In Defense of Bob Chapek

[bsmcneil]

Walt, Eisner (when Wells was still alive), and believe or not Iger.

I was down on Iger for a long time, but i believe he had a good mixture of allowing creativity and being a corporate CEO.

Walt had an idea for Disney World, but wasnt around to execute on it. so its probably fair to include Roy in this conversation as well.

Eisney doesnt get the credit he deserves for what WDW is today.

One of the major issues that Disney suffers today, is that there is no longer a Disney in the company to help steer the ship. Walt's nephew, Roy, lead a charge to oust 2 Disney CEO's that he believed had lost their way. There is no one left to do that.

I thought the same (and hadn't read the thread all the way, so I see you already made the point I made in my last post, lol). And what jumps to mind is that Walt had Roy, Eisner had Wells (for a while), and it felt like Iger tried to balance the creative/business perspective (and the whole Tom Staggs/Kevin Mayer situation might've helped). From a super outsider perspective (which feels relevant to acknowledge), it appears as though Chapek is a very hierarchical, lone leader type person. And it seems like a bad fit, culturally for Disney. But we'll see how that turns out long-term.

 

[Sweettears]

I haven't but when compared to every other park they are behind in terms of operations. For one they have made it much more complex to visit then it needs to be where just about every other park in the country has made much simpler. Disney is the only park left in the US with the ridiculous reservation system. Add in Genie+ which takes a PHD for your average guest to figure out how to use. For the parks he's been a disaster. I could careless how they managed coming out of Covid. Don't buy it as every other park has had to deal with it too. They have become way too focused on guest control.

Your leaving out the factthat WDW has the highest attendance. They are for better or worse on the cutting edge of attendance management. The other parks are still hungry for visitors.

Its certainly not perfect but they are striving to limit capacity to enhance customer experience. Are t there yet? No. But it takes some time to implement new operational procedures

 

[Fauntleroy]

My sole issue (to date) w/Chapek is that for all his years w/Disney he does not (IMHO) come across as legitimately excited about the product, or the history/legacy of the Company. He might be making fine business decisions (I remain a stockholder)- but it's as if he's CEO of Cogsworth's Cogs, or XYZ Corp or some such entity. Succesful Disney CEOs of the past (i.e. Walt, Eisner in his prime, Iger, etc.) were not only polished communicators- but also had that little extra twinkle in their eyes that reflected the "magic" that must have come w/running one of the most beloved organizations on the planet. Chapek (and many of his direct reports) just seems like he's looking for the next spreadsheet to read- and that bleeds into everything else.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Your leaving out the factthat WDW has the highest attendance. They are for better or worse on the cutting edge of attendance management. The other parks are still hungry for visitors.

Its certainly not perfect but they are striving to limit capacity to enhance customer experience. Are t there yet? No. But it takes some time to implement new operational procedures

These limits are awful. The park reservation system is absurd.

 

[LSUmiss]

He was penny pinching while running parks? In his tenure they spent more on parks than on Pixar, Marvel, and LucasFilms combined!

And regarding allowing Disney to manage variable costs. Umm...that's a GOOD thing. On a day that AK may be slightly understaffed, they can divert more help to that park since they know how many people will be in it.

Not at the expense of the consumer.

 

[DVacationer]

Here is the thing. It doesn’t matter if all this is because of COVID or Igers ideas or whatever. A good CEO would pivot. Would react. Would do SOMETHING to rectify the issues no matter who’s at fault. He’s done NOTHING to help.

So whatever the reasons are behind the current situation (IF he’s not the reason), it’s clear he is not a good CEO. He’s said nothing, done nothing, shown nothing to help. Everything he’s said and done has made things worse.

Plain & simple.

 

[Jonfw2]

Here is the thing. It doesn’t matter if all this is because of COVID or Igers ideas or whatever. A good CEO would pivot. Would react. Would do SOMETHING to rectify the issues no matter who’s at fault. He’s done NOTHING to help.

So whatever the reasons are behind the current situation (IF he’s not the reason), it’s clear he is not a good CEO. He’s said nothing, done nothing, shown nothing to help. Everything he’s said and done has made things worse.

Plain & simple.

So to sum this up: you want him to do “something” and he’s done “nothing”?

 

[Wakey]

Disney has staffing problems because it layed off its staff, simple.

Here‘s a good example. British Airways also laid off lots of staff, and is cancelling thousands of flights due to not having enough staff and supposed challenging recruitment.

EU Budget carrier Ryanair , didn’t lay off its staff. Indeed, it kept sending them up in empty planes so they all had their certifications maintained. Guess what- Ryanair is not cancelling thousands of flights.

Don’t give Bob Chapek a pass for short termism. Of course, he took home a very nice ‘compensation ‘ package didn’t he, as profits were then higher than if the company had carried on paying staff wages. But imagine where they could be now and going forward had he taken the Ryanair approach to staffing in the pandemic.

 

[Jonfw2]

Disney has staffing problems because it layed off its staff, simple.

Here‘s a good example. British Airways also laid off lots of staff, and is cancelling thousands of flights due to not having enough staff and supposed challenging recruitment.

EU Budget carrier Ryanair , didn’t lay off its staff. Indeed, it kept sending them up in empty planes so they all had their certifications maintained. Guess what- Ryanair is not cancelling thousands of flights.

Don’t give Bob Chapek a pass for short termism. Of course, he took home a very nice ‘compensation ‘ package didn’t he, as profits were then higher than if the company had carried on paying staff wages. But imagine where they could be now and going forward had he taken the Ryanair approach to staffing in the pandemic.

Yes. Keeping on tens of thousands of employees who can't work for months is great fiscal policy. Certainly, the shareholders would have applauded this decision.

 

[lugnut33]

OK, let's go:
1. Tron delays are ridiculous
2. Lack of maintenance, way too many rides are down continually and has done nothing to help the situation (budget cuts)
3. Continues to devalue base experience by creating more pay to play extras (see MM+)
4. Unable to get staffing levels up to where they need to be after a year
5. Has damaged relationships with several big name actors
6. No longer the leader in park entertainment
7. Reacts to Universal rather than taking a leadership role
8. Has gutted Imagineering
9. Damaged relationship with gay community
10. Created adversarial relationship with conservatives
11. Gutted budget for Epcot reimagineering
12. Got rid of Magical Express
13. Disney stock down almost 50% during his tenure
14. Has adversarial relationship with Iger
15. Created image problem of not caring about loyal Disney guests
16. Eliminates anyone who he feels threatened by
17. Surrounded by yes-men/women who seem detached and uncaring (see CFO)

I'm sure there are more, but that's just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Wakey]

Yes. Keeping on tens of thousands of employees who can't work for months is great fiscal policy. Certainly, the shareholders would have applauded this decision.

They laid off 33,000 leaving people destitute.
Some shareholders may have appreciated not laying off so many, and also what would have been a faster bounce back.
In my example above, BA laid off 10,000. Ryanair kept on all 19000.

 

[Jonfw2]

They laid off 33,000 leaving people destitute.
Some shareholders may have appreciated not laying off so many, and also what would have been a faster bounce back.
In my example above, BA laid off 10,000. Ryanair kept on all 19000.

No one was left destitute. Stop. Those folks received both a dramatically increased unemployment benefit AND multiple stimulus checks.

Also, isn't Ryanair the company that tried to charge people for using the toilet?

 

[BrianL]

OK, let's go:
1. Tron delays are ridiculous
2. Lack of maintenance, way too many rides are down continually and has done nothing to help the situation (budget cuts)
3. Continues to devalue base experience by creating more pay to play extras (see MM+)
4. Unable to get staffing levels up to where they need to be after a year
5. Has damaged relationships with several big name actors
6. No longer the leader in park entertainment
7. Reacts to Universal rather than taking a leadership role
8. Has gutted Imagineering
9. Damaged relationship with gay community
10. Created adversarial relationship with conservatives
11. Gutted budget for Epcot reimagineering
12. Got rid of Magical Express
13. Disney stock down almost 50% during his tenure
14. Has adversarial relationship with Iger
15. Created image problem of not caring about loyal Disney guests
16. Eliminates anyone who he feels threatened by

I'm sure there are more, but that's just a few off the top of my head.

That's a good list, but the one thing that actually matters is number 13. I don't understand how the board is okay with that! Certainly that can't be laid entirely at his feet, but it's also a strong signal that change is neeeded.

 

[Jonfw2]

OK, let's go:
1. Tron delays are ridiculous
2. Lack of maintenance, way too many rides are down continually and has done nothing to help the situation (budget cuts)
3. Continues to devalue base experience by creating more pay to play extras (see MM+)
4. Unable to get staffing levels up to where they need to be after a year
5. Has damaged relationships with several big name actors
6. No longer the leader in park entertainment
7. Reacts to Universal rather than taking a leadership role
8. Has gutted Imagineering
9. Damaged relationship with gay community
10. Created adversarial relationship with conservatives
11. Gutted budget for Epcot reimagineering
12. Got rid of Magical Express
13. Disney stock down almost 50% during his tenure
14. Has adversarial relationship with Iger
15. Created image problem of not caring about loyal Disney guests
16. Eliminates anyone who he feels threatened by
17. Surrounded by yes-men/women who seem detached and uncaring (see CFO)

I'm sure there are more, but that's just a few off the top of my head.

This is fair, as long as we agree they are almost entirely biased opinion and none are actual fact. Save #13, of course, which is far from Chapek's total fault...also, it's down around 30% since Feb 2020.

 

[Jrb1979]

This is fair, as long as we agree they are almost entirely biased opinion and none are actual fact. Save #13, of course, which is far from Chapek's total fault...also, it's down around 30% since Feb 2020.

Which of those aren't fact? The changes to the parks have all been under him and most of them are for the worse. It's amazing that so many seem to happy just to have Disney open.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

As for my earlier post hating whoever created genie +, I really also hate the person who got rid of magical express. Except there I think it was driven by uber business and airlines hiking fees on checked bags. ubering is pretty cheap ($30) each way which is cheaper then checking two bags so really why do you need it. Most people aren't checking bags anymore. What the change did was take away a lot of workers the new uber drivers from workers pool. So I I do think there was logic to getting rid of it.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...rtunities-new-contract-sun-valley-1235174289/

Bob Chapek’s Sun Valley Challenge: Define His Vision for Disney
From streaming and theme parks to sports and megadeals, the executive's new contract gives him breathing room to put his own stamp on the company.
By Alex Weprin - July 7, 2022 5:00am

 

[Jonfw2]

For the record: I'm not crazy about Genie+. Having said that, because it's entirely internet based, I suspect many, many modifications will come as they see the issues it's causing and the problems it isn't solving.

 

[bakenatj]

Technically, it sounds like what you'd want is the better fit for COO (Chief Operating Officer). CEOs definitely need to be personable/likable as they need to do a ton of media, etc to sell their vision (and for me, that's the problem - Chapek doesn't seem visionary to me). Obviously people tend to equate CEO = boss but the operations person is going to be the primary tough decisions, etc (and at a place as big as Disney, you have the CFO to aid in that and likely CTO, finances and tech respectively).

Likable is a subjective term. What you like might not be what I like. If a person has the characteristics that I listed, people will follow. I don't have to be your buddy to respect you and follow you.

 

[Jrb1979]

For the record: I'm not crazy about Genie+. Having said that, because it's entirely internet based, I suspect many, many modifications will come as they see the issues it's causing and the problems it isn't solving.

The major issue is the amount of guests buying it. Thats the first thing they need to change. Cap sales each day.