Coming out of Retirement with Bob Iger

Dwyane and Bob Iger discuss Bob's return as Disney CEO after his retirement, the guilt of focusing on career over family, the motivation to push yourself every day and dealing with the scrutiny of being a public figure in today's world. They also get into legacy, leadership, fatherhood and Bob's strong connections to the NBA.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
What's up, everybody. This is Dwayne Wade. We've taken a
little break on the Y because I have seventeen jobs.
But we're here today and I'm excited to be sitting
on a chair, sitting in his chair back in front
of these gold microphones with the Y and I'm excited
about today. Today we have one of the most successful

(00:39):
execs and entertainment history, a man who went from working
as a reporter and a weatherman in New York to
becoming the president of ABC and eventually the CEO of Disney. Everybody,
please welcome to the Why Bob Iger. Bob, how you doing.
I'm good, Jack, Thank you for me, Thank you for

(01:02):
being here on a podcast. Man, it's a big moment
for me. You nervous, No, not at all. Good. You're
a big deal. So and the reason I say that, Bob,
I go right back to twenty nineteen when I had
a meeting here with you, and I remember coming into
the meeting and they said you got fifteen minutes and

(01:22):
I was They was like, he has a big today,
Lion King is debuting. It's a big day for Bob.
He had the you know, you had the event that
night the carpet that night, and we had fifteen minutes
and our fifteen minutes went from fifteen to an hour.
It was a great conversation that we had, and so
I want to thank you for those fifteen minutes that

(01:43):
turned into an hour, because at that time, for me retiring,
it was important that I that I got opportunity to
come out here in LA and meet with people that
I admired, people who you know, who I was looking
for for answers of what to do next. And we
just sat down and talked about life and we talked
about what was next. And so I want to thank

(02:04):
you personally for taking that.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Time give you an hour.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I gave you an hour. I appreciate that. So from
twenty nineteen being that day and I remember it was
a lot of conversation around the Lion King. Beyonce was
a part of anybody want to know Who's lion King?
I'm talking about? To now this summer five years later,
it's a lot has happened in between that for you
and Fry. Yeah. So I guess the biggest thing to

(02:28):
happen is you retired. You retired in twenty twenty. I
retired in twenty nineteen. Every day I'm asked when I
see a sports fan, I'm asked, when are you going
to come back? When are you coming back? And I say,
absolutely not. And so you're retired in twenty twenty, and
you and you're back.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Why, Well, I retired with all good intentions of staying retired.
At that point, I had been CEO of the Walt
Disney Company for fifteen years, and I had worked here
for then, you know, I don't know, forty seven years.
I'm now with the company fifty years this year, and
it just seemed like time, and I really wanted to

(03:09):
explore life outside of Disney. In fact, I have my
license plate on my cars is their life after Disney?

Speaker 1 (03:16):
An?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I want to know what life was like after Disney.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
I'm sure you had similar curiosity, but life after the
NBA time you didn't really retire. You stayed pretty active,
but it was a big step for you. Anyway, It
was the right time, the right thing for me to do.
But the person that was chosen as my successor didn't
work out. The board of directors made a decision that

(03:41):
he needed to go, and they asked me whether I
would come back, and given my history with the company,
given the love that I have of the company, given
the fact that I knew it was a time of
great need, I felt I had no choice but to
say yes, even though I must say in terms of
managing my time and my life life, it wasn't my
first choice, but it was an obvious one.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
It was an obvious one. Can you explain that love
a little bit? I mean, I think some people and
ouside will look at it as a position that you've hailed.
But to come back out the retirement, out of everything
that was you know, was built, you know, in your
tenure here. How deep is that love? What does that
love mean?

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, it's really deep. I think it starts with who
we are as a company. You know, we primarily create joy,
happiness and magic for people all over the world. I
just got back from Shanghai yesterday and I was at
Shanghai Disneyland and I watched it was about forty five
thousand people at the park in Shanghai having a fantastic time,
and just remind you who we are and in a

(04:44):
world that I think is complicated and challenging, probably nothing
is more important than what we do today is creating happiness.
And so when you do that for a living. It's
it's you know, it's addictive in a way, it's intoxicating.
It's there's something very joyful about being in that business

(05:04):
of making people happy.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
It makes you feel alive, it does, it.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Makes you feel a love, it makes you have a
it's a powerful sense of purpose. I don't think people
really on the outside necessarily understand that. By the way,
in many respects, you did the same thing. I know,
you know you were playing to win, and there was
a competitive side to it, but in reality, you were
an entertainer. You know, you're doing things that particularly basketball
fans like myself really love to watch, and you made

(05:30):
us well when you beat teams that I was rooting
for you, it feel so happy. But so I just
think that in terms of a life experience and a
life pursuit, is extremely fulfilling. And I think the love
of the company and the love of the job stems
mostly from what it is, what it means in the
world Bob.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
For everybody out there who has not read Bob's first book,
it's called The Route of a Lifetime. And I went
and got the book out there after our meeting because
I just I thought it was so fascinating getting a
chance to talk to someone who has been and accomplished
all the things that you have, and so I wanted
to get some knowledge. And if I remember correctly, very

(06:11):
early in the book, you talk about the opening of
Shanghai and China and the call in the moments right
like everything that could have went wrong and everything that
was developing in that process. And so just to just
know that you said that you came, you just came
from Shanghai. I remember in your book reading about that,
and that was my first time kind of getting the
information that you know, what went down to open up

(06:34):
you know, Disney in Shanghai, China. And so everybody, please,
I know this book has been out for a while,
but it's a great book if you want to know
things about leadership, which I want to know about. And
my next question to you, in the midst of this
transition that you had from CEO of Disney and another

(06:57):
CEO coming in, how's that process? Are you the one
that have to pick the CEO? Do you pick the
one your successor I mean, I know we hear about it,
but it doesn't work like that, not really.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, it's a board decision, you know, I'm a member
of the board, so technically I have one vote. But
as you'd expect, the board, and this is true with
a lot of companies, typically turns to a CEO, particularly
if that CEO has been successful, for advice and for
a say in that decision. In this particular case, the

(07:29):
board was leaning very strongly in the direction of staying inside,
as they had done with me in two thousand and five,
when I was chosen someone who really not only knew
the company well, but someone that we knew really well
and felt that it was much less risk associated with that,
and in fact, we felt that we had someone that

(07:51):
was fully capable of doing the job and doing it well.
So I was a member of the board, and I
would I'd have to say, you know, an integral part
of the process because the assessment of my successor you know,
they relied a lot on me for but they also
participated in too. If I can just go back, because

(08:12):
you mentioned my book, Yes, that came out I guess
right before we met. Came out in nineteen and it
just reminds me because I think I wrote in it.
At that point I had been in China forty five times,
so I've been back five times, so yes, this.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Week was my fifth fifth time.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yes, that's a lot of mileage, but it is.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
I've been a few times myself. Actually, I've been twice
already this year, and there's going to be four times
this year total.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Did you have a sneaker deal there?

Speaker 1 (08:39):
I can't remember. Yeah, I thought I still do, so
I spent a lot of time going back and forth.
So I don't know if I'm at fifty, but I
know we got since since two thousand and eight on,
I've been going to China pretty much every year twe
years loan trips, So just a pivot from that. I'm
trying to think where I was going. But I guess

(09:02):
for me, you know, when I think about when I
think about your journey, is the is the process that
it took for the CEO? Right? The process you said
with the board, your journey wasn't the same, right. I mean,
if I go back and I remember reading, I think
they talked about the board really wasn't a big fan
of bringing you on a CEO at the time that
you came on, or it was maybe the votes was

(09:23):
a little split. How was that process for you to
become CEO?

Speaker 3 (09:26):
It was arduous and challenging. I was the internal candidate,
but there were multiple external candidates, and the company had
been through a challenging time for probably about five years
when I was then the CEO, the chief operating officer,
and I think because of the company's issues in that

(09:47):
period of time, they weren't sure whether I had.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
What it takes.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
And I think they were looking for not more of
the same, but they were looking for different and so
they put me through an extremely arduous process.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think fifteen interviews.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
I was interviewed by every member of the board at
least once, some twice by the entire board, twice, by
an outside search firm once and they really, you know,
made me, you know, earn the job, not just from
the performance that I had, but in terms of my
ability to articulate where it was I wanted the company
to go where the key issues were. And I must say,

(10:28):
you know, at the time, I guess in a way
it's like childbirth. Well I've never given birth. It was
pretty painful. I felt I was being judged harshly, and
I felt that the process was a little bit too
long and just a little bit too rigorous. But then
I was fortunate. In the end, I convinced them I

(10:48):
was the right person. I got the job, and then
all of a sudden, you forget about all the pain.
I guess again, like childbirth.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
The kids born, everything is all good, is past you,
and you, yeah, you.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Feel great about it.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
And actually, as I think back, the rigor that was
required really forced me to focus on what would my
priorities be, you know, what did the company need most,
what needed to be changed, what was good, what wasn't good.
And it caused me to I think much, think much
more deeply about what I would do when or if

(11:21):
I got the role, and so so.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
It made you look inside a little bit, a little
bit further.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Absolutely, it made me. It made me. Yeah, it was.
It was good.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
You know they say, you know, practice makes perfect or
whatever it is. I don't know if it was perfect,
but I definitely had to. I remember, you know, one
of the early meetings, you know, what are.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Your strategic priorities?

Speaker 3 (11:43):
And I kind of anticipated a question like that to
be answered, but I hadn't really given it that much thought.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
So it was all good.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
It was.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
It was a discipline that I think ended up being
positive for me rather negative.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
What do you get the the goal? What do you
get the confident to say I'm going to be CEO
of Disney Like?

Speaker 3 (12:05):
What does it come from? Well, I think years and
years of learning. I've always been a believer of of
having some ambition, meaning wanting more, but never letting ambition
get too far ahead of opportunity. What I mean by
that is, you know, when you're really young and starting out,
I think it's okay when you believe it's time and

(12:28):
you've earned it, to have ambition for the next role.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
But to have ambition to.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Do something fifteen twenty years later, you know, I guess
one could argue that could drive you. So I guess
as a you know, a twelve year old kid, you
might have had an ambition to play.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
In the NBA and that may have driven you.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
And maybe that's a bad example because it, you know,
it worked out pretty well for you. I never had
the ambition to be the CEO of the Walt Disney
Company or of a company. I just went to work
every day, worked really hard. When I gained the confidence
in what I was doing and I gained the confidence
of the people I was working for, something a gear

(13:07):
clicked in or something for me to really go.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
For the next role.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
So I think at the time two thousand and four,
two thousand and five, when I was being considered, I
felt I was really ready because of the job that
I had just done. In the jobs that I had
over all those years.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
I was that president of ABC. Is that the job
or I had?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah, well, I had a number of them before, you know,
I was at one point I was vice president of
Programming for ABC Sports, which was at the time before ESPN,
like the penultimate television sports organization. Then I was president
of ABC Entertainment, which is all primetime programming, which was
when I was thirty seven years old. Then President of
ABC I think when I was forty forty three and

(13:53):
a and then I became president of the company which
was called Capital Cities ABC when I was forty three.
That's when I was forty three. And I think at
that point, I, you know, each job and they enabled
me to gain more confidence again practice practice not only doing,

(14:15):
but practice leading, which I don't you know, it comes
naturally to some people, and I think I had an
innate quality to lead, but that I didn't necessarily know that.
And it's not until you know it that you can
do it, you think. So by the time I became
CEO of the Walt Disney Company, all of the jobs
that I had before prepared me for it, and I

(14:36):
was confident. I wasn't certain I would do it well,
but I was confis confident I at least had a shot.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, what what kind of leader would you say you are?
If someone? Because perception is reality, right, So whatever perception
is about you as a leader is the reality that
the people are going to think. So what kind of
leader would you think you are?

Speaker 3 (14:58):
Well? Wow, it's going to sound probably a little conceited, but.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
We got gold microphones. But I see that Holly matches.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Interestingly enough, I'm more of an introvert than an extrovert,
even though the job forces to me, forces me on
stage all the time to be an extrovert or to
act like an extrovert. And I actually think being an
introvert has its has a value because I think a
lot internally. I am am I spend time being thoughtful.

(15:29):
That means shutting out the noise in the world sometimes,
and I think it's really important that thoughtfulness is an
important component of leadership. It's gaining the knowledge to make
smart decisions. As a for instance, I think I'm accessible.
I think it's really important even though I have to
protect my time, as this story you told about giving

(15:49):
you fifteen minutes, because allocating time is one of the
most challenging things about particularly a job leading a company
like this, in a job like this, but I like,
even if I'm careful at how I allocate my time,
I like people to believe that they can touch me
and see me and hear what I'm saying. So open
door policy you can. You know, not everybody the company

(16:11):
can knock on my door and walk in, but a
lot of people can. I walk around a lot, so
I like being seen. This notion that people can in
a way touch me and get to know who I
am is important. I obviously I believe you need to
be a really good listener. Being a leader is not
always about telling people what to do. It's about hearing

(16:33):
what other people think we should do, any want to do.
It's almost like a coach and a an NBA team.
I think you tell teams, you give them a lot
of instruction and tell them what to do, but I
think it's really important to hear what they want to do,
and I think it has to be a two way street.
It has to be balanced, and that's I try to
approach it that way. I'm very decisive. I believe in

(16:57):
making decisions on a timely based and not be laboring
decision making. I'm a risk taker. I'm focused. For instance,
I believe that when you're talking to someone, you need
to be to be in the moment and focused on
who they are and what they're saying. You need to
be focused on what your priorities are. You need to
be focused on, you know, what are the most important

(17:21):
decisions or actions you have to take as a leader.
All of those things I try to I like to
think that I'm kind, but I know I make tough
decisions too sometimes about people and they may not think
I'm so kind. And then, last, the authenticity is important,
you know, being who your true self, who you really are,
not trying to fake it.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
I'm glad you said that because that leads right into
my next question. How do you protect Bob from Bob
Iger to CEO? How do you find your personal time?
How do you stay safe away from Yes, you want
to be the leader that has open to a policy
but also understanding that you cannot allow everybody to come

(18:02):
in and give you their thoughts and their you know,
they're feeling their emotions on every decision and everything. So
how do you protect yourself? Where's your solitude away from
Bob iger Ceo.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I carve out I'm very very specific about this.
I carve out time every day to be alone with
my thoughts. It gets people ask me whether I meditate.
It's my form of meditation, but a true meditator would
probably scoff it.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, I work out every morning.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Okay, alone almost in the dark with I listen to music,
but there's a TV on, but I don't have the
sound on.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
It's about four or five am, he said, in the dark. Yeah, it's.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
I get up at mostly four thirty most mornings. I
used to get up at four fifteen. I've given myself
fifteen in one minutes and I work out religiously every morning,
and that's my solitude. And I'm amazed at how much
I get done. In terms of inside my head, I'll
think about the day, I'll think about things, my priorities.
Sometimes I'll even think about ideas I might have for a.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Speech that I have to give. It gives you clarity,
It gives me real clarity.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
And even though you know you work out to spend energy,
I actually think it's energizing that's really important. I also
try to build in time almost each day during the
day where I can, you know, just stay on top
of things, email, reading, watching. I have to do a
lot of watching. And that's also true at night. So

(19:33):
even though are there are a lot of demands on
my time, I say no to many more things than
I say yes to, because, first of all, I like
to spend time with my family, and I prioritize that
even though my boys now are out of the house,
but I like to be home for dinner and I
may go back to work after dinner. And even when
my boys were growing up and when I was not traveling,

(19:56):
I made sure I was home for dinner with them
then and then we all went and did it.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
To our rooms to do our homework.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
But I just think compartmentalizing, carving out time not just
for your thoughts, but for your personal life, it's critical.
Without it, I don't think you're a complete person.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
I think some of you said is important, and it's
a question that I posted to someone recently at a
conference in Hong Kong. But to be as successful as
you are, to have all to wear all the hats
that you wear. That is Bob, you're the public figure,
the CEO, but you also have Bob the husband, Bob

(20:54):
the father. Have it? How do you deal with the guilt?
Possibly because I deal with this and a person speaking
from personal experience of dealing with guilt of trying to
be the best at my craft or whatever it is,
I'm chasing and trying to build for my family, but
also missing moments, not always being able to be there.
How have you dealt with you know, kind of I

(21:16):
guess I call it guilt. But have you dealt with
that situation?

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah? Painfully in a way. I am.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
I was married before, and I had two kids with
my former wife who are now in their forties and
have five grandchildren. Well, I have five grandchildren. And when
they were really young and I was working instead of
leading a company, I was working for leaders of company
and leaders of the businesses that I work for, so

(21:45):
I had less control of my time. And I was
also really really striving hard to get ahead, you know,
to be successful. Yeah, and I sacrificed a lot personally.
I missed a lot when I was home. I tried
to be in the moment, but I know most of
the time my head was somewhere else. And as I

(22:07):
grew older and I got divorced, I got remarried, had
two kids. I was very conscious about not doing that
again because frankly, the guilt that I had basically missing
moments I carried through into my late in my years.
I can still think about it actually just talking about it.
I missed a lot and I just made myself a

(22:29):
promise that I wasn't going to do that again. When
my older son was born, I was already president of ABC,
and then I quickly became CEO and president of Disney.
And my second son was born a couple of years
before I became CEO, and I just decided that I
didn't want to I didn't want to create more guilt,

(22:50):
but more and more than that, I wanted to be more.
I wanted to be there for them more. And it
was helped a lot by being mature. And I think
when you are older and have kids, you have an
ability to be more focused. And I had already achieved,
although I still had more that I wanted to achieve.
But I think the fact that I did, and I
wasn't striving constantly for more. Gave me the ability to

(23:13):
be a little bit more with them, because as I
think think back in my daughters, I might have been
with them in physically but not necessarily as much as
I needed to be emotionally. So I and I've had
that guilt in terms of.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
My marriage.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
I'm very lucky that my wife will Obey has worked
throughout our marriage and times and jobs that were just
as demanding, if not more so than mine. And she's
currently dean of the Annenburgh School Communication and.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
That talked about it.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
That's a heavy duty job, and particularly these days, and
that makes it a little easier. You know that she's
you know, sometimes I make her feel guilty a little bit.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
She understands when you have to.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
Walk in and not once and we talked about the
fact that I went to China fifty times, well about
forty seven of those times were since we've been married,
and not once did you say what are you doing?
You're leaving again. I just never had that, which is
so it takes a partnership. I'm sure you've discovered the
same thing. You know, you need someone who understands the

(24:26):
sacrifices of doing what we do, but it's also willing
to speak up for what their needs are. And I
be I was lucky that she never purposely made me
feel guilty.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
But that's that's one of the biggest keys. Before I
throw it to you, Bob, just to bring it back
to Willow. My first time getting a tanzameter, we were
at the mc gala last year. Before you go into
the meg gala where the big party is, you kind
of walk through this the art exhibit, and the art
exhibit was of call like felt right the theme last year,

(25:02):
and we and you, Willow Gavin, myself, my wife, we
all walked together throughout the exhibit and you and I had,
you know, time to look at the beautiful art that
you know, a fashion last year at the mcgala. So
it was cool getting that time, you know, because I
know Willow from TV, right, I know her from you know,
being a journalist from TV, and so you know, it

(25:24):
became real like I'm you know, I'm a fan of
of people who are very talented and they can do
multiple things. And so your wife has very similar to
my wife has her own life. I have a own
career as well, as being a mother. And so it's
fascinating to me when when two big powerhouses in a
sense they get together and they can they can make
it make sense.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah, I think it something healthy about that. Willow doesn't
derive any esteem or status from from me. Yeah, you know,
she she has her own uh, and I think that's
really healthy.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
I think I was.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
I was drawn to her for that reason, in part
that she had her own career. Interesting and just thinking
about it that she for I think eight years was
a co host of NBA Inside Stuff with a lover shots.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Then over times we went to games and a player
would say, I used to watch it when.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
I was little. Yeah, that was We always made her
feel old.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
But she from you know when I met her, she
was doing that.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
She had her own career.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Ultimately she was great.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Thank you, Yeah, thank you. It was fun watching her.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Every once in a while a video will pop up
that we crack up about it.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
It actually made it cooler to me, Bob, when I
found out you was married to Willow.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
That is that is a source of a lot of
status for me, particularly when I got to NBA game.
You know that show is getting not getting inducted into
the into the NBA Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Listen rightfully. So it was an amazing show.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
You're and you were already inducted. Are you getting I can't.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
I got inducted last year in August of twenty three. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
So if you still remember the suit, you were you
knowing it was pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, I don't out on the white suit and
I changed clothes. I did a whole time. I'll go
over the top. Bob, do you want to insert an ass?

Speaker 4 (27:03):
I do have a question for both you actually like
what's the fire? Where's the fire? For you is because
you both like you you're present, You're the CEO of
one of the biggest companies in the world, and you've
reached them out on top of NBA start like basket
the basketball on this, but you're still going like you're

(27:23):
both are still like just it's fire there that's not stopped,
Like where does that come from?

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Like where is that?

Speaker 4 (27:29):
What's what's the fire from?

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Now? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Go ahead, Well I hate there's a lot of fire.
I've always had it, and we could analyze exactly why
and what generated it. But one of the things that
amazes me, even now I'm seventy three years old, going
to be seventy four. And I've been doing this for
a while, as we've said, and I get up every

(27:52):
morning still with fire in my belly. I'm incredibly competitive,
really competitive, not necessarily with other people, but in general
I'm a perfectionist. I believe working hard, as you know,
the true secret sauce to success. But with that comes
I think if you're competitive, you work even harder that fire.

(28:14):
I just, you know, to put it in perspective. My
dad was a well educated man, ivy league education, a
talented man, played jazz, professional jazz trumpet player, but he
had manic depression and it deprived him of a successful
career and he was always unfulfilled. He was always disappointed
in himself, and I've observed that as a young child

(28:37):
and throughout. He died about ten years ago, but I
observed that in him, you know, as long as he
was alive, and I promised myself I was not going
to live a life that was not fulfilling, and I
was subconscious. I didn't really understand it as much until
I actually started writing my book and had to really
come to grips with how do I explain it? But

(28:59):
I just I saw his unhappiness and dissatisfaction with himself,
and I was driven. The fire really, I think comes
from not wanting to lead the life that he led.
And he was a good person, he was a good father,
but he was never happy, and so I think a
lot of it comes from that. You really want to get,

(29:19):
you know, bring the psychology into all this.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, for me, so many different things, as you said,
but I think where it comes from, where it comes
from me is is I don't want the bus to
stop here, right Like, I'm first generation to do everything
that I'm doing, and my fire comes through my kids.
You know, I go back, Zaire's twenty two years old.

(29:44):
I've had a fire in my belly for the last
twenty two years that I can't even explain that gets
me out of bed every day. And you know, Zaire
is my oldest, and I go all the way down
to my youngest, And so for me, I guess that
fire is in me for them because I don't want
the bus to stop where I am and where we

(30:04):
are as a family. You know, I want to I
want to know what family offices is like. I want
to know what generational success looks like and feel like
I want my family to know those things and feel
these things. And so I put a lot of pressures
on myself to, you know, not just be successful in
the NBA, but to be in all these areas because
you know, I know that I'm a model for the

(30:26):
way family and that fire and my belly to be
better every day is not just for myself. It's for
a long line of kids that I probably would never meet.
Because I want to be the I want to set
the standard. And then because I understand in sport, once
a standard is set, you're gonna work hard to jump
over that. Like Lebron came to all time scoring leader

(30:46):
because Kareem did it right. And so once these bars
are set, it's your job to now you know, the
next generation to try to jump over those bars and
clear them. That's that's how competitive we are, and I
want my family to be competitive. So I want to
set the bar, and then I want to make sure
the generations out there know that they have the capabilities
and the resources and all the things they need to
jump over that bar. And so my my desire and

(31:08):
everything burns is all based around my family. I feel
that that's my purpose in this world is my family.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
So I was going to actually ask you a question.
It came up in my head anyway, Sorry when we
were talking about retirement, because I know that and to
play in the NBA you have to be competitive. But
I also know, having gotten to know a few NBA players, yourself,
Chris Chris Paul being one, that there are different levels

(31:35):
of competition. There are guys who are far more competitive.
And I think you'll find that the greats in the league,
those again into the Hall of Fame, were simply more.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Competitive than others.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Obsessed and yes, and that the work ethic and everything
about it. But then all of a sudden the day
comes and unlike me, it's like, you know, you could
do this job a longer, much longer time because it
doesn't demand it demands of me physically, but not like
yours did. You got to step back? What do you
do someone as competitive as you? How do you channel that?

(32:06):
And you talk about your family? Was that a challenge
for you?

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Definitely? It's an everyday challenge, right especially man, I played
basketball from five years old on. You know, it was
so much for me and I think I'm one thing
I know, Bob, is I'm learning a lot about myself
now that I'm getting full and fulled away from the game,
I'm actually learning that I love the game. I love

(32:30):
the game with all my heart, but I actually understand that.
It's not like my dad still plays basketball every day
sixty seven years old. He gets up every morning, he
goes play basketball. I don't do that, and I know
his needs are worse than mine, and you know, and
I don't do that. And so I'm like, dang, I
do I love it the way he loves it?

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Interesting?

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Right, Like, I'm starting to, like now look at certain
things and say, man, I love this game. It's done
so much. But I think for me, the game was
it was a moment, you know. And my mom always
told me when I was a kid in the tidele
of my book that my life was bigger than basketball,
and I never knew what that meant. And I think,
now I'm on the other side of basketball, I'm starting
to understand what that meant is. I'm not obsessed about

(33:09):
that anymore. But what I am obsessed about is how
do I maximize each each day. I'm obsessed about maximizing
my day and maximizing my time, and I'm trying to
win so many moments throughout my day, whether it's getting
dressed in twenty minutes, I want to win. I want
to see if I can get out the door in
twenty right. I'm putting these challenges in front of me,
and so I'm taking some of the things that made

(33:30):
me a great athlete and I'm just bringing them into
life and trying to make myself, you know, and challenge
myself to be a better person.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
By the way that getting out the door in twenty minutes,
I can really relate to that.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
It's so interesting. I've never talked to anybody about that.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
I actually sometimes I'll count, like, you know, I just
try to be more efficient at things.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
The challenges you got to set for yourself.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
But it must be how we're wired too, you know.
I do fewer steps.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Toget from one place to the other.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
If I can do what I'll do. I guess it's
a maybe it's I don't know, maybe it's why we
end up doing what we do because of that that mentality.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, no, I gotta it's a thing I go through.
I put so many challenges in front of myself that
no one knows. I am in competition with myself all.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
You can talk about it. A lot of people don't
understand it. They think you're crazy.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, so you know, to to answer your question, Bob,
I mean, I guess that's the way that I kind
of look at You know that I'm trying to you know,
I always I want to be connected to the game.
I think it was a point and my team noticed
where I was trying to I don't want to be
known as an athlete. I want to be known as
a businessman. I want to be taken serious. Don't. And

(34:42):
then I had to sit back and I have to
look at and say, you know what, actually being known
as an athlete is actually the best team because do
you know what I had to overcome to be a
great athlete. Do you know the value that I bring
by being an athlete? Well, let me tell you, and
so really bringing everything that I am as an athlete,
and understanding that I am so unique in every room
I walk into because it's only a handful of us,
and not try to get yourself away from being an

(35:05):
athlete or being known as an athlete. No, please know
that I was, and please know that I was a champion.
Please note that I overcame injury because now you're gonna
automatically know something about my character. You won the championship?

(35:37):
How many times? Three?

Speaker 2 (35:40):
I was at one? I was in Dallas.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Oh the one we want?

Speaker 2 (35:44):
That was your first one?

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Six?

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Was that your first?

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah? I was there. You were there.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
Because ABC and ESPN has the NBA and I go
to a lot of finals over the years. And my
son at the time, six was eight and a big
basketball fan. End they're playing basketball in high school and
he he over the years, he's always roots for teams
that are winning. A Clipper fan most of his life.

(36:12):
But he decided to go to the game wearing a
Dwayne Wade's uniform or jersey in Dallas. So we fly
from LA to Dallas. He's wearing number three, the dead
Miami jersey, and we find out that we're sitting courtside.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
So we get there and he is in Dallas.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
He's like one of the few Dallas fans, a few
Miamis fans that courtside. He's getting harassed by the Dallas
I love that he's eight years old.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
He was even the Dallas Mavericks mascot.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
Came especially in courtside in Dallas.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
We didn't know we were going to sit courtside.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
I didn't want him to wear the university sun. We're
you know, we're going to Dallas. You gotta be respectful.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Was it the game we actually won? It was the
game you won? Game six?

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, it's a game you won.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Wow. June twenty by the way, yes, I know to day.
How excited was he during that win?

Speaker 4 (37:07):
For him wearing that jurny being like like like.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Like I picked the right way? Was he like at
the end of that game? Like, yeah, yeah, he was elevated.
Pretty happy kid man. That's that's awesome. Thank you for
sharing that. Yeah, feel good. He'll remember it too. Yeah
that On that same line, dude, are you the father

(37:34):
that you thought you were going to be? Right? We
all have this idea of who we're going to be
if we have kids and what we're going to do.
Are you that father? I've never thought about that.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
I do think about, you know, my qualities as a father? Yes,
I don't.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
I you know, I the father I thought I wanted
to be.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
I was going to be.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Maybink by and large, I am, by and large.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
I think about it.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Again, I haven't given much thought, but yeah, I think
I I just think I've I've been a good role model.
I've been there for my kids. I balanced, you know,
being kind and being and discip and disciplining them. My
wife and I both said pretty high standards for them.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, I think pretty much.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
You've done a good job of it. Okay, Yeah, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
If I give myself an APT I.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Wouldn't do that. If if I could, as we sit here,
ask for not only just me, but even the listeners advice,
and I don't. I don't know the answer to this,
but just listening to you, I know that you have
a blended family, and I know that I have parts
of a blended family, and how difficult it is to

(38:56):
do that. So any tips, any pointers that you give
me or anyone out here listening, How did you handle
and what's the challenges of bringing together family?

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Well, I think the most important thing is being empathetic
to all members of the family, because not all situations
are are comfortable. There's sometimes some discomfort in bringing blended
families together. Yeah, And while I think as parents we
set expectations saying why isn't everybody happy? You know, and

(39:29):
everybody get this, and you have to realize that people
come to blended families with sometimes disappointment and expectations, and
it's not always.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Great for everybody.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
I think you just have to put yourself in their shoes. Yeah,
but that would be the most important more empathy, Yeah, definitely, definitely.
You know I remember, you know, introducing my daughters to
my Willow who became my wife, and then getting to
the point where telling you what I was going to
get married, then telling them we're going to have a child,
and well, you know, you can't just expect them to

(40:05):
accept it all and be and smile. You know, you
have to really think, well, you know, what are they thinking.
They're disappointed in the dissolution of the marriage of their
parents and you know, having someone else in their lives
that is a stranger in many respects what you're expected
to all of a sudden embrace and.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Love because you just want everything to just Hey, I
love you, I love you. Let can't everybody get along?

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Ye? Well wait a minute, you know, you know the
new families an interloper and the old family, right, so
I think we forget sometimes, you know how difficult it
can be, and I think it's important to remind yourself
of that. Yeah, looking I think I was probably less
empathetic than I should have been now looking back on it.

(40:48):
Of course it's twenty twenty hindsight, it's easier to, you know,
talk about it.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
But that would be my strong advice.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Yeah, I thank you for that, because I know a
lot of us deal with that right in the world today.
We all deal with you know how I want how
to deal with blended families and then you put all
the other things around it, who you are, you know,
and all of those things at the same time. So yeah,
thank you for that. This word in sport always come up,
and I think we all have a hard time answering

(41:17):
it because we don't really know the answer for it.
But the word legacy comes up all the time, right
especially when you got kids. It's all about, you know,
your kids going to follow your footsteps? Is this your legacy?
And how do you look at legacy? And in that
same token, does your legacy put any pressures on your kids? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:39):
Definitely.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
You know, I think I look at legacy two ways,
in legacy as a father and as a husband, as
a member of a family, and of course there's legacy professionally.
And I realized that there does lines blur because so
much of what I do and what I've accomplished, you know,
bring into my personal life and my legacy as a parent,
and my legacy as a husband, as a as a well.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
So I'll start professionally.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
You know.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
I was really lucky to have been named the sixth
CEO of the Walt Disney Company in two thousand and five,
a company that was founded by Walt Disney in nineteen
twenty three, you know, known as you know, one of
the greatest companies in the world. And I've always wanted
my legacy to be Hey, you were given responsibility to

(42:26):
lead this great company. Make sure that you don't screw
it up. Make sure you leave it in even better
hands or in even better shape rather for the people
that follow you. It's very important to me. Even now
coming back, I realized I'm putting my legacy on the
line a little bit because I left in pretty you know,
with the company was in really good shape, and I

(42:49):
don't want to do anything that diminishes that legacy. So
the pressure is on really for me to do the
same again and again.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
I just want to.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
Leave this company as one of the most admired companies
in the world, you know, known for the equality and
the integrity of the people in the product, the people
who work for us in the product that we make
very important to me in terms of my legacy as
a father and as a as a husband. You know,
I very much would like my family to appreciate my accomplishments,

(43:24):
but more importantly, to appreciate the fact that I did
that but still brought a lot of love to the
people who matter the most to me, you know, my
wife and my kids, that I was there for them,
that I cared about them, that I set a good example,
that I set high standards and lived up to them myself.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, that's that's the biggest thing, right there, living up
to me yourself. You said that. It just made me pause,
But that is the biggest thing, not just about talking
about it. Yeah, about living up to as well. It's
easy to tell some give someone else advice, it's harder
to follow that that advice yourself.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Yeah, that's true, even you know at Disney. I you know,
I try to to walk the talk talk about integrity,
and I'm lending this pursuit of perfection and what I
demanded the people who work for me.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Well, I gotta I gotta do the same myself. But
one of the toughest things I think that we all
have that we all deal with and we all have
maybe issues with, is self accountability. How how do you
deal with how do you deal with self accountability? Are
you do you look in the mirror and you are

(44:41):
honest with yourself or do you look away from the
mirror sometimes when you don't want to be honest with yourself.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
Well, it's interesting you bring that up. And we talked
about my father briefly. But I remember when I graduated
in elementary school at sixth grade and we had yearbooks
and my father wrote in my yearbook a quote from
Shakespeare which was to thine own self be true, And
it stuck with me and people ask me over the years,

(45:08):
you know, what do you what tenant or what what
do you live by?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
What's your north star? To thine own self be true?

Speaker 3 (45:14):
Be true to who who you are, and that means
be true to the words that you you speak, to
be true to what you demand of others, meaning you know,
and be true to yourself. Don't fool If you start
fooling yourself, you're fooling everybody. So I have very high
standards for myself and sometimes I disappoint myself a little bit,

(45:34):
but I try really hard to live up to the
standards that I have for myself, and I don't beat
myself up over shortfalls as much as I just I
use them as lessons to basically even get better, And
even to this day, I try to do that.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
You said something and I wrote it down. I want
to I want to get your.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
I love this. By the way you said, the way.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
You do anything is the way you do everything? Is
that kind of similar to what you were just saying
right there?

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Absolutely? Yeah, I absolutely, I think you know. The standard
that you said, if it's high integrity for instance, has
to be applied to everything you do everything. Inconsistency, particularly
when it comes to Marls ethics, is unacceptable. If you
do something that there's a lapse, suggests a lapse of integrity,

(46:25):
then theoretically everything's on the table, everything could be.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
So that's important to me.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
How do you handle You and I both have something
in common, right, And I guess it's were public figures, right,
whether you want it to be or I wanted to
be or not. I signed up to play basketball and
then sign up to have people talk about a lot
of things they talk about. But now we live in
a world where some people actually go find the information
with people talking about them. You can actually go look

(46:54):
at comments and you can find people talking about you,
which is I don't do those things. But how do
you handle band a public figure.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
I try not to let what how other people are
judging me and just change how I behave So, first
of all, I guess in terms of the public side
of it, you know, you can read a lot about yourself.
A lot of it isn't even accurate. I try really

(47:26):
hard not to read about myself. It's interesting often people
here saying, hey.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
You read that about such a such.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
No, I didn't.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I don't lead every day or I don't I don't
spend time.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Every day reading about myself.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
I don't look at comments on Twitter or X the
X platform, and I just it's just I don't find
that healthy and I don't learn anything about myself at all.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
I look, it comes.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
With the territory that if you're in a you know,
if you're stepping onto a basketball court as a professional
basketball player, or if you're the CEO of the Walt
Disney Company, you're on stage on stage and the lights
are bright and and and people are going to scrutinize
almost everything you say on or off the court, in
this case, on or off the Disney so called Disney stage,
and I take I must say that took some getting

(48:13):
used to. It's just not who I am. I goes
back to common I made at the beginning. I'm you know,
you're interestedly an introvert. I don't really want to be
on stage. It's part of my job to be on stage,
but that I don't believe that's who I am, So
you deal with it, I say, I must say I do.
I'm careful in terms of how I behave publicly. I'm

(48:35):
conscious of how I present myself, whether it's you know,
how I'm dressed, or you know, or even I remember
taking you know, my boys to restaurants, and you know,
little boys don't sit at tables.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Very long, and they act up and run around. How
you discipline them in public? I was very careful about.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Things like that. You know.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
I remember every once in a while i'd raised my
voice and my wife, you know, you're in a restaurant,
don't raise your voice because you think someone might be
scrutinizing how you're you know, basically.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
I mean they will be anyway it goes through the territory.
I say, you get used to it.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
You never quite ever quite get used to it. The
one thing I try not to do is believe all
the stuff that's written about me. I not let it
go to my head.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Yeah. Yeah, that's that's something that I learned is the
planned sport is the is the high and lower the
ebb and flow of everything of the job of the media.
They love you one day, obviously, don't love you the next.
Of people who love you one day don't love you
the next, Like it's a whole. Like if you stay,
if you if you allow your emotions to go on
that roller coaster, you can't focus on what you're trying

(49:43):
to accomplish, in what you're trying to do, because that's
going to take all your attention away. And so I
learned that as an athlete. It's like, Okay, I have
to I have to close that part off, right, Like
I know my coaches, I know Spoke I had this.
He had people all the time when you lose some games,
trying to call him, text him, tell him what he's
doing wrong, What he needs to do better. They've never

(50:06):
been in one war room, they've never been in one
film breakdown. They don't know none of the personalities of
the team that they're playing. But you can coach from
your from the phone and tell you you know. And
I think a lot of people are coaching from the
sideline and in the of this, this being a public
figure of our lives and their Monday morning quarterback and
telling them, oh, well you should have done that. Well,
this isn't real time.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
And yeah, I think it's important too to not let
others define you, but to define who you are yourself.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Yeah, it's very interesting.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
People say, don't read everything, don't believe everything is written
a value, and yeah, don't even read it.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
I think there's value to that. Oh a little, a
little way from the so serious. What are you fearful of? Like,
I'm fearful of snakes, I'm fear for of birds. What
do you feel for birds? I can't birds? Me and birds.
We got a whole history I'm talking about. It's a
long history. Bob even would be all day if I'll
tell you about it.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
I don't like snakes, but I'm not fearful of them.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
M I'm not sure I have anything to make you.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
No, no, no, I'm not jumpy.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
You're not jumpy when it goes into while you're so successful.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
I used to say I don't have a fear gene,
but that gets misinterpreted. I have my I have anxieties
every once in a while.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
But so what gives you the most anxiety? Well, you know, I.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
Think as you grow older, you become more in tune
to just how fragile the world is. You know, something
happening to my wife or my kids. I can get
anxious about that sometimes, you know, you just think about
you know, you could fade and stepping off the street
corner the wrong moment and getting hit by a car.
And I'm the fragility of the world, particularly as it

(51:54):
relates to my family. Would be it or snakes?

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Birds? A snake that's me now, I mean I have
that same that's that would be my my biggest one.
But any particular bird. You know, I really don't like pigeons.
I really don't like.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
There's a lot of them too.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
I don't like when they get close to me. I
don't like when it be underneath the table. You have
a looked at a pigeon a lot.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
So I'm the president of New York.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
I never understood, by the way, you never see baby pigeons.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Right, you just see big, grown, a dope pigeons and
a lot of Yeah, I do not like pigeons. Regrets.
Do you do you look at things that's having regrets
or do you take it as you know what, this
is a lesson for me, or do you have it?

Speaker 3 (52:42):
Well, we touched upon one. You know, I regret that
I wasn't there for my for my daughter daughters. That's
the pictures I could have been, should have been, That
would be it. I mean, every once in a while
I regret not having spent more time to myself and
you know, the old smell in the roses. But now
given the fact that I retired and I, by the way,

(53:03):
I stayed busy, but I really but not as busy,
and I really enjoyed it. And I one of the
things that I enjoyed is I finally felt I had time,
that I wasn't rushing to everything all the time, even
though I still had that I got to do something
as fast as I possibly can. I guess I regret

(53:23):
a little bit that I.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Haven't taken more time too for myself.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
But would you do it different even though you regret it?
Would you?

Speaker 3 (53:33):
You can't anyway, So I don't spend much time basically
on that because you can't do it again. And here
I am, you know, back at work, back at the grind,
working really hard, as hard as I've ever worked. I
don't even regret that in the seventies, as hard as
my seventies. You've have ever worked in your seventies? Yeah, yeah,

(53:54):
I only I've ever worked harder includes growing up in
my twenties and my prior to tenure as CEO.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
So you think as you get older, you think, you
know what, at some point it's gonna get easier. I'm
gonna be able to rad off and into this Hawaiian
beach life. Right, you think one day and you're telling
me as you sitting here, you're working hard on your seven.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
Yeah, it's interesting way yours back, going back to the
early parts of my career, you know, the seventies and
the eighties, meaning decades. I work for bosses who were golfers,
and then in the summer they play golf every Friday.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Wow, one day I don't play golf.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
But one day, why I'm gonna when I get to that,
dude time taking fridays off playing golf or whatever. And
then all of a sudden, I get there, where fridays off?

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Where's golf?

Speaker 1 (54:43):
As that happened?

Speaker 3 (54:44):
I think the world demands more of us, actually, and
uh and these days the pace of change is so
rapid and the challenge is so great, is so much
disruption in the world that there's there's no way you
take time off and I take vacation and I get away.
It doesn't mean that I'm not working when I'm away,

(55:05):
but I get away.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
We're going to talk about their vacation as we get
to the I Bob, you have another question for it,
because I did.

Speaker 4 (55:12):
And it's mainly because I've always wondered how when I
watched TV and I see you on TV, and you
kind of mentioned earlier that Disney is, like you, in
the business of making people happy and that's such a
great thing and being the leader of that charge of
making people happy, but people outside were trying to make

(55:33):
some of the things you do political. How do you
balance that of trying to Your job is trying to
make people happy, like that's what you want to do
all around the world.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
And knowing you can't satisfy everybody.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
You can't satisfy people everyone, and people try to make
it what I mean, trying to make for political gang.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
How do you balance that?

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Well, it's a good one, you know.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
First of all, I'm not one hundred percent sure I
know what you mean, except that I do know. One
of the things I've been preaching a lot of Disney
is is.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
And reminding people was to entertain. It's and where we
can entertain.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
We always want to entertain responsibly, but where we can
entertain in a way that has a positive impact in
the world, that's a good thing. But but our movies
and TV shows and theme park attractions, everything should shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
Be designed to deliver messages. They should be designed to entertain.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Going back, though, I love it when Disney can tell
a great entertaining story, yeah, and have a and and
have a really positive impact in the world. One of
the things I'm most proud of in my tenure CEO
was making.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
A movie black, making Black Panther.

Speaker 3 (56:35):
We made a Marvel action hero movie with virtually an
all black cast that was over over a billion dollars
in box office, that did well in almost every country
was released in including China, and the statement that made
was phenomenal in terms of acceptance and you know, anybody
could be a superhero.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
And I loved having that kind of impact.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
Where a movie which was about Mexican, Holly Day of
the Dead with it basically an all Mexican cast and
it did extremely well in China for instance, and just
you know, it's a great story, touches the heart, but
in that case it was mostly about having respect for
family and elders, particularly grandparents. It's a great positive impact.

(57:21):
I love that, But we didn't set out to have
a positive impact. You set out to make a good
tell a good story. Yeah, And I have to remind
all about the creators that we deal with today is
tell a great story. That's your number and entertained by
doing your storytellers, Absolutely, that should be our goal. If
in telling the story, you know we have a positive

(57:43):
influence on people in the world.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Great, Yeah. I mean to me, what that sounds like
is also too At the same time from the underbility
is kind of the model that I that I live by.
And there's so many different ways you can say it is.
But too much as given much as required and I
think the mentality from the public is you're given this,
so you're required to do this and whatever that this

(58:07):
is is what the public and what people you know,
there are expectations of what you're supposed to do because
you've been you know, you're sitting in this place, you're
sitting in this seat, you have this microphone, and so
I think it's on you to decide how you use it.
But I guess my question too, that would be, is
there a difference, Bob between Bob Iger, the CEO of

(58:29):
Disney that has a company to you know, to you know,
to sit on and make sure that you know the
company has a voice, and also Bob Iger, the person
who like Is it sometimes where your ideas kind of
cross where you may not believe in this as a person,
but as a company you have to stand on that

(58:49):
or is it the same?

Speaker 2 (58:51):
No, I think at this point it's the same.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
It's the same.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
Yeah, I think I can't. First of all, I can't
do anything as a company that I don't believe in
morally or I don't believe in as a person. But
I am very aware that Bob Iger without the title,
it's almost the same thing. These days as Bob Iger
with the title, Like the title just unfortunately travels deep

(59:14):
into my personal life, meaning meaning.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Away from Disney.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
So if I say anything as a civilian, so to speak, you.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
Might as well say it as the same coming from
the same thing. I have to be careful there. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
I had to learn that by the way, you know,
taking positions politically, I have a right as a citizen
to do that. If I say it, if I speak
it out loud, it's then people expect or just assume
that that's I'm taking a position on behalf of this company.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
So I don't know, I don't speak out loud anymore.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Yeah, that's what I was running exactly, that that dynamic
of you know, your personal life, your personal interests, but
also the company's view of people's the interests of the company.
And how does that does it ever come to a
point where you have to battle you versus you?

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Well, that goes back to you know, the way you
do anything is the way you do everything, or whatever
whatever I wrote.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
The way you do anything is the way.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Way you do it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Yeah, that's right. It's almost the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Vacations. So going back to the meeting that I had
in your office in twenty nineteen. I remember walking in
and I'm sitting here thinking, how am I going to
extend this meeting with by biker? How are we going
to get more than fifteen minutes? And so I saw
that you love selling. You have sailboats, you have photos.
If you want a cell boat, you had like a

(01:00:52):
sculpture or some sort of a celboat in your office.
And so I recognized that, and that's where I conversation
actually started. Because once you start talking about something you
enjoy and love, you lose time. And so that's how
we got to an hour. I'm leading you, but I
am fascinated. I am very fascinated because, as I said

(01:01:14):
in the meeting, I've been lucky enough to be out
on the water vacation, but I've never done it from you.
I've only done it from a yacht. I've never done
it from a sailing standpoint. Can you talk about why
you love, you know, taking your when you get your
time away, taking your vacation, being out there in the
water on the sailboat, because that is different than, you know,
than a yacht, or than than a regular boat. What

(01:01:36):
does that do for you? And is that your Is
that your sanctuary. Is that your that's your moment to
be away from everything.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Yes, it is.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
First of all, I grew up near the ocean. I
can actually smell the ocean, you know, a warm summer
night with the windows open.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
We didn't have air.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
Conditioning, and I could smell the ocean in my bedroom.

Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
And so I think it's in me, meaning I've always
needed to be somewho or another on the ocean, near
the ocean, tied to the ocean, have a view of
the ocean from my house here in La.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
It's just something about it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
And maybe I've got salt water in my bones, in
my body when I and I do like sailing. I've
been sailing for a long time, not quite all my life,
but a good certainly majority of it. And it's something
about to me. It's being completely in touch with nature.

(01:02:32):
I don't articulate it that way. I'm in touch with nature,
but I know when I'm on my boat and feel
the wind in my hair and my face and I
can smell that salty air. I am at peace. I
am escaped, my escape. I'm far from everything. I am
just in I'm in a completely other zone in a way,

(01:02:55):
and it's really refreshing and regenerating to me. And so
I have a sail boat. I've been kind of public
about that. Yeah, unfortunate about that. And I love to
sail because you also are so dependent upon forces that
are so much bigger than you and so totally uncontrollable. Yeah,
and I like that challenge too. Well, the wind's not

(01:03:16):
blown in the right direction, it's not blowing enough, it's
blowing too much, there's a storm coming, all of those things,
and having to contend with having to adjust to all that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Man, love it. I love it. I love that. That's
what scares me about the movies I've seen. I've never
been on a sailboat, but the movies I've seen and
the thought of man, I've been out on a yacht
in the yacht is just rocking, and I feel like
we're about to fall either side. And I look at
a sailboat, I'm like, they don't like they have as
much protection as even this yacht. So when a big

(01:03:46):
storm coming, when it's wind is gusty, you don't get nervous.
You don't think, oh this is bad.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Well, we're pretty careful. I'm pretty careful. I'm not I'm
not a risk taker when it comes to that. So
these days, with all the modern technology available, pretty much
can know. Even though it was a weatherman at one
point in my life, and I rely on others and
you stay away from trouble every once in a while
it's unavoidable. I remember not long ago, a couple of

(01:04:11):
summers ago, I was in Europe on my boat. Unfortunately
we were anchored and a huge storm blew in, blown
seventy miles an hour and snapped a big line off
the back of the boat. And I wasn't worried, but
I just remember that feeling of being completely, completely vulnerable
to nature, and in a way that there's something healthy

(01:04:32):
about that. Because I remember someone saying that you don't
really ever learn how to sail till you can sail
away from land far enough to not see it and
have that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Sense of vulnerability.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
I think that's a healthy thing too, to experience feeling
of vulnerability.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
I agree. I mean, I've been out in the middle
of the you know, and I'll bring this up because
this is obviously something that we share, and it's been
out in the middle of that water, and I've been
out there on je Ski's and I've went so far
that nothing was around but just bodies of water, and
the first fear jumped in, and then calmness.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Came until the pigeon flew me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
And it's something else that we share in which you know,
for me is very important. It is the moments where
I have big decisions to make. I normally go to
the beach, I normally walk the shore, I normally touched
the water. I need to feel that energy. It's something
about the energy that of that water that really connects
me to myself and gives me an opportunity to take
this big decision and make the right, the right choice.

(01:05:31):
And I just I walk along the shore to do that.
I go anywhere in California and I just walk along
the beach morning, these nights or whatever the case may be,
not too close at night, but you know what I mean.
And that's for me, Like you said, it's just something
about that. It just feels like life, you know, it
feels I can hear, I can hear all the sounds
I can you know, I can see everything that's going on,

(01:05:52):
and I'm just you know, I'm not in my house.
I'm not I don't have no blinders on. I'm out
there in the world, and it's just something about that.
It just feels like living to me is well just
connected to that water.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
And big and big decisions require real clarity of thought. Yeah,
And the only way you can do that, I think,
is to block out the noise, yeah, whatever that noise is,
or to figure out where you can be alone with
your thoughts so that you can make good decisions.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
I do this the same with the same with me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Well, Bob, first of all, I don't know how long
I took up your time today. I saw I know
it was more than fifteen minutes, So I appreciate you.
And as always, I'm going to end my podcast with
this question and you can answer it any way that
you see fit. But the name of this is the why,
and you know this is ain't the end for you.
This is it seems like you're in the meat of
it at seventy If anybody got if anybody is just

(01:06:40):
a listener, they're not watching the video. And Bob is
one of the he is fit. He's sitting there looking
great at seventy years. Yeah. I'm about to go home
and work out after this before my dinner to night.
But as you sit here at seventy after retirement, after
all the success you've had, all the success you have
in your life. You know, when you talk about your kids,

(01:07:02):
when you talk about your wife, You're sitting in a
pretty good spot in the world. But going forward from
this moment from the seat, when you get out of
the seat, what's your why, when you step into your office,
out of this interview, when you step out into the world,
what's your why I'm going forward in life?

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Well, it's it's such a good question. I have to
ask myself, why am I working this hard? You know,
this laid into life. What is it about me in
the world that drives me as much as it does?

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
Why? Why is it?

Speaker 3 (01:07:32):
I don't know the answer, really, I'm not sure. Maybe
it's what we talked about earlier, but just notion of
what was needed to feel fulfilled. You'd think that I
would have already felt that, but I'm still going at it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
So why? Yeah? Why? Yeah? It's something about it, right,
Like you can win championships, you can reach what people
say like that's the mountaintop, but it's fleeting. It's for
the moment. And then now I was like, Okay, that's over. Now,
Now what and so it's that Why is that? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Is that healthy or not healthy? I'm not sure? But
why I don't know. Well, I do have.

Speaker 4 (01:08:05):
One last question, Walter to why I was is anything
that you're excited for for this? I know what Disney
Plus is. You know, I've heard it was something else
coming out with ESPN, but Disney dine here.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
I'm excited about a lot of things. The great part
about this job is, you know, we do so many things.
So you know, we got big movies coming out. I'm
sometimes I'm anxious about them too. They're not all as
good as I'd like them to be.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
When they're not, I try really hard to help the
team make them better. So I get I'm excited about
a lot of that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
Any new platforms, any.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
New ESPN launching, you know, we call it a flagship
and you know about a year. The ability to get
ESPN and all these features direct to consumer is pretty.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Exciting to me. Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
You know, I get excited.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
About new theme park attractions and I have a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
I got a long list, a long list.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
I'm glad you you said that. First of all, ESPN knew.
I love that you especially when I think about you know,
more content is coming, right, we think about the w
n B A, now we think about how about women's
college basketball. I mean it's here, it is here to stand,
it ain't going nowhere. And so Inside Out too.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
Oh, I'm very excited about that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
So I'm glad you brought that up. You're very This
is the big this is the big movie, right, this
is it's come out in in June.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
You got a big one before that and get them
on the Planet of the Apes.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
But okay, well, I'm it's big for me because just
filmed with Carmelo Anthony. We just filed the how I.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
Was supposed to bring that out. Yeah, I'm really funny.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
Yeah, it's gonna be cool. So I'm excited about Inside
Inside Out too because we're in the promo for it
that's coming that we'll be starting in the Eastern Conference
finals pretty soon, that's right. Yeah, big summer for that
is mellows he all right.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
I saw he was at the Nick game the other night.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
He's mellow. He's exactly what his name says. He's doing good.
So we had a good we had a good day shooting.
Was that yesterday? Yeah? Part of the podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:10:08):
But I I I grew up in New York and
I actually have season tickets to the Knicks right behind
the next bench.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
And of course he played for them for years.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
So my boys when they were really young, I'd bring
him to Nick games. And they still say how the
announcer at Madison Square Gardens is Carmelo Anthony.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
Every announces the when to come the game. I'm glad
I now have a friend with has courtside seats somewhere
at the Knicks game. It's hard to get tickets. I
tried to get tickets last year, but I couldn't get
a playoffs. They looked pretty good. They looked fun to
watch as long as you I couldn't get tickets last year.
I had to go, you know, to a third party

(01:10:47):
to get some tickets to.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
The They're behind the Knick bench. They're not court side.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
That's good enough.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
My Clipper seats are court side.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Yeah. Well, I appreciate about Hopefully we have more opportunities
to talk. We've we've been in multim of rooms together
over the years, and museums and museums in LA and
in New York. I cannot wait to you know, the
next time, the next time, but I appreciate you for
always being gracious in those rooms and in those spaces,
and you know I can't wait to see what's next.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
Thanks for your time, Thank you for your time, enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
Hey everybody, Bye Biger