In January 2000, Robert Iger was named president and chief operating officer of ABC's corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, making him second-in­ command to Disney chairman Michael Eisner. The promotion capped a remarkably steady 25-year ascent of the corporate ladder at ABC, where Iger had thrived even as ABC was absorbed twice by outside firms­ first by Capital Cities Communications in 1985 and then by Disney in 1995. In both cases -and particularly after the Disney purchase- Iger was given a large measure of responsibility for merging the operations of ABC with those of a new parent company, which required not only a talent for softening the collision of corporate cultures, but also the discipline and tact needed to carry out sweeping change.

     Iger is widely recognized as a steady, patient leader with the diplomatic skills for managing egos in a supremely competitive environment. However, given that ABC has struggled mightily in the decade following the Disney merger, his legacy remains unclear. Iger's ascendance may say less about his leadership than about his skills as a master politician whose greatest accomplishment may be his own survival, particularly when considering how many colleagues have exited through the revolving door of Disney's executive suite while Iger has persevered. Although Iger has risen to become second-in-command to Michael Eis­ner, one should be careful not to assume that he is Eis­ner's successor; indeed, it is difficult to predict where he will be in the years to come.

     Robert Iger was born in 1951 and raised in a middle­ class household on Long Island. He attended Ithaca College in upstate New York, where he graduated with a degree in communications. His career at ABC began in 1974 when he moved to New York City and became a studio supervisor for soap operas and game shows.

     In 1976 he joined ABC Sports, where he received six promotions over the next twelve years and advanced through a series of increasingly significant positions. For several years he managed program planning for ABC's flagship sports program, Wide World of Sports. In 1985 he became vice president of programming for ABC Sports, where, among other duties, he helped to coordinate Olympic coverage and was responsible for setting the schedule of events at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Iger's grace under fire during the Calgary Olympics brought him to the attention of Capital Cities president Dan Burke. Warm weather in Calgary, followed by melting snow and ice at the Olympic sites, played havoc with ABC's schedule. With millions of dollars in advertising revenue on the line and others panicking, Iger kept his cool and juggled the schedule. An impressed Burke anointed Iger as a future leader of ABC and placed him on the corporate fast track.

     Iger was made executive vice-president of the ABC television network group in 1988, where he learned the intricacies of network business affairs, negotiated contracts for prime-time programming, and resolve scheduling conflicts arising between the entertainment, sports, and news divisions at ABC. Iger had held this position for only seven months when Burke and Capital Cities chairman Tom Murphy made him the surprise choice to succeed Brandon Stoddard as the president of ABC entertainment in March 1989.

     Iger made a strong impression by making series commitments to two of the most radical dramas in tele­ vision history, both developed by Brandon Stoddard: Twin Peaks, produced by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and the musical police drama Cop Rock, pro­duced by Steven Bochco. In championing Twin Peaks (which lost viewers and was canceled after its second season) and Cop Rock (which was canceled after only a few episodes, resulting in huge financial losses for ABC), Iger sent a message to the Hollywood creative community that ABC was prepared to take risks and grant creative freedom-without the smothering net­ work oversight so typical of television production. For the first time ever, Emmy-winning writers and producers and Hollywood filmmakers came to ABC with ambitious projects. Producer James L. Brooks, who had a hand in the creation of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and The Simpsons, signed a lucrative development deal with ABC. In this supportive environment, Stephen Bochco bounced back from the disappointment of Cop Rock to deliver two successful series, Doogie Howser, M.D., and the critically acclaimed NYPDBlue.

     Iger's four years at the head of ABC Entertainment kicked off the network's last great period of ratings dominance. Iger inherited thirtysomething and Roseanne from the regime of Brandon Stoddard and added several other series that became long-running hits: Family Matters, Full House, America's Funniest Home Videos, and Home Improvement. In the target market of 18- to 49-year-old adults, ABC won the prime-time ratings race three times during Iger's tenure. This period of success for ABC continued as Iger was elevated up the corporate ladder: first as president of the ABC Network Group in 1993, then as president and chief operating officer of the parent company, Capital Cities/ABC in 1994. ABC moved into first place in the network ratings for the 1994-95 season and saw tremendous growth in other areas as well, including far-sighted investments in cable networks, A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime, and ESPN.

     When Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC in August 1995, Iger had been six months away from succeeding Tom Murphy as the CEO. Michael Eisner asked Iger to stay on board as president and chief operating officer of ABC, giving him responsibility for all of the Capital Cities operations as well as Disney's syndication and cable businesses. Iger was essentially the point man for the merger, charged with actually creating the vaunted synergy that justified Disney's acquisition of a television network in the first place. At first glance, the integration of Disney and ABC, following the FCC's early 1990s decision to allow television networks to produce their own prime-time programs once again, made Disney the model of the fully integrated media company of the future.

     But shortly after Disney's takeover, the ratings for ABC began a downhill slide with no end in sight. In just two seasons after the Disney merger, ABC fell from first to third in the ratings, losing 23 percent of its target 18- to 49-year-old adult viewers, 35 percent of teens, and 45 percent of children aged 2-11. Unable to deliver its promised ratings, ABC has been forced to compensate advertisers with extra airtime, which cuts deeply into network profits. Operating income dropped from $400 million to $ I 00 million in the first two years, and the network has seen its first losses continue in subsequent years. Except for the one season of 1999-2000, when the surprise hit Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? (scheduled as many as four times a week) carried the network into first place, ABC's prime-time ratings have not yet recovered their form of the early l 990s-in part because the network has failed to use opportunities such as the fluke success of Millionaire to develop new hits. As ABC has dropped into fourth place in the ratings, industry commentators have begun talking about a two-network universe, in which only NBC and CBS are capable of actually winning the ratings race.

     Management strategies dictated by Eisner and carried out by Iger are largely responsible for ABC's steep decline. The demand for synergy, which was introduced by Disney, has skewed network practices, distorting the most fundamental goals of identifying talented writers, producers, and performers in order to develop programs that are attractive to viewers. The goal of supplying ABC with Disney productions, for instance, has been an unmitigated disaster. The network has suffered in attempting to stock its schedule with Disney-produced programs; no Disney series has survived long enough to make it into syndication since Home Improvement, which debuted well before the takeover. In 1999 Iger supervised the formation of the ABC Entertainment Television Group, which formally united Disney's television production-Touchstone, Walt Disney Television Studios, and Buena Vista Television Productions-with ABC's primetime division and gave ABC responsibility for television production. The goal was to save money while achieving the goals of a fully integrated media company, but the operation has not yet proven capable of solving the riddle of synergy.

     ABC's management of prime time has been equally disastrous, characterized by confusion and an almost ritualistic semi-annual sacrifice of programming chiefs. The chaos began when Iger hired Jamie Tarses as head of programming after she had helped to develop comedies such as Friends at NBC. Tarses alienated some of ABC's most loyal producers, who left the network for production deals elsewhere; Eisner tried to replace Tarses by recruiting Marcy Carsey, the producer of Roseanne and The Cosby Show; Iger made an expensive, two-year commitment to Lois and Clark just before its ratings collapsed; Eisner vetoed development deals negotiated by Iger.

     In spite of these apparent failures, Iger was promoted in February 1999 to a new position as chairman of the ABC Group and President of Walt Disney International, where he was expected to work toward establishing the Disney brand on a worldwide basis and to coordinate the leadership of Disney's international operations. While no one doubted Disney's commitment to international expansion, some industry observers wondered whether lger had been given an impressive­ sounding demotion that removed him from the day-to­-day operations at ABC. Otherwise, why would Eisner reward Iger for failing to tum ABC around? The answer could be that, while prime time floundered, the larger ABC organization had achieved some notable successes under Iger's leadership. ESPN became the world's most valuable network, generating more than $500 million per year and establishing a brand name that has led to the creation of additional ESPN cable channels, ESPN magazine, and ESPN Zone restaurants. Several of ABC's other cable networks, including the Disney Channel, A&E, and Lifetime (often the most watched cable network in prime time) have seen steady growth in revenues and profits. Synergy has worked in children's programming, at least, where Disney series fill ABC's Saturday morning schedule and promote the entire range of Disney products.

     In January 2000 Iger was named president and chief operating officer, positions vacant since the resignation of Michael Ovitz in the mid- l 990s, and was asked to join the board of directors and executive management committee of the Walt Disney Company. With Disney and Eisner seemingly always targets for criticism, Iger also has emerged as Disney's chief diplomat in controversial situations-testifying before Congress about violence in the media, negotiating a dispute with the Echostar cable system over its initial refusal to carry the Disney Family Channel, dealing with the fallout of a dispute with Time Warner over the transmission of Disney channels on its cable systems, and smoothing ruffled feathers at ABC's news division when word leaked that the network had attempted to lure David Letterman to replace Nightline.

     Although Iger has an enormous portfolio as Disney president, it would appear that his future will involve reviving the flagging fortunes of the ABC network-or at least redefining the long-term value of a broadcast network in a digital environment. In the short term, he has taken a much more active role in prime time since appointing Susan Lyne as president of ABC Entertainment in 2002. But, more importantly, he is involved in the strategic decisions about how ABC should compete in the world of digital television. Iger believes that there is a synergistic value in having a broadcast network that outweighs its cost to a diversified media conglomerate. Only time will tell whether Disney remains in the network television business or whether Iger remains at Disney.