Page 182 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

board meeting, but I got on a late afternoon flight and, because of the time
difference, made it into the wake at 8:30 at night to pay my respects. Then
I flew the red-eye back.
My employee never forgot that. And when the company was having
some problems and I really needed him, he was a champ for me, absolutely
remarkable.
I’ve used my connections to help my employees’ families with medical
problems and with legal problems. In my experience, this builds the kind
of indelible loyalty you cannot build just by having beers with your team
after a long day. A chit system beats networking every time. Use your
power to lend people a hand in tough times, and they will use their power
to help you when you need it, too.
The fact is, if you are going to rise
high, you can expect tough times. As a
SOMETIMES, WHAT
country, we tend to root for the under-
PEOPLE NEED
dog and take delight in tearing the pow-
MOST IS RESPECT
erful apart. In the last chapter I
FOR THE FACT THAT
mentioned former Disney Chairman
THEY HAVE
Michael Eisner, an executive I really
PERSONAL LIVES.
admired. He took a moribund children’s
entertainment company and turned it
into a media powerhouse with a stable of remarkable brands and an amaz-
ing string of hits to its credit. Then the stock price weakened early in this
decade, and a group of dissident board members led by Roy Disney,Walt’s
nephew, tried to oust Eisner.
My first thought was that Roy Disney should go join the seven dwarfs
in the forest.
Yet I noticed something. Eisner was a brilliant executive who’d made
many careers, and many of his key employees had gone on to run other
organizations. He’d clearly given remarkable opportunities to the people
who worked for him. But very few of them were willing to defend him
when he was being attacked.

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