As Bob Iger wraps up his run at The Walt Disney Company he is sharing more of his reasoning behind his retirement. In an interview with CNBC, he shared about one of the indicators that told him it was time to move on. Iger shared that it had to do with dismissing other people’s ideas.
“Over time, I started listening less and maybe with a little less tolerance of other people’s opinions, maybe because of getting a little bit more overconfident in my own, which is sometimes what happens when you get built up,” Iger told David Faber on CNBC.
Iger wasn’t specific about what the specific ideas were. He did say that he found himself throwing out other people’s points because he had “heard every argument before.” He reflected on his answers he said and realized that “times change” and he was saying no too quickly.
“I became a little bit more dismissive in other people’s opinions than I should have been,” said Iger. “That was an early sign that it was time. It wasn’t the reason I left, but it was a contributing factor.”
Iger, now 70, was at the helm of The Walt Disney Company from 2005 to 2020. During that time, Disney grew quite substantially with a new park opening, the acquisition of multiple studios, and the launching of its streaming service Disney+. Iger delayed retirement several times through the years before finally passing the reigns of the company to Bob Chapek.
Iger acknowledged that Chapek will make decisions differently than he would.
“Look, the world is changing dramatically, and it’s important for the CEO of a company to address all of those changes rapidly,” Iger said. “Bob [Chapek] is going to address them probably differently perhaps than I may have. But that’s neither good nor bad. I think change, I think generally speaking, change is good. Change isn’t necessarily bad.”
Since elevating Chapek to CEO, Iger has stayed at Disney as Executive Chairman. After nearly 2 years of that, Iger is set to retire completely from Disney and move on to his next chapter. This next chapter could involve a new book from Iger. In a recent interview, Iger shared that is one of the options that he is exploring.
What do you think about Bob Iger’s reasoning behind retirement? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.
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