Work in progress

Work In Progress
charts the rise of Michael Eisner from running errands at NBC to running
the Disney empire. In television, as a young executive at ABC, he helped
to bring to life shows such as Happy Days and Roots. As
president of Paramount Pictures, he was responsible for films ranging
from Beverly Hills Cop to The Elephant Man. As chairman
and CEO of The Walt Disney Company for the past fourteen years, he has
orchestrated the transformation of a beloved but struggling company into
a multimedia giant, taking it back to its roots in animation and embracing
new technology to bring us modern classics like The Little Mermaid,
The Lion King and Toy Story.

Having spent his life helping other people to tell stories, Eisner now
tells his own - with humour, insight and unstinting honesty. He reveals
the negotiations behind Disney's acquisition of Cap Cities/ABC, which
catapulted the company into its current position of leadership in worldwide
entertainment. He is just as forthcoming about the difficulties of opening
and operating Disneyland Paris, the crucial negotiations to restructure
its debt, and overcoming cultural differences to win over the European
audience. Blending the personal and the professional, he tells the stories
of the tragic death of his partner and closest confidant, Frank Wells;
his own emergency quadruple bypass surgery; the high-level personnel changes
that followed; and the emergence of a new generation of young leaders
at Disney.

"My job involves juggling multiple roles and finding common ground between
conflicting impulses," he writes. "I serve not just as chief executive
officer, overseeing a team that is far more creative than I will ever
be. I'm cheerleader but also an editor; an advocate for change but also
a fierce protector of our brand." Throughout Work In Progress,
we watch Eisner grapple with the often paradoxical choices that he faces
each day in managing a creative company - an ongoing drama about risking
failure and creating success.

After earning a reputation as one of Hollywood's highly versatile and creative executives, Michael D. Eisner joined The Walt Disney Company in September 1984 as chairman and chief executive officer. He quickly initiated a programme to revitalise all areas of Disney and re-established the name as one of the world's foremost brands.