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The Disneyland Report > Disney News > Exposing the sorcerer behind Disney's magic, DisneyWar offers critique of Eisner's tenure Disney NewsExposing the sorcerer behind Disney's magic, DisneyWar offers critique of Eisner's tenureSource: Boston Globe As much as you may hate your boss, it could be worse. You could be working for Michael D. Eisner. Eisner, the long-embattled chief executive of Walt Disney Co., serves as the de facto protagonist of "DisneyWar," a sweeping history of the past 20 years of the Disney company's life by James B. Stewart, author of investigative blockbusters like "Blood Sport" and "Den of Thieves." Whether you find Disney a symbol of childhood magic or the apotheosis of promotional greed, you're likely to find "DisneyWar" an engrossing story of human foibles running amok in one of the world's most famous workplaces. And amid the ego-crazed backstabbers in this book, Eisner has no rival. A producer of both hit movies and profits at the Paramount studios in his 30s, Eisner was brought in by Walt Disney's nephew, Roy, and allies as a turnaround chief executive when the company was floundering in 1984. Eisner quickly proved his worth, making a series of cheap, high-gross movies like "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" that jump-started Disney's profits and stock performance. Eisner also forged the Pixar animation studios partnership that yielded megahits like "Toy Story." But for all the good he did Disney in his early years, as Stewart shows, Eisner rapidly revealed himself to be a dishonest megalomaniac. His ability to turn friends into enemies has been extraordinary. It also exposed Disney to eye-popping payouts to top executives Eisner brought in, then pushed out: a $140 million golden parachute for Michael Ovitz, a $280 million arbitrated payoff for Jeffrey Katzenberg. By 2003, Roy Disney, the same person who brought in Eisner in the first place, was leading the shareholder revolt to oust him. Astonishingly, Stewart reveals that three-quarters of the people who work for Eisner voted to sack him. In a book whose main fault is being more thorough than brisk, Stewart captures the chief executive in rich nuance. "Eisner is intelligent, charming and funny," Stewart writes, but there's plenty of boss-from-hell dark side: "An inability to delegate, a frequent failure to acknowledge the achievements of others, his pitting of one executive against another, his encouragement of a culture of spying and back-channeling." Eisner cooperated in several interviews with Stewart, but he is so "reckless with the truth" that Stewart warns that Eisner cannot be relied on, especially given the many "major omissions and inaccuracies" in his version of stories that Stewart already had from other sources. The former Wall Street Journal Page 1 editor has produced a rigorously reported account that pulls no punches. But this hard-boiled newsman's heart holds a soft spot for Disney, and he frets for the company's future. In his years of reporting, Stewart's copious research included a stint serving as the person inside the Goofy costume one morning at Disney World. He's a believer. "Once you've seen those children's faces," Stewart writes of the effect of Disney magic seen through the mouth of Goofy, "nothing else seems quite the same." Return to Disney News.
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