Work in Progress: Risking Failure, Surviving Success

In 1964, NBC clerk Michael Eisner made $65 a week.

Though he only took one business course in his life—accounting—he did have a head for business: as CEO of Disney, he earned over half a billion bucks in 1997. Though he had no foundation in finance, he averted the bloody dismemberment of Disney by takeover sharks when he took over in 1984, and by May 1998 he earned over $80 billion for Disney stockholders. Not bad for a guy who, on his first day in Walt's old office, met a manager of th…