#406: Bob Iger — CEO and Chairman of Disney

It's important to be a realist. I'm not one of those people that believe everything will work out fine all the time, but I do believe that making sure the possibility of something working out fine is very apparent, instead of the opposite — 'This will never work out,' or, 'There's no way we will accomplish this,' or, 'There's no way we can do this.'

I exercise alone six days a week, and it gives me the time to dream, to think, to create, to prioritize, to reflect, you name it. I find there's an energizing quality to all of that, but there's also a calming quality, and it's served me extremely well, almost to the point of being a savior of sorts. In the most pressured times, in the busiest times, in the times of even the most uncertainty or concern, I have that quiet time to exercise. It gives me a chance to rejuvenate and put things in perspective.

If you look at everything through a dark and gloomy lens, it becomes a deterrent to having the energy to be happy or having the energy for things to work out. It creates a negative energy as opposed to the opposite. I think you need a positive energy for your life to be positive.

As you get older, if you do let the small stuff sweat you, you're just going to brush off all this extra energy that would be better allocated elsewhere.

I'm a big believer in being true to oneself. Until you're true to oneself, you can't be true to others.

I know, when I was really young, that I had a tendency to lose my temper like him [Bob's father]. As I got more and more in tune with his issues, I became more and more capable of controlling mine. I was able to suppress my expression of anger in a very, very effective way, and that has served me well, and lasted pretty much a lifetime.

Understanding, sometimes the hard way, by losing people you're close to, that life, in fact, isn't endless; it's short. Because of that, there are things in life that just aren't important enough to cause anger, sorrow, conflict, or whatever.

Walk away, and don't allow things that really don't matter to matter. Make sure that the things that really do matter, in fact, matter.

Sometimes, a couple of really big pros far outweigh many, many cons.

I need quiet time, I need alone time, I need a time to be still with my thoughts. Exercise provides that for me.

Oftentimes, doors open to opportunity for people, and not everyone is able to walk through them for a variety of reasons. I've always been really fortunate that whenever a door opened — meaning a door to opportunity — I walked through it. I never walked away from it.

I worked for great people over a long period of time. I was in the business for 30 years before I got the job as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. 30 years — that's a long education.

I happen to believe that a good negotiation is one that's conducted efficiently and effectively. I don't think it's something that should necessarily be protracted because it takes a lot of time and energy.

I don't think life is as planned as young people think it is.