It’s the Battle of the Bobs in Business Insider. Unfortunately for those wanting fireworks, this story may be a dud.
It’s been fun watching the latest dustup between the Iger and Chapek camps online. I say between the “camps” because I don’t know that I believe this is actually between the two men. I mean, I don’t think they like each other particularly, but I also don’t buy into the story that originated from Business Insider behind a paywall. If you aren’t a subscriber there, you can get the full gist of the matter at WDWNT. Basically the story goes that Iger thinks Chapek is his worst mistake (personally I think this calls for a Sheryl Crow parody video) and the Board really didn’t want to hire Chapek in the first place.
So why do I not buy it?
Firstly, there’s no actual direct quote. We’re just playing with hearsay. We do that here too sometimes, but we always mark it explicitly as rumor and put a little blurb at the beginning of the article. That’s not in our best interest from a clickbait standpoint, but it’s the honest way to do those stories. The second big problem is that the timing is completely screwed up. Why would Bob Iger want to throw shade at Bob Chapek after the Board of Directors just unanimously and ahead of schedule upped his contract for another three years with a repeating $20 million bonus? The time to hit him with some mud would have been before the week-long board meetings. And Iger’s no fool, he surely knew Chapek was going to be given the extension. So there’s no reason for him to throw mud at this point unless we are to believe that Iger has become an embittered old man who wants to yell off his front porch for Bob Chapek to stay off his lawn.
Seriously, c’mon. We’re talking about two elite individuals with extraordinary intelligence. Are we really supposed to believe that now, while Chapek stays silent on Iger, the former boss is a petulant curmudgeon?
The second mistake in the article that makes me feel it’s not worth covering is their take on how all of this played out. Because they get so much wrong, why should I believe they’re now getting stuff right? Iger wasn’t a huge fan of Chapek before his hire… Chapek was supposed to be a fall guy. And Iger knew fully well how bad the pandemic could be — he was getting some of the best information a CEO could have out of the Chinese Disney Parks. That’s where I was getting some of my early info too that was leading me to believe we were in for a major worldwide disruption. Plus, this idea that the board didn’t want Chapek is another silly falsehood. At least make them believable! The board has loved Chapek. He does what they want. That’s why they wanted him in the first place. They don’t want a Bob Iger because that type of individual pursues their own personal goals over the goals of the board at times. They wanted to bring things back into financial order after Iger pushed the company in a particular direction to serve his political ambitions at the time.
Finally, if you’re wanting to sell a book about leadership to the public, and you’re the former CEO of a company, why would you slam the new CEO that has a brand-new contract for three more years? If you slam him, all you are doing is placing yourself out of touch with the company at large. And that means when it comes time to appear on The View or Good Morning America to show your wares, the door is going to be closed.
So do I believe this story? No. It’s fun to read with popcorn, but I recommend a ton of salt.
However, if you want to read the website that has one heck of a track record on getting things right, you know where to go. Keep reading That Park Place and drop a comment down below!
