Michael Eisner on media, liberal arts & more

Michael Eisner ’64, former CEO of the Walt Disney Company and a life trustee at Denison, continues to be a major force in the media industry. In the current issue of WSJ. Magazine, he shares his thoughts on a range of subjects, from the transformation of media over time (including what’s to come) to his dynamic career in the entertainment business, to what it takes to succeed. And along those lines, we especially like his reflections on the liberal arts:

“I would much rather hire an executive who has taken courses in history and philosophy and language and art, and English and Russian literature than somebody who has only studied a single element of one subject. When my son wanted to go to undergraduate film school, I called George Lucas, who told him: Don’t go. Learning to make a movie is like learning to drive. Anybody can learn to drive. It’s where you drive that counts.”