In Defense of Bob Chapek

[Jaymarkm]

I don't know. I think what it comes down to is people's expectations. Those that are the most upset want the parks to go back to what they were pre-covid. Where as those those that are not bothered by much just are happy that Disney is open and around.

From my view I think there is some good and some bad at Disney right now. My biggest issue with Disney is how complex they make it to visit.

I’m with Richard Oliver and Barry Schwartz and others I’ve read that the key to happiness is low expectations.

 

[Jrb1979]

I’m with Richard Oliver and Barry Schwartz and others I’ve read that the key to happiness is low expectations.

I agree with you there. When it comes to Disney they have set the bar so high that anything less for many is not acceptable.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I’m with Richard Oliver and Barry Schwartz and others I’ve read that the key to happiness is low expectations.

I agree with you too. I have lowered my expectations when going but I find it disheartening that you have to considering how much a trip costs.

 

[Liquidice]

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.

I think likable is the wrong term here. Charismatic, stage presence, high EQ (emotional intelligence) - qualities such as these are common in people who are remembered as great leaders and I don't think that is subjective. I'm not saying you personally agree with leaders who have these qualities, but people with them tend to be able to win over more people more easily this way.

CEOs of large corporations are public figures, especially CEOs of Disney. Sure you could have a public figurehead other than the CEO (case in point Walt Disney was never officially named the CEO). But look at Eisner - similar to Walt, he hosted the Wonderful World of Disney. I'm not saying every CEO of every company has these qualities and it is a must have - but typically the ones who are well regarded and remembered tend to have these qualities. Certainly it should be a desired quality of any CEO as most CEOs have to do PR and speak publicly.

Also - as the leader of a company, it is much easier to get people to follow you and follow your vision if you are charismatic, have that "IT" factor - whatever you want to call it.

Sure, for you maybe if the person can make tough decisions and own them - that maybe enough to respect them and follow them. But not for everyone and not necessarily for the majority of people.

Lets just use an example - lets pretend Disney hits hard times and has to cut the pay of all workers by 10%. Bob Chapek is in charge and he's not the most charismatic person, and as insiders have said he lacks EQ - but he is good at making tough decisions and he says - everyone including myself is going to take a 10% pay cut company wide. He then coldly presents the data on some slides that shows why this will help keep the company afloat and thats about it. He made the tough decision and he owned it.

Compare that to a more charismatic leader with strong EQ delivering the same message who might talk about how much he appreciates his workforce, how he knows how much this will impact people but that he is taking on the same pain and that he will work hard to get things back to where they were and restore pay to everyone.

The Board of Directors might not care one way or another - but the workforce would, and the Board would care if there was significant attrition.

Another good example of this was with Star Wars Galaxy's Edge - when asked why Disney decided to build 2 Galaxy's Edge lands, 1 in Disneyland and 1 in Disney World, Bob Iger said it was because Star Wars was too big to have it in only one park and that he wanted as many people to experience it as possible. When asked the same question (and not at an investor's meeting), Bob Chapek said it was because it offered a higher ROI and was cheaper for Disney to put the same land in 2 parks.

I think that is what was meant by "likable" though - not whether you like the person or not. There are qualities that some people have that make them more likable in general to people. And for a public figure like the CEO of Disney it is important to have that - not just to address your workforce but to build relationships, make deals with people or other companies, etc.

 

[wabbott]

If you want an interesting perspective of what is going on inside the Disney company, go watch Valiant Renegade's show today on YouTube. He has WDW Pro and Kamran Pasha on. What you see isn't all Chapek.

Watching video through and through. Kennedy surely is smart enough and been around long enough to read the tea leaves. Is it her, or her underlings?

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I am not a big star wars fan and the new star wars land failed to impress me. So whoever developed that can be added to list of people I don’t care for - however the Guardians of the Galaxy Ride saved the trip for me so thumbs up to the guy who led that one.

 

[wabbott]

There's a bit of ink about Chapek in this article

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/07/why-media-billionaires-gather-in-sun-valley.html#comments

Among the Media Billionaires in Sun Valley
By Shawn McCreesh

 

[Jwaire]

Lets just use an example - lets pretend Disney hits hard times and has to cut the pay of all workers by 10%. Bob Chapek is in charge and he's not the most charismatic person, and as insiders have said he lacks EQ - but he is good at making tough decisions and he says - everyone including myself is going to take a 10% pay cut company wide. He then coldly presents the data on some slides that shows why this will help keep the company afloat and thats about it. He made the tough decision and he owned it.

You lost me at Chapek taking a pay cut.

The man has gotten one multi-million dollar bonus after another since the pandemic started while cast members were fired.

But, I agree he needs to do more to appease all the communities Disney is invested in.

Eisner was a strong leader, feared and powerful. Disney will never have another CEO that was as powerful as Eisner. With Wells, he saved the company from acquisition and turned it into the force you see today.

Iger kept Eisner's ball rolling and rebuilt the relationships Eisner frayed including with Pixar and Steve Jobs. Iger set the company up for the future by acquiring Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox. Disney's content library expanded three-fold. Unfortunately, he also left the company in massive debt.

Chapek is none of those things. He's a bean counter that spent most of his career in distribution and consumer products. He's responsible for Disney's current licensing schemes with third-parties (You ever wondered why you now find Disney characters on everything imaginable from shampoo bottles to Wal-Mart t-shirts?) and pushed for money grab direct-to-video sequels like Bambi 2 and Cinderella 3. As Parks Chairman, he wasn't well liked. He budget cut Galaxy's Edge, outsourced maintenance and repair to third-parties, refocused the division solely on analytics and reduced the park experience. Chapek even neutered Magic Band because he thought it was too expensive. His entire philosophy with the company has been lower quality, more profit.

He's not in Iger and Eisner's league and everyone—from Hollywood to cast members to the Disney community to politicians—knows it.

He's perceived as weak.

I'm not sure you can recover from that.

 

[MillauFr]

I’m with Richard Oliver and Barry Schwartz and others I’ve read that the key to happiness is low expectations.

Yes I went in expecting a Disneyland type experience at Disneyworld and was disappointed. Once I reduced my expectations I was fine. Still it is tough going on a ride like Test track after you have been on Raidiator Springs.

 

[Paul Stupin]

With the billions Disney lost during the pandemic, it doesn‘t unreasonable to expect the CEO to be kicking over every stone looking for savings. And in spite of all this, we’re seeing the return of all sorts of offerings in the parks that have been unavailable for the last several years.

I think he still deserves a chance.

 

[Liquidice]

You lost me at Chapek taking a pay cut.

The man has gotten one multi-million dollar bonus after another since the pandemic started while cast members were fired.

But, I agree he needs to do more to appease all the communities Disney is invested in.

Eisner was a strong leader, feared and powerful. Disney will never have another CEO that was as powerful as Eisner. With Wells, he saved the company from acquisition and turned it into the force you see today.

Iger kept Eisner's ball rolling and rebuilt the relationships Eisner frayed including with Pixar and Steve Jobs. Iger set the company up for the future by acquiring Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox. Disney's content library expanded three-fold. Unfortunately, he also left the company in massive debt.

Chapek is none of those things. He's a bean counter that spent most of his career in distribution and consumer products. He's responsible for Disney's current licensing schemes with third-parties (You ever wondered why you now find Disney characters on everything imaginable from shampoo bottles to Wal-Mart t-shirts?) and pushed for money grab direct-to-video sequels like Bambi 2 and Cinderella 3. As Parks Chairman, he wasn't well liked. He budget cut Galaxy's Edge, outsourced maintenance and repair to third-parties, refocused the division solely on analytics and reduced the park experience. Chapek even neutered Magic Band because he thought it was too expensive. His entire philosophy with the company has been lower quality, more profit.

He's not in Iger and Eisner's league and everyone—from Hollywood to cast members to the Disney community to politicians—knows it.

He's perceived as weak.

I'm not sure you can recover from that.

It was a hypothetical for Chapek to take a pay cut

 

[Jrb1979]

With the billions Disney lost during the pandemic, it doesn‘t unreasonable to expect the CEO to be kicking over every stone looking for savings. And in spite of all this, we’re seeing the return of all sorts of offerings in the parks that have been unavailable for the last several years.

I think he still deserves a chance.

That's the stuff I'm talking about. It's great that those things are returning. It's all the cuts and upcharges that are still going that's an issue.

 

[DVacationer]

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

Sum up the sentence, don’t just pick one word.

“SOMETHING to rectify the issues”.

The issues being all the negative things people CLAIM were from COVID or Iger. He’s done nothing to rectify them.

To sum it up for you: Hes either the one who created the problems or he has done nothing to fix them. Pick either side. In either case he’s a bad CEO for Disney.

 

[Jonfw2]

Sum up the sentence, don’t just pick one word.

“SOMETHING to rectify the issues”.

The issues being all the negative things people CLAIM were from COVID or Iger. He’s done nothing to rectify them.

To sum it up for you: Hes either the one who created the problems or he has done nothing to fix them. Pick either side. In either case he’s a bad CEO for Disney.

Well, considering the parks are all open, multiple new attractions opened, more and more benefits are coming back daily, and Epcot and several resorts are doing major additions, I’d say your definition of “nothing” is spectacularly misguided.

 

[DVacationer]

With the billions Disney lost during the pandemic, it doesn‘t unreasonable to expect the CEO to be kicking over every stone looking for savings. And in spite of all this, we’re seeing the return of all sorts of offerings in the parks that have been unavailable for the last several years.

I think he still deserves a chance.

It is reasonable to expect a CEO to do something more then what you listed (which is the bare minimum he should be doing) , as he sees the stock tanking, guest satisfaction at an all time low, & bad press across the board.

 

[Jonfw2]

It is reasonable to expect a CEO to do something more then what you listed (which is the bare minimum he should be doing) , as he sees the stock tanking, guest satisfaction at an all time low, & bad press across the board.

This is simply ridiculous. You’re just making stuff up at this point.

 

[Jrb1979]

Well, considering the parks are all open, multiple new attractions opened, more and more benefits are coming back daily, and Epcot and several resorts are doing major additions, I’d say your definition of “nothing” is spectacularly misguided.

Woohoo things are coming back and resorts are adding unnecessary additions. That's all well and good but what about the other issues. Magic express being gone, Genie+ not working like it should, catering to the more affluent crowd with giving deluxe room guests late night access.

 

[DVacationer]

Well, considering the parks are all open, multiple new attractions opened, more and more benefits are coming back daily, and Epcot and several resorts are doing major additions, I’d say your definition of “nothing” is spectacularly misguided.

Your defense of Chapek is ”the parks are all open”? What benefits are coming back daily? Magical Express? 30 minutes of EMH instead of an hour? Evening EMH for only deluxe resorts? Major additions like Tron and Guardians that were greenlit 3 years before Chapek was CEO?

All that great stuff yet EVERYONE sees the experience is worse then it was before all that. He managed to botch all that and make the experience worse.

All the things new things you listed would have been done even If the CEO was a monkey. That’s all the bare minimum. What he added was spectacularly misguided, not my analysis of it.

 

[Jonfw2]

Your defense of Chapek is ”the parks are all open”? What benefits are coming back daily? Magical Express? 30 minutes of EMH instead of an hour? Evening EMH for only deluxe resorts? Major additions like Tron and Guardians that were greenlit 3 years before Chapek was CEO?

All that great stuff yet EVERYONE sees the experience is worse then it was before all that. He managed to botch all that and make the experience worse.

All the things new things you listed would have been done even If the CEO was a monkey. That’s all the bare minimum. What he added was spectacularly misguided, not my analysis of it.

I appreciate that he can do no right in your eyes.

 

[Jrb1979]

I appreciate that he can do no right in your eyes.

He's has done good things for Disney+ and that side of things. As far as the parks go, especially WDW it's not been good at all.