Bob Iger article in NY Times

[challer]

Woke up this morning, sat down to breakfast, and saw this in the NY Times. Thought I'd share.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/business/11iger.html

BUSINESS
Is Disney’s Chief Having a Cinderella Moment?
By BROOKS BARNES
Published: April 9, 2010

Robert Iger has not turned out to be the stuffed suit that some feared at Disney. Instead, he is dragging his media conglomerate into a new era.
[...]

 

[metalis4ever]

Thanks for sharing!! Great article

 

[WaltD4Me]

To me, this is a sort of scary quote from Bob Iger in the article.

"The baggage of tradition,” he says of Disney’s culture, “can slow you down.”

“I’m not going to eliminate that,” he added, “but I’d like to reduce it significantly.”

 

[zulemara]

To me, this is a sort of scary quote from Bob Iger in the article.

"The baggage of tradition,” he says of Disney’s culture, “can slow you down.”

“I’m not going to eliminate that,” he added, “but I’d like to reduce it significantly.”

I COMPLETELY agree! I was gonna say...I wish there was more elaboration on that! That is scary, it's bad enough the way they do things now. It depends on what aspect of the company he is talking about, but in the theme park area, we need to go BACK to the Disney way, not away from it!

 

[PinkBudgie]

I had to stop and think about that too. I guess it depends on what he means. Walt was always looking forward- color movies, television, Disneyland. It was always something new and using new technology. In that sense, Walt didn't let tradation hold him back, if he did, Disneyland would never have been built. On the other hand, if he thinks the baggage of tradition is throwing out all of Walt's values, then I agree, that is scary.

 

[kaligal]

They need to get rid of all these forward-thinking lawyers, accountants and slick execs and go more with smart guys who understand that Disney should be Disney - wholesome fun for everyone.

Fewer naked teenage girls for stars, please. Less of the "in your face" flirty, sassy "Tink" and more Tinkerbell.

They start selling crap all over Disney and then complain that sales are down. Duh.

In all you do, focus on quality. Quality always outs.

 

[disneyphilip]

They need to get rid of all these forward-thinking lawyers, accountants and slick execs and go more with smart guys who understand that Disney should be Disney - wholesome fun for everyone.

Fewer naked teenage girls for stars, please. Less of the "in your face" flirty, sassy "Tink" and more Tinkerbelle.

They start selling crap all over Disney and then complain that sales are down. Duh.

I think you're overexaggerating a little bit.

I had to stop and think about that too. I guess it depends on what he means. Walt was always looking forward- color movies, television, Disneyland. It was always something new and using new technology. In that sense, Walt didn't let tradation hold him back, if he did, Disneyland would never have been built.

I'd like to think that's what Iger means. No need to overreact.

 

[Matt@WDWR]

I wonder if he was referring to the World of Color when they mentioned a multimillion dollar DL attraction that Iger hated.

 

[challer]

To me, this is a sort of scary quote from Bob Iger in the article.

"The baggage of tradition,” he says of Disney’s culture, “can slow you down.”

“I’m not going to eliminate that,” he added, “but I’d like to reduce it significantly.”

Yeah, this was startling, but breaking away from tradition has not always been a bad thing.

For example, in the mid 80's, the Animation Dept was in a downward spiral, making one film every 4 years and losing money each time. It took Eisner & Katzenberg to change the thinking there in order to make films like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. (If you saw Waking Sleeping Beauty, you will remember: "Edit an animated film? You can't edit an animated film!")

Sometimes tradition needs to be shaken out of its slumber. The key is to recognize which tradition is a core value and which one is holding you back.

 

[LudwigVB]

That Disneyland attraction, a high-tech water show set to music called World of Color (think the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas on steroids), was being reworked. He felt that the attraction over all was outstanding, but he worried that the music was all wrong. So he had written notes about each song on how to make the show more modern.
“Ninety-five percent of the decisions made at the company are made by other people,” he says. “But this is a big show, and I felt opportunities were being lost.”

Eisner tried his hand at picking music for Disneyland's Light Magic parade. Remember it? Yeah, that's what happens when CEO's make creative decisions. World of Color is intentionally hitting on nostalgia. A modern version of the classic music could break it. I can't help but think of Jonas Bros. singing the classic Sherman Bros. World of Color theme song. Yikes! Who knows, Iger could turn out to be a genius. We will know shortly, and if it is a mistake, maybe the cost of it will wake him up.

 

[metalis4ever]

Yeah, this was startling, but breaking away from tradition has not always been a bad thing.

For example, in the mid 80's, the Animation Dept was in a downward spiral, making one film every 4 years and losing money each time. It took Eisner & Katzenberg to change the thinking there in order to make films like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. (If you saw Waking Sleeping Beauty, you will remember: "Edit an animated film? You can't edit an animated film!")

Sometimes tradition needs to be shaken out of its slumber. The key is to recognize which tradition is a core value and which one is holding you back.

Perfectly stated I couldn't agree with you more....that is exactly what I thought of when I read those quotes from Iger......Granted much like in nature evolution doesn't always result in long term positive success but I have confidence in Robert Iger and the rest of the Disney team to make educated decisions for the long term growth of all business areas, which can only mean good things for us the guests and fans of all things Disney....

 

[mesyjesse]

I very much like bob iger, this might be because i spend two a week hearing about him in one of my classes here at Ithaca College. We all thought he was going to give the speach at grad, but i guess not.

 

[disneyholic family]

To me, this is a sort of scary quote from Bob Iger in the article.

"The baggage of tradition,” he says of Disney’s culture, “can slow you down.”

“I’m not going to eliminate that,” he added, “but I’d like to reduce it significantly.”

i understood him to mean the internal business culture in the company...
in other words, the way things are done - the working procedures..

i work for a very large company with a particular corporate culture that impacts how work is done and how successful the company is...

every company has its style of decision making, bureaucracy, hiearchy, etc.

that's what i took him to mean - how things are done in the company.
he said it right after saying how he didn't like the way in-house lawyers at disney make actual business decisions, not just give advice....


as for the theme parks - i definitely think they've lost their way at WDW - i don't know why, but they have....
the homogenization of products, the reduction in quality, etc etc....
it's the approach of a number cruncher.....a bad number cruncher who doesn't understand the importance of maintaining brand quality...

 

[mnra]

If you a stockholder of disney over the last year you are most likely happy. But as a fan of the disney product I found it interesting that the article did not talk much about the theme parks at all except for a little part about him making decision on the world of color. I used to like getting different merchandise at different areas I totally don;t like the same thing for sale all over. The advantage is I spend a lot less time in stores and more time relaxing at the theme park and pools. I start to wonder what type of company disney see themselves as. Is it a media company that owns theme parks and movie studios or is it mainly a movie studio theme park company that ownes media distributions.

 

[JillKennedy]

Bob Iger actually called my boss, Khan Manka, Jr., yesterday morning to discuss this article. Mr. Manka actually has a very interesting write up of the conversation...

mankabros.com/chairmans-blog/2010/04/bob-iger-called-me-this-mornin.html

 

[doconeill]

Uhh...yeah. For anyone who isn't aware, this is a parody site, and the language on it is not appropriate for this site.