Disney will be revealing Bob Iger’s replacement in the near future, and it will likely be either Dana Walden or Josh D’Amaro (or possibly both). Before any decisions are made or announced, the Disney CEO gave some advice to whoever takes over for him, including saying that the position has “… more power than a lot of elected Prime Ministers.”?
Where did Bob Iger make these comments?
Iger recently appeared on The Rest Is History podcast, hosted by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. During this appearance, he gave his commentary and advice for upcoming Disney CEOs.
It is kind of cute, because Iger is apparently a fan of the show, and you can see his excitement throughout the episode.
What did Iger say?
He wants to be remembered as someone Walt would be proud of,
“I think, more than anything else, I would want to be known as someone who was given the keys to this kingdom, so to speak. And quite a kingdom it is, and that I brought it to a place that even Walt would be proud of. And what that means is more great storytelling to a larger audience, more innovation, more risk-taking, more creation of happiness. It’s really that simple.”
Iger’s story is one of acquisition and expansion with mixed results (see Marvel and Star Wars, but also acknowledge Pixar’s success). He was also behind the ticket price hikes and the Lighting Lane shift that is making Walt’s “family” park less accessible.
But I digress,
He said a lot more, including the comment I already mentioned and jokes about not being an emperor. (I found that kind of odd, as no one was comparing the position to being an emperor but him, but okay.)
“You have more power than a lot of elected Prime Ministers, not necessarily over the day-to-day lives of people, but over people’s heads, people’s imaginations. Do you ever think about that?”
Not really, but he apparently does. He continued,
“I certainly don’t consider myself an emperor (a joke). I think about the power of a great story, of course, but I don’t think about us being powerful. I think about us having the luxury that includes both the luxury of being involved with great artists and the luxury of having the resources to tell wonderful stories to the world, and hopefully, through our storytelling, to have a positive influence on the world.
Certainly in today’s world, just the ability to make really billions of people happy is an incredible luxury and something that I’m very mindful of, but I don’t think about it in terms of having power, except maybe the power to do good.”
Iger talked about his successor’s job to embrace the past unless it interferes with the future.
“I think because of the company’s place in the world, I think the person running the company has a special responsibility, of sorts, to maintain Disney’s position in the world as a beloved company, as an admired company, as a company that entertains, really, the world, everyone of all ages and from all different walks of life. As I think about the future, I would hope that my successors would be respectful of our past and well aware of the values that really created the value of the company in the first place and carry them forward, but not let anything that’s been done in the past get in the way of bringing the company into the future.
“That’s really constant innovation, a constant exploration, a constant essentially desire to reinvent and or to invent even more than anything else. That’s what I’d want. But I think we do occupy a place in the world as great storytellers, perhaps maybe the greatest in many respects. And I would hope that that position would continue for years and years.”
Walt Disney was brought up. Iger talked about Walt’s “guts”.
“I admire so much about Walt, I’d say one of the things I admire the most is his guts…he had unbelievable guts. Actually, it was more than guts. It was courage. He had a vision. He was almost always convinced that his vision was right, and he had the confidence to attempt to really execute it.”
You can watch the entire episode on YouTube, or below.
We still do not know who will be the next CEO, but hopefully soon.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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