Disney CEO Bob Chapek Says He’s “Not Sure It’s Possible” To Make Everyone Happy

Being the Disney CEO isn’t exactly like being the CEO of any other company. Part of the reason for that is that Disney fans see the brand not so much as a company but more as a nostalgic and magical part of their lives. As a result, the person in charge faces the unique challenge of keeping the magic alive while still appealing to shareholders and investors.

While Bob Chapek (the current Disney CEO) is far from the first one in this position to come under fire for his decisions, he has certainly seen a lot of criticism in the past 2 years. In a recent interview, he was asked how that criticism and the personalized attacks he faced have affected him.

Many of the changes we’ve seen at Disney since Bob Chapek took over have been criticized by Disney fans, such as the replacement of FastPass+ with the paid Genie+, changes to Annual Pass programs, and several rounds of price increases in the parks.

Some of Chapek’s more political decisions have also been met with backlash. The company initially tried to keep out of the controversy surrounding Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law (called the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics), and Chapek was criticized from both sides of the political spectrum both before and after Disney issued a statement about the law.

With so many people invested in the company, it might seem like Chapek can just never win. When he sat down to speak with Wall Street Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Matt Murray, at the WSJ Tech Live conference, Murry asked Chapek about his experience as a CEO and the personal criticism his actions have been met with.

Murray said, “People got very personal with you. It got very personal. When you got this job, were you ready for that? The intensity of personal feelings people bring to the CEO of Disney?”

In response, Chapek said that he has long been familiar with the passion of Disney fans. “I ran parks for 7 years and I was quite familiar with how passionate people can be. If we move a churro cart 10 feet, it’s a big deal.”

He also noted that some decisions, while perhaps not initially popular with fans, have resulted in positive effects: “If we change an attraction from Tower of Terror to Guardians of the Galaxy — Well, the lines went from 30 minutes long to 6 hours long.”

Murray clarified that, during Chapek’s time running the parks, fans wouldn’t necessarily blame Chapek for the decisions made: “But they would come after your predecessor in many cases for that, not for you personally. You’re the guy on the hot seat now.” He then asked Chapek a simple, straightforward question about the complex and high-pressure job that Chapek was doing:  “Is it hard?”

In response, Chapek said, “Well, certainly.” He clarified that the job required him to separate his own feelings from the way people see and think about the Disney brand: “We all want to make everybody happy all the time. I’m not sure that’s possible in this world. So again, we have to distill this down and say, who do we want to be, who do we want the company to be? And by the way, my own personal feelings aren’t really important. What’s important is how people think about our company.”

He went on to say, “And so I take myself out of it, and I think that’s the surprise. Everybody wants to be loved, and everybody wants everyone to like them, but in this world that’s not always necessary, and so I wash all that away and say, ‘What do we want the capital-D Disney company to stand for?’ And if we’re doing right by the capital-D Disney company and can sleep at night, I can be Teflon and know that we’re doing the right thing.”

Just like a Teflon coating on nonstick pans prevents things from sticking, it sounds like Chapek has been able to separate himself from the personal criticism and focus instead on the impact it has on Disney and ultimately how fans view the company as a whole. “Capital-D Disney” is a term he’s used recently to refer to the overall brand that fans know and love.

When asked what advice he’d give to other CEOs who may be struggling with a similar situation, Chapek said, “Stick to your values, stick to your north star. Simplify the cacophony of voices out there and do what you think is right.”

To learn more about what Bob Chapek has said recently, check out the following posts:

• CEO Bob Chapek Was Asked if Disney Is “Too Woke.” Here’s What He Said.
• CEO Bob Chapek Reveals Who’s REALLY In Control of Disney
• How Bob Chapek Wants to Bring Disney World to Everyone
• Why CEO Bob Chapek Wants Disney to Avoid “the M-Word”
• CEO Bob Chapek Comments on Disney+ Price and Future Increases

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