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Media Leadership Style Analysis Of Michael Eisner

Running head: MEDIA LEADERSHIP STYLE ANALYSIS OF MICHAEL EISNER

Media Leadership Style Analysis of Michael Eisner
Whitney M. Wright
Regent University

Media Leadership Style Analysis of Michael Eisner
Media Leadership Example
Michael Eisner was recruited by Walt Disney Company from Paramount Pictures in 1984 to help Disney out of its financial slump in the 80’s. Eisner helped revamp Disney’s theme parks as well as rejuvenating their movie studio. In the process, Eisner helped “make Disney into a television powerhouse, climaxing those efforts with the takeover of Capital Cities-ABC…yet when Michael Eisner assumed leadership of the company, Disney was in trouble. It was Eisner and his staff who turned the ailing theme park company into a media powerhouse” (Gomery, 1995). Eisner moved over to Disney from Paramount taking along with him Jeffery Katzenberg to make motion pictures under two new brand names: Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures. Eisner and Katzenberg worked well together until 1994 when they got into a dispute over a promised promotion as well as litigation involving a breach of contract lawsuit where Disney owed Katzenberg around $250 million. “The two sides reached a partial settlement in November 1997 in which Disney conceded that Mr. Katzenberg was owed something, and Disney paid Mr. Katzenberg $117 million” (Fabrikant, 1999).
Michael Eisner has been widely criticized in press releases of his obsessive micromanagement and autocratic leadership style. In one article, Michael Eisner is said to have “been one of the most autocratic, and the best-paid, chief executives in America, a man who has had little patience for anyone questioning his leadership of Walt Disney” (Economist, 2004). It has been noted that “Michael Eisner’s Disney has been a case study in poor corporate governance. Over the years, the board was disproportionately stocked with insiders, professionals who had dealings with the company, people whose children’s or...