alphac2005
Well-Known Member
Nearly every single topic on these forums comes back to the aforementioned sentence, period. Line of the year. For all the going back and forth about the what if scenarios and rumors, future attractions, etc., it all comes back to what you say and back to a point that I've been very keen on consistently, the market. Just like virtually nothing has been learned from our housing and economic collapse (e.g. - Where I live, things are booming again, folks are buying homes way above their means again, and we're seeing new construction housing pricing going up 60k-100k per home year over year.) as we see new forms of phony derivative trading, the banks now are even more in a situation of too big to fail, and so-forth. Why? The all mighty dollar and those that are in charge of all of these institutions primary focus being here, today, and now. Their wallets, their bank accounts, their wealth.
When there is a high fiscal reward for those at the top layer of these gigantic corporations, it becomes even more difficult for them to deal with issues that could negatively impact them personally. So, Iger will never take the hit, but even before Iger, management at TDO will work their hardest to clean up their own mess so that the layer above them in Burbank doesn't take them to the woodshed. There is no culpability, no acceptance of reality, and a mentality of burning it down to the ground in order to save one's self interest.
Imagine a scenario where Robert Iger goes to the Board and admits failure and exploding expenditures on the NextGen project in Orlando. Well, don't, because it won't happen. But, let us play along for a bit. Most likely, he'll be told to clean up the mess by cutting heads (In corporate Disney, well not much of a chance there....), or cutting costs wherever else he can. Only if he was in an antagonizing position with the board would anything ever leak because why would the BOD ever want bad news to come out and then cause a negative impact in any of their fiscal holdings within the company? Never in an interview would Iger admit to negatives, overruns, and problems within the system. Many of these BOD sit on other major corporations boards, so they wouldn't want to be in a negative situation that could jeopardize any of those spots and again, their own self-interest.
That's where we are with corporate mentality today and it is worse than ever. This is not a political statement, this is a statement of corporate ethos that are in the gutter. For the negative with Iger, I honestly believe that he does truly have a long-term vision for the company and keeping it on sound financial ground and all of his "franchise" acquisitions are very evident of that. Vision for long-term viability and his bloated bonuses, though, are two different things. Work to mitigate any disaster that could be NextGen in the present for his own fiscal gain, while if anything negative becomes of it, it isn't his problem anylonger when he leaves. What is lost on many is that out of reality and insane egos that many CEO's have. I'm sure that Iger believes that even if there is an issue here, long-term it doesn't matter because he's many so many acquisitions and nearly everything he's done is blockbuster move.
Ever sit with a top dog CEO? While I deal with CEO's of small companies, my dad dealt with the big dogs. I can think of a certain head of a too big to fail, major financial institution right now that is looking to settle yet even more charges. This guy was talked up as the genius of the big banks during the crisis. His pockets continuously gets lined, but his massive bank is built on a house of cards along with his ego. Though all appearances of executives like him are that they don't care about where the business is going to be in say 50 years, I bet that he does because his ego is so grand. In reality, he's bought his own bull. In reality, it's about ego and personal wealth, not the long-term health of a company. Iger might have his vision for the long-term, but it always gets back to the human instinct of here and now, my survival, and to hell with everything else when push comes to shove.
Lost within all of this are some looming potential disasters including as how you so eloquently described the failure of the Orlando property. When people tire of MARVEL superhero films, fanbois pan the whoring of Star Wars, ESPN can't keep up with their carriage fee increases and the model of delivery of entertainment goes from a small minority of cutting the cord to a large percentage, major profit streams are sliced. It makes the point of how in reality the Orlando property is all that more vital to the company long-term.
My children will never think of Walt Disney World as I did. From the moment I left the palm trees and genius that was WDW from the audio-animatronics to the rides themselves and touched down in a cold, wintry New England airport, my mind was fixated on the next trip to Walt Disney World. Not Orlando, Walt Disney World. Not only was it turning me into a consumer of Disney theme park vacations for life, but also a consumer of the company's goods up and down the aisle. As a business owner, one could only dream of having a tool that is the ultimate marketing and branding tool.
As far as today's Disney executives are concerned, slapping the DISNEY label on something makes it of more value to the consumer, trusted, and earned. What has escaped them is that many are starting to think of it as a giant albatross that wants to brainwash your children and take your money, lots of your money. That isn't quite the positive branding that they should be going for.
