Penguin Random House has unveiled Bob Iger’s upcoming book One Last Time: Managing Crisis and Building Resilience at Disney, out March 1, calling it “an inspiring candid memoir of leadership in times of adversity.”
The book by the former two-time Disney CEO and author of The Ride of a Lifetime (2019), written with Dan Schwerin, is available for preorder.
The blurb on the publisher’s website tees up with a call by then-chairman of Disney’s board to the former chief executive less than a year into retirement to ask if he’d be willing to return to his old job. “Finances were shaky, leadership was flagging, morale was dangerously low, and the brand was tarnished. They needed him back.”
Iger unexpectedly departed as Disney CEO in early 2020, succeeded by his handpicked successor and head of the company’s giant Parks & Experiences division Bob Chapek, but remained at the company to oversee creative endeavors.
The Chapek reign was short and rocky. The ousted exec, in his own tome published last month, largely blamed Iger for his demise. In Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth, Chapek insists he was set up to fail.
In One Last Time, Iger returns to an entertainment industry beset by existential threats. “To survive, the company — and Iger himself — would have to become more resilient, innovative, and, above all, creative. Iger would also have to learn to be a new kind of leader, and he would be challenged in ways he never imagined,” the blurb said.
“How do you lead through periods of adversity? How do you regain the trust of employees, customers, and shareholders? Iger would have to develop a new playbook, for a new era, and he would make his share of mistakes along the way.”
