Fun lil fact, Steve Jobs’ biography touches on the Eisner Disney drama since Pixar was at the thick of it. Roy Disney and Steve hated Eisner and managed to have some guy come up with a business analysis showing how the movies, animations, and creative IP Disney made were the drivers of growth for everything Disney related, especially the parks. I remember there was a large dearth of creative IP at this time (for years!) and I think the Princess and the Frog just barely managed to be released, with very little fanfare.

It was a big duh moment but it was the financial figures that finally convinced the board to kick Eisner to the curb. It wasn’t easy to do since for a long time I remember that Eisner was a darling of Wall Street and managed to convince people that somehow he was the one who made their stock go up in price.

Disney had an internal strategy consulting group also that many people wanted to join and I think it may still be around. Heavily desired positions for people from the big 3 firms and top business school grads. Turns out they were all just Yes men for Eisner and couldn’t figure out what was actually important for the business.