Season 5 - Ep. 11 | The Art of the Superhero Turnaround with former Marvel Entertainment CEO Peter Cuneo

Podcast: Redefiners
Hosted By:
Portrait of Marla Oates, leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates
Marla Oates
September 24, 2025 | 29 min
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Peter Cuneo
Former CEO of Marvel Entertainment

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Season 5 - Ep. 11 | The Art of the Superhero Turnaround with former Marvel Entertainment CEO Peter Cuneo

Marvel Studios and many of its numerous characters are household names around the world. Their superhero-powered movies earn hundreds of millions and sometimes billions of dollars at the box office, including the #2 top grossing movie of all time – Avengers: Endgame. They’re also arguably one of the top turnaround stories of the past 20 years, as they rose like a phoenix from the ashes of bankruptcy to ultimately sell to Disney for $4.5 billion.

In today’s Redefiners episode, Simon and Marla suit up to talk with Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Marvel Entertainment and the leader who led the turnaround of this storied company, along with several other global brands. Peter shares his story of how he got into the business of turnarounds and why he’s attracted to risk as a leader. He takes us through how he conquers the common challenge of getting the leadership and culture right at the companies he’s led. And he shares some of the 28 leadership tips he’s compiled over the course of his storied career into a list he fittingly calls Essentials for Superhero Leadership (which you can also find in podcast form at Superhero Leadership).

We’ll also hear from Hetty Pye, a leadership advisor in our London office, who will discuss why transformation efforts fail and what senior leaders can do about it.

 

 

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"I think changing culture is a leader's toughest job."

Peter Cuneo,
Former CEO of Marvel Entertainment

 

 

Four things you’ll learn from this episode:

  1. What are the first things to focus on in a turnaround and how to get your people and board aligned

  2. How to make an organization’s culture more productive, creative, and effective

  3. What to look out for in a shift from CEO to Board role

  4. What are the top leadership essentials of Superhero Leadership

 


 

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes:

 

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Redefiners: A Russell Reynolds Associates Leadership Podcast

With each episode, you’ll come away with fresh ideas and tangible takeaways on how you can redefine your own leadership trajectory—no matter where you are on your journey.