0:17

What's up, everybody. This is Dwayne

0:19

Wade. We've taken a little break

0:22

on the Y because I have

0:24

seventeen jobs. But we're here today

0:27

and I'm excited to be sitting

0:29

on a chair, sitting in his chair back in

0:31

front of these gold microphones with the Y

0:35

and I'm excited about today. Today

0:37

we have one of the most successful execs

0:40

and entertainment history, a

0:42

man who went from working as

0:44

a reporter and a weatherman

0:47

in New York to becoming the president

0:49

of ABC and eventually the

0:51

CEO of Disney. Everybody,

0:54

please welcome to the Why

0:57

Bob Iger. Bob, how you doing.

0:59

I'm good, Jack, Thank you for me, Thank

1:02

you for being here on a podcast. Man, it's

1:04

a big moment for me. You

1:06

nervous, No, not at all. Good. You're a

1:08

big deal. So and

1:11

the reason I say that, Bob, I go right back

1:13

to twenty nineteen when I had a meeting

1:15

here with you, and

1:18

I remember coming into the meeting and they said

1:20

you got fifteen minutes and

1:22

I was They was like, he has a big today,

1:25

Lion King is debuting. It's

1:28

a big day for Bob. He had the you

1:31

know, you had the event that night the

1:33

carpet that night, and we had fifteen minutes

1:35

and our fifteen minutes went from fifteen to an hour.

1:38

It was a great conversation that we had, and

1:41

so I want to thank you for those fifteen minutes

1:43

that turned into an hour, because at that time,

1:46

for me retiring, it was important that

1:48

I that I got opportunity to come out here in LA

1:51

and meet with people that I admired, people

1:53

who you know, who

1:55

I was looking for for answers of

1:58

what to do next. And we just sat down

2:00

and talked about life and we talked about what

2:02

was next. And so I want to thank you personally

2:05

for taking that.

2:05

Time give you an hour.

2:07

I gave you an hour. I appreciate that.

2:10

So from twenty nineteen being

2:12

that day and I remember it was a lot of conversation around

2:14

the Lion King. Beyonce was a part of anybody

2:16

want to know Who's lion King? I'm talking about? To

2:20

now this summer five years later, it's

2:22

a lot has happened in between that

2:24

for you and Fry. Yeah. So

2:27

I guess the biggest thing to happen is you retired.

2:30

You retired in twenty twenty. I retired

2:33

in twenty nineteen. Every day

2:35

I'm asked when I see a sports

2:37

fan, I'm asked, when are you going to

2:39

come back? When are you coming back? And

2:42

I say, absolutely not. And so you're

2:44

retired in twenty twenty, and you

2:46

and you're back.

2:47

Why, Well,

2:50

I retired with all good

2:52

intentions of staying retired. At

2:55

that point, I had been CEO of the Walt Disney

2:57

Company for fifteen years, and I had worked

2:59

here for then, you

3:01

know, I don't know, forty seven years.

3:04

I'm now with the company fifty years this year, and

3:07

it just seemed like time, and I really wanted

3:09

to explore life outside of Disney. In fact, I

3:11

have my license

3:13

plate on my cars is their life after Disney?

3:16

An?

3:17

I want to know what life was like after Disney.

3:19

I'm sure you had similar

3:21

curiosity, but life after the NBA

3:23

time you didn't really retire. You stayed

3:26

pretty active, but it was a big

3:28

step for you. Anyway, It was the right time,

3:30

the right thing for me to do. But

3:33

the person that was chosen as my successor

3:36

didn't work out. The board of directors made a

3:38

decision that

3:41

he needed to go, and they asked

3:43

me whether I would come back, and given

3:46

my history with the company, given the love that I

3:48

have of the company, given the fact

3:50

that I knew it was a time

3:52

of great need, I

3:54

felt I had no choice but to say yes,

3:57

even though I must say in terms of managing

3:59

my time and my life life, it wasn't

4:01

my first choice, but it was

4:03

an obvious one.

4:04

It was an obvious one. Can

4:06

you explain that love a little bit? I mean, I

4:08

think some people and ouside will look at it as

4:10

a position that you've hailed. But to

4:13

come back out the retirement, out

4:15

of everything that was you know, was built,

4:17

you know, in your tenure here. How

4:20

deep is that love? What does that love mean?

4:22

Well, it's really deep. I think it starts

4:24

with who we are as a company. You know, we primarily

4:27

create joy, happiness and magic

4:29

for people all over the world. I just got

4:31

back from Shanghai yesterday and

4:33

I was at Shanghai Disneyland and I watched

4:36

it was about forty five thousand people

4:39

at the park in Shanghai having a fantastic

4:41

time, and just remind you who we are and

4:44

in a world that I think is complicated

4:47

and challenging, probably nothing is

4:49

more important than what we do today is

4:51

creating happiness. And so when you

4:53

do that for a living. It's it's

4:55

you know, it's addictive in a way, it's intoxicating.

4:59

It's there's something very joyful

5:02

about being in that business

5:04

of making people happy.

5:06

It makes you feel alive, it does, it.

5:08

Makes you feel a love, it makes you have

5:10

a it's a powerful sense of purpose. I

5:12

don't think people really on the outside

5:14

necessarily understand that. By the way, in many respects,

5:17

you did the same thing. I know,

5:19

you know you were playing to win, and there was a competitive

5:21

side to it, but in reality, you were an entertainer. You

5:24

know, you're doing things that particularly

5:27

basketball fans like myself really love

5:29

to watch, and you made us well when

5:31

you beat teams that I was rooting for you, it feel

5:33

so happy. But so I just

5:35

think that in terms of a life experience

5:38

and a life pursuit, is

5:40

extremely fulfilling. And I think the

5:42

love of the company

5:45

and the love of the job stems mostly

5:47

from what it is, what it means in the world

5:51

Bob.

5:51

For everybody out there who has not read

5:53

Bob's first book, it's called

5:55

The Route of a Lifetime. And I

5:58

went and got the book out there after our meeting

6:00

because I just I thought it was so fascinating getting

6:02

a chance to talk to someone who has been

6:04

and accomplished all the things that you have, and

6:07

so I wanted to get some knowledge.

6:09

And if I remember correctly, very

6:11

early in the book, you talk about the

6:14

opening of Shanghai

6:16

and China and the call in the moments

6:18

right like everything that could have went wrong and everything

6:21

that was developing in that process. And

6:23

so just to just

6:25

know that you said that you came, you just came from Shanghai.

6:27

I remember in your book reading about that, and that was my first

6:29

time kind of getting the information that

6:32

you know, what went down to open up you

6:34

know, Disney in Shanghai, China. And

6:37

so everybody, please, I

6:39

know this book has been out for a while, but it's

6:41

a great book if you want to know things

6:43

about leadership, which I

6:46

want to know about. And my next question to

6:48

you, in the midst

6:50

of this transition that

6:52

you had from CEO

6:54

of Disney and another

6:57

CEO coming in, how's that process? Are

6:59

you the one that have to pick the CEO?

7:02

Do you pick the one your successor I mean,

7:04

I know we hear about it, but it doesn't work like that,

7:06

not really.

7:07

No, it's a board decision, you

7:10

know, I'm a member of the board, so technically

7:12

I have one vote. But as you'd

7:14

expect, the board,

7:17

and this is true with a lot of companies, typically

7:19

turns to a CEO, particularly if that CEO

7:21

has been successful, for advice

7:25

and for a say in that decision.

7:28

In this particular case, the board was

7:32

leaning very strongly in the direction of staying

7:34

inside, as they had done with me in two

7:37

thousand and five, when I was chosen

7:39

someone who really not only knew the company well,

7:42

but someone that we knew really well and

7:44

felt that it was much less risk

7:46

associated with that, and in fact, we

7:49

felt that we had someone that

7:51

was fully capable of doing the job and

7:53

doing it well. So I was a member of

7:56

the board, and I would I'd have

7:58

to say, you know, an integral part of

8:00

the process because the assessment

8:02

of my successor you

8:05

know, they relied a lot on me

8:07

for but they also participated

8:09

in too. If I can just go back,

8:12

because you mentioned my book, Yes, that came

8:14

out I guess right before we met.

8:16

Came out in nineteen and it just reminds

8:19

me because I think I

8:21

wrote in it. At that point I had been in China

8:24

forty five times, so I've been

8:26

back five times, so yes, this.

8:27

Week was my fifth fifth time.

8:30

Yes, that's a lot of mileage, but it

8:32

is.

8:33

I've been a few times myself. Actually, I've been

8:35

twice already this year, and there's going to be four times

8:37

this year total.

8:38

Did you have a sneaker deal there?

8:39

I can't remember. Yeah, I thought I still do, so

8:42

I spent a lot of time going back and forth. So

8:44

I don't know if I'm at fifty, but I know we got

8:47

since since two thousand and eight on, I've

8:49

been going to China pretty much every year

8:52

twe years loan trips,

8:55

So just a pivot from

8:57

that. I'm trying to think where I was going. But I

9:01

guess for me, you know, when I think about when

9:04

I think about your journey, is the is

9:06

the process that it took for the CEO?

9:09

Right? The process you said with the board, your

9:11

journey wasn't the same, right. I mean,

9:13

if I go back and I remember reading, I think they

9:15

talked about the board really wasn't a big fan of bringing

9:18

you on a CEO at the time that you came

9:20

on, or it was maybe the votes

9:22

was a little split. How was that process for you

9:25

to become CEO?

9:26

It was arduous and challenging.

9:30

I was the internal candidate, but there

9:32

were multiple external candidates,

9:35

and the company had been through a challenging time

9:37

for probably about five years when I was

9:40

then the CEO, the chief operating

9:42

officer, and I think because

9:44

of the company's issues

9:47

in that period of time, they weren't

9:49

sure whether I had.

9:52

What it takes.

9:53

And I think they were looking for not

9:56

more of the same, but they were looking for different and

10:00

so they put me through an extremely

10:02

arduous process.

10:03

I think fifteen interviews.

10:05

I was interviewed by every member of the board at least

10:07

once, some twice by the entire

10:09

board, twice, by an outside

10:11

search firm once and

10:14

they really, you know, made me, you

10:16

know, earn the job, not just from the

10:19

performance that I had, but in terms

10:21

of my ability to articulate

10:23

where it was I wanted the company to go where

10:25

the key issues were. And I must

10:27

say, you know, at the time, I guess

10:30

in a way it's like childbirth. Well

10:32

I've never given birth. It was

10:34

pretty painful. I felt I was

10:36

being judged harshly,

10:39

and I felt that the

10:41

process was a little bit too long and just

10:43

a little bit too rigorous. But

10:46

then I was fortunate. In the end, I convinced

10:48

them I was the right person. I got the job, and then all of

10:50

a sudden, you forget about all the pain. I guess

10:52

again, like childbirth.

10:53

The kids born, everything is all good, is

10:56

past you, and you, yeah, you.

10:57

Feel great about it.

10:59

And actually, as I think back,

11:02

the rigor that was required really forced

11:05

me to focus on what

11:07

would my priorities be, you know, what

11:09

did the company need most, what needed to be changed,

11:12

what was good, what wasn't good. And

11:14

it caused me to I think much,

11:17

think much more deeply about what

11:19

I would do when or if I

11:21

got the role, and so so.

11:23

It made you look inside a little bit, a little

11:25

bit further.

11:25

Absolutely, it made me. It made me. Yeah,

11:28

it was. It was

11:30

good.

11:31

You know.

11:31

You know they say, you know, practice makes

11:33

perfect or whatever it is. I don't know if it was perfect,

11:36

but I definitely had to. I remember,

11:39

you know, one of the early meetings, you know, what are.

11:41

Your strategic priorities?

11:43

And I kind of anticipated a question

11:45

like that to be answered, but I hadn't really given it that much

11:47

thought.

11:48

So it was all good.

11:49

It was.

11:49

It was a discipline that I think

11:53

ended up being positive

11:55

for me rather negative.

11:58

What do you get the the goal? What

12:00

do you get the confident to

12:03

say I'm going to be CEO of Disney Like?

12:05

What does it come from? Well, I

12:07

think years and years of learning. I've

12:10

always been a believer of of

12:13

having some ambition, meaning wanting more,

12:16

but never letting ambition get too far ahead

12:18

of opportunity. What I mean by that is,

12:21

you know, when you're really young and

12:23

starting out, I think it's okay

12:25

when you believe it's

12:28

time and you've earned it, to have ambition for the

12:30

next role.

12:31

But to have ambition to.

12:32

Do something fifteen twenty years later,

12:35

you know, I guess one could argue that could

12:38

drive you. So I guess as a

12:40

you know, a twelve year old kid, you might have had an ambition

12:42

to play.

12:42

In the NBA and that may have driven

12:45

you.

12:46

And maybe that's a bad example because it, you know, it worked

12:48

out pretty well for you. I never had

12:51

the ambition to be the CEO of

12:53

the Walt Disney Company or of a company. I

12:56

just went to work every day, worked

12:58

really hard. When I gained the

13:00

confidence in what I was doing and I gained the

13:02

confidence of the people I was working for, something

13:07

a gear clicked in or something for

13:09

me to really go.

13:10

For the next role.

13:12

So I think at the time

13:14

two thousand and four, two thousand and five, when I

13:16

was being considered, I felt I was

13:18

really ready because of the job

13:21

that I had just done. In the jobs

13:23

that I had over all those years.

13:25

I was that president of ABC. Is that the job

13:27

or I had?

13:28

Yeah, well, I had a number of them before,

13:30

you know, I was at one point I was vice

13:33

president of Programming for ABC Sports,

13:35

which was at the time before ESPN,

13:37

like the penultimate television sports

13:39

organization. Then I was president of

13:42

ABC Entertainment, which is all primetime programming,

13:44

which was when I was thirty seven years old.

13:47

Then President of ABC I think when I was forty

13:50

forty three and

13:53

a and

13:55

then I became president of the company which

13:57

was called Capital Cities ABC when

14:00

I was forty three. That's when

14:02

I was forty three.

14:05

And I think at that point, I,

14:07

you know, each job and

14:10

they enabled me to gain more confidence again

14:13

practice practice not only doing,

14:15

but practice leading, which I

14:17

don't you know, it comes naturally to some people,

14:20

and I think I had an innate quality to lead,

14:23

but that I didn't necessarily know that. And

14:25

it's not until you know it that you can do

14:28

it, you think. So by the time I became

14:30

CEO of the Walt Disney Company, all

14:32

of the jobs that I had before prepared

14:35

me for it, and I was confident.

14:37

I wasn't certain I would do it well, but I was confis

14:40

confident I at least had a shot.

14:41

Yeah, what what kind

14:43

of leader would you say you are? If

14:48

someone? Because perception is reality,

14:51

right, So whatever perception is about you

14:53

as a leader is the reality that the people

14:55

are going to think. So what kind of leader would you think

14:57

you are?

14:58

Well? Wow, it's

15:00

going to sound probably a little conceited, but.

15:02

We got gold microphones.

15:05

But I see that Holly

15:07

matches.

15:08

Interestingly enough, I'm more of an introvert than

15:10

an extrovert, even though the job forces

15:12

to me, forces me on stage all the time

15:14

to be an extrovert or to act like an

15:16

extrovert. And I actually

15:18

think being an introvert has its has

15:21

a value because I

15:24

think a lot internally. I am am

15:26

I spend time being thoughtful. That

15:29

means shutting out the noise in

15:31

the world sometimes, and

15:34

I think it's really important that thoughtfulness

15:36

is an important component of leadership. It's

15:39

gaining the knowledge to make smart decisions.

15:41

As a for instance, I think

15:43

I'm accessible. I think it's really important

15:46

even though I have to protect my time, as

15:48

this story you told about giving you fifteen

15:50

minutes, because allocating

15:53

time is one of the most challenging things about

15:55

particularly a job leading a company like this, in

15:57

a job like this, but I like, even

16:00

if I'm careful at how I allocate my time,

16:02

I like people to believe that they can touch

16:05

me and see me and hear what I'm saying.

16:08

So open door policy you can. You

16:10

know, not everybody the company can knock

16:12

on my door and walk in, but a lot of people can.

16:15

I walk around a lot, so I like being

16:17

seen. This notion that

16:20

people can in a way touch me and

16:23

get to know who I am is important.

16:25

I obviously I

16:28

believe you need to be a really good listener. Being

16:30

a leader is not always about telling people

16:32

what to do. It's about hearing what other

16:34

people think we should do, any want

16:36

to do. It's almost

16:38

like a coach and a an NBA

16:40

team. I think you tell teams,

16:43

you give them a lot of instruction and tell them what to do, but

16:45

I think it's really important to hear what they

16:48

want to do, and I think it has

16:50

to be a two way street. It has to be balanced,

16:52

and that's I try to approach it that way. I'm

16:54

very decisive. I

16:57

believe in making decisions on a timely

16:59

based and not be laboring decision making.

17:02

I'm a risk taker. I'm

17:05

focused. For instance, I

17:08

believe that when

17:10

you're talking to someone, you need to be to be in the moment and focused

17:12

on who they are and what they're saying. You need to

17:15

be focused on what your priorities are. You

17:17

need to be focused on, you know, what are the

17:19

most important decisions or

17:22

actions you have to take as

17:24

a leader. All of those things

17:26

I try to I like to think that I'm kind,

17:29

but I know I make tough decisions too sometimes

17:32

about people and they may not think I'm so kind.

17:35

And then, last, the authenticity is important,

17:37

you know, being who your true self,

17:39

who you really are, not trying

17:41

to fake it.

17:42

I'm glad you said that because that leads right into my next

17:44

question. How do you protect Bob

17:47

from Bob Iger to CEO? How

17:51

do you find your personal

17:53

time? How do you stay safe away

17:55

from Yes, you want to be the leader that has

17:58

open to a policy but also understanding

18:00

that you cannot allow everybody to come

18:02

in and give you their thoughts and their you

18:05

know, they're feeling their emotions on every decision

18:07

and everything. So how do you protect yourself?

18:10

Where's your solitude away from

18:12

Bob iger Ceo.

18:13

Well, I carve out I'm

18:16

very very specific about this. I

18:19

carve out time every day to be alone

18:21

with my thoughts. It gets

18:23

people ask me whether I meditate. It's my form

18:25

of meditation, but a true meditator would

18:27

probably scoff it.

18:29

Well, I work out every morning.

18:30

Okay, alone almost

18:34

in the dark with I listen to music, but

18:36

there's a TV on, but I don't

18:38

have the sound on.

18:39

It's about four or five am, he said, in the dark.

18:41

Yeah, it's.

18:44

I get up at mostly four thirty most mornings.

18:46

I used to get up at four fifteen. I've given myself

18:48

fifteen in one minutes and I

18:50

work out religiously every

18:53

morning, and that's my solitude. And

18:55

I'm amazed at how much I get done. In

18:57

terms of inside my head, I'll

19:00

think about the day, I'll think about things, my

19:02

priorities. Sometimes I'll

19:04

even think about ideas I

19:06

might have for a.

19:07

Speech that I have to give. It

19:09

gives you clarity, It gives me real clarity.

19:12

And even though you know you work

19:14

out to spend energy, I actually think it's energizing

19:17

that's really important. I also

19:19

try to build in time almost

19:22

each day during the day where I

19:24

can, you know, just stay on top

19:26

of things, email, reading,

19:29

watching. I have to do a lot of watching. And

19:31

that's also true at night. So even

19:34

though are there are a lot of demands on my

19:36

time, I say no to many more things

19:38

than I say yes to, because,

19:40

first of all, I like to spend time

19:42

with my family, and

19:44

I prioritize that even though my boys

19:47

now are out of the house, but I

19:49

like to be home for dinner and I may go

19:51

back to work after dinner. And even when

19:53

my boys were growing up and when

19:55

I was not traveling, I made sure I was home for dinner

19:57

with them then and then we all went and did

19:59

it.

20:00

To our rooms to do our homework.

20:02

But I just think compartmentalizing,

20:05

carving out time not just for your thoughts,

20:07

but for your personal life, it's critical.

20:10

Without it, I don't think you're a complete person.

20:33

I think some of you said is important, and it's

20:35

a question that I posted to someone recently at

20:38

a conference in Hong Kong. But to

20:40

be as successful as

20:43

you are, to

20:45

have all to wear all the hats that

20:47

you wear. That is Bob,

20:49

you're the public figure, the CEO, but you also

20:52

have Bob the husband, Bob

20:54

the father. Have it? How

20:57

do you deal with the

21:00

guilt? Possibly because I deal with this and a person

21:02

speaking from personal experience

21:04

of dealing with guilt of trying to be the best at

21:06

my craft or whatever it is, I'm chasing and trying

21:09

to build for my family, but also missing moments,

21:12

not always being able to be there. How

21:14

have you dealt with you know, kind of I guess

21:16

I call it guilt. But have you dealt with that situation?

21:19

Yeah? Painfully in a way.

21:22

I am.

21:23

I was married before, and I had two

21:26

kids with my former wife who

21:29

are now in their forties and have five grandchildren.

21:31

Well, I have five grandchildren.

21:34

And when they were really young

21:37

and I was working instead

21:39

of leading a company, I was working for leaders

21:41

of company and leaders of the businesses

21:44

that I work for, so I had less

21:46

control of my time. And I was also

21:49

really really striving hard to

21:51

get ahead, you know, to be successful. Yeah,

21:54

and I sacrificed a lot

21:56

personally. I missed a lot when

22:00

I was home. I tried to be in the moment, but

22:03

I know most of the time my head

22:05

was somewhere else. And as

22:07

I grew older and I

22:09

got divorced, I got remarried, had two kids.

22:12

I was very conscious about not doing

22:15

that again because frankly, the guilt

22:17

that I had basically

22:19

missing moments I carried through

22:21

into my late in my years. I

22:24

can still think about it actually just talking about

22:26

it. I missed a lot and I just

22:28

made myself a promise that

22:31

I wasn't going to do that again. When

22:33

my older son was born,

22:35

I was already president of ABC,

22:39

and then I quickly became CEO and president of

22:41

Disney. And my second son was

22:43

born a couple of years before I became CEO, and

22:46

I just decided that I didn't want to I

22:48

didn't want to create more guilt, but

22:50

more and more than that, I wanted to be more. I

22:52

wanted to be there for them more. And it was helped

22:54

a lot by being mature. And

22:56

I think when you are older and have kids,

23:00

you have an ability to be more focused. And

23:03

I had already achieved,

23:05

although I still had more that I wanted

23:07

to achieve. But I think the fact that I did,

23:10

and I wasn't striving constantly for more.

23:12

Gave me the ability to be a little bit more

23:15

with them, because

23:17

as I think think back in my daughters, I

23:19

might have been with them in physically

23:22

but not necessarily as much as I needed to be emotionally.

23:26

So I and I've had that guilt in terms

23:28

of.

23:30

My marriage.

23:32

I'm very lucky that my wife will

23:34

Obey has worked

23:37

throughout our marriage and times and jobs

23:39

that were just as demanding, if not more so than

23:41

mine. And she's currently dean of the

23:44

Annenburgh School Communication and.

23:46

That talked about it.

23:47

That's a heavy duty job, and

23:49

particularly these days, and

23:52

that makes it a little easier. You know that

23:54

she's you know,

23:57

sometimes I make her feel guilty a little

23:59

bit.

24:00

She understands when you have to.

24:02

Walk in and not once and we

24:04

talked about the fact that I went to China

24:06

fifty times, well about forty seven

24:09

of those times were since we've been married,

24:12

and not once did you say what are you doing? You're leaving

24:14

again. I just never had that, which is so

24:16

it takes a partnership. I'm sure you've

24:19

discovered the same thing. You know,

24:21

you need someone who

24:25

understands the sacrifices

24:27

of doing what we do, but

24:30

it's also willing to speak

24:32

up for what their needs

24:34

are. And I be I was lucky that

24:37

she never purposely made me feel

24:39

guilty.

24:40

But that's that's one of the biggest keys.

24:42

Before I throw it to you, Bob, just

24:44

to bring it back to Willow. My

24:47

first time getting a tanzameter, we were at

24:49

the mc gala last year. Before

24:52

you go into the meg gala where the big party

24:55

is, you kind of walk through this the art exhibit,

24:57

and the art exhibit was of call like

25:00

felt right the theme last year, and

25:02

we and you, Willow Gavin,

25:04

myself, my wife, we all walked together

25:06

throughout the exhibit and you and I had, you know, time

25:09

to look at the beautiful art that

25:11

you know, a fashion last

25:14

year at the mcgala. So it was cool getting that time,

25:17

you know, because I know Willow from TV,

25:20

right, I know her from you know, being a

25:22

journalist from TV, and so you know, it became

25:24

real like I'm you know, I'm a fan of of

25:26

people who are very talented and they can do multiple

25:28

things. And so your wife has very

25:31

similar to my wife has her own life. I have

25:33

a own career as well, as being a mother.

25:36

And so it's fascinating to me when when two big

25:38

powerhouses in a sense they get together

25:40

and they can they can make it make sense.

25:43

Yeah, I think it something healthy about that. Willow

25:46

doesn't derive any

25:48

esteem or status from

25:50

from me. Yeah, you know, she she has her

25:52

own uh, and I think that's

25:54

really healthy.

25:55

I think I was.

25:55

I was drawn to her for that reason, in part that

25:58

she had her own career. Interesting and

26:00

just thinking about it that she for I think

26:02

eight years was a co host of NBA Inside

26:04

Stuff with a lover shots.

26:06

Yes.

26:07

Then over times we went to games and a player would

26:09

say, I used to watch it when.

26:10

I was little. Yeah, that was We always

26:12

made her feel old.

26:13

But she from

26:15

you know when I met her, she was doing that.

26:17

She had her own career.

26:18

Ultimately she was great.

26:20

Thank you, Yeah, thank you. It

26:22

was fun watching her.

26:23

Every once in a while a video will pop up that

26:25

we crack up about it.

26:27

It actually made it cooler to me, Bob, when I found out

26:29

you was married to Willow.

26:31

That is that is a source of a lot of

26:34

status for me, particularly when I got to NBA

26:36

game. You know that show

26:38

is getting not getting inducted

26:40

into the into the NBA Hall of Fame.

26:42

Listen rightfully. So it was an amazing show.

26:44

You're and you were already inducted. Are

26:46

you getting I can't.

26:47

I got inducted last year in August of

26:49

twenty three. Yeah.

26:50

So if you still remember the suit, you were

26:54

you knowing it was pretty cool.

26:55

Yeah, yeah, I don't out on the white suit

26:57

and I changed clothes. I did a whole time. I'll go over

26:59

the top. Bob, do you want

27:01

to insert an ass?

27:03

I do have a question for both you actually

27:06

like what's the fire? Where's the fire? For

27:09

you is because you both like

27:11

you you're present, You're the CEO of one

27:13

of the biggest companies in the world, and you've reached

27:16

them out on top of NBA start

27:19

like basket the basketball on this, but

27:22

you're still going like you're both are still like just

27:25

it's fire there that's not stopped,

27:27

Like where does that come from?

27:28

Like where is that?

27:29

What's what's the fire from?

27:30

Now? Yeah?

27:32

Go ahead, Well I hate there's a lot of

27:34

fire. I've always had

27:37

it, and

27:39

we could analyze exactly why

27:41

and what generated it. But one

27:44

of the things that amazes me, even now

27:46

I'm seventy three years old, going to be seventy four.

27:49

And I've been doing this for a while, as we've

27:51

said, and I get up every morning still

27:53

with fire in my belly. I'm incredibly

27:55

competitive, really competitive, not necessarily

27:58

with other people, but in general I'm a

28:00

perfectionist. I

28:02

believe working hard, as you know, the

28:05

true secret sauce to

28:07

success. But with that comes

28:09

I think if you're competitive, you work even harder that

28:12

fire. I

28:15

just, you know, to put it in perspective.

28:17

My dad was a well

28:19

educated man, ivy league education, a talented

28:21

man, played jazz, professional jazz

28:23

trumpet player, but he had manic depression

28:26

and it deprived him of a successful

28:29

career and he was always

28:31

unfulfilled. He was always disappointed in himself,

28:34

and I've observed that as a young

28:36

child and throughout. He died about ten years

28:39

ago, but I observed that in him,

28:41

you know, as long as he was alive, and

28:43

I promised myself I was not going to live

28:46

a life that was not fulfilling,

28:48

and I was subconscious.

28:51

I didn't really understand it as much until

28:53

I actually started writing my book

28:55

and had to really come to grips

28:57

with how do I explain it? But I

28:59

just I saw his unhappiness

29:01

and dissatisfaction with himself, and

29:04

I was driven. The fire really,

29:06

I think comes from not

29:09

wanting to lead the life that he

29:11

led. And he was a good person, he was a good father,

29:14

but he was never happy,

29:16

and so I think a lot of it comes from that. You

29:19

really want to get, you know, bring

29:21

the psychology into all this.

29:22

Yeah, for me, so

29:25

many different things, as you said, but I

29:27

think where it comes from, where it comes

29:30

from me is is I

29:32

don't want the bus to stop here, right

29:34

Like, I'm first generation to do everything

29:36

that I'm doing, and

29:39

my fire comes through my kids. You

29:42

know, I go back, Zaire's twenty two years old.

29:44

I've had a fire in my belly for the

29:46

last twenty two years that

29:49

I can't even explain that gets me out of

29:51

bed every day. And you know, Zaire is my oldest,

29:53

and I go all the way down to my youngest, And

29:56

so for me, I guess that fire is

29:58

in me for them

30:00

because I don't want the bus to stop

30:02

where I am and where we

30:04

are as a family. You know, I want to I

30:07

want to know what family offices is like. I want

30:09

to know what generational success

30:11

looks like and feel like I want my family to know those

30:13

things and feel these things. And so I

30:15

put a lot of pressures on myself to, you

30:17

know, not just be successful in the NBA,

30:20

but to be in all these areas

30:22

because you know, I know that I'm a model for

30:26

the way family and

30:28

that fire and my belly to be better every

30:31

day is not just for myself. It's

30:34

for a long line of kids that I probably would never meet.

30:36

Because I want to be the I want to set the standard.

30:38

And then because I understand in sport, once

30:41

a standard is set, you're gonna work hard to jump

30:43

over that. Like Lebron came to all

30:46

time scoring leader because Kareem did it

30:48

right. And so once these bars

30:50

are set, it's your job to now you know, the

30:52

next generation to try to jump over those bars and

30:55

clear them. That's that's how competitive we are, and

30:57

I want my family to be competitive. So I want to set

30:59

the bar, and then I want to make sure the generations

31:01

out there know that they have the capabilities and the

31:03

resources and all the things they need to jump

31:06

over that bar. And so my my

31:08

desire and everything burns is all based around

31:10

my family. I feel that that's my purpose in this world

31:14

is my family.

31:14

So I was going to actually ask you a question.

31:17

It came up in my head anyway,

31:19

Sorry when we were talking

31:22

about retirement, because

31:24

I know that and to play in the NBA you

31:26

have to be competitive. But I

31:29

also know, having gotten to know a few

31:31

NBA players, yourself, Chris Chris

31:33

Paul being one, that there are different levels

31:35

of competition. There are guys who are

31:37

far more competitive. And I think you'll find that

31:39

the greats in the league, those again into the Hall of

31:41

Fame, were simply more.

31:43

Competitive than others.

31:44

Obsessed and yes, and that the

31:46

work ethic and everything about it.

31:49

But then all of a sudden the day comes and unlike

31:52

me, it's like, you know, you could do this job a longer,

31:54

much longer time because it doesn't

31:57

demand it demands of me physically, but not like

31:59

yours did. You got to step back? What

32:01

do you do someone as

32:03

competitive as you? How

32:05

do you channel that? And you talk about your family?

32:08

Was that a challenge for you?

32:10

Definitely? It's an everyday challenge,

32:13

right especially man, I played

32:15

basketball from five years old on.

32:18

You know, it was so much for me and

32:21

I think I'm one thing I know, Bob,

32:23

is I'm learning a lot about myself now that I'm getting

32:25

full and fulled away from the game, I'm actually

32:27

learning that I love

32:30

the game. I love the game with all my heart,

32:32

but I actually understand that. It's

32:34

not like my dad still plays basketball

32:37

every day sixty seven years old. He gets up every

32:39

morning, he goes play basketball. I don't do that,

32:42

and I know his needs are worse than mine, and you know,

32:44

and I don't do that. And so I'm like, dang, I do

32:46

I love it the way he loves it?

32:48

Interesting?

32:49

Right, Like, I'm starting to, like now look at certain

32:51

things and say, man, I love this game. It's done so much.

32:53

But I think for me, the game

32:56

was it was a moment, you

32:58

know. And my mom always told me when I was a kid in the

33:00

tidele of my book that my life was bigger than basketball,

33:02

and I never knew what that meant. And I think, now

33:04

I'm on the other side of basketball, I'm starting to understand

33:07

what that meant is. I'm not obsessed about

33:09

that anymore. But what I am obsessed

33:11

about is how

33:13

do I maximize each each day. I'm

33:15

obsessed about maximizing my day

33:17

and maximizing my time, and I'm

33:20

trying to win so many moments throughout my day, whether

33:22

it's getting dressed in twenty minutes, I want to win. I

33:24

want to see if I can get out the door in twenty right. I'm putting

33:26

these challenges in front of me, and so

33:28

I'm taking some of the things that made me a great athlete

33:31

and I'm just bringing them into life and

33:33

trying to make myself, you know, and challenge

33:35

myself to be a better person.

33:37

By the way that getting out the door in twenty minutes,

33:39

I can really relate to that.

33:41

It's so interesting. I've

33:43

never talked to anybody about that.

33:44

I actually sometimes I'll

33:46

count, like, you know, I just try

33:48

to be more efficient at things.

33:51

The challenges you got to set for yourself.

33:52

But it must be how we're wired too, you

33:55

know. I do fewer steps.

33:57

Toget from one place to the other.

33:59

If I can do what I'll do. I

34:01

guess it's a maybe it's I

34:04

don't know, maybe it's why we end

34:06

up doing what we do because of

34:08

that that mentality.

34:09

Yeah, no, I gotta it's a thing

34:12

I go through. I put so many challenges in front

34:14

of myself that no one knows. I am in competition

34:16

with myself all.

34:17

You can talk about it. A

34:19

lot of people don't understand it. They think you're crazy.

34:21

Yeah, so you know, to

34:24

to answer your question, Bob, I mean, I guess

34:26

that's the way that I kind

34:29

of look at You know that I'm trying to you know,

34:31

I always I want to be connected to the game.

34:33

I think it was a point and my team noticed

34:35

where I was trying to I don't want

34:37

to be known as an athlete. I want to be known as

34:40

a businessman. I want to be taken serious. Don't.

34:42

And then I had to sit back and I have to look at and say, you know

34:44

what, actually being known as an athlete is actually

34:46

the best team because do you know what I had to overcome to

34:48

be a great athlete. Do you know the value

34:51

that I bring by being an athlete? Well, let me tell

34:53

you, and so really bringing everything

34:55

that I am as an athlete, and understanding that

34:57

I am so unique in every room I walk into

35:00

because it's only a handful of us, and

35:03

not try to get yourself away from

35:05

being an athlete or being known

35:07

as an athlete. No, please know that I was, and please know

35:09

that I was a champion. Please note that I overcame

35:12

injury because now you're gonna automatically

35:14

know something about my character. You

35:37

won the championship? How many times? Three?

35:40

I was at one? I was in Dallas.

35:42

Oh the one we want?

35:44

That was your first one?

35:45

Six?

35:45

Was that your first?

35:46

Yeah? I was there. You were there.

35:48

Because ABC and ESPN

35:51

has the NBA and I go

35:53

to a lot of finals over the years. And my

35:55

son at the time, six was eight

35:58

and a big basketball fan. End they're playing basketball

36:01

in high school and he he

36:05

over the years, he's always roots

36:07

for teams that are winning. A

36:11

Clipper fan most of his life. But he decided

36:13

to go to the game wearing a Dwayne Wade's

36:16

uniform or jersey in Dallas. So we

36:18

fly from LA to Dallas. He's

36:20

wearing number three, the dead

36:23

Miami jersey, and we find

36:25

out that we're sitting courtside.

36:27

So we get there and he is in

36:30

Dallas.

36:30

He's like one of the few Dallas fans, a few

36:32

Miamis fans that courtside.

36:36

He's getting harassed by the Dallas

36:39

I love that he's eight years old.

36:40

He was even the Dallas Mavericks mascot.

36:43

Came especially in

36:45

courtside in Dallas.

36:47

We didn't know we were going to sit courtside.

36:49

I didn't want him to wear the university sun.

36:51

We're you know, we're going to Dallas. You gotta be respectful.

36:54

Was it the game we actually won? It was the game you

36:56

won? Game six?

36:57

Yeah, it's a game you won.

36:59

Wow. June twenty by the

37:01

way, yes, I know to day.

37:05

How excited was he during that win?

37:07

For him wearing that jurny being like

37:11

like like.

37:12

Like I picked the right way? Was

37:14

he like at the end of that game? Like,

37:16

yeah, yeah, he was elevated. Pretty

37:21

happy kid man. That's that's awesome.

37:23

Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, feel good.

37:26

He'll remember it too. Yeah that

37:29

On that same line, dude,

37:31

are you the father that

37:34

you thought you were going to be? Right? We all have

37:36

this idea of who

37:39

we're going to be if we have kids and what we're going

37:41

to do. Are you that father? I've

37:44

never thought about that.

37:46

I do think about, you know, my qualities

37:49

as a father? Yes,

37:53

I don't.

37:54

I you know, I the

37:56

father I thought I wanted to be.

37:57

I was going to be.

38:00

Maybink by and large, I am, by and

38:02

large.

38:04

I think about it.

38:05

Again, I haven't given much thought, but yeah,

38:07

I think I I just think I've I've

38:09

been a good role model. I've

38:13

been there for my kids. I

38:17

balanced, you know, being kind and being

38:19

and discip and disciplining them.

38:22

My wife and I both said pretty high standards

38:25

for them.

38:25

Yeah, I think pretty much.

38:27

You've done a good job of it. Okay, Yeah,

38:30

I don't know.

38:30

If I give myself an APT I.

38:32

Wouldn't do that. If

38:35

if I could, as we sit here, ask for not

38:38

only just me, but even the listeners advice,

38:41

and I don't. I don't know the answer

38:43

to this, but just listening to you,

38:46

I know that you have a blended family, and

38:49

I know that I have parts

38:52

of a blended family, and how

38:54

difficult it is to do that.

38:58

So any tips, any pointers that you give me

39:01

or anyone out here listening, How did you handle

39:03

and what's the challenges of bringing

39:06

together family?

39:08

Well, I think the most important

39:10

thing is being empathetic to all members

39:12

of the family, because not all situations

39:14

are are comfortable. There's

39:18

sometimes some discomfort in bringing

39:21

blended families together. Yeah, And

39:24

while I think as parents we set expectations

39:27

saying why isn't everybody happy? You know, and everybody

39:29

get this, and you have to realize

39:31

that people come to blended families

39:34

with sometimes disappointment

39:37

and expectations,

39:40

and it's not always.

39:42

Great for everybody.

39:43

I think you just have to put yourself in their shoes. Yeah,

39:46

but that would be the most important more

39:48

empathy, Yeah, definitely, definitely.

39:51

You know I remember, you

39:53

know, introducing my daughters to my

39:56

Willow who became my wife, and then getting to the

39:58

point where telling you what I was going to get married, then

40:00

telling them we're going to have a child, and

40:03

well, you know, you can't just expect

40:05

them to accept it all and be and smile.

40:08

You know, you have to really think, well, you know, what

40:10

are they thinking. They're disappointed in the dissolution

40:12

of the marriage of their parents and

40:15

you know, having someone else in their lives

40:18

that is a stranger in many respects

40:20

what you're expected to all of a sudden embrace and.

40:22

Love because you just want everything to just Hey,

40:25

I love you, I love you. Let can't everybody

40:27

get along?

40:27

Ye? Well wait a minute, you know, you

40:30

know the new families an interloper and the old

40:32

family, right, so I think

40:34

we forget sometimes, you

40:36

know how difficult it can be, and

40:39

I think it's important to remind yourself

40:42

of that. Yeah, looking I think I was

40:44

probably less empathetic than I should

40:46

have been now looking back on it. Of

40:48

course it's twenty twenty hindsight, it's easier to,

40:51

you know, talk about it.

40:52

But that would be my strong advice.

40:54

Yeah, I thank you for that, because I know

40:57

a lot of us deal with that right in the world today.

40:59

We all deal with you know how I want

41:01

how to deal with blended families and then you put all the

41:03

other things around it, who you are, you

41:06

know, and all of those things at the same time.

41:09

So yeah, thank you for that. This

41:11

word in sport always come up, and

41:15

I think we all have a hard time answering it because

41:18

we don't really know the answer for it.

41:20

But the word legacy comes up all the time, right

41:23

especially when you got kids. It's all about, you

41:25

know, your kids going to follow your footsteps? Is

41:28

this your legacy? And how

41:30

do you look at legacy? And

41:33

in that same token, does

41:35

your legacy put any pressures on your

41:38

kids? Yeah?

41:39

Definitely.

41:39

You know, I think I look at legacy two ways, in

41:42

legacy as a father and as a husband,

41:45

as a member of a family, and of course there's

41:47

legacy professionally. And I realized that

41:49

there does lines blur because

41:52

so much of what I do and what I've accomplished,

41:54

you know, bring into my personal life

41:56

and my legacy as a parent, and my legacy

41:58

as a husband, as a

42:00

as a well.

42:01

So I'll start professionally.

42:03

You know.

42:04

I was really lucky to

42:06

have been named the sixth CEO of the Walt Disney

42:09

Company in two thousand and five, a

42:11

company that was founded by Walt Disney in

42:14

nineteen twenty three, you

42:16

know, known as you know, one of the

42:18

greatest companies in the world. And I've

42:20

always wanted my legacy to be Hey,

42:23

you were given responsibility

42:25

to lead this great company. Make

42:29

sure that you don't screw

42:31

it up. Make sure you leave it in even

42:33

better hands or in even better

42:35

shape rather for the people that follow you. It's

42:38

very important to me. Even now coming back,

42:40

I realized I'm putting my legacy on the line a little

42:42

bit because I left in

42:44

pretty you know, with the company was

42:46

in really good shape, and I

42:49

don't want to do anything that diminishes

42:51

that legacy. So the pressure is on

42:54

really for me to do the same again and

42:57

again.

42:57

I just want to.

42:58

Leave this company as

43:01

one of the most admired companies in the world,

43:03

you know, known for the equality and the integrity

43:05

of the people in the product,

43:08

the people who work for us in the product that we make

43:11

very important to me in terms of my legacy

43:14

as a father and as a as a husband.

43:17

You know, I very much would like my

43:20

family to appreciate my

43:22

accomplishments, but

43:24

more importantly, to appreciate the fact that I

43:26

did that but still brought

43:29

a lot of love to the people who

43:32

matter the most to me, you know,

43:34

my wife and my kids, that

43:36

I was there for them, that I

43:38

cared about them, that I

43:40

set a good example, that

43:43

I set high standards and lived up to

43:45

them myself.

43:46

Yeah, that's

43:49

that's the biggest thing, right there, living up to me yourself.

43:53

You said that. It just made me pause, But

43:56

that is the biggest thing, not just about talking

43:58

about it. Yeah, about living up to as

44:01

well. It's easy to tell some give

44:03

someone else advice, it's harder to follow

44:05

that that advice yourself.

44:07

Yeah, that's true, even you know at

44:09

Disney. I you know, I try to

44:12

to walk the talk talk about

44:15

integrity, and I'm lending

44:17

this pursuit of perfection and what

44:19

I demanded the people who work for me.

44:21

Well, I gotta I gotta do the

44:23

same myself. But one of the toughest

44:25

things I think that we all have that

44:29

we all deal with and we all have maybe issues

44:31

with, is self accountability. How

44:35

how do you deal with how do

44:37

you deal with self accountability? Are you do

44:39

you look in the mirror and you are honest

44:42

with yourself or do you look away from the mirror

44:44

sometimes when you don't want to be honest with yourself.

44:47

Well, it's interesting you bring that up. And we talked about

44:49

my father briefly. But I remember when

44:52

I graduated in elementary

44:54

school at sixth grade and we had yearbooks

44:56

and my father wrote in my yearbook a

44:58

quote from Shakespeare which

45:01

was to thine own self be true,

45:04

And it stuck with me and

45:06

people ask me over the years, you

45:08

know, what do you what tenant

45:10

or what what do you live by?

45:12

What's your north star? To thine own self be true?

45:14

Be true to who who you are, and

45:16

that means be true to the words that you

45:19

you speak, to be true to what you demand of others,

45:21

meaning you know, and be true to yourself.

45:24

Don't fool If you start fooling

45:26

yourself, you're fooling everybody. So

45:29

I have very high standards for myself and

45:32

sometimes I disappoint myself a little bit,

45:34

but I try really hard to live up to the standards

45:37

that I have for myself, and

45:39

I don't beat myself up over shortfalls

45:41

as much as I just I use them as lessons

45:44

to basically even get better, And even

45:46

to this day, I try to do that.

45:48

You said something and I wrote it down. I want

45:50

to I want to get your.

45:52

I love this. By the way you

45:55

said, the way.

45:57

You do anything is the way you do

45:59

everything? Is that kind of similar

46:01

to what you were just saying right there?

46:02

Absolutely? Yeah, I absolutely, I think

46:05

you know. The standard that you said, if

46:07

it's high integrity for instance, has

46:10

to be applied to everything you do everything.

46:15

Inconsistency, particularly when

46:17

it comes to Marls ethics,

46:19

is unacceptable. If

46:22

you do something that there's a lapse, suggests

46:24

a lapse of integrity, then theoretically everything's

46:27

on the table, everything could be.

46:29

So that's important to me.

46:34

How do you handle You and I both

46:36

have something in common, right, And I guess

46:38

it's were public figures, right,

46:40

whether you want it to be or I wanted to be or

46:42

not. I signed up to play basketball and then

46:44

sign up to have people talk about a

46:47

lot of things they talk about. But

46:49

now we live in a world where some people actually

46:51

go find the information with people talking about

46:54

them. You can actually go look at comments and you can find people

46:56

talking about you, which is I don't do

46:58

those things. But how do you handle

47:00

band a public figure.

47:06

I try not to let

47:10

what how other people are

47:12

judging me and just change

47:14

how I behave So,

47:17

first of all, I guess in terms

47:19

of the public side of it, you know, you can read a

47:21

lot about yourself. A

47:23

lot of it isn't even accurate. I

47:25

try really hard not to read about myself.

47:28

It's interesting often people here saying, hey.

47:30

You read that about such a such.

47:32

No, I didn't.

47:33

I don't lead every day or

47:35

I don't I don't spend time.

47:37

Every day reading about myself.

47:39

I don't look at comments on Twitter

47:41

or X the X platform, and I

47:43

just it's just I don't find that healthy and

47:45

I don't learn anything about myself at

47:48

all.

47:50

I look, it comes.

47:51

With the territory that if you're in a you know, if

47:53

you're stepping onto a basketball court as a professional

47:55

basketball player, or if you're the CEO of the Walt

47:57

Disney Company, you're on stage on stage

48:00

and the lights are bright and and

48:03

and people are going to scrutinize almost everything

48:05

you say on or off the court, in this case,

48:07

on or off the Disney so called

48:09

Disney stage, and I take I

48:12

must say that took some getting used to. It's

48:14

just not who I am. I goes back to common

48:17

I made at the beginning. I'm you know, you're interestedly

48:19

an introvert. I don't really want

48:21

to be on stage. It's part of my job to be on stage,

48:24

but that I don't believe that's who I am,

48:28

So you deal with it, I say, I must say

48:30

I do. I'm careful

48:32

in terms of how I behave publicly. I'm

48:35

conscious of how I present myself,

48:37

whether it's you know, how I'm dressed, or you

48:40

know, or even I remember taking you

48:42

know, my boys to restaurants, and you

48:45

know, little boys don't sit at tables.

48:47

Very long, and they act up and run around.

48:49

How you discipline them in public? I

48:52

was very careful about.

48:53

Things like that. You know.

48:54

I remember every once in a while i'd raised my voice

48:56

and my wife, you know,

48:58

you're in a restaurant, don't raise your voice because

49:00

you think someone might be scrutinizing

49:03

how you're you know, basically.

49:05

I mean they will be anyway

49:08

it goes through the territory. I say,

49:10

you get used to it.

49:11

I don't know.

49:11

You never quite ever quite get used to it. The

49:14

one thing I try not to do is believe all

49:16

the stuff that's written about

49:18

me. I not let it go

49:20

to my head.

49:21

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's something

49:23

that I learned is the

49:26

planned sport is the is the high and lower the

49:28

ebb and flow of everything

49:30

of the job of the media. They love you one day,

49:32

obviously, don't love you the next. Of people

49:35

who love you one day don't love you the next, Like it's

49:37

a whole. Like if you stay, if you if you allow your

49:39

emotions to go on that roller coaster, you

49:42

can't focus on what you're trying to accomplish, in what you're

49:44

trying to do, because that's going to take all

49:46

your attention away.

49:49

And so I learned that as an athlete. It's

49:51

like, Okay, I have to I have to close

49:53

that part off, right, Like I know

49:55

my coaches, I know

49:57

Spoke I had this. He had people

50:00

all the time when you lose some games, trying to call

50:02

him, text him, tell him what he's doing wrong, What

50:04

he needs to do better. They've never been in one

50:07

war room, they've never been in one film breakdown.

50:09

They don't know none of the personalities of the team that

50:11

they're playing. But you can coach from your

50:14

from the phone and tell you you know. And I think

50:16

a lot of people are coaching from the sideline

50:18

and in the of this, this being a

50:20

public figure of our lives and their

50:22

Monday morning quarterback and telling them, oh, well

50:24

you should have done that. Well, this isn't real

50:26

time.

50:27

And yeah, I think it's important too to

50:29

not let others define you, but to

50:31

define who you are yourself.

50:35

Yeah, it's very interesting.

50:37

People say, don't read everything, don't believe everything

50:40

is written a value, and yeah, don't even

50:42

read it.

50:43

I think there's value to that. Oh

50:45

a little, a little way from the so serious.

50:48

What are you fearful of? Like, I'm

50:51

fearful of snakes, I'm fear for of birds.

50:53

What do you feel for birds? I can't birds?

50:56

Me and birds. We got a whole history I'm talking about.

50:58

It's a long history. Bob even would be all

51:00

day if I'll tell you about it.

51:02

I don't like snakes, but I'm not fearful of

51:04

them.

51:05

M I'm

51:08

not sure I have anything to make you.

51:10

No, no, no, I'm

51:12

not jumpy.

51:13

You're not jumpy when it goes

51:15

into while you're so successful.

51:18

I used to say I don't have a fear gene, but that

51:20

gets misinterpreted. I have my I have anxieties

51:22

every once in a while.

51:25

But so what gives you the most anxiety? Well,

51:29

you know, I.

51:30

Think as you grow older, you become more in

51:32

tune to just how fragile the world

51:34

is. You know, something happening to

51:36

my wife or my kids. I can get anxious

51:39

about that sometimes, you know,

51:41

you just think about you know, you could fade

51:44

and stepping off the street corner the

51:46

wrong moment and getting hit by a car.

51:48

And I'm the

51:51

fragility of the world, particularly

51:54

as it relates to my family. Would be

51:56

it or

51:59

snakes?

52:00

Birds? A snake that's me now, I mean I have that

52:02

same that's that would be my

52:04

my biggest one. But any

52:06

particular bird. You know,

52:08

I really don't like pigeons. I

52:11

really don't like.

52:11

There's a lot of them too.

52:13

I don't like when they get close to me. I don't like when it be underneath

52:15

the table. You have a looked

52:17

at a pigeon a

52:20

lot.

52:20

So I'm the president of New York.

52:22

I never understood, by the way, you never see baby pigeons.

52:25

Right, you just see big, grown, a dope pigeons and a lot

52:27

of Yeah,

52:30

I do not like pigeons.

52:34

Regrets. Do

52:36

you do you look at things that's having regrets or

52:38

do you take it as you know what, this is a lesson for me,

52:40

or do you have it?

52:42

Well, we touched upon one. You know, I regret

52:44

that I wasn't there for my for my

52:47

daughter daughters. That's the pictures I could have been,

52:49

should have been, That would be it. I

52:52

mean, every once in a while I regret not having

52:54

spent more time to

52:57

myself and you know, the old smell

52:59

in the roses. But now given the fact that I

53:01

retired and I, by the way, I

53:03

stayed busy, but I really but not as

53:05

busy, and I really enjoyed

53:08

it. And I one of the

53:10

things that I enjoyed is I finally felt I had

53:12

time, that I wasn't rushing

53:15

to everything all the time, even though I still

53:17

had that I got to do something as fast

53:19

as I possibly can. I

53:22

guess I regret a little bit that I.

53:24

Haven't taken more time too

53:28

for myself.

53:29

But would you do it different even

53:31

though you regret it? Would you?

53:33

You can't anyway, So I don't spend

53:35

much time basically on

53:38

that because you can't do it again. And

53:41

here I am, you know, back at work, back

53:44

at the grind, working really hard, as

53:46

hard as I've ever worked. I

53:48

don't even regret that in the seventies,

53:50

as hard as my seventies. You've have ever

53:52

worked in your seventies? Yeah, yeah,

53:54

I only I've ever worked harder includes

53:56

growing up in my twenties and

53:59

my prior to tenure as CEO.

54:01

So you think as you get older, you think, you know what, at

54:03

some point it's gonna get easier. I'm gonna be able to rad

54:06

off and into this Hawaiian beach

54:09

life. Right, you think one day and you're telling

54:11

me as you sitting here, you're working hard on your seven.

54:13

Yeah, it's interesting

54:15

way yours back, going back to the

54:18

early parts of my career, you know, the

54:20

seventies and the eighties, meaning decades.

54:23

I work for bosses who were golfers, and

54:26

then in the summer they play golf every Friday.

54:29

Wow, one day I don't play golf.

54:30

But one day, why I'm gonna when I

54:32

get to that, dude time

54:35

taking fridays off playing golf or whatever. And

54:38

then all of a sudden, I get there,

54:40

where fridays off?

54:42

Where's golf?

54:43

As that happened?

54:44

I think the world demands more of us, actually,

54:47

and uh and these days the pace of change

54:49

is so rapid and the

54:51

challenge is so great, is so much disruption

54:54

in the world that there's there's

54:56

no way you take time off and

54:58

I take vacation and

55:02

I get away. It doesn't mean that I'm

55:04

not working when I'm away, but I get away.

55:07

We're going to talk about their vacation as we get to the I

55:09

Bob, you have another question for it, because I did.

55:12

And it's mainly because I've always

55:14

wondered how when I watched TV

55:17

and I see you on TV, and

55:19

you kind of mentioned earlier that Disney is,

55:22

like you, in the business of making people happy and

55:25

that's such a great thing and being

55:27

the leader of that charge

55:29

of making people happy, but people outside

55:32

were trying to make some of the things you do political.

55:34

How do you balance that of trying to

55:37

Your job is trying to make people happy, like

55:39

that's what you want to do all around the world.

55:41

And knowing you can't satisfy everybody.

55:43

You can't satisfy people everyone, and people

55:45

try to make it what I mean, trying to make for political

55:47

gang.

55:48

How do you balance that?

55:49

Well, it's a good one, you know.

55:50

First of all, I'm not one hundred percent sure I

55:53

know what you mean, except that I do know. One

55:55

of the things I've been preaching a lot of Disney is

55:58

is.

55:58

And reminding people was to entertain.

56:01

It's and where we can entertain.

56:04

We always want to entertain responsibly, but where

56:06

we can entertain in a way that has a

56:08

positive impact in the world, that's a

56:10

good thing. But but our movies

56:12

and TV shows and theme park

56:15

attractions, everything should shouldn't.

56:16

Be designed to deliver messages. They should be designed

56:18

to entertain.

56:20

Going back, though, I love it when Disney can

56:22

tell a great entertaining story, yeah,

56:24

and have a and and have a really positive impact

56:26

in the world. One of the things I'm most proud

56:29

of in my tenure CEO

56:32

was making.

56:33

A movie black, making Black Panther.

56:35

We made a Marvel action hero

56:38

movie with virtually

56:40

an all black cast that was

56:42

over over a billion dollars in box office,

56:45

that did well in almost every country was released in

56:47

including China, and the statement

56:49

that made was phenomenal

56:51

in terms of acceptance and you

56:54

know, anybody could be a superhero.

56:56

And I loved having that kind

56:58

of impact.

56:59

Where a movie which was about

57:01

Mexican, Holly Day of the Dead with it basically

57:04

an all Mexican cast and

57:07

it did extremely well in

57:09

China for instance, and just you

57:11

know, it's a great story, touches

57:14

the heart, but in that case it

57:16

was mostly about having respect for family and elders,

57:18

particularly grandparents. It's a great positive

57:20

impact. I love that, But we didn't

57:22

set out to have a positive impact. You set out to make

57:25

a good tell a good story. Yeah,

57:27

And I have to remind all about the creators

57:30

that we deal with today is tell a great story.

57:32

That's your number and entertained by doing

57:34

your storytellers, Absolutely, that should

57:37

be our goal. If in telling

57:39

the story, you know we have

57:42

a positive influence on people in the

57:45

world.

57:45

Great, Yeah. I mean to me, what

57:47

that sounds like is also too At

57:49

the same time from the underbility

57:52

is kind of the model that I

57:54

that I live by. And there's so many different ways you can

57:57

say it is. But too much as given much as required

57:59

and I think the mentality from the public

58:02

is you're given this, so

58:04

you're required to do this and whatever

58:06

that this is is what the public

58:09

and what people you know, there are expectations

58:12

of what you're supposed to do because you've been you know,

58:14

you're sitting in this place, you're sitting in this seat, you

58:16

have this microphone, and so I

58:18

think it's on you to decide how

58:21

you use it. But I guess my question too,

58:23

that would be, is

58:25

there a difference, Bob between Bob

58:28

Iger, the CEO of Disney that has

58:30

a company to you

58:33

know, to you know, to sit

58:36

on and make sure that you know the company

58:38

has a voice, and also Bob Iger,

58:41

the person who like Is it

58:43

sometimes where your ideas kind of cross

58:45

where you may not believe in this as a person,

58:47

but as a company you have to stand on that or

58:49

is it the same?

58:51

No, I think at this point it's the same.

58:53

It's the same.

58:54

Yeah, I think I can't.

58:56

First of all, I can't do anything

58:58

as a company that I don't believe in

59:00

morally or I don't believe in as a person.

59:03

But I am very aware that Bob

59:06

Iger without the title, it's

59:08

almost the same thing. These days as Bob Iger

59:10

with the title, Like the title just unfortunately

59:13

travels deep into my personal life, meaning

59:16

meaning.

59:16

Away from Disney.

59:18

So if I say anything as a civilian,

59:20

so to speak, you.

59:21

Might as well say it as the same coming

59:23

from the same thing. I have to be careful there. Yeah.

59:26

I had to learn that by the way, you

59:29

know, taking positions politically, I

59:31

have a right as a citizen to do

59:33

that. If I say it, if

59:35

I speak it out loud, it's

59:38

then people expect or just assume

59:40

that that's I'm taking a position on behalf of this company.

59:42

So I don't know, I don't speak

59:45

out loud anymore.

59:46

Yeah, that's what I was running exactly, that that

59:48

dynamic of you know, your personal life, your personal

59:50

interests, but also the company's

59:53

view of people's the interests of the company.

59:55

And how does that does it ever come to a point

59:57

where you have to battle you versus

59:59

you?

1:00:00

Well, that goes back to you know, the way you do

1:00:02

anything is the way you do everything, or whatever

1:00:03

whatever I wrote.

1:00:05

The way you do anything is the way.

1:00:06

Way you do it.

1:00:07

Yeah, that's right. It's

1:00:10

almost the same thing.

1:00:31

Vacations. So going back

1:00:33

to the meeting that I had in your office in twenty

1:00:36

nineteen. I remember walking in

1:00:38

and I'm sitting here thinking, how am I going to extend

1:00:40

this meeting with by biker? How are we

1:00:42

going to get more than fifteen minutes? And

1:00:45

so I saw that you love

1:00:48

selling. You have sailboats, you have photos.

1:00:50

If you want a cell boat, you had like

1:00:52

a sculpture or some sort of

1:00:54

a celboat in your office. And

1:00:56

so I recognized that, and

1:00:59

that's where I conversation actually started. Because

1:01:02

once you start talking about something you enjoy and love,

1:01:04

you lose time. And so that's how

1:01:06

we got to an hour. I'm

1:01:09

leading you, but I am fascinated.

1:01:12

I am very fascinated because, as I said in the meeting,

1:01:15

I've been lucky enough to be out on the water vacation,

1:01:17

but I've never done it from you. I've only

1:01:19

done it from a yacht. I've never done it from a sailing standpoint.

1:01:23

Can you talk about why you

1:01:26

love, you know, taking your when you get your time away,

1:01:28

taking your vacation, being out there in the water on the sailboat,

1:01:31

because that is different than, you know, than

1:01:33

a yacht, or than than a regular boat. What

1:01:36

does that do for you? And is that

1:01:38

your Is that your sanctuary. Is that your that's your

1:01:40

moment to be away from everything.

1:01:42

Yes, it is.

1:01:43

First of all, I grew up near

1:01:45

the ocean. I can actually

1:01:48

smell the ocean, you know, a

1:01:51

warm summer night with the windows open.

1:01:52

We didn't have air.

1:01:53

Conditioning, and I could

1:01:55

smell the ocean in my bedroom.

1:01:57

Uh.

1:01:58

And so I think it's in me,

1:02:01

meaning I've always needed to be

1:02:03

somewho or another on the ocean, near the ocean,

1:02:05

tied to the ocean, have a view of the ocean from my house

1:02:08

here in La.

1:02:09

It's just something about it.

1:02:10

And maybe I've got salt water in

1:02:12

my bones, in my body

1:02:15

when I and I do like sailing. I've been sailing

1:02:18

for a long time, not quite

1:02:20

all my life, but a good certainly

1:02:23

majority of it. And

1:02:26

it's something about to

1:02:29

me. It's being completely in touch with nature.

1:02:32

I don't articulate it that way.

1:02:34

I'm in touch with nature, but I know when

1:02:36

I'm on my boat and feel the wind in my hair

1:02:39

and my face and I can smell that salty

1:02:41

air. I am at

1:02:43

peace. I am escaped, my

1:02:46

escape. I'm far from everything.

1:02:49

I am just in

1:02:51

I'm in a completely other zone

1:02:54

in a way, and it's really refreshing

1:02:56

and regenerating to me. And

1:02:58

so I have a sail boat. I've

1:03:01

been kind of public about that. Yeah,

1:03:03

unfortunate about that. And

1:03:06

I love to sail because you also

1:03:08

are so dependent upon forces that are

1:03:10

so much bigger than you and so totally

1:03:12

uncontrollable. Yeah, and I like that

1:03:15

challenge too. Well, the wind's not blown

1:03:17

in the right direction, it's not blowing enough, it's blowing

1:03:19

too much, there's a storm coming, all

1:03:21

of those things, and having to contend

1:03:23

with having to adjust to all that.

1:03:25

Man, love it. I love it. I

1:03:27

love that. That's what scares me about the

1:03:31

movies I've seen. I've never been on a sailboat,

1:03:33

but the movies I've seen and the thought of man,

1:03:36

I've been out on a yacht in the yacht is just rocking,

1:03:38

and I feel like we're about to fall either

1:03:40

side. And I look at a sailboat, I'm

1:03:42

like, they don't like they have as much protection as even

1:03:44

this yacht. So when a big storm coming, when

1:03:47

it's wind is gusty, you don't get

1:03:49

nervous. You don't think, oh this is

1:03:51

bad.

1:03:51

Well, we're pretty careful. I'm pretty careful.

1:03:53

I'm not I'm not a risk taker when it comes

1:03:56

to that. So these days, with all

1:03:58

the modern technology available, pretty

1:04:00

much can know. Even

1:04:02

though it was a weatherman at one point in my life, and I

1:04:04

rely on others and you stay away from

1:04:06

trouble every once in a while it's unavoidable.

1:04:10

I remember not long ago, a couple of summers

1:04:12

ago, I was in Europe

1:04:14

on my boat. Unfortunately we were anchored and

1:04:16

a huge storm blew in, blown

1:04:19

seventy miles an hour and snapped a big

1:04:21

line off the back of the boat. And I

1:04:23

wasn't worried, but I just remember that feeling

1:04:25

of being completely, completely vulnerable

1:04:28

to nature, and in a way

1:04:30

that there's something healthy about

1:04:32

that. Because I remember

1:04:34

someone saying that you don't really ever learn how to sail

1:04:36

till you can sail away from land

1:04:39

far enough to not see it and have that.

1:04:41

Sense of vulnerability.

1:04:42

I think that's a healthy thing too, to experience

1:04:45

feeling of vulnerability.

1:04:46

I agree. I mean, I've been out in the middle of the you

1:04:48

know, and I'll bring this up because this is obviously something

1:04:50

that we share, and it's been

1:04:52

out in the middle of that water, and I've been out there

1:04:55

on je Ski's and I've went so far that

1:04:57

nothing was around but just bodies

1:04:59

of water, and the first fear jumped

1:05:01

in, and then calmness.

1:05:04

Came until the pigeon flew me.

1:05:10

And it's something else that we share in which

1:05:12

you know, for me is very important. It is the moments where I

1:05:14

have big decisions to make. I

1:05:16

normally go to the beach, I normally

1:05:18

walk the shore, I normally touched the water. I

1:05:21

need to feel that energy. It's something about

1:05:23

the energy that of that water that really

1:05:25

connects me to myself and gives

1:05:27

me an opportunity to take this big decision

1:05:29

and make the right, the right choice. And I just I

1:05:31

walk along the shore to do that. I go anywhere in

1:05:34

California and I just walk along the beach morning,

1:05:37

these nights or whatever the case may be, not too

1:05:39

close at night, but you know what I mean. And

1:05:41

that's for me, Like you said, it's just something

1:05:43

about that. It just feels like life,

1:05:46

you know, it feels I can hear, I can hear all

1:05:48

the sounds I can you know, I

1:05:50

can see everything that's going on, and I'm just

1:05:53

you know, I'm not in my house. I'm not I don't have no

1:05:55

blinders on. I'm out there in the world, and

1:05:57

it's just something about that. It just feels like living to

1:05:59

me is well just connected to that

1:06:01

water.

1:06:02

And big and big decisions require

1:06:04

real clarity of thought. Yeah, And

1:06:06

the only way you can do that, I think, is to

1:06:08

block out the noise, yeah, whatever that noise

1:06:11

is, or to figure out where you can be alone

1:06:13

with your thoughts so that you can make good

1:06:15

decisions.

1:06:16

Yeah.

1:06:17

I do this the same with the same with me.

1:06:19

Well, Bob, first of all, I don't know how long I took up

1:06:21

your time today. I saw I know it was more than

1:06:23

fifteen minutes, So I appreciate you. And

1:06:26

as always, I'm going to end my podcast with this question

1:06:29

and you can answer it any way that you see fit. But

1:06:31

the name of this is the why, and you

1:06:33

know this is ain't the end for you. This

1:06:36

is it seems like you're in the meat of it at seventy

1:06:39

If anybody got if anybody is just a listener,

1:06:41

they're not watching the video. And Bob

1:06:43

is one of the he is fit. He's

1:06:46

sitting there looking great at seventy years. Yeah.

1:06:48

I'm about to go home and work out after this before my dinner

1:06:51

to night. But

1:06:53

as you sit here at seventy after

1:06:55

retirement, after all the success you've had, all

1:06:58

the success you have in your life. You know, when

1:07:01

you talk about your kids, when you talk about your wife,

1:07:04

You're sitting in a pretty good spot in the world.

1:07:07

But going forward from this moment from the seat,

1:07:10

when you get out of the seat, what's your why,

1:07:12

when you step into your office, out of this interview, when

1:07:14

you step out into the world, what's your why I'm

1:07:17

going forward in life?

1:07:18

Well, it's it's such a good question. I have

1:07:20

to ask myself, why am I

1:07:22

working this hard? You know, this laid

1:07:25

into life. What is it about me in the

1:07:27

world that drives me as

1:07:29

much as it does?

1:07:30

Why? Why is it?

1:07:32

I don't know the answer, really, I'm not sure. Maybe it's

1:07:34

what we talked about earlier, but just notion of what

1:07:36

was needed to feel fulfilled. You'd

1:07:39

think that I would have already felt that, but

1:07:41

I'm still going at it.

1:07:42

So why? Yeah? Why? Yeah?

1:07:45

It's something about it, right, Like you can win championships,

1:07:47

you can reach what people say like that's the

1:07:50

mountaintop, but it's fleeting.

1:07:52

It's for the moment. And then now I was

1:07:54

like, Okay, that's over. Now, Now what and

1:07:57

so it's that Why is that? Yeah?

1:08:00

Is that healthy or not healthy? I'm not sure? But

1:08:02

why I don't know. Well, I

1:08:05

do have.

1:08:05

One last question, Walter to why

1:08:08

I was is anything that you're excited

1:08:10

for for this? I know what Disney Plus is. You

1:08:12

know, I've heard it was something else coming out with ESPN,

1:08:14

but Disney dine

1:08:17

here.

1:08:17

I'm excited about a lot of things. The great part

1:08:19

about this job is, you know, we do so many things.

1:08:22

So you know, we got big movies coming

1:08:24

out. I'm sometimes

1:08:27

I'm anxious about them too. They're

1:08:29

not all as good as I'd like them to be.

1:08:31

Uh.

1:08:32

When they're not, I try really hard to help the team

1:08:34

make them better. So I get I'm excited

1:08:36

about a lot of that.

1:08:38

Any new platforms, any.

1:08:39

New ESPN launching, you know, we call

1:08:41

it a flagship and you know about a

1:08:43

year. The ability

1:08:46

to get ESPN and all these features direct

1:08:48

to consumer is pretty.

1:08:49

Exciting to me. Uh.

1:08:51

You know, I get excited.

1:08:52

About new theme park attractions and

1:08:55

I have a lot.

1:08:56

I got a long list, a long list.

1:09:00

I'm glad you you said that. First of all,

1:09:03

ESPN knew. I love that you

1:09:06

especially when I think about you know, more content

1:09:08

is coming, right, we think about the w n B A, now

1:09:10

we think about how about women's college basketball.

1:09:13

I mean it's here, it is here to

1:09:15

stand, it ain't going nowhere. And so Inside

1:09:18

Out too.

1:09:19

Oh, I'm very excited about that.

1:09:22

So I'm glad you brought that up.

1:09:24

You're very This is the big this is the big movie,

1:09:26

right, this is it's come out in in June.

1:09:29

You got a big one before that and get them

1:09:31

on the Planet of the Apes.

1:09:32

But okay, well, I'm it's big for

1:09:34

me because just filmed with Carmelo

1:09:36

Anthony. We just filed the how

1:09:39

I.

1:09:39

Was supposed to bring that out. Yeah,

1:09:41

I'm really funny.

1:09:43

Yeah, it's gonna be cool. So I'm

1:09:45

excited about Inside Inside Out too

1:09:47

because we're in the promo for it that's coming that

1:09:49

we'll be starting in the Eastern Conference finals pretty soon,

1:09:51

that's right. Yeah, big summer for

1:09:53

that is mellows he all right.

1:09:55

I saw he was at the Nick game the other night.

1:09:56

He's mellow. He's exactly what his name

1:09:59

says. He's doing good. So we had a good

1:10:01

we had a good day shooting. Was that yesterday?

1:10:04

Yeah? Part

1:10:07

of the podcast.

1:10:08

But I I I grew up in New York and

1:10:10

I actually have season tickets to the Knicks

1:10:12

right behind the next bench.

1:10:14

And of course he played for them for years.

1:10:16

So my boys when they were really young,

1:10:18

I'd bring him to Nick games. And they still

1:10:21

say how the announcer at Madison Square Gardens

1:10:23

is Carmelo Anthony.

1:10:27

Every announces the when to come the game. I'm glad

1:10:29

I now have a friend with has courtside

1:10:31

seats somewhere at the Knicks game. It's

1:10:33

hard to get tickets. I

1:10:36

tried to get tickets last year, but I couldn't

1:10:38

get a playoffs. They looked pretty good. They looked fun

1:10:41

to watch as long as you I

1:10:43

couldn't get tickets last year. I had to

1:10:45

go, you know, to a third party to get some tickets

1:10:48

to.

1:10:48

The They're behind the Knick

1:10:50

bench. They're not court side.

1:10:51

That's good enough.

1:10:53

My Clipper seats are court side.

1:10:54

Yeah. Well, I appreciate about

1:10:56

Hopefully we have more opportunities to talk.

1:10:59

We've we've been in multim of rooms together

1:11:01

over the years, and museums and museums

1:11:04

in LA and in New York. I

1:11:06

cannot wait to you know, the next time, the next

1:11:08

time, but I appreciate you for always being gracious

1:11:11

in those rooms and in those spaces, and you

1:11:13

know I can't wait to see what's next.

1:11:15

Thanks for your time, Thank you for your time,

1:11:17

enjoyed it.

1:11:18

Hey everybody, Bye Biger