a pool of powerlessness? Eisner talks from an entrepreneurial or leadership position, leaving a lot of questions littered about.
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes.
By the way, yes, in the Disney movies, the mother is aways in jeopardy. Always.
Mr. Eisner, Disney in Orlando is well known to be an employer that treats its employees dismally, including rates of pay. Another issue, the X rated entertainment that Disney churns out under a fictitious name, disgusting! No, the Disney squeaky clean image is NOT accurate. It's all about exhorbitant charges to go to the parks, highly commercialized atmosphere once you get into the parks--not a positive experience and far too expensive for middle-class families!
I can't emphasize how much I disapprove of Michael Eisner and the effect he had at Disney while there. It was not a positive one!
Hi,
I did get nightmares from "Dumbo." When I was little I would see flying elephants as soon as the lights went out. That scene with Dumbo getting drunk and having a bad acid trip was pretty amazing. I'm the only person I've ever heard of that got nightmares from the movie as far as I know.
Lee
What Mr Eisner is describing are not partnerships. What he is describing is the role of a trusty sidekick. Judging from this interview this man would not know a true partnership from a tire.
He also does not seem to have much to say. Terrible listener.
What I draw from this interview is here is a tone-deaf, irascible, self absorbed caricature of a CEO.
I am a 20 year old female, and I totally disagree with Eisner on the affect that characters like Hannah Montana have on young girls. Disney channel alone has a huge influence of young girls, and how they see themselves. It seems to me Disney channel is conveying a sense of a false reality. At least Lindsay Lohan doesn't have her own show. I think Eisner should be slower to point his finger at other people when Disney really does play a big role. I can definitely say I am not a fan of either Eisner or Disney.
Dianne should have had the real author there, maybe then we could have had an intelligent discussion. The first caller had an excellent question, which he could not even begin to answer and Dianne was apparently too afraid of Eisner to clearly redirect him to answer the question. I am referring to the caller asking how to create partnerships in a competitive environment. - you know WHERE MOST OF THE MIDDLE CLASS LIVES.
Diane was so obsequious I almost though I was listening to Charlie Rose.
Diane, thank you for asking Mr Eisner about and encouraging him to consider the impact of Disney's female role models on America's girls and young women. As the former CEO of Disney, a company that has been a long-term contributor to American popular culture, Mr. Eisner showed a surprising level of ignorance about the influence of mainstream culture on youth. I think a problem with cultural media companies today is this type of ignorance at the top. It suggests that a company is focused on profit gain with no consideration of their products' affects on their audience.
Janis Lentz: Could you share with us some of the aliases Disney uses to make porn? A friend once showed me a thumbnail of a porn actor closely resembling a popular TV star. She said notice his humped nose: He had to do gay porn for Disney to get it fixed. Then he became a hot Disney property in the mainstream. That's not what I'd call a funniest home video, sounds more like sex slavery. No wonder Hannah Montana's eyes look so crazy.
I agree exactly with what the first poster said about art being made impossible by behemoth corporations in the USA. People have lost the taste for mind-building art. It parallels politics and diet.
Partnership? More like collusion!
It's hard to interview money isn't it, Diane Rehm?
I try to see the big picture from the molecular or rather cellular model of social ecology, I see the "partner" as being 1 in 1,000,000 as a policy [politial cultural VISION] failure of GEOGRAPHY-YOUTH and NORMATIVE geo-regions, NOT a lottery of luck.
The History Park... [missing INFO] sounds fantastic just add basic technology learning, put words and pictures [for international illiterate UNDERSTANDING] on a BIG POSTER and mass produce them and put them everywhere! like tourist and motorway waysides and rest stops plus all schools.... Batten them up at night or when vandals are unwhatched. an example of a technology poster would be very basic "geology field testing" and road/driveway ideal construction, take some dirt [any fill or "clean fill"] and mix it with water with your finger and if it's muddy........... that's not "clean". And puting all the material where it belongs [sans ambiguity or ignorance]
Also you droped alot of names, but I have no Idea of their connection nor even what they look like/who they are, FAMILY TREES are more exemplary and functional than "uhh" ...and you could "lead us" where ever you wish.
In research I find very few "leaders" who """grew up""" in FANTASTIC CALIFORNIA yet this is where many adults [age 17 and up or only one local parent] nurish their CREATIONS! not their children...
I am also intrigued about persons "vocal tone"/attitude? and how to lay down the law of success, or good entertainment [Walts Mickey voice] is good entertainment, and ...is that what people like vs a "serious management" ["Skinner!.." the simpsons priciple].
was the Risk of creating in CALIFORNIA, less or more innocent in earlier times [walt disney's era -pre tv, pre wwii...]
I think they've got Mickey by the ears.... ha ha, but it is a joke of social ecology that really ain't funny "Doc" and bugs bunny in drag is? ...you tell me
@ Feedback:
Unfair, Diane brought up Hannah Montana, pretty much kicking his butt with it, and he slithered away.
fantastic question! [and so brief] I think that Management deals almost entirely with SECRETS, and playful authority to sternly elude...
Walt Disney -if he ever did... answer questions on the spot, would have made a cartoon or perhaps a puppet show?[immoral?] and had his miniun Goofy of Brutis answer...
PARTNERSHIPS are a result of traditional social ecology [N.Y. --not! California childhood -no goats? in cartoons] . with that geographic part you add strict christian [or manga style- ;muslim goats???] RESPECT-U2- to the "I.D." equation [ignore that man behind the curtain] and values are almost trivial beyond that ...capacity.
Diane, I just finished reading the Atlantic article that Mr. Eisner was referring to and I cannot find any mention of the list of "happiness factors" that Mr. Eisner gave us and, although I haven't read any of the Harvard studies that are underlying the article, I seriously doubt that this longitudinal study was ever used for such simplistic purposes. Add to that the astonishing answers that Mr. Eisner gave to some of the callers' questions - his hard-to-believe assertion that he didn't know about Mr. Hightower's firing, his admission that Disney's management was not preoccupied by the sexualization effect that some of the Disney characters may have - and he gives me the impression of someone who will not let the truth stand in the way of his life's tale.
Be that as it may, I do believe he is onto something with his emphasis on the importance of sustained, nurturing relationships. I just wish that someone more credible than Mr. Eisner would study the subject as it could provide a very valuable input to the current debate on the legalization of same-sex marriage.
It is hilarious that Disney and Eisner go around accusing historians and professors of trying to "own" history. Why would people who care about scholarship and primary sources be worried that the same company that made Pocahontas and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World trying to teach civics and history to the public.
Furthermore, I hold Mr. Eisner fully and personally responsible for the travesty that is Little Mermaid II and III and Cinderella II and III. A chuck of my soul--the part that was the annoying 6 year old who watch Cinderella every day for an entire summer and the 10 year who begged for the Ariel Barbie with the mermaid tail that changed colors when wet--died when I saw them in stores.
From the horse's mouth:
"We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective."
That statement, written by Eisner in an internal memo, sums up perfectly how concerned he is the ethics of his product.
What else can he say regarding the impact of Disney female characters on young girls?
Diane, you are concerned about your 8 year old granddaughter, and for good reason. Girls from toddler through teen certainly absorb the harmful messages of these characters. Thank you for asking the hard questions. They need to be asked, and asked again, until something changes.
DisneyPrincessRecovery.blogspot.com