Jamal Reimer - Mega Deal Secrets: How to Find and Close the Biggest Deal of Your Career

A Mega Deal is a business transaction with the potential to change the fortunes of a company and impact the lives of many people. Its the kind of deal Robert Iger had in mind when he stepped into the conference room for his first board meeting as CEO of the Walt Disney Company in September 2005. The company was in a tailspin after fending off a hostile takeover attempt from Comcast, removing longtime CEO Michael Eisner from his post by force, and receiving harsh public criticism from Roy Disney, who referred to the selection process that put Iger into the executive role as a sham.

It was a cool California evening, and anticipation hung in the air as Iger took his place for the first time at the head of the long conference table and faced down the ten men and women who made up Disneys board of directorsa few of whom had opposed his appointment to the bitter end.

Generally, a CEOs first board meeting isnt the time to propose a radical and risky new deal. In this situation Iger was supposed to give a rah-rah-go-get-em motivational speech, show some financial projection graphs with lines trending sharply upward in the near future, and finish off with a bit of were-all-in-this-together corporate talk. Then he was supposed to end the meeting early and spend the rest of the evening shaking hands, smiling, exchanging pleasantries, and trying to inspire confidence that he had everything under control.

Except Bob Iger had something very different in mind.

As you all know, he said, jumping right into it, Disney Animation is a real mess. He described a scene hed witnessed a few weeks earlier, when hed flown to China for the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland. As part of the opening ceremonies, the park put on a massive parade, and Iger watched as a long series of floats marched down Main Street. First came characters from all of Disneys most iconic films, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. Then there were some big characters from Disneys hits of the 1980s and early 90s, like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Finally, there were more recent characters from the films they had done with Pixar: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc.

Do you guys notice anything about this parade? Bob asked the board members. They shook their heads. Nothing stood out to them about the floats. There are barely any Disney characters from the last ten years, Iger concluded.

By pointing out this detail, Bob must have quietly set off silent explosions in the heads of all the board members. There was instant recognition of a massive problem. And a sense of dread and threat that can make the most powerful businesspeople squirm in their seats. Thoughts like How could we have missed that? were likely zipping around their neural networks, kicking off hits of adrenaline, preparing fight-or-flight responses.

This was a masterful display of revealing an insight, a major theme of this book and a skill every seller intent on closing Mega Deals needs in her toolbox.

He then displayed a list of recent Disney films: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, The Emperors New Groove, Atlantis, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, and Home on the Range. Some received mild box office success, but none were hailed by critics. Worse, Disney had spent over a billion dollars making and marketing these films, yet their animation department had lost nearly $400 million during the previous ten years. The board knew things were bad, but the numbers had never been presented to them in black and white like this.

Then Iger flipped to the next slide, which displayed market research hed been conducting. Disneys prime demographic is mothers with children under the age of twelve, so Iger had surveyed a large group of these moms from across the country and asked them to rate which movie studio produced films that were good for their family. The results were clear. Pixar was beating Disney. Mothers loved Pixar films, while they viewed Disney as over the hill and irrelevant.

This cant be about the past, Iger said, sensing tempers starting to rise in the room. He didnt want to point fingers or cast blame, he wanted to move forward. Theres nothing we can do about the bad creative decisions that were made and disappointing films that were released. But theres a lot we can do to change the future, and we need to start now.

Then Iger used a phrase he would return to repeatedly during the coming months.

As Disney Animation goes, so goes the company, he said. I feel enormous pressure to figure this out. The drum is already beating for me to solve this problem.

Iger was laying down the gauntlet, raising the stakes around the importance of fixing Disneys animated-film problem and casting it as his number one issue to address to lead the entire company forward. In so doing, he made it a Core Imperativethe highest priority of the senior management team to be addressed immediately during the current fiscal year.

He explained that he saw three possible ways to proceed. First, they could keep the current team in place, but this didnt seem likely to work. Second, they could try to bring in new blood, but hed been searching for six months and had been unable to find the right people.

Or, he said, we could buy Pixar.

The room erupted into chaos at this suggestion. Everyone was suddenly talking over each other. Pixar was valued at $6 billion, someone pointed out. Steve Jobs personally owned half the companys stock, said someone else, and theres no way he would ever sell to Disney. The financials would never work out, came a third voice.

Some board members were firmly against the idea of buying Pixar, but enough were intrigued that Iger was given tentative approval to talk to Steve Jobs and Pixars leaders, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, about whether they might consider selling.

The next day, Iger got Jobs on the phone and asked if he could visit in a few days to discuss a crazy idea. The two men had gotten to know each other while negotiating a deal to include Disney content on Apples new iPod Video, which was due to be released in a week.

Tell me now, Jobs said. Iger remembered he was talking to a man who loved crazy ideas.

After putting himself on the line in front of the board, Iger was under pressure to come through. Sitting in his car after arriving home on a warm evening, he broke into a sweat as he mustered up the nerve to make his ask. Would Jobs be offended at what he was about to propose?