Report: Bob IGER Remains in Charge of The Walt Disney Company
Well, when you have news — and your company’s modus operandi is “All the news that’s fit to print…” — you post it; no matter if it is 9:00 PM on Easter Sunday. To which I say, ditto.
The New York Times’ Ben Smith wrote:


Photo Credit: ABCNews.go.com
Mr. Iger who had already postponed retirement plans four times since 2013, has effectively returned to running the company. After a few weeks of letting Mr. Chapek take charge, Mr. Iger smoothly reasserted control, BlueJeans video call by BlueJeans video call. (Disney does not use Zoom for its meetings for security reasons.)
Mr. Smith also wrote that Iger, himself, said there was no nefarious or underhanded reason for the timing of his “retirement.”


(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
No Nefarious Reason to Retire
The idea that it was simply awkward timing seems backed up by the NYT report, which indicates that it didn’t take long for “Bob” to take the reigns back from “Bob C.” when the COVID-19 crisis turned pandemic.
And I’ll bet there are a whole lot of people looking at the troubles Disney faces in the near future who are very (if quietly) happy that Mr. Iger is back in the big chair; and with a singular mission.
The Times explained:
Mr. Iger is now intensely focused on remaking a company that will emerge, he believes, deeply changed by the crisis. The sketch he has drawn for associates offers a glimpse at the post-pandemic future: It’s a Disney with fewer employees, leading the new and uncertain business of how to gather people safely for entertainment.
Hopefully, that means that the right people remain in employment if the company contracts; folks for whom working for Disney is raison d’être.


Image: Google
Be Our Guest?
Have you recently walked through the park and said to yourself, “Something is off.”
For me, it’s the tape on the ground for the overcrowded fireworks at Hollywood Studios. TAPE! The wrapper(s) blowing around in the Magic Kingdom. The castmember in Disneyland that was less than helpful.


Photo by Xinhua/Sipa USA
Unfortunately, I have more examples than fingers over the last year. That never occurred to me prior to the last 18-months or so.
To wit, NYT posted: Mr. Iger also sees this as a moment, he has told associates, to look across the business and permanently change how it operates.
And added:
“It’s a matter of great good fortune that he didn’t just leave,” said Richard Plepler, the former HBO chief. “This is a moment where people first and foremost are looking to an example of leadership that has proved itself over an extended period of time — and Bob personifies that.”
Iger also wrote to The Times:
A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob [Chapek] and the company contend with it, particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!”


Photo: Disney
And, in this moment of calamity, Bob Iger might also see a chance to smooth out the wrinkles made apparent in the fabric of The Walt Disney Company, a company that is the boss’ raison d’être.
Lead Image: Masterclass