I have to be honest and say that I'm not particularly clear on what he was or was not responsible for. If someone does know, I'd be glad to hear about it.
But I imagine that a fair amount of decisions that were attributed to him were likely from the actual heads of each park/resort.
You also have to consider that Iger and Chapek had a very specific and very limited vision of what the parks should/could be, and that it's very easy-at least for me-to imagine things could well have been worse.
Matt Ouimet
has left some words on LinkedIn on the subject of Mr. D'Amaro:
I worked with Josh twenty years ago and have watched his career advance from a distance.
Consider this:
Running the parks, resorts and cruise line is an incredibly complex business. But it is tangible and predictable. With rare exception, its business model evolves linearly. It can be organized in geographically logical components that compartmentalize into a manageable structure.
It is very important to recognize that studio business is totally different arena. It requires not only business savvy, nimble responses and vision, but astute relationship skills. It is the latter one that may prove the most challenging and most valuable.
Should Josh be the next CEO his deep understanding of the parks division will free him to focus his attention on the more dynamic lines of business and establish the types of value-added relationships that have helped the company grow in recent times.
Finally, I need to add that no one does this alone and perhaps Josh’s greatest strength is that talented people will want to work for him and so will third-party partners.
I don’t make this case just because I like Josh, I also make it because I would like to see Disney continue to be successful for decades to come.
