A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Mike S]

"Sometimes you just have to be there with your people. You have to be in the same room with them, look them in the eyes, hear their voices" -Michael Eisner

"We have no idea who they are. We don't know what they are willing to spend, what they like and what they don't like" -Bob Iger

Seriously after reading that I hope they do look outside the company and get someone really good. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Trying to find the whole interview in question, but so far I just got this clip which mentions ESPN and Marvel:



EDIT: From Vanity Fair's article post interview:

"Iger lamented the lack of information Disney has about some of its customers. The company can’t always see the exact demographic and/or interests of consumers buying Disney products at stores. “We don’t know who they are,” Iger said. Direct sales over the Internet, he said, could change that: “If we can get to a world where there’s a direct relationship—that unlocks a tremendous amount of value.”"

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/10/disney-ceo-bob-iger-bill-simmons-insubordination

 

[spacemt354]

Trying to find the whole interview in question, but so far I just got this clip which mentions ESPN and Marvel:

Is it just me, or should the CEO of the Walt Disney Company have better posture and be wearing a suit and tie for public interviews? I'm sorry maybe I'm old fashioned, but when you're the face of a multi-billion dollar company, you should sit up straight and you should look more presentable than jeans and no tie.

Heck even Eisner in @Mike S 's meme above is wearing a suit and tie...

 

[Tigger1988]

"Sometimes you just have to be there with your people. You have to be in the same room with them, look them in the eyes, hear their voices" -Michael Eisner

"We have no idea who they are. We don't know what they are willing to spend, what they like and what they don't like" -Bob Iger
View attachment 80321
Seriously after reading that I hope they do look outside the company and get someone really good. Anyone have any ideas?

Eisner's out of context quote was referring to the company and his employees (not teleconferencing, to be specific), not customers. I don't get the comparison between the two quotes, when each is taken in their proper context.

 

[Goofyernmost]

"We have no idea who they are. We don't know what they are willing to spend, what they like and what they don't like."

That should have been the first line, heck the headline, of the article.

The CEO not knowing who their customer is?

How many drinks did he have before he let that one slip out?

It's possible. From what I understand there are some professional football coaches that have no idea what is going on in their organization or as far as that is concerned the rules of the sport itself. Seems to be something that is required on one's resume in order to get a very high paying job.

Line One of qualifications for the job... "I make it a point to not know what is going on. It saves a lot of worry!

You're hired!

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

"Sometimes you just have to be there with your people. You have to be in the same room with them, look them in the eyes, hear their voices" -Michael Eisner

"We have no idea who they are. We don't know what they are willing to spend, what they like and what they don't like" -Bob Iger
View attachment 80321
Seriously after reading that I hope they do look outside the company and get someone really good. Anyone have any ideas?

I nominate @ParentsOf4

 

[FigmentJedi]

View attachment 80321

Nah. To put it in nonbleepable words, same stuff, different a-hole.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

It sounds very fishy out of context. That kind of statement, if made out loud in a room full of reporters, would have been pounced on instantly by the media.

There's probably more to it. Or at least one would hope.

Eisner's out of context quote was referring to the company and his employees (not teleconferencing, to be specific), not customers. I don't get the comparison between the two quotes, when each is taken in their proper context.

Let's try not to get stuck in the weeds here. One of the key points of the article is that a good leader UNDERSTANDS his company. Does the weatherman make unaccompanied midnight runs on construction sites and talk to his employees, regardless of paygrade? Did Walt and Roy need to spend millions of dollars on customer analytics to understand the things they -the customer- never knew they wanted? Bob Iger feels that's somebody else's job, not his own. Bob Iger has little true ownership over the current and future success at the various branches of TWDC. Should Disney have someone like that running the show? Do you want Disney to BE Disney or General Motors, because that's what this company looks like nowadays.

 

[Tigger1988]

Let's try not to get stuck in the weeds here. One of the key points of the article is that a good leader UNDERSTANDS his company. Does the weatherman make unaccompanied midnight runs on construction sites and talk to his employees, regardless of paygrade? Did Walt and Roy didn't need to spend millions of dollars on customer analytics to understand the things they -the customer- never knew they wanted? Bob Iger feels that somebody else's job, not his own. Bob Iger has little true ownership over the current and future success at the various branches of TWDC. Should Disney have someone like that running the show? Do you want Disney to BE Disney or General Motors because that's what this company looks like nowadays.

Pointing out inconsistencies in a comparison isn't getting "stuck in the weeds" it's keeping the conversation accurate.

 

[BrerJon]

Let's try not to get stuck in the weeds here. One of the key points of the article is that a good leader UNDERSTANDS his company. Does the weatherman make unaccompanied midnight runs on construction sites and talk to his employees, regardless of paygrade?

That was the anecdote that leapt out at me. Eisner wandering WDW for fun and randomly deciding to see what was going on. It's such a world away from today's situation where the only way Iger would go near the Florida parks would be for a press event escorted by hordes of plaids and sycophantic minions.

Eisner let Feature Animation rot, and messed up a lot of stuff in his later years, especially at Disneyland, but Florida did very, very well out of the first half of his tenure.

WDFA is in a better shape today than it was pre-Iger, so the weatherman hasn't been all bad for the company as a whole, but Florida has pretty much been ignored as the ugly step-child. For all his faults, Eisner loved Walt Disney World passionately, whereas Iger can't even begin to feign the slightest interest in the place.

If they did bring in an external candidate, then let's hope we get someone who has grown up going to WDW, who understands the parks, and realises that the true potential of 'enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we could possibly imagine' is more than DVC, tracking bands and price extortion.

 

[Mike S]

That was the anecdote that leapt out at me. Eisner wandering WDW for fun and randomly deciding to see what was going on. It's such a world away from today's situation where the only way Iger would go near the Florida parks would be for a press event escorted by hordes of plaids and sycophantic minions.

Eisner let Feature Animation rot, and messed up a lot of stuff in his later years, especially at Disneyland, but Florida did very, very well out of the first half of his tenure.

WDFA is in a better shape today than it was pre-Iger, so the weatherman hasn't been all bad for the company as a whole, but Florida has pretty much been ignored as the ugly step-child. For all his faults, Eisner loved Walt Disney World passionately, whereas Iger can't even begin to feign the slightest interest in the place.

If they did bring in an external candidate, then let's hope we get someone who has grown up going to WDW, who understands the parks, and realises that the true potential of 'enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we could possibly imagine' is more than DVC, tracking bands and price extortion.

Or at least have that kind of person as the head of P&R and a CEO who understands enough and lets them do what needs to be done.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Let's try not to get stuck in the weeds here. One of the key points of the article is that a good leader UNDERSTANDS his company. Does the weatherman make unaccompanied midnight runs on construction sites and talk to his employees, regardless of paygrade? Did Walt and Roy didn't need to spend millions of dollars on customer analytics to understand the things they -the customer- never knew they wanted? Bob Iger feels that's somebody else's job, not his own. Bob Iger has little true ownership over the current and future success at the various branches of TWDC. Should Disney have someone like that running the show? Do you want Disney to BE Disney or General Motors, because that's what this company looks like nowadays.

That's what I've been saying for some time now. Iger doesn't understand Disney except as a conglomerate; the creative side escapes him completely. He looks at the Disney Vault as a musty old attic full of old product, not as a treasure trove of time-proven classics. That's why he made that lame Avatar move and pays little to no attention to the parks except when it comes to finding new ways of squeezing the rubes. I'll say this again - at least Eisner seemed to LIKE Disney, despite making some major fumbles. We all know that there will never be another Walt (I had hopes for Lasseter, but oh well). But the next CEO better not be like Iger, or heaven help Walt's legacy. It'll disappear altogether if another cement-headed tone-deaf acquisitor takes charge.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

That's what I've been saying for some time now. Iger doesn't understand Disney except as a conglomerate; the creative side escapes him completely. He looks at the Disney Vault as a musty old attic full of old product, not as a treasure trove of time-proven classics. That's why he made that lame Avatar move and pays little to no attention to the parks except when it comes to finding new ways of squeezing the rubes. I'll say this again - at least Eisner seemed to LIKE Disney, despite making some major fumbles. We all know that there will never be another Walt (I had hopes for Lasseter, but oh well). But the next CEO better not be like Iger, or heaven help Walt's legacy. It'll disappear altogether if another cement-headed tone-deaf acquisitor takes charge.

I want to make a point about Lasseter and the Pixar acquistation, if I may. I, like many of you, thought the Pixar acquisition was going to ignite a culture change in the company in a similar fashion to how Apple acquiring NeXT Computer, and Steve, led to a modern, revolutionary Apple. Instead of fanning that flame, Bob extinguished it by putting Lasseter and Co. in a cartoon corner. His cronies chastising them for wanted to break out and try new things or for even being passionate about the product (someone should ask Bob, Tom or Jay at the Shareholder's Meeting if they spend time in the parks in their free time). If he had done so, it would inspire other units of Disney to try new things, to push themselves harder, to remind them why they do what they do. Sadly, Feature Animation has been the only division to have benefited from this. The only time the weatherman and company want to talk about "One Disney", it's a buzzword for consolidation and cost cutting.

 

[BrerJon]

Or at least have that kind of person as the head of P&R and a CEO who understands enough and lets them do what needs to be done.

Volunteering your services, Mike? With you in charge of P&R, and ParentsOf4 as CEO, I think Team Doom & Gloom would be out of business pretty quickly!

 

[TalkingHead]

CEO material is being able to talk about ESPN's high journalism standards without laughing hysterically.

 

[GoofGoof]

That's what I've been saying for some time now. Iger doesn't understand Disney except as a conglomerate

I'm no Iger fan based on what has happened to WDW under his leadership, but let's not forget the past. Eisner was responsible for a lot of major acquisitions in his day too. He really changed TWDC from a family owned business to a major media conglomerate. ABC/ESPN being his biggest move, but he was also responsible for Miramax, the Muppets, Fox Family (now ABC family) and he would have bought Pixar too if it wasn't for his clash with Jobs.

I prefer Eisner's approach to the parks for sure (especially WDW), but outside of P&R both Iger and Eisner grew the company largely through acquisitions (which were a mix of good and possibly bad for both).

 

[TalkingHead]

Really? I thought the inside decor looked like it came straight from Ikea. The focus of the bar (the bar, where you're supposed to be 21 to sit) is ca. 2002 CGI fish you can add glasses and hats to. The interior has zero style or sense of "place-making."

Didn't pay much attention to the bar. They weren't seating anyone on the third floor during lunch. I went to the restrooms up there and noticed the bar (and more importantly, its copious bottles of liquor) were untended. Would be a great way to get your first drink if you're a kid on vacation.

I thought my burger was very good, but not in the conversation for best in Orlando. Agreed the fries are bad, Steak & Shake bad. I had decent service at the bar, but long waits seem to be the main complaint in the Twitterverse (sending Universal lifestylers into a defensive mode that more resembles fans of Holy Land Experience than even WDW).

Service was slow. We got seated immediately and beat the lunch rush. But even then it took forever for our food to come out. If we hadn't had a good people-watching spot, the wait would have been more noticeable.

 

[kagacins]

I nominate @ParentsOf4

How many of the 4 children will he have to give up to pull this off? @ParentsOfZero. It's not like kids need their parents these days what with the internets and YouTubes and Minecrafters.

 

[BrerJon]

I'll say this again - at least Eisner seemed to LIKE Disney, despite making some major fumbles.

I think Eisner really wanted to be the successor to Walt, and although he was a sharp penciled bean counter, he really tried to be creative and follow in Walt's footsteps, even if he often failed. I bet he's read at least one biography of Walt over the years.

Iger on the hand doesn't appear to have ever made the slightest attempt to be creative or anything other than a Wall Street money man.

Eisner was brought in to save an ailing company because they thought he'd be a good fit, whereas Iger didn't join the Disney company by choice, he was acqui-hired when they picked up ABC, and thus has tried to mold the company to fit the situation he wants to be in, rather than caring about Walt's legacy. In his view he doesn't go to the parks because that's what he pays other people to do for him.

 

[Cesar R M]

Here's your friendly reminder that "The Interview" is available on Netflix*.
Http://nflx.it/1ye6ybv
*US and Canada only, sorry @Cesar R M

Its ok. Any IT engineer knows where to see it anyway

just honestly.. not a fan of crappy movies by James Franco and Seth Rogen.