Coming out of Retirement with Bob Iger | The Why with Dwyane Wade

[Music] [Music] what's up everybody uh this is Dwayne way we've taken a little break um on the why um because I have 17 jobs but uh we're here today and I'm excited to be sitting on a chair sitting in this chair back um in front of these gold microphones with the Y um and I'm excited about today uh today we have one of the most successful exec and entertainment history a man who went from work 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 Y Bob Iger Bob how you doing I'm good thank you thank you thank you for being here on on my podcast man it's a big moment for me are you nervous no not at all you a big deal so um and and the reason I say that Bob I go right back to 2019 when I had a meeting here with you um and I remember coming into the meeting and they said you got 15 minutes and I was they was like he has a big um today Lion King is debuting it's a big day for Bob he has the um you know you had the event that night um the carpet that night and we had 15 minutes and our 15 minutes went from 15 to an hour um it was a great conversation that we had and so I want to thank you for those 15 minutes um that 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 um you know who who I was looking for for answers of what to do next and we just sat down and talked talked about life and we talked about what was next and so I want to thank you personally for taking that time giving you an hour gave an hour bro I appreciate that um so from 2019 being that day and I remember it was a lot of conversation Around The Lion King Beyonce was a part of of anybody want to know which Lion King I'm talking about um to now this summer um five years later so a lot that's happened in between that for you and fory yeah um so I guess the biggest thing that happened is you retired you retired in 2020 I retired in 2019 every day I'm asked when I see a sports fan I'm asked when you are you going to come back when are you coming back and I say absolutely not and so you're retired in 2020 and you and you're back why well I uh I retired with all good intentions of staying retired uh at that point I had been CEO of the Walt Disney Company for 15 years and I worked here for then um you know I don't know 47 years I'm now at the company 50 years this year yeah and it just seemed like time and I really wanted to explore life outside of Disney in fact I have my um license plate on my cars is their life after Disney around I want to know what life was like after Disney I'm sure you had similar similar curiosity life after the NBA yes you didn't really retire you stayed pretty active but I it's a was a big step for you anyway it was the right time the right thing for me to do but um the person that was chosen as my successor uh didn't work out the board of directors made a decision uh that um 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 uh given the fact that I knew it was a time of great need yeah uh I felt I had no choice but to say yes even though I must say in terms of managing my time and my life it wasn't my first choice but it was an obvious one it was an obvious one um can you explain that love a little bit I mean I think some people on the outside will look at it as a position that you've held but to come back after retirement um after everything that was you know was built you know in your tenure here uh how deep is that love what does that love mean well it's really deep I think it starts with who we are as a company you know we primarily create joy happiness and and magic for people all over the world I just got back from Shanghai yesterday and I was at Shanghai Disneyland and I watched was about 45,000 people at uh at the park in Shanghai having a fantastic time and just remind you who we are and in a 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 it's the something very joyful about being in that business of making people happy makes you feel alive it does it makes you feel alive it it it makes you have a there's a powerful sense of purpose yeah 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 doing things that particularly basketball fans like myself really love to watch and you made us well when you beat teams that I was rooting for you made me feel so happy but so I just think that in terms of a life experience and a life Pursuit um 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 yeah um Bob for everybody out there um who has not read Bob's first book um it's called the route of a lifetime and um I went and got the book out the out the 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 um and so I wanted to get some knowledge and if I remember correctly very early in the book you talk about the opening of Shanghai in China and the call and the moments right like everything that could have went wrong and everything that was developing in that process and so uh to to 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 you know Disney in Shanghai China um and so everybody please the the I know this book has been out for a while but it's a great book um if you want to know things about leadership um which I want to know about and my next question to you um in the midst of this transition that you had um from CEO of Disney and and another CEO coming in how's that process are you the one that has to pick the CEO do you pick the one that your successor I mean I know we hear about it but it does it work like that not really no it's a board decision okay so the board um you know I'm a member of the board so technically I have one vote okay but as you'd expect uh the board uh industry with a lot of companies typically turns to a CEO particularly if that CEO has been successful for advice uh and and for a say in in that decision uh in this particular case the board was um leaning very strongly in the direction of staying inside as they had done with me in 2005 when I was chosen uh 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 uh that was fully capable of doing the job and doing it well so I was a member of the board and and I would i' have to say you know an integral part of the process yeah because the assessment of uh my successor you know they relied a lot on me for but they also you know participated in it too by if I can just go back because you mentioned my book yes that came out I guess right before you we met it came out in 19 and it just reminds me because um I think I wrote in it at that point I had been in uh China 45 times so I've been back five times so yes this week was my 50 time yes that's a lot of mileage but it is I've been a few times myself actually I've been twice already this year and it's going to be four times this year total did you have a sneaker deal there I can't remember yeah I thought I still do so I spent a lot of time going back and forth um so I don't know if I'm at 50 but I know we got since 2010 since 2008 on I've been going to China um pretty much every year besides the years long trips um so uh just to Pivot from that I'm trying to think where I was going but um I guess for me you know when I think about when 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 as CEO at the time that you came on or it was man maybe the votes was a little split how was that process for you to become CEO it was arduous and uh challenging uh 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 co the Chief Operating Officer and I think because of the company's issues in that period of time they weren't sure whether I had um what it takes and they I think they were looking for uh not more of the same but they were looking for different yeah and uh so so they put me through an extremely arduous process I think 15 interviews 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 um 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 what the key issues were and I must say you know at the time I guess in a way it's like childbirth well I've never given birth uh it was pretty painful uh I felt I was being judged harshly and I felt that um the process was a little bit too long and just a little bit too rigorous um but then I was fortunate in the end I convinced them I 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 once the Kid born everything is all good now labor is past you and you you feel great about it uh 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 it caused me to I think much think much more deeply about what I would do when or if I got the role and so so it made you look inside a little bit a little bit further absolutely it made me it made me yeah it it it was it it was good you know you know they say you know practice makes perfect or whatever it is I don't know if I was perfect but I definitely had to I I remember you know one of the early meetings you know what are your strategic priorities and I kind of anticipated a question like that to be answered but I hadn't really given it that much thought so it was all good it was a it was a discipline that I think ended up um being positive for me rather than negative what do you get the the gos where do you get the confidence to say I'm going to be CEO of Disney like where does it come from well I think years and years of learning uh i' I've always been a believer of of um 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 I you when you're really young and starting out I think it's okay when you believe you it's time and you've earned it to have ambition for the next role but to have ambition to do something 15 20 years later you know I guess one could argue that could drive you so I guess as a you know 12-year-old kid you might have had an ambition to play in the NBA that may have driven you um and maybe that's a bad example because it you know worked out pretty well for you I never had the ambition to be the CEO of the Walt Disney Company or of a company right I just went to work every day worked really hard when I gained the confidence and what I was doing and I gained the confidence of the people I was working for i i i something a gear clicked in or something for me to really go for the next role so I think at the time 2004 2005 when I was being considered I felt I was really ready because of the job that I had just done and the jobs that I had over all those years uhhuh um and was that president of ABC is that the job or I had yeah well I had a number of them before you know I was uh 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 prime time programming which was when I was 37 years old then president of ABC I think when I was 42 43 my age yeah and uh is that how old you are my age you're a young um and then I became president of the company which was called Capital Cities ABC when I was 43 oh that's when I was 43 yeah um and I think at that point I you know each job enabled me to gain more confidence again practice practice not only doing but practice leading yeah which um 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 I think so by the time I became of the Walt Disney Company all of the jobs that I had before prepared me for it and I was confident I wasn't certain I would do it well but I was confident that I at least had a shot yeah what what kind of leader would you say you are if someone is because perception is reality right so whatever the 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 well wow um got sound probably a little conceited but okay please we got gold microphones B I see that hope it matches 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 um and I actually think being an introvert has its has value because um I I think a lot internally I I am I'm I spend time being thoughtful that means shut out the noise in the world sometimes um and I think it's really important that thoughtfulness is an important component to leadership it's you know gaining the knowledge to make smart decisions as a for instance I I think I'm accessible I think it's really important even though I have to protect my time a story you told about giving you 15 minutes um because allocating time is one of the most challenging things about particularly a job leading a company like this and 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 yeah so open door policy you can you know not everybody in the company can knock on my door and walk in but a lot of people can I walk around a lot so I'm I like being seen I this notion that people can in a way touch me and and get to know who I am is important I I obviously I uh 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 what other people think we should do or want to do say that again um it's almost like a coach in you know 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 what they want to do and I I 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 um I believe in making decisions on a timely basis and not laboring decision making uh I'm a risk taker um I'm focused uh for instance I believe that um when you're talking to someone you need 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 uh decisions or actions you have to take uh as a leader all of those things I try to I like to think that I'm kind but I know I'm make tough decisions too sometimes about people and they may not think I'm so kind yeah and then lastly authenticity is important you know being who be your true self who you really are yeah and not not trying to fake it I'm glad you said that because that leads right into my next question how do you protect Bob from Bob Iger the CEO how do how do you find your personal time how do you stay safe away from yes you want to be the leader that has the open door policy but also to understand understanding that you cannot allow everybody to come in and give you their thoughts and their you know their feelings their emotions on every decision and everything so how do you protect yourself where is your Solitude away from Bob Iger the CEO well I I carve out and I'm very very uh specific about this I carve out time every day to be alone with my thoughts uh I guess people ask me whether I meditate it's my form of meditation but a true meditator would probably scoff at so I work out of morning okay Alone um it's almost in the dark with I listen to music but there's a TV on but I don't I don't have the sound on it's about 4: or5 a.m. e in the dark yeah it's uh it's I get up at mostly 4:30 most mornings I used to get up at 4:15 I've given myself 15 more minutes uh and I and I work out uh 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 by my priorities sometimes I'll even think about you know ideas I might have for a speech that I have to give yeah um gives you Clarity it gives me real Clarity and and and even though you know you work out to spend energy I actually think it's energizing I agree 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 you know reading watching I have to do a lot lot of watching and that that's also true at night so even though uh there are a lot of Demands on my time I say no to many more things than I say yes to uh because I first of all I like to spend time with my family um and I prioritize that even though my boys now are out of the house but uh 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 I made sure I was home for dinner with them and then and then we all went and did it went to our rooms to do our homework right but I just think compartmentalizing as carving out time not just for your thoughts but for your personal life is critical because without it I don't think you're a complete person yeah I think something you said is important and it's a question that I posed to someone recently um at a conference in Hong Kong but to be as successful as you are um to have all to wear all the hats that you wear um that is Bob AER the public the CEO but you also have Bob the husband Bob the father um have it how do you deal with the the guilt possibly because I deal with this and I'm person speaking from personal um 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 guess I call it guilt but how have you dealt with that situation yeah um painfully in a way um I am um I was married before and I had uh two kids with my former wife uh were now in their 40s and have five grandchildren wow uh I have five grandchildren and when they were really young um and I was working instead of leading a company I was working for leaders of a company and leaders of the businesses that I work for I so 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 um I think 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 Grew Older um 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 um basically missing moments I carried through into my late in my years I still I can still think about it actually just talking about it yeah I missed a lot and I just made myself a promise that I wasn't going to do that again yeah um when my older son was born I was already president of of C of ABC and I quickly became CEO and president of Disney and my second son was born a couple years before I became CEO and I just decided that I didn't want to I didn't want to create more guilt but 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 yeah 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 be a little bit more um with them uh because as I think think back of my daughters I might have been with them in in in PH physically but not necessarily as much as I needed to be emotionally so I and I've had that guilt with in terms of um my marriage I'm very lucky that my wife will oey yeah has 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 anenberg school of communication journalism yeah that's a heavy duty job and uh particularly these days um and that makes it a little easier you know that she's you know sometimes I make her feel guilty a little bit she understands when you have to lock in and not once and we talked about the fact that I I've went to China 50 times Well about 47 of those times were since we've been married yeah uh 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 yeah you know you need someone uh who understands the sacrifices of doing what we do yeah and um but is also willing to speak up uh for what their needs are and I but I was lucky that um she never purposely made me feel guilty well that's that's that's one of the biggest Keys uh before I throw it to you Bob um just to bring it back to Willow um my first time getting a chance to meter we were at the mag Gala lab year mhm um we before you go into the mag Galla where the big party is you kind of walk through this U the Art Exhibit and the Art Exhibit was of Carl Lagerfeld right the theme last year and we and you um Willow gabin myself my wife we all walked together throughout the exhibit and you and I had you know time to look at the the beautiful art that you we you know a fashion uh last year at the mgala so it was cool getting that time um you know because I I know Willow from TV right I know from you know being a journalist on TV and so you know it became real like I'm you know I'm a fan of of people who are very talented and can do multiple things and so your wife has very similar to my wife has her own life have her own career as well as being a mother um 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 yeah I think there something healthy about that that Willow doesn't derive um any esteem or or status from from me yeah you know she she has her own uh and I think that's really healthy I think I was I I was drawn to her for that reason in part that she had her own career interesting just thinking about it that she for I think eight years was a co-host of NBA Inside Stuff with aad Rashad yes the number of times we went to games and a player would say I used to watch you when I was little yeah that was always made her feel old uh but she from you know when I met her she was doing that she had her own career ultimately was she was great thank you yeah thank you um it was fun watching her every once in a while a video will pop up of that we crack up about it it actually made it cooler to me BYOB when I found out you was married to Willow thank you yes that is that is a source of a lot of status for me particularly when I go to NBA games you know that show is getting uh not getting inducted into the into the NBA Hall of Fame listen rightfully so it was amazing you you you were already inducted are you getting I can't I got inducted last year in August of 23 yeah so I can still remember the suit you wore knowing it was pretty cool yeah yeah I uh I don't I don't know white too but I changed clothes I did the whole I'll go over the top B um Bob do you want to insert and ask I do have a question for both of you actually um like what's the fire where's the fire for you is because you both like you you're pres you're the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world and you've reached them M on top of NBA start like basket them basketball n but you're still going like you both are still like just there fire there that's not stopped like where does that come from like what is that what's what's the fire from now yeah Bob go ahead well I I I there's a lot of fire uh I've always had it um I we could analyze exactly why and what generated it but uh one of things that amazes me even now I'm I'm 73 years old going to be 74 and I've been doing this for a while while we as we've said and I get up every 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 um I believe working hard is you know the the the true secret sauce uh to success but with that comes I think if you're competitive you work even harder you have that fire um I just you know to put it in perspective my dad was a well educated man League education a talented man played Jazz professional jazz trumpet player but he had manic depression and it it deprived him of a of a successful career and he was always unfulfilled he was always disappointed in himself and I've observed that as a young child and throughout he died about 10 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 I was subconscious I didn't really understand it as much till I actually started writing my book and had to really come to grips with how do I explain it but I just knew 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 that he was a good person he was a good father but he was you know never happy and so I think a lot of it comes from that you really want to get you know bring the psychology into all this yeah um for me I so many different things as you said but I think where it come 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 um and my fire comes through my kids you know I I go back zier's 22 years old I've had a fire in my belly for the last 22 years um that I can't even explain that gets me out of bed every day and you know zir is my oldest and I go all the way down to my youngest um and so for me I guess that fire is in in me for them because I don't want the bus to stop where I am and know where where we are as a family you know I I want to I want to know what family offices is like I want to know what generational um success looks like and feel like I want my family to know those things and feel these things and so um 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 for the Wade family and um that fire in my belly to be better every day is not just for myself um it's for a long line of kids that I probably would never meet um because I want to be the I want to set the standard and then I because I understand in sport once a standard is set you going to work hard to jump over that like LeBron came the all alltime scoring leader because Kareem did it right um 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 us set the bar and then I want to make sure the generations after 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 Everything Burns is all based around my family I feel that that's my purpose in this world um is my family so I was going to actually ask you a question when it came up in my head anyway sorry um when we were talking about retirement um because I know that to play in the NBA you have to be competitive but I also know having gotten to know few NBA players yourself Chris Chris Paul being one that there are different levels of competition there are guys who are far more competitive and I think you'll find that the greats in the league those that get into the Hall of Fame were simply more competitive than others obsessed and yes and that come and the work ethic and everything about it but then all of a sudden the day comes and unlike me CU I you know you could do this job a longer much longer time because this 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 and you talk about your family was that a challenge for you definitely it's a it's a everyday challenge right um You especially man I played basketball my from 5 years old on you know it be 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 further and further away from the game I'm actually learning that I I love the game I love the game with all my heart but I actually understand that it's not like my dad still plays basketball every day 67 years old he gets up every morning he goes to play basketball I don't do that I know and I know his needs are worse than mine and you know and I don't do that and so I'm like dang do I do I love it the way he loves it interesting right like I'm I'm St until 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 and the title of my book that my life was bigger than basketball and I never knew what that meant and I think now that I'm on the other side of basketball I'm starting to understand what that meant is I'm not obsessed about that anymore but what I am obsessed about um 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 20 minutes I want to win I want to see if I can get out the door in 20 right I'm putting these challenges in front of me and so I'm taking some of the things that made me a great athlete and I'm just bringing them into life and trying to make myself you know challenge myself to be a better person by the way that getting out the door in 20 minutes I can really relate to that so interesting yeah I I've never talked to anybody about that I actually sometimes I'll count like you know I just try to be more efficient in at things these little challenges you got to set for yourself but it must be how we're wired too like you know I I do fewer steps to get from one place to the other if I can do it I'll do it 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 you know no I got to it's a it is 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 you can't even talk about it with people a lot of people don't understand it they think you're crazy yeah um so you know to to answer your question Bob I mean I I I guess that's the way um 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 in my team notice 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 then I had to sit back and I had to look at and say you know what actually being known as an athlete is actually the best thing 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 um and not try to get yourself away from being an athlete or you know being known as an athlete no please know that I was and please know that I was a champion please know that I overcame injury because now you're going to automatically know something about my character you won the championship how many times three I was that one I was in Dallas oh oh oh the one we won that was your first one was that your first one yeah I was there you were there well it was funny so um uh because ABC and ESPN has you know the NBA and I go to a lot of Finals over the years and my son at the time ' 06 was eight and a big basketball fan he ended up playing basketball in high school and he uh he over the years he's always roots for teams that are winning although he's been ack he's been a Nick and a Clipper fan most of his life but he decided to go to the game wearing a Dwayne W uniform or Jersey in Dallas so we fly from LA to Dallas he's wearing number three the that Miami jersey and we find out that we're sitting Courtside so we get there and he he's in Dallas he's like one of the few Dallas F few Miami fans at court it was it was just our family he's getting harassed by the Dallas I love he's 8 years old even the even the Dallas Mavericks mascot came over especially sitting court side in Dallas do final we didn't know we were going to sit Courtside I didn't want him to wear the uniforms son we're you know we're going to Dallas you got to be respectful yeah was it the game we actually won it was the game we won game six yeah it's the game we won wow June 20th 2006 by the way yes I know the date June 20th 20 June 20th 2006 how excited was he during that win for him wearing that Jersey being like like like like I picked the right I picked the right was he like after at the end of that game like yeah yeah he was elevated I'm sure he pretty happy kid man that's that's awesome awesome thank you for sharing that remember to this he'll remember it too yeah uh on that L on that same line do are you the father that you thought you were going to be right we all have this idea of who we're GNA be if we have kids and what we're gonna do are you the father I've never thought about that I do think about you know my qualities as a father um yes I I don't I you know I a father I thought I wanted I was going to be I think by and large I am by and large um as I think about it again I haven't given much thought but yeah I think I I think I've I've been a good role model um I've been there for my kids um I balance you know being kind and being and dis and disciplining them my wife and I both said pretty high standards for them yeah I think pretty much think youve done a good job of it okay yeah I don't know if I give myself an A+ but I wouldn't do that um if if I could as we sit here ask for uh 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 um 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 do that um so any tips any pointers that you can give me or anyone out here listening how did you handle and what's the challenges of bringing together family well well I think the most important thing is being empathetic to all members of the family because not all situations are are comfortable um there's Sometimes some discomfort in in bringing Blended families together yeah and um while I think as parents we set expectations why isn't everybody happy you know everybody get this and you have to realize that people come to Blended families with sometimes disappointment um and and um and expectations and and it's not always great for everybody I think you just have to put yourself in their shoes yeah but that would be the most important have more empathy yeah definitely definitely I you know I remember um you know introducing my daughters to my Willow who became my wife and then getting to the point telling them I was going to get married and then telling them we were going to have a child and well you know you can't just expect them to 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 love yeah cuz you just want everything to just hey I love you I love you let's all why can't everybody get along right well wait a minute you know you know the new family is an interloper in the old family right so I think we we forget sometimes you know how difficult that it can be yeah uh 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 of course it's 2020 hindsight it's easier easier to you know talk about it but that would be my strong advice yeah I thank you for that um because I know a lot of us deal with that right in the world today we all deal with you know how one 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 same time um so yeah thank you for that this word in sport always come up and I think we all have a hard time answering 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 or is this your legacy and how do you look at Legacy and in in that same token does your legacy put any pressures on your kids yeah definitely I you know I think I look at Legacy two ways Legacy as a father and as a husband um as member of a family and then of course there's Legacy professionally and I realize that there those lines blur uh 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 so I'll start professionally you know I was really lucky uh to have been named the CEO of the Walt Disney Company in 2005 a company that was founded by Walt Disney in 20 in 1923 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 lead this great company um make sure that you don't screw it up but make sure you leave it in even better hands right or in even better shape rather for the people that follow you it's very important to me even now coming back I realize 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 I don't want to do anything that diminishes that Legacy so the pressure is on really for me to do the same again um and I you again I just want to leave this company um as one of the most admired companies in the world you know known for the quality and the Integrity of of the people and the product the people who work for us and the product that we make um very important to me in terms of my legacy as a father and as a as a husband you know I I very much would like my family to appreciate my accomplishments um but more importantly to appreciate the fact that I did that but still um brought a lot of love to the people who matter the most to me you know my wife and my kids MH um that I was there for them that I cared about them uh that I set a good example um that I set high standards and and lived up to them myself yeah um that's that's the biggest thing right there living up to him yourself when you say that it it just made me pause um cuz that is the biggest thing not just about talking about it it's about living up to it as well mean it's easy to to tell some give someone else advice it's harder to follow that that advice yourself yeah yeah that's true even you know at at Disney I you know I try to to walk the talk I talk about integrity and Relentless pursuit of perfection and you know what I demand of the people who work for me well I I got to I got to do the same myself well one of the toughest things I think that we all have um that we all deal with and we all have maybe issues with is self-accountability how how do you deal with how do deal with self-accountability are you do you look in the mirror and you are honest with yourself or do you look away from the mirror sometime when you don't want to be honest with yourself well it's interesting you bring that up when we talked about my father briefly but I remember when I I 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 uh it stuck with me and people ask me over the years you know what are you what tenant or what what do you live by what's your North Star to th own self be true be true to who who you are and that means be true to the words that you you speak be true to what you demand of others meaning you and be true to yourself don't fool if you start fooling yourself you're fooling everybody uh so I have very high standards for myself um and sometimes I disappoint myself a little bit but I try really hard to live up to the standards that I have for myself yeah um 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 you said something and I wrote it down I want to I want to get your I love this by the way um you said the way you do anything is the way you do everything is that kind of similar to what you were just saying right there absolutely yeah I absolutely I think you you know the standard that set if it's high integrity for instance has to be applied to everything you do uh everything um inconsistency particularly when it comes to morals ethics is unacceptable uh if you do something that is a lapse suggests a lapse of Integrity then theoretically everything's on the table everything could be so I it's that's important to me um is how do you handle um you and I both have something in common right and I guess is we're public figures yes right whether you want it to be or I want it to be or not I I signed up to play basketball I didn't signed up to have people talk about a lot of things they talk about um but now we living in a world where some people actually go find the information what people talking about them you can actually go look at comments and you can find people talking about you which is I don't do those things but how do you handle Ben a public figure um I try not to to let what other how other people are judging me NE change how I behave okay um so first of all I 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 hard not to read about myself yeah uh it's interesting often people hear saying hey you read that about such and such no I didn't I I don't lead every day or I don't I I don't spend time every day reading about myself I don't look at comments on Twitter or X the xplatform and I just it's just I don't find that healthy I don't learn anything about myself at all um I look it comes comes with a 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 all the time stage and the lights are bright and and and people are going to scrutinize almost everything you say on or off the court and case on or off the Disney so-called Disney stage and that take I would must say that took some getting used to it's just not who I am I goes back to comment I made at the beginning I'm you knowly 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 um so you deal with it I I say I must say I do I'm careful in terms of how I behave publicly I'm conscious of how I present myself whether it's you know how I'm dressed or um you know or even I remember taking you know my boys to restaurants and you know little boys don't sit at tables very long and they act up and run around how you discipline them in public yeah I was very careful about things like that you know I remember every once in a while I'd raise my voice and my wife would say 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 I me they will be little b anyway it goes with the territory I I I say you get used to it I know 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 let not let it go to my head yeah yeah that that that's something that I learned is the playing sport is the is the high and low is the E and flow of 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 it's a whole like if you stay if you if you allow your emotions to go on that roller coaster you you can't focus on what you're trying to accomplish and what you're trying to do because that's going to take all your attention yeah um 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 I know my coaches um I know SPO had this you 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 need to do better they've never 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 caching from the sideline in the midst of this this being a public figure of our lives and their Monday Morning Quarterback and and telling oh well you should have done that well this isn't real time and I think it's important too to not let others Define you but to Define who you are yourself you know yeah it's very interesting I people say don't read every don't believe everything that's written about you and yeah don't even read it I think there's value to that off a little a little away from the so serious what are you fearful of like I'm fearful of snakes I'm fearful of birds what do you feel for us Birds huh I can't birds me and birds we got a whole history I'm talking it's a long history Bob I can't even we be here all day I tell you about it what are you fearful of I don't like snakes but I'm not fearful of them I'm not sure I have is anything that make you no not really no I'm not jumpy you're not jumpy no well that goes into why you so successful I used to say I don't have a fear Gene but I I that gets misinterpreted I have my I have anxieties every once in a while okay um so what gives you the most anxiety well I you know I I think as you grow older you become more in tune to just how fragile the world is MH you know something happening in my wife wife for my kids I can get anxious about that sometimes you know you just think about you know you could fate and stepping off the street corner the wrong moment getting hit by a car and I I I I'm the fragility of the world um particularly as it relates to my family would be it would be it not birds or snakes not birds or snakes that's me now I mean I have that same that's that would be my my biggest one but the SN is particular bird uh you know I really don't like pigeons oh I was going to ask you I really don't like Pig a lot of them too oh I don't like when they get close to me I don't like when they be underneath the the table you ever looked at a pigeon the closer they get the New York a lot so there I'm the president of New York I never understood by the way you never see baby pigeons right you just see big grown adult pigeons and a lot of I do not like pigeons um regrets do you do you look at things is having regrets or do you take it as you know what this is a lesson for me or do you have it well we touched upon one you know I regret that I wasn't there for my uh for my daughters as much as I could have and should have been that would be it uh I mean every once in a while I regret not having spent more time um to myself and you know with the old smell and the Roses particularly now given the fact that I retired and I by the way I stayed busy but I really but not as busy and I really enjoyed it um and I one of the things that I enjoyed is I finally felt I had time yeah 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 um I guess I regret a little bit that I haven't taken more time to for myself would you do it different no even though you regret it would you right you can't anyway right so I don't spend much time basically B Al on that cuz like you can't do it again yeah um 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 really in your 70s as hard as you you have ever worked in your 70s yeah yeah I don't think I've ever worked harder includes growing up in my in my 20s and my prior tenure at as CEO so you think as you get older you think you know what at some point it's GNA get easier I'm gonna be able to ride off and into this Hawaiian beach life right you think one day and you're telling me as you sitting here you're working harder in your 70s than you did in your 20s it's interesting way years back going back to you know the early parts of my career in the 70s and the 80s meaning decades um I work for bosses who were golfers and then in the summer they play golf every Friday think wow one day I don't play golf but one day well I'm going to when I get to that I'm taking Fridays of playing golf whatever and then all of a sudden I get there and where Friday's off where's golf right how does that happen 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 because there's so much disruption in the world that you there there's no way you take time off you know and I I'm I take vacations um and I'm I get away doesn't mean that I'm not working when I'm away but I get away we're going to talk about their vacation as we get to the end Bob you have another question for us we get I did and it's mainly because I I've always wondered how when I watch TV and I see you on TV and you kind of mentioned earlier that Disney's like you're 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 the outside world trying to make some of the things you do political how do you balance that trying to your job is trying to make people happy like that's what you want to do all around the world and KN you can't satisfy everybody you can't satisfy people Everyone that and people try to make it what I mean try to make for political gang how do you balance that well it's good one if you know first of all I'm not 100% sure I know what you mean except that I do know and one of the things I've been preaching a lot at Disney is is and reminding people our job is to entertain it's and where we can entertain we always want to entertain responsibly but where we can enter aain in a way that has a positive impact on the world that's a good thing but but our movies and TV shows and Theme Park attractions everything should shouldn't be designed to deliver messages they should be designed to entertain right going back though I love it when Disney can tell a great entertaining story yeah um and have a and and have a really positive impact in the world one of the things I'm most proud of um in my tenure CEO was making a movie Black making black panther we made a Marvel action hero movie um with virtually an all black cast that was over did over a billion dollars in box office that did well in almost every country it was released including China and the statement that made was phenomenal in terms of acceptance and um you anybody could be a superhero and I loved having that kind of impact nice or a movie Coco which was about Mexican holiday Day of the Dead with basically an all Mexican cast and it did extremely well in China for instance and just you know is 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 right 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 uh and I have to remind all about the creators that we deal with today is tell a great story that's your number and and entertain by doing your storytellers absolutely that should be our number one goal if in telling the story you know we um have a positive influence on people on the world great yeah I mean it to me what that sounds like is also too at the same time from the the unability is kind of the model that I that I live by and there's so many different ways you can say it is but to much is given much is required and I think the mentality from the public is you're given this so you're required to do this m whatever that this is is what the public and what people you know their 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 um how you use it but I guess my question to that would be is there a difference Bob between Bob Iger the CEO of Disney that has a a company to um you know to you 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 got to stand on that or is it the same no I think at this point it's the same it's the same yeah I think um 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 yeah um but I am very aware that Bob Iger without the title is almost the same thing these days as Bob Iger with the title like the title just unfortunately travels deep into my personal life meaning meaning away from Disney so if I say anything as a civilian so to speak you might as well say it as a the same the same thing I have to be careful there I had to learn that by the way um you know taking positions politically I have a right as a citizen to do that but if I say it if I speak get out loud it's then people expect or just assume that that's I'm taking a position on behalf of this company so I don't I I don't speak out loud anymore yeah that's what I was running exactly that that Dynamic of you know your personal life your personal interest but also the company's view of people's the interest of the company and how does that does that ever come to a point where you have to battle you versus you well that goes back to you know the way you do anything is the way you do everything or whatever whatever I wrote yeah the way you do anything is the way the way you do it yeah uh that's right um it's almost the same thing yeah um Vacations so going back to the meeting that I had in your office um in 2019 I remember walking in and I'm sitting here thinking how am I going to extend this meeting with Bob berer how are we going to get more than 15 minutes and so I saw that you love selling you have sailboats you have photos of you on the sailboat you had like a sculpture or some sort of a sell booat in your office and so I would I recognized that and that's where our 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 you manipulated me I'm manipulated you but uh I am fascinated I am very fascinated because as I said in the meeting um I've been lucky enough to be out on the water vacation but I've never done it from I've only done it from a yacht I never done it from a selling standpoint um 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 um because that is different than you know than a yacht or than than a regular boat what does that do for you and is that your is that your Sanctuary is that your that your moment to be away from everything yes it is um first of all I I grew up uh near the ocean uh I could actually smell the ocean you know a warm summer night with the windows open we didn't have air conditioning and I could smell the ocean in my bedroom uh and so I think it's in me um meaning I've always needed to be somehow or another on the ocean near the ocean tied to the ocean have a view of the ocean from my house here in La it's just something about it and maybe I've got salt water in my in my bones in my body um when I and I do like sailing I've been sailing for a long time not not quite all my life but a good certainly majority of it um and it's something about to me it's being completely in touch with nature I don't articulate it that way oh 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 Escape it's my Escape I'm far from everything I am uh just in a I'm in a completely other Zone in a way and it's really refreshing and regenerating to me yeah and so I have a sailboat I've been kind of public about that yeah um I'm fortunate 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 blowing 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 all that man love it you love it I love that that's what scares me about when what 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 the yacht and 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 storm coming when this wind is gusy you don't get nervous you don't think oh this is bad 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 you pretty much can know even though was a weatherman at one point in my life you I rely on others and you stay away from trouble every every once in a while it's unavoidable we were I remember not long ago a couple of summers ago I was in h Europe on my boat fortunately we were anchored and a huge storm blew in Blowing 70 M an hour and snapped a big line off the back of the boat and you I wasn't worried but I just remember that feeling of being completely completely vulnerable to Nature yeah and in a way that's there's something healthy about that because I remember someone saying you 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 sense of vulnerability I think that's a healthy thing too to experience I agree that feeling of vulnerability I agree I mean I've been out in the middle of and you know and I 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 Jess skis and I've went so far that nothing was around but just bodies of water and at first fear jumped in and then calmness came until the pigeon flew until the pigeon flew the um and something else that we share and which you know for me is very important is the moments where I have big decisions to make I normally go to the beach I normally walked 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 and I just I walk along the store to do that I go anywhere in California and I just walk along the beach um mornings nights or whatever the case may be not too close at night but you know what I mean um 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 um I can see everything that's going on and I'm just you know I'm not in my house not I don't have no blinders on I'm out there in the world and uh there just something about that just feels like living to me as well just being connected to that water and big can and 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 you know figure out where you can be alone with your thoughts yeah so that you can make good decisions I do this the same with same with me well Bob first of all I don't know how long I took of your time today so I know it was more than 15 minutes so I appr appreciate you um 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 ain't the end for you this is it seems like you in the meat of it at 70 um if anybody got if anybody just a listener they not watching a video and Bob is one of the he is fit he's one of the he's sitting here looking great at 70 years old that's nice of you yeah I'm about to go home and work out after this before my dinner tonight um but as you sit here at 70 after retiring after all the success you've had um all the success you have in your life you know um when you talk about your kids when you talk about your wife um you're sitting in a pretty good spot in the world but going forward from this moment from this seat when you get out of the seat what's your why when you step into your office after this interview when you step out into the world what's your why um going forward in life well it's it's such a good question I I have to ask myself why am I working this hard in this laid into life what is it about me in the world that drives me as much as it does why why is it h i don't know the answer really I'm not sure maybe it's what we talked about earlier about this notion of what was needing to feel fulfilled I you'd think that I would have already felt that but I'm still going at it so why yeah why yeah it's something about it right like you can win championships you can reach them what people say like that's the the Mountaintop but it's fleeting it's for the moment M and then now it's like okay that's over now now what and so it's that that why is that you have to is that healthy or not healthy I'm not sure but why I don't know well you got you got something to say I do have one last question W of the why was is there anything that you excited for for dis I know with Disney plus is you know I've heard there was something else coming out with ESPN with ESPN and Disney oh Disney here 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 um I'm sometimes I'm I'm anxious about them too they're not all as good as I'd like them to be uh 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 um any new platforms any new ESPN launching you know we call it a flagship in a you know about a year um the ability to get ESPN and all these features direct to Consumer is pretty exciting to me uh you know I get excited about new theme park attractions and I I have a lot I got a long list long list um I'm glad you you you said that first of all I ESPN knew I love that um especially when I think about you know more content is coming right we think about the WNBA now we think about how about women's college basketball I mean it's here it is here to stay it ain't going nowhere and so um you know you guys obviously important to that inside out too oh I'm very excited about that so I I'm I'm glad you brought that up you're very this is the big this is the big movie right this is It's com out in what in June we got a big one before that and King in the Planet of the Apes but okay well I'm I'm it's big for me because uh just filmed with Carmelo Anthony we just filmed the promo right how I was supposed to bring that up thank you for that yeah I'm glad you brought up really funny yeah it's it's going to be cool so I'm excited about inside inside out too because we in a promo for it that's coming that will be starting in the Easter Conference Finals pretty soon that's right right yeah big summer fool how is mellow is he all right I saw he was at the Nick game the other night oh yeah he's mellow he's exactly what his name says but he's doing good so we had a good we had a good day shooting was that yesterday yeah yeah was yesterday part of the podcast but I I I grew up in New York and I actually have season tickets to the Knicks right behind the Nick bench oh really and of course he played for them for years so and my boys when they were really young I'd bring them to Nick games and they still say how they announce Masson Square Gardens is Carmelo Anthony he does every time he announces him when he come the game I'm glad I now have a friend who has courtside seats somewhere at the Knicks game uh it's hard to get tickets I tried to get tickets last year uh hope I get to the playoff they look pretty good they look F they're fun team to watch yeah as long as you uh I couldn't get tickets last year um I had to go you know to a third party to get some tickets to the Miami they're behind the Nick bench so they're not courtside good enough my Clipper seats are court side yeah well I appreciate it Bob hopefully we have more opportunities to to talk we we've been in multiple rooms uh together over the years and museums and museums um in LA and in New York um I cannot wait till you know the next time and the next time but I appreciate you for always being gracious um in those rooms and in those spaces and um you know can't wait to see what's next thanks for your time thanks thank you for your time enjoyed it yeah thank you hey everybody by Iger [Music]

Channel: DwyaneWade

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Id: w1PqgPMmVdY

Length: 70min 37sec (4237 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024