There’s a fascinating story in Bob Iger’s excellent memoir about the weekend in before Disney was set to announce it was acquiring Twitter to the world.
They had worked for months to get the deal in place and it all looked ready to go.
Until Bob Iger decided against it.
He shared reasons for his reservations with the board (which included a disappointed Jack Dorsey) – primarily his worries about nastiness/abuse on the platform. But, he also admitted that the decision was less about logical reasons and a lot about his gut. It just didn’t feel right.
I loved Iger’s memoir for its candor. This anecdote was a great example of that. He repeatedly touches on the importance of decisions feeling right. And, in this case, when his gut – one that had decades of training in decision making – said no, he couldn’t go through with it.
It is a lesson I’ve been reminded of time and again in (much smaller and lower stakes :-)) decisions in my life. Our gut knows more than we can parse. And, it is in our interest to pay careful attention to what it is telling us.
