Michael D. Eisner

1. WORKING
TOGETHER
BOOKCLUB
181124
by Michael D. Eisner

2. MICHAEL D. EISNER
One of the leader in America’s entertainment
industry for four decades. Most notably in
Paramount & Disney, which he did wonders
for the later with his then partner.
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3. What Makes A Successful Partnership?
• Balance between intellect &
emotion.
• When two parties make a balance
to create harmony of the conscious
& unconscious. To make each
other smarter & better.
• It encourage a series of
characteristics: trust, teamwork,
regard for others, continuing check
and balance.
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“Where I learned 1+1=3 (if not much more)”
Michael Eisner & Frank Wells

5. Who are Michael Eisner & Frank Wells?
• Two very different people who were very successful on their own
who accepted the offer from Disney to be Co-CEOs.
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6. Why Their Partnership Worked So Well?
• They treat each other as Partners. “No one was going to get
between us and play one against the other.”
• Honesty, directness, and a certain amount of mutual respect go a
long way. Ethics & morality pay.
• They know each other’s jobs, and they do their portions of work
well. Have a sense of what was right.
• “Help each other”
• KEY: tell each other the complete story, mutual trust.
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“Warren and I are kind of historical accident.
It's not a standard model.”
Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger

9. Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger: sum’d up
• Warren Buffett is the kind of person who looks at the positive side
of things.
• Charlie Munger is Warren’s unofficial partner in everything. His
official position is Vice Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway.
• Charlie Munger is an alpha who willingly takes the secondary role
to Warren.
• They work so well even though they don’t meet each other often.
• Charlie is NOT a superficial cheerleader to Warren Buffett.
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10. Key Lessons:
• Enjoy, be excited, and have fun with your partners.
• Integral to their success: different roles, but similar habits and
enthusiasm.
• They don’t meet nor talk often, but they are still very up-to-date
thanks to their reading & studying habits.
• Ethics over IQ.
• Warren didn’t get there by himself.
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“Be Smarter & Faster”
Bill & Melinda Gates

12. Bill & Melinda: Marriage of Tight-knit Family
• Bill and Melinda are both enthusiastic and quick people.
• They are very different, but they have the same goal on what to
accomplish together.
• Bill is smart as a rocket, but Melinda is smarter in seeing the
bigger picture.
• They never agreed on the concept of ‘fighting to get closer.’
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13. Partnership doesn’t always have to take the same shape.
Be interested in each other’s study.
Share all with what they think is right.
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“We view the world differently, but we arrive at the same
conclusions”
Brian Grazer & Ron Howard

15. Brian & Ron: The Newbie & Ex-Child Star
• Brian’s main asset is
confidence and drive. He met
Ron during his personal goal
of meeting and make new
relation with one person each
day.
• Both are very enthusiastic &
quick people.
• One of their early result: Night
Shift.
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16. KEYS of Brian & Ron Partnership:
• They understand and are not
too fazed by differences
(especially in income and
fame for certain projects).
• They are very different yet
they have the same goal on
what to accomplish together.
• They share what they think is
right.
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“This isn’t a story about money, or fashion, or power.
It’s a story about love.”
Valentino & Giancarlo Giammetti

18. Valentino & Giancarlo:
Their Love (& Work) Story – part. 1
• Giancarlo first joined Valentino when young Valentino’s fashion
house was failing due to no one in his team have any idea what
they were doing.
• With Giancarlo doing everything, he let Valentino stayed in his
studio with his clothes.
• The story of Giancarlo was only exposed when Valentino
mentioned him in a speech, and became widely known after the
release of Valentino: The Last Emperor.
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19. Valentino & Giancarlo:
Their Love (& Work) Story – part. 2
• Giancarlo is willingly, and never
protested to be under the shadow of
Valentino’s spotlight. Even though
he does almost 85% of the work.
• Valentino is the romantic look back,
while Giancarlo is the anchor to the
present.
• KEY: be effective to someone’s
cause & success. Be happy on each
role.
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20. STEVE RUBELL & IAN SCHRAGER
Steve: charismatic and creative genius.
Ian: steady and business-focused presence.
Opening Studio 54, a nightclub, in 1977.
.
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21. STEVE RUBELL AND IAN SCHRAGER
“In partnership, there
was one character
happy for the limelight,
and another who had
no desire for it.”
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Steve and Ian buy the Executive Hotel on Madison Avenue.
It’s a down-and-out place they renovated and renamed Morgan’s.
They started hotel business.

23. “If you push toward the edge,
you must make sure not to go over it.”
It’s one massive lesson learned the hard way through his
partnership with Steve.
You can be born with basic intelligence and a basic
personality, but you can learn ethics. Many don’t do that.
STEVE RUBELL AND IAN SCHRAGER
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24. When Ian do project, he don’t really care about the credit.
Because if you’re sharing in something really successfull,
what do you care about the credit?
STEVE RUBELL AND IAN SCHRAGER
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25. Arthur: savvy, entrepreneurial accountant and former drugstore CEO.
Bernie: brilliant, visionary salesman.
Together, they built the second-largest retailer in the United States, Home
Depot.
•
ARTHUR BLANK AND BERNIE MARCUS
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26. They have a lot of shared philosophies about life and business,
and same kinds of values, also almost same background.
What distinguish them from each other is their styles > big
advantages to the Home Depot.
“It was always about the business. Whenever we did anything, the
question was, Is it good for the business?”
ARTHUR BLANK AND BERNIE MARCUS
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27. According to Marcus, an enterpreneur’s weakness is that they
know no boundaries and restraints.
So you got to find somebody who’s:
+ Financially oriented and whose judgement you can trust.
+ Will not stop you, only slow you down.
And Marcus found Arthur to fill the spot.
ARTHUR BLANK AND BERNIE MARCUS
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28. “A good partnership has to allow for a certain amount of separation.”
SUSAN FENIGER &
MARY SUE
MILLIKEN
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29. In 1981, City Café on Melrose Avenue was born,
People describe the partnership as:
“They finish each other’s sentences, complete each other’s
thoughts, and answer each other’s questions even before
they’re asked.”
They started from scratch together and stayed attached
through years of expansion.
SUSAN FENIGER AND MARY SUE MILLIKEN
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30. In the end, they are on different path, but they are still partners
and apparently it’s possible.
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31. The core of all this: TRUST
Going into business with someone takes trust.
Growing that business with the same person takes even more trust.

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JOE TORRE &
DON ZIMMER
Joe Torre : Manager who brave to take a decision.
Don Zimmer : Coach who gives good advice and strategies.

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JOE TORRE AND DON ZIMMER
“Brave to do something against the flow”

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JOE TORRE AND DON ZIMMER
The equation manages sports and business:
+ Play with the rules that are needed.
+ In all leadership, selflessly pushes in the right direction.
+ Achieving common goals and personal agendas sometimes
collide with that goal.
+ Requires a strong leader.

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JOE TORRE AND DON ZIMMER
“As a manager, Don Zimmer quickly earned a reputation for
not being afraid to do unexpected.”

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“With a partner, Torre began to manage more confidently.”
When Joe Torre hired Don Zimmer, he knew he was getting an
experienced baseball man not afraid to go with his gut.
What he didn't know was that getting something much more valuable -- as
loyal and honest a friend and partner as he's ever had in his career.
The manager who had for so long been afraid of failure was not matched
with a partner who never gave a damn if he got fired tomorrow.
JOE TORRE AND DON ZIMMER

37. “Decisions are made with your head and your heart.”

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Michael Gordon is the skeptic.
John Angelo is the optimist.
JHON ANGELO & MICHAEL GORDON

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JHON ANGELO AND MICHAEL GORDON
• They are respected not only for being successful but also for
being conservative, reasonable, and ethical, attributes more
critical than ever in financial circles.
• They are an enterprise doing it right in an environment where
so many other companies are doing it terribly wrong.

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EPILOG - HAPPINESS
Partnership made these people happy, and happier than they would have
been had they worked for their success alone.
Wealth and social class didn’t mean anything, and even exercise helped
only so much.
What mattered was having real communication with someone, love, and
friendship all of which you get through a sustained loving marriage or
significant relationship, strong continued contact with your siblings,
extended communication with grown children, and satisfying business
partnerships.

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EPILOG - HAPPINESS
They are people who are happy through partnerships, because they are
capable passing wisdom down to future generations, and being
adaptable and able to bounce back from disappointments.

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EPILOG - HAPPINESS
WORKING TOGETHER is much better
than WORKING ALONE.

43. THANK YOU