As Disney president, Michael Ovitz developed the gesture of whispering into chairman Michael Eisner’s ear, a habit that irritated colleagues. If they were, it would be something to see what would happen to one of the most enduring and infuriating features of corporate life: the protected species. I speak here of the office colleague who, year in, year out, gets away with behaviour that would spell dire trouble for anyone else. Feathers were much ruffled in the upper ranks of the Walt Disney Company in 1995 when then chairman Michael Eisner decided to make Hollywood superagent Michael Ovitz Disney’s president. All this is a reminder that trying to build one’s protected status by invoking proximity to power can be risky.

Source: The Irish Times March 16, 2026 15:01 UTC