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Disney’s “Will it last 50 years?” Rule
And Athena members on what has helped them most recently
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Disney’s “Will it last 50 years?” rule
On his second day as Disney CEO in 2005, Bob Iger walked into a board meeting and pitched buying Pixar.
The company had a broken relationship with Steve Jobs. Pixar had publicly announced it was seeking new distribution partners. And the acquisition would cost $7.4 billion.
Iger did it anyway. He was thinking in decades, while others were thinking in quarters.
He saw Pixar as high-quality branded content that would endure. The kind of storytelling that would still matter in 20 or 30 years.
He made the same calculation with Marvel. $4 billion for a comic book company seemed outrageous at the time. Industry critics called it overpriced.
By 2014, Marvel films had already grossed more than Disney paid for the entire company.
Most leaders optimize for speed. They want wins this quarter. This year. Decisions that look smart immediately.
Iger built Disney by asking whether something would endure. He filtered strategic choices through a lens of permanence, then handed off execution to teams with deep expertise in those areas.
When you commit to what lasts, you stop reacting to every short-term pressure.
What’s Helped You Most Recently?
We asked a few members to share where Athena has been most impactful lately.
Their answers might surprise you.
Personal things that kept me human
"My Athena assistant called every radiologist in Portland. She's so concerned about me being overdue for a mammogram." - LY, Oregon
"She set up a care.com profile for me, interviewed and vetted babysitter candidates and found an amazing one on the first pass. Blair (my daughter) told the babysitter she loved her after their first meeting." - JK, Connecticut
"On top of managing my crazy global hours, she adds my kids' schedules to my calendar and recommends new activities based on their interests. She knows Zoe loves art and Noa loves music, and even found me an easy tutorial on TikTok to do a Rumi braid for Noa's halloween costume. She really helps me prioritize being a good mom while managing four countries and all the chaos that comes with it." - CN, California
Work that actually helped my business
"I lost my creative producer suddenly, and my XP basically stepped in and served as creative producer for our photoshoot, coordinating and booking our vendor, day of logistics, managing talent needs and wardrobe expectations, coordinating their travel." - JB, Colorado
"My XP has taken over some sales admin work for the company, where right now we're doing a lifetime upgrade campaign, and so she's helping, with another teammate, kind of filter those out. So, may sound like much, but it's saving the team a lot of time." - CC, Massachusetts
When you stop doing it all yourself, people step into roles you never imagined they could fill.
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