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Session Notes | Ben Sherwood Leading and Succeeding in the Age of Disruption

1 Ben Sherwood: Leading and Succeeding in the Age of Disruption Ben Sherwood served as Co-Chairman of Disney Media Networks and President of Disney | ABC Television Group from 2014 to 2019. Sherwood oversaw a portfolio of global entertainment and news properties, including the ABC Television Network, ABC News, ABC-owned television stations, the Disney Channels Worldwide, Freeform, and Disney’s ownership interest in Hulu and AETN, including History Channel, Lifetime and A+E.At Disney/ABC, Sherwood managed a 12-billion-dollar business with 12,000 employees responsible for the creation of more than 25,000 hours of original content every year. An award-winning journalist and best-selling author of both non-fiction and fiction books, Sherwood’s articles and essays have @bensherwood appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek.

Producer & Co-Chair Disney Media Networks, Author | Disney | ABC Television

Futurists believe within the next 100 years we’ll see the equivalent of 20,000 years of human progress. The speed of change is daunting.

How to lead in a time of crisis and how to lead in a time of rapid change and disruption?

Nelson’s Touch: The battle of Trafalgar in 1805 off the coast of Spain. Admiral Horatio Nelson was outgunned, out-manned and predicted to lose. It was the British Army against the Spanish and French Armada. The objective was to stop the French and Napoleon from invading Britain. He considered the battle history and how they fought parallel. Admiral Nelson made the decision to fight perpendicular– going straight at the Spanish and French lines in two columns and try to separate them into three sections he knew he could defeat. Admiral Nelson was wounded by a bullet and died after the battle. His body was given a hero’s welcome as it was brought stronger power wins 71.5% of the time. When one home to England. His statue now stands in Trafalgar side uses unconventional strategy, unconventional Square because of his bold leadership. tactics and innovative approaches, the weaker side wins 63.6% of the time. David and Goliath. Leaders What is required to be a person of need to be bold and innovative. influence? A bold leader? Actionable ideas for the bold and You need to be a farmer with a pitchfork innovative leader • The greatest swordsman in England can handle the second greatest swordsman. They know the 1. The best ideas win and the most ideas win rules. They fight by established principles. They • In 1928, a character named Mickey Mouse was train against each other. They fought each other created by Walt Disney, but he couldn’t get many times before. The greatest swordsman in distribution for those shorts and no one saw them England is afraid of a farmer with a pitchfork. In until a character named Steamboat Willie showed these times of incredible disruption, if you fight up. Picasso made 20,000 pieces of art. Einstein the orthodox way, if you lead the conventional wrote 240 papers. Edison had 1,039 patents and way, there are challenges all around. A farmer with Richard Branson has started 250 companies. a pitchfork has better chances. • It is the quality of the idea and also the quantity. • Study of asymmetrical conflict: where one side has Some of us have just one idea a day or in a week. 10 times more power than the other, they found Develop as many as you can because there is a some surprising results. When conventional tactics high correlation. Quantity counts. were used in a conventional conflict of power, the

2 Ben Sherwood Leading and Succeeding | SESSION NOTES

• Where do ideas come from? A desire to know what How to get into action and to get going and to is next. Curiosity. “Around here, we don’t look start moving backwards very long. We keep moving forward, In an airplane accident, the first 90 seconds are all that opening new doors and doing new things because matters, because in 90 seconds a cabin can go from we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading down survivable and breathable to a flash fire that becomes new paths.” Walt Disney unsurvivable. So in 90 seconds, you’ve got to get off that plane. 2. Believe in Magic • Have a plan A and a plan B. When you believe in something, believe it all the way. • Count the rows to the nearest exit. Count them, Story of Walt Disney: Walt’s first full-length animated memorise them. feature was known widely for years in Hollywood as • Then count the rows to the next nearest exit and Disney’s folly. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cost memorise them. In the dark or smoke, or if you’re $1.5 million in 1937 and took years to produce. It was disoriented, you may have to find your way using three times over budget but when it premiered, it was your hands and not being able to see. the most successful movie. • Don’t medicate yourself. Don’t blindfold yourself. Don’t go to sleep with earphones in your ears. 3. What are you waiting for? • Wear your shoes. Don’t wear flip flops that can fall off. You may have to run across glass and hot The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. metal and gasoline. • Remember the rule of +3 and -8. The first three Secrets of leading in crisis minutes of flight and the last eight minutes of flight are when 80% of the incidents happen. Lessons from the FAA Crash Survival Institute on how to survive a plane crash. Why go through this in such detail? There are very • On your next flight, your chances of an accident important lessons for leading organisations and and perishing are 1 in 60 million. You have to fly businesses and institutions through crisis. every day for the next 164,000 years for your ticket Lessons from the Naval Aviation Survival School to come up. Even if you’re involved in an accident, 95.7% of the people who are in actual accidents When you are in trouble or a crisis: survive. In the most serious crashes, 76.6% survive. 1. Maintain your point of reference • When you’re upside down in the water, know • The FAA teaches the rule of 10-80-10 – critical to which way the bubbles are going and which way is all leaders when you face your next emergency, up your next crisis.The theory of 10-80-10 posits that in any emergency, earthquakes, tsunamis, aviation • Know where you are and where you’re trying to go. incidents, 10% of the people in the emergency • No matter how hard you get hit, no matter how emerge as leaders. They know what to do. hard the knock is, if you maintain your point of They know where to go. They take care of other reference, you stay on course. people and they lead others to safety. What do • It’s when people lose their point of reference that the 80 do? The 80 do nothing. 80% of the people we can get lost. in emergency situations, a fire in a building, a shooting, 80% freeze and wait for a person in a 2. Wait for sudden and violent motion to stop position of authority to tell them what to do. 10%, Things will settle. the last 10, are those who engage in negative or • counterproductive behavior. • In the calm, you can grab a hold of the team and inspire them to pursue the direction that you’ve The most important part of the theory is to think • set out. about the surprising fact that the 10% who are They always do and this is when the calmest and leaders are emergent leaders. They are not • coolest decisions can be made. necessarily the president of the company, the CEO, the vice president or the manager. 3. Practice realistic optimism The real issue is how to go from the 80% who do • James Stockdale was the highest-ranking officer in nothing and who freeze and move into the 10% Vietnam serving as a prisoner of war. He remarked who are emergent leaders. There the answer is that the optimists were not the ones who survived. that we can all do that. 3 Ben Sherwood Leading and Succeeding | SESSION NOTES

• Optimists rode their emotions up and they rode their emotions down and it was too much for them–the dashed expectations. • When brutality continued, Stockdale observed it was the realistic optimists who endured and survived and managed to lead. • A realistic optimist is someone who has an unflinching sense of their surroundings, ruthlessly honest about the challenges that they face. • True situational awareness–the military term for all of the threats and the realism to maintain optimism about the future. • Hope that they will get out alive. Hope that they will find a path. • When asked about that hope, that optimism, the prisoners of war told Stockdale that it’s because of their faith in God, their country, their family and their friends.

The power of faith and community is undeniable. Research tells us that people who attend church regularly live 7.7 years longer than people who do not.

• It speaks to the power of the community, the behaviours and the leadership that come from religious organisations around the world. • 80% (5.2 billion people) of the world’s population is involved in organised religion. • Religious attendance and religious participation drive psychological, social and behavioural benefits. • Faith is such a powerful survival tool and it is a powerful leadership tool.

Only connect… Beyond farmers with pitchforks, beyond the power of many ideas, beyond waiting for the violent and sudden motion to stop, follow this advice from a famous movie director: ‘Only connect…’

• Connect with your fellow men and women. • Connect with the mysteries around us. • Connect one to many. • Connect one on one. • The power of your ability to connect with the people that you want to influence is the most important power of all. • If you want to increase your influence, if you want to increase your boldness, if you want to be the leader you were meant to be, connect.

4 Leading and Succeeding | NEXT STEPS Ben Sherwood

Drawing on first-hand experience leading Disney and 10% of the people engage in negative or ABC Television Group through a period of tremendous counterproductive behaviour. disruption, Ben Sherwood provides insights into what Recall a particular time in your organisation or on your it takes to lead boldly during times of change. In his team, when an unexpected challenge occurred. Who talk, Ben describes key leadership learnings that he has did you find emerged as a leader? What 2-3 challenging gathered throughout his leadership years and invites leadership opportunities can you share with those us to apply them to our own leadership journeys. individuals to develop their leadership?

Innovative Leadership Leading Through Turbulent Times Ben shares the importance of “Nelson’s touch”— Ben describes the process he learned in a simulated the description of a naval leader who altered history helicopter crash, where he was exposed to the process by winning a battle based upon a shift he made in of leading through turbulent times. He shares 4 steps: conventional war tactics which had never been seen maintain your point of reference, wait for sudden and before. How can you practise “Nelson’s touch”? violent motions to stop, practise realistic optimism, and What innovative approaches might your team and/ only connect. or organisation consider employing in order to more effectively serve your customers? Maintain Your Point of Reference How would you describe your team and/or organisation’s Ben encourages leaders to be “a farmer with a current level of impact toward its mission? pitchfork”—a resolve that disrupts the conventional and leads toward innovation. What rules of convention What 2-3 measurable actions can you take to mark in your industry can you challenge to innovate toward a progress from where you are to where you want to be? better future? Be as specific as possible. Wait for Sudden and Violent Motion to Stop The Power of Many Ideas Ben shares that in disruptive times, the violent and Ben shares that both the quantity and quality of ideas sudden motion will stop. Once it clears, you can create is critical to leading in the midst of changing times and a clear path forward. What have been a few recent he urges leaders to stay curious in order to generate disruptive conversations, market occurrences, or ideas. Write 2-3 questions that can lead yourself and sudden, violent circumstances that you have needed your team to being more curious and would provide a to navigate well? Which of those occurrences would path of innovation in your industry. benefit from a time of waiting and providing space for clarity to emerge? Make a list of which employees, customers, and/or peer perspectives you can invite to speak into those Practise Realistic Optimism questions in order to cultivate curiosity. A realistic optimist has an unflinching sense of their The Theory of 10-80-10 surroundings, is ruthlessly honest about threats and the reality of those threats, but still maintains optimism Ben shares learnings from an FAA airplane crash for the future. Identify 2-3 barriers or threats that survival school he experienced that reveals how people face your team and/or organisation at this time. How respond in times of emergency. This is where he can you reframe those threats into opportunities to discovered the theory of 10-80-10: achieve that better future? Spend some time reflecting 10% of the people in an emergency will emerge as individually or as a team. leaders. They are decisive, take care of others, and lead them to safety. Only Connect 80% of people do nothing. They wait for a person in What connections (relational, spiritual or emotional) do a position of authority to tell them what to do. you need to make to increase your influence, boldness and leadership potential?

Ben Sherwood Resources ‘GLS Team Edition on USB’ Team Edition ON USB bit.ly/gls19te

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5 Ben Sherwood Leading and Succeeding | SUMMARY

ACT

When reflecting on all the takeaways from Ben’s talk, what are TWO key lessons from this talk that you can implement in your leadership during times of crisis?

6 YOU HAVE INFLUENCE How are you using it?

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