Over Coffee with the Mouse: Life and Leadership Wisdom from 32 Years at Disney and Beyond by Mark Rucker. Houndstooth Press. 152 pages. 2021
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This quick read – comprised of short chapters followed by helpful questions of application – is by a leader who during his thirty-six-year professional journey had success at three different companies, in about eighteen different roles.

Periodically throughout his life, the author would request a coffee chat with an informal mentor, respected colleague, his pastor, the family’s financial advisor, or a close friend, in an effort to work through challenges or simply seek advice. As he advanced in his career, he found more and more individuals requesting the same of him. All of this morphed into a “Leadership and Life Lessons” file of wisdom he collected and shared along his professional journey, and that became the backdrop for this book. The book shares lessons and insights he learned along his journey, many positive and a few that are not. The author’s motivation for sharing them is to help you become a better leader and person.

The author touches on an incredible amount of information in this short book. One would hope that other books will follow in which he expands on some of these subjects. Among those topics he writes about are talents and gifts, hard work, valuing people, making sure the right people are in the right roles, the 30-50-20 rule, the need to know yourself before you can begin to know others, life’s challenges, the drive for excellence, flexibility and adaptability, learning from our leaders – both what to do and what not to do, and building your “career board of directors” and scheduling those coffee chats.

Below are my favorite quotes from the book:

• Hold on tightly enough to your team members that they know you care. But when they are ready to leave you for bigger and better opportunities within the company, don’t hold on so tightly that it hurts your hands.
• Make sure the purpose and values of the organization you are joining align with yours.
• In the end, you will realize it is what you did for others that really matters!
• It is from great leaders that we learn what to emulate.
• I believe it is not what you have done and experienced in life that is most memorable but how you have led and impacted those around you while accomplishing great things together.
• It is in difficult times that you will find your purpose in life and the opportunity to lead responsibly.
• There is nothing more important than being committed to loving care and service to others.