The two Bobs at the debut of Star Wars, World Edge. Photo: Disney

This writer collects a lot of Disney leader quotes, over 500 at last count. There is, however, something striking in the quotes from current CEO Bob Chapek: the lack of two very important words, “Walt Disney.” 

Instead, he says things like this, “We all have a North Star, and we all paddle in the same direction to get to that North Star.”

And this, “A lot of times, people say, ‘Well, why does everything [at Disney parks] have to be franchise-oriented?’ Because that’s our barrier to entry. Because if any of our competitors had our intellectual property, guess what they would be doing? The exact same thing we’re doing. But they don’t have it. We do.”

Just listen about how Chapek describes the Star Wars theme park areas without ever mentioning Walt Disney (the man).

Chapek often talks dollars and cents, return on investment, and maximizing shareholder value. For a CEO, those things must be a focus. To keep Walt’s dream alive, the company needs to be profitable and the COVID years were  financially terrible for the Mouse. But, Disney’s financial success does not arrive from a focus on dollars. It comes from happy guests who feel emotional connections and are willing to pay for the experience of a lifetime.

Prior CEO Bob Iger was different. He was financially shrewd but did not talk that way. A telling incident occurred early in his CEO tenure when, in 2006, the Walt Disney Company traded sportscaster AL Michaels to NBC Universal in exchange for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, created by Walt Disney and stolen from him in the 1920s. At that moment, we cast members knew Iger was one of us. And Iger talked about Walt. Here’s one (rather lengthy) example.

“What would Walt think? Funny you would ask. I spoke with Diane Disney, one of his daughters, about that before she died. Interestingly enough, for a guy from the Midwest, he had a real curiosity about the world. He would be blown away to know that China would be the home to a product that was so much a part of who he was and what he stood for—Disneyland.

     But if he also saw Pixar, or Star Wars or Marvel—think of the storytelling and the characters and the places that these stories exist. … This is a bit presumptuous of me, but what the heck, maybe I’ve earned the right to be and also to see, on any list about brand respect and admiration that exists in the world today. [This is] a company that he founded; the brand that he created is still at or near the top of those lists. I mean, what could be a better affirmation for the principles that he embedded in the company that he created?”

Chapek likely understands the financial benefits that come from a Walt–centric approach. Rumors are that he is trying to dial back Disney’s recent political posturing and return the company to a more neutral place. But given his lack of Walt focus, Chapek's efforts are likely because of a loss of those dollars, not a return to a Walt focus.

But when a company has become a phenomenal success, and that success is largely built on the founder’s vision, doesn’t it make sense to pay close attention to that vision? It’s not that Walt’s vision is out of step with modern times. One of Walt’s main strengths was his ability to live simultaneously in two worlds: the nostalgic past and exciting future.

We can all learn from Walt’s two–step approach. The past is not something to throw away. Nor is it something to live day to day. Rather it is a steppingstone into the future. And given how brilliant Walt Disney was in creating his company, and how the Disney archives are filled with Walt’s advice and decisions, how could that organization ignore its own wisdomic advantage? Neither, in our daily life, should we.

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