Bob Chapek is the CEO of Disney and a distinguished alumnus of Indiana University with a degree in microbiology.

How has Disney been involved with Indiana University?

Disney and Indiana University have intersected through programs like the Disney College Program and alumni like Howard Ashman and Glenn Close's contributions.

What were Bob Chapek's early career goals?

Bob Chapek initially majored in microbiology and worked in environmental science before transitioning to a business role and eventually joining Disney.

What has been Bob Chapek's focus during his time at Disney?

Bob Chapek has focused on expanding Disney's reach, improving park experiences, and leading the company into the digital media space with Disney+.

What are key leadership lessons mentioned by Bob Chapek?

Key lessons include having a clear strategic direction (north star), balancing creativity with science, and maintaining ethical behavior.

How has Disney addressed diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Disney has implemented initiatives like content that reflects diverse perspectives, supporting diverse storytellers, and changing attractions that aren't culturally sensitive.

What connection does IU have to 'The Hunger Games'?

Alumni from Indiana University have contributed to cinematic projects such as 'The Hunger Games.'

A livestream interview with IU alumnus and Disney CEO Bob Chapek

00:49:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8kL_kMwmt0

Summary

TLDRIndiana University celebrated its notable alumni in an event that highlighted their various contributions to fields like science, entertainment, and leadership. The event featured prominent alumni such as Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney, who shared insights into his career evolution from microbiology to leading Disney amidst challenges like the pandemic. The discussion emphasized Disney's commitment to innovation, diversity, and ethical leadership. The strategic vision, known as the "North Star," is central to guiding Disney’s future. The event concluded by highlighting IU's integral role in shaping successful professionals and acknowledged its ongoing impact on alumni's lives.

Takeaways

🎓 Indiana University celebrates the impact of its alumni.
🌟 Bob Chapek shares his journey from microbiology to Disney CEO.
🎬 Alumni have made significant contributions to cinema, like 'The Hunger Games.'
🚀 Disney focuses on innovation and expanding digital media with Disney+.
🌍 Diversity and inclusion are prioritized at Disney.
👥 Leadership is guided by a strategic 'North Star' direction.
🏆 Ethical integrity is fundamental to Disney’s corporate culture.
🌌 Technology and creativity are balanced at Disney parks and attractions.
📖 Content creation focuses on culturally relevant stories.
🤝 Community and corporate responsibility are vital to Disney.

Timeline

00:00:00 - 00:05:00
Rick Van Goon, Executive Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, opens the Alumni Contributions event, highlighting the achievements of IU alumni in various fields, from scientific discoveries to contributions in the entertainment industry. He introduces Bob Chapeck as a distinguished alumnus, noting his connection to Disney, and hints at discussing his journey and experiences, including significant projects like Shanghai Disney Resort.
00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Bob Chapeck, in conversation with Douglas Freeland, reflects on his upbringing in a tough environment in Northwest Indiana, crediting his parents and various mentors for shaping his career. Mentions his career trajectory from a scientist to a creative role at Disney, emphasizing the importance of a liberal arts education in adapting to diverse fields.
00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Chapeck describes his transition from science to consumer goods and eventually Disney, emphasizing the balance of right-brain and left-brain skills. He discusses Disney's innovation and his approach towards maintaining Disney's legacy while also driving the company forward with new ideas and embracing cultural changes.
00:15:00 - 00:20:00
In response to audience questions, Chapeck shares insights on maintaining Disney's iconic guest experience by exceeding expectations, suggesting a focus on a clear 'north star' for decision-making. He narrates the importance of strategic vision beyond mere tactical execution and acknowledges the influence of mentors, particularly Bob Iger.
00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Chapeck elaborates on Disney’s approach to storytelling, highlighting how technology and innovation drive immersive experiences like the 'Rise of the Resistance' at Disney Parks. He addresses Disney's stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion, focusing on changing old narratives to reflect modern values and committing to authentic cultural representation.
00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Chapeck outlines Disney's initiatives to increase diversity within its content and workplace, referring to 'The Undefeated' as an example. Discusses the importance of content that resonates with today’s world, emphasizing partnerships and internal councils aimed at fostering diversity and inclusion across Disney’s global operations.
00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Chapeck emphasizes the importance of living ethically, which is part of the core culture and identity at Disney. He advises students to pursue careers with flexibility and patience, balancing immediate opportunities with long-term goals, backed by a strong ethical foundation.
00:35:00 - 00:40:00
Describes the pandemic as a critical period for Disney, requiring tough decisions like closing major divisions while advancing towards a direct-to-consumer model. Chapeck shares leadership lessons learned, highlighting the need for resilience, innovation, and maintaining focus on core values during crises.
00:40:00 - 00:49:14
Chapeck shares personal reflections on the significance of his IU education and experiences, including meeting his spouse and witnessing landmark events. Closes the session by reaffirming IU’s impact on his life, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to engage with the audience and emphasizing the importance of continued alumni support for future generations.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

Who is Bob Chapek?
Bob Chapek is the CEO of Disney and a distinguished alumnus of Indiana University with a degree in microbiology.
How has Disney been involved with Indiana University?
Disney and Indiana University have intersected through programs like the Disney College Program and alumni like Howard Ashman and Glenn Close's contributions.
What were Bob Chapek's early career goals?
Bob Chapek initially majored in microbiology and worked in environmental science before transitioning to a business role and eventually joining Disney.
What has been Bob Chapek's focus during his time at Disney?
Bob Chapek has focused on expanding Disney's reach, improving park experiences, and leading the company into the digital media space with Disney+.
What are key leadership lessons mentioned by Bob Chapek?
Key lessons include having a clear strategic direction (north star), balancing creativity with science, and maintaining ethical behavior.
How has Disney addressed diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Disney has implemented initiatives like content that reflects diverse perspectives, supporting diverse storytellers, and changing attractions that aren't culturally sensitive.
What connection does IU have to 'The Hunger Games'?
Alumni from Indiana University have contributed to cinematic projects such as 'The Hunger Games.'

View more video summaries

Get instant access to free YouTube video summaries powered by AI!

Subtitles

Auto Scroll:

00:00:07
welcome everyone to the celebrating
00:00:08
alumni contributions event
00:00:11
i'm rick van goon executive dean of the
00:00:12
college of arts and sciences at indiana
00:00:14
university bloomington
00:00:16
following the successful conclusion of
00:00:18
the for all bicentennial campaign in
00:00:19
september 2020
00:00:21
the college embarked on a year-long
00:00:23
celebration of our alumni
00:00:24
and all the ways that they contribute to
00:00:26
the university their communities and
00:00:28
their professions
00:00:29
our alumni are amazing they have
00:00:31
co-discovered the structure of dna and
00:00:32
made other major scientific discoveries
00:00:35
they have wowed audiences with their
00:00:36
stories and cinematic marvels like
00:00:38
hoosiers
00:00:39
the hunger games and game of thrones
00:00:42
their titles range from ceo to president
00:00:44
of ireland
00:00:45
our alumni are thought leaders who make
00:00:47
a difference and we're incredibly proud
00:00:48
of them
00:00:49
as part of the celebration we have asked
00:00:51
notable alumni like bob chapeck
00:00:53
to spend time speaking about their
00:00:55
experiences with the iu and iu alumni
00:00:57
communities
00:00:58
we are honored to count bob as a
00:01:00
distinguished alumnus of the college
00:01:02
with a degree in microbiology
00:01:04
and we're grateful to have him to
00:01:05
participate in today's event
00:01:08
it's also worth noting that the college
00:01:10
of disney have intersected in quite a
00:01:11
few interesting ways
00:01:12
many of our students have participated
00:01:14
in the disney college program
00:01:16
and disney professional internships the
00:01:18
famed lyricist howard ashman
00:01:20
who wrote the lyrics for the little
00:01:21
little mermaid beauty and the beast in
00:01:23
aladdin was an iu theater alumnus
00:01:26
glenn close donated her costumes from
00:01:28
her films to iu to be part of iu's sage
00:01:30
collection
00:01:31
including her infamous cruella deville
00:01:33
costumes from disney's live action
00:01:35
101 dalmatians finally a faculty member
00:01:38
in our department of psychological brain
00:01:40
sciences jonathan ledbetter
00:01:42
previously worked at disney and whose
00:01:44
human factor research
00:01:45
includes a scholarly publication with
00:01:47
the title your wait time from this point
00:01:49
is
00:01:49
dot dot dot practices for designing
00:01:52
amusement park cues
00:01:55
at this point it's my great pleasure to
00:01:57
introduce our distinguished guest bob
00:01:59
chapeck
00:02:02
bob chapek became only the seventh ceo
00:02:04
in disney's nearly 100 year
00:02:06
history on february 25th 2020 so he's
00:02:09
about to celebrate his one year
00:02:10
anniversary
00:02:11
he previously served as chairman of
00:02:13
disney parks experiences and products
00:02:15
and prior to that he was chairman of
00:02:18
walt disney's parks and resorts
00:02:20
he oversaw the company's six parks and
00:02:22
resorts in the u.s europe and asia
00:02:24
the disney cruise line disney's global
00:02:27
consumer products business and more
00:02:30
during bob's tenure disney park saw the
00:02:32
largest investment expansion in its
00:02:33
60-year history
00:02:35
including the successful opening of
00:02:36
shanghai disney resort
00:02:38
in mainland chant mainland china as well
00:02:41
as the most technologically advanced and
00:02:42
immersive lands
00:02:44
in disney parks history star wars
00:02:46
galaxy's edge
00:02:47
at both disneyland resort and walt
00:02:49
disney world
00:02:51
he began his career at disney in 1993
00:02:54
almost 30 years ago
00:02:55
starting out in the home entertainment
00:02:56
division and later serving as president
00:02:59
of distribution for walt disney studios
00:03:02
bob was invited by our students to serve
00:03:03
as one of our first college luminaries
00:03:05
in 2013
00:03:07
and in 2016 bob was honored with the
00:03:09
college of arts and sciences
00:03:10
distinguished alumni award
00:03:14
also as part of our conversation today
00:03:16
we're also joined by fellow college
00:03:18
alumnus douglas freeland
00:03:20
who earned his bachelor's degree in
00:03:21
telecommunications in the college
00:03:23
in 1980. douglas enjoyed a successful
00:03:26
35-year career in marketing
00:03:29
and brand content at mcdonald's
00:03:30
including overseeing the world renowned
00:03:32
monopoly at mcdonald's promotion as
00:03:35
executive director of
00:03:37
the mcdonald's all-american high school
00:03:39
basketball games
00:03:40
douglas raised more than 3 million
00:03:41
dollars for ronald mcdonald's house
00:03:43
charities
00:03:44
from 2011 to 2016. i'm personally
00:03:47
pleased to work closely with him as a
00:03:48
member
00:03:49
of the iu college of arts and sciences
00:03:51
executive dean's advisory board
00:03:53
on which he has served since 2014.
00:03:55
douglas also served on the chicago
00:03:57
sports commission from 2013 to 2016
00:04:00
and most recently in 2017 he launched an
00:04:03
always entertaining and informative blog
00:04:05
the weekly opine commenting on politics
00:04:08
sports and current events
00:04:11
before we get started i want to be sure
00:04:13
to mention that closed captions are
00:04:14
available as part of today's program
00:04:16
you should have seen a note about that
00:04:17
in the chat log and i would like to
00:04:19
thank the audience members who submitted
00:04:21
some really great questions ahead of
00:04:22
time for
00:04:23
uh for douglas and bob to discuss
00:04:28
and finally i'd like to thank bob and
00:04:30
douglas once again
00:04:31
and welcome both of them in a
00:04:32
conversation
00:04:36
today is an exciting day for all of us
00:04:39
we are looking forward
00:04:40
to hearing from bob chap in just a
00:04:42
moment
00:04:43
as rick said we met bob on zoom a few
00:04:46
weeks ago
00:04:47
and had a delightful conversation so
00:04:49
today
00:04:50
should be an informative treat for the
00:04:52
audience
00:04:53
and let me add my welcome to iu alumni
00:04:56
and friends of iu who are joining us
00:04:59
today
00:05:01
to begin i will ask bob a few questions
00:05:04
and we also have questions submitted in
00:05:06
advance by the audience
00:05:08
we received more than 1700 rsvps for
00:05:11
today
00:05:12
so as you can imagine we will not get to
00:05:15
everyone's question
00:05:18
in fact i can imagine tomorrow's
00:05:20
headlines
00:05:21
reading and freeland
00:05:25
attract 1700 rsvps for today's live
00:05:29
stream
00:05:31
now the audience submitted over 200
00:05:33
inquiries
00:05:35
and we will get to as many as possible
00:05:38
as i mentioned
00:05:39
and the inquiries really fell into
00:05:43
several key categories
00:05:46
including bob's career
00:05:50
a disney specific questions and i use
00:05:53
specific questions
00:05:55
questions surrounding diversity equity
00:05:57
and inclusion
00:06:00
leadership and the pandemic
00:06:04
so let's get started good morning bob
00:06:06
it's great to see you again
00:06:08
hello rick hello doug it's uh a pleasure
00:06:11
to be here
00:06:11
with all of you um uh always
00:06:14
nice to reconnect with my iu brethren
00:06:18
well let's go back to the beginning you
00:06:21
grew up in northwest indiana
00:06:23
in what's referred to as the region
00:06:26
now the region has a reputation for
00:06:28
being a no-nonsense
00:06:30
tough environment describe what it was
00:06:32
like growing up there
00:06:34
i think i think your headline is perfect
00:06:37
no nonsense tough environment
00:06:39
um you get what you earn in the region
00:06:42
and you don't expect anything uh beyond
00:06:45
what it is that you work hard for
00:06:48
i was always uh just amazed
00:06:51
at my parents and how hard they worked
00:06:54
uh you know sort of coming out of world
00:06:56
war ii
00:06:57
and to build a life for them and
00:07:01
my sister and myself our family and i
00:07:03
think some of those
00:07:04
lessons and that work ethic really
00:07:07
resonate sort of to this day
00:07:09
and it's really part of my dna
00:07:12
so who are some of the people that
00:07:14
influenced or mentored you
00:07:16
well you know obviously my parents uh
00:07:19
early on in my life
00:07:20
really uh shaped uh who i am and i
00:07:23
you know i'm not i i wouldn't say that
00:07:26
i've ever had a mentor who sort of
00:07:28
followed me throughout my entire career
00:07:30
but have had mentors at different points
00:07:32
in time depending on what i'm doing
00:07:34
i've had the luxury at disney of uh
00:07:37
changing jobs quite frequently and i
00:07:39
would say every time there's somebody
00:07:40
who's
00:07:41
you know sort of there on the sideline
00:07:43
sort of
00:07:44
cheering me on most recently it would
00:07:47
probably have to be bob iger
00:07:49
uh whose shoes i'm filling now
00:07:53
bob and i uh over probably the last
00:07:56
seven years spent a ton of time together
00:07:58
because when i got the parks job we were
00:08:01
in the beginning of building the
00:08:03
shanghai disneyland resort
00:08:06
which rick had mentioned a few minutes
00:08:08
earlier
00:08:09
and i think i was in shanghai flew to
00:08:11
shanghai maybe
00:08:13
20 times a year for three years in a row
00:08:16
and bob was on about half those flights
00:08:19
with me and
00:08:20
there's no way to get to know somebody
00:08:22
than to spend you know
00:08:23
15 16 hours you know every second week
00:08:28
on a plane so he's he's sort of been
00:08:30
there uh
00:08:31
sort of shaping me and preparing me for
00:08:34
uh
00:08:34
this job that i'm in now excellent
00:08:38
now as rick mentioned you majored in
00:08:41
microbiology early in your career
00:08:44
you are a scientist working in
00:08:47
environmental biology
00:08:48
at amuco tell us about the transition
00:08:52
from science to creativity at disney
00:08:56
how in the world did that happen right
00:08:58
well uh you know majoring in
00:09:00
microbiology i sort of assumed i would
00:09:02
work in some technical job i'd work at
00:09:04
lily or pfizer or merck and it turned
00:09:06
out that the opportunity that was
00:09:08
available to me was in
00:09:09
as you said environmental science at an
00:09:12
oil company in chicago
00:09:14
and when i was doing that job i really
00:09:16
enjoyed
00:09:17
what i was doing but at the same time i
00:09:20
got exposed to
00:09:21
something that was just a name i mean
00:09:23
all my college roommates were always
00:09:24
business majors and i never really had a
00:09:26
chance
00:09:27
to sort of explore that but when i got
00:09:29
into the work environment i'm like wow
00:09:31
there's a whole
00:09:32
range of things that you know are
00:09:34
supported by science or
00:09:36
touch science that aren't actually just
00:09:38
science and
00:09:39
always wanted to be a generalist not a a
00:09:42
specialist i know that's weird with an
00:09:43
undergraduate in microbiology but i
00:09:45
thought found it fascinating
00:09:47
and that was a fascinating time where
00:09:48
you know people were just unlocking
00:09:50
you know dna as another reference uh to
00:09:52
the opening statements
00:09:54
uh and so to me was intellectually
00:09:57
fascinating
00:09:58
but i got exposed to the business world
00:10:00
and i went and got an mba
00:10:01
and at that point uh thinking i was
00:10:04
gonna go work at a pharmaceutical
00:10:05
company you know combine the technology
00:10:07
and i found consumer package goods
00:10:09
marketing um
00:10:11
which not only was my start in business
00:10:13
once i got out of grad school but also
00:10:15
then
00:10:16
was the way that i got into disney
00:10:18
because i started at disney
00:10:20
uh working in packaged media when you
00:10:23
know people were renting dvds and just
00:10:25
starting to buy
00:10:26
uh not dvd sorry vhs way back then i'm
00:10:28
dating myself
00:10:30
way back then and uh so packaged goods
00:10:34
was sort of my entree into disney and
00:10:36
you know almost 30 years later here we
00:10:38
are
00:10:39
so going from the scientific community
00:10:43
to the creative community what does that
00:10:45
say about a liberal arts
00:10:47
education well i think
00:10:52
it's it's all about balance right
00:10:55
uh i have found in my career that
00:10:58
there's a lot of really great right
00:10:59
brain people
00:11:01
and there's a lot of really great left
00:11:03
brain people
00:11:04
the intersection of that venn diagram is
00:11:07
really small
00:11:09
the very few people that can operate
00:11:11
both the right and left
00:11:13
hand side of the brain and i think
00:11:14
that's one of the things that
00:11:15
distinguishes disney
00:11:17
from a lot of other companies you know
00:11:19
there's a lot of companies where you can
00:11:20
be a subject matter expert
00:11:22
and rice sort of you know rise to the
00:11:25
top
00:11:26
uh you know maybe if you work in a
00:11:28
logistics company you can be the very
00:11:29
best logistics person
00:11:31
and rise to the top but in a company as
00:11:33
broad as disney
00:11:34
having to have knowing that your core
00:11:36
product isn't something that's developed
00:11:38
in a lab
00:11:39
but it's developed in the uh you know
00:11:42
concept of the conceit of somebody's
00:11:44
brain means that
00:11:45
your product development team are human
00:11:48
beings
00:11:48
that literally conceive of everything uh
00:11:52
uh uh you know one synapses fire in in
00:11:55
in their minds but i think a liberal
00:11:58
arts education
00:11:59
while i didn't realize it when i was in
00:12:01
school a liberal arts education really
00:12:04
prepares you for sort of that
00:12:06
elastic if you will that elasticity
00:12:09
that's necessary for
00:12:10
a career particularly in media or
00:12:14
uh the creative arts and i think it
00:12:17
really has shaped
00:12:18
you know again who i am and what i've
00:12:20
been doing
00:12:21
great okay we're going to go to a couple
00:12:24
of audience questions
00:12:26
uh the first question is what will you
00:12:28
do and by the way this is coming from
00:12:30
david
00:12:30
who's an alumnus what will you do
00:12:34
or implement that embodies the spirit of
00:12:37
walt disney
00:12:38
while continuing to build upon his
00:12:40
legacy
00:12:42
yeah you know when you work at disney
00:12:44
obviously you have
00:12:45
uh walt sort of watching over everything
00:12:49
you do
00:12:50
and uh you you find out that
00:12:54
the legacy of disney is really important
00:12:56
at the same time walt was
00:12:57
always emphasizing the future
00:13:01
and not becoming uh locked in
00:13:05
to a certain way of doing things as a
00:13:06
matter of fact one of my favorite quotes
00:13:08
from walt is
00:13:09
we keep moving forward doing new things
00:13:11
because we're curious and curiosity
00:13:13
keeps leading us down new paths uh
00:13:17
we have a lot of super fans at disney
00:13:19
and our super fans
00:13:21
really don't like change uh but the very
00:13:24
dna
00:13:25
of what walt has given us through some
00:13:28
quotes like that
00:13:30
and his inspiration is that you've got
00:13:33
to keep
00:13:33
evolving or you'll become a dinosaur and
00:13:36
i think in this new media world that we
00:13:38
live in
00:13:38
that's particularly important and uh so
00:13:42
i
00:13:42
you know we we have a basis a foundation
00:13:47
a set of values
00:13:48
a culture that's been there since the
00:13:51
beginning
00:13:52
but exactly how you operate in that
00:13:54
environment
00:13:55
is a function of all the constituents
00:13:58
that we have to please
00:13:59
right we have we have to please our our
00:14:02
cast members we have to please our
00:14:03
shareholders
00:14:04
we have to please our guests we have to
00:14:07
please our local communities that we
00:14:09
operate in
00:14:10
and we want to be good corporate
00:14:11
citizens so um
00:14:13
with those uh um
00:14:16
with that framework that's how we
00:14:18
operate in but beyond that
00:14:20
we want to innovate and we want to be on
00:14:22
the front end of the innovation curve
00:14:25
great uh the next question comes from
00:14:28
kama
00:14:28
she's an alumna disney is known for
00:14:32
providing a world-class experience for
00:14:34
its guests
00:14:36
what's one thing we could all do to
00:14:38
replicate that
00:14:40
right well for me i'll go to my parks
00:14:43
experience
00:14:44
because i think sort of the epitome of
00:14:47
disney uh dna is is the park
00:14:51
and you know what essentially we say is
00:14:54
that we want to exceed guest
00:14:57
expectations
00:14:58
every day to create magical memories
00:15:00
that last a lifetime
00:15:02
that is our mantra in parks and i think
00:15:06
the core of that
00:15:07
that goes to your question is exceeding
00:15:09
guest expectations
00:15:10
every day there are
00:15:14
many many decisions we make i was a head
00:15:17
of parks and resorts for
00:15:19
i don't know seven years i think uh
00:15:22
there are many decisions you have to
00:15:24
make where you have to balance all those
00:15:25
different constituencies
00:15:27
and i would say that if you keep that as
00:15:31
your north star you have to have a north
00:15:32
star
00:15:33
because when the noise comes in
00:15:37
and there's a lot of different signals
00:15:38
and inputs and you have to make a
00:15:40
decision
00:15:41
you have to think about what your north
00:15:43
star and that being our north star
00:15:45
made complex decisions with lots of
00:15:48
different interference and competing
00:15:50
priorities really made things easy and
00:15:53
so i would say
00:15:54
you know pick a north star and
00:15:57
make sure that's the highest value you
00:15:59
have
00:16:01
and we talked about north star when we
00:16:04
met a few weeks ago and i want to touch
00:16:05
on that
00:16:06
again a little bit later in the in the
00:16:09
program today
00:16:10
but here's another question from a
00:16:12
student a current student this is from
00:16:14
emma
00:16:15
what's the worst career advice
00:16:18
you've ever been given and you do not
00:16:20
have to name the person who gave
00:16:22
you the advice so we'll we'll keep that
00:16:24
secret
00:16:25
okay um it i i will give you one
00:16:28
it was from a long time ago this was
00:16:30
i'll just say this it was
00:16:32
pre-disney and i had a supervisor
00:16:36
that said uh uh tactics
00:16:39
are all that matter just execute
00:16:43
and uh obviously if you don't have that
00:16:46
north star if you don't
00:16:47
know what hill you're going to take you
00:16:50
can execute the tactics as well as you
00:16:53
you possibly could but if it's the wrong
00:16:55
strategy so particularly as you
00:16:57
develop in your career and you're
00:17:01
charged with more responsibility for
00:17:02
charting a course
00:17:04
you have to pick that hill and you have
00:17:06
to figure out
00:17:07
where everyone else is going to go
00:17:09
because it's not like you're just
00:17:11
managing yourself you know at disney we
00:17:13
have over 200 000 we call them cast
00:17:15
members
00:17:16
employees and the single best thing i
00:17:19
can do the only thing i really do
00:17:21
is pick where we're going to go and then
00:17:23
motivate 200 000 people
00:17:25
to go row in the same direction so um
00:17:29
i think i think again big picture
00:17:31
knowing where you're going
00:17:33
and leading a bunch of people to that to
00:17:35
that goal
00:17:36
is really all that matters and
00:17:39
everything else is
00:17:40
frankly superficial excellent
00:17:44
multiple audience members asked what is
00:17:47
the future of disney plus
00:17:50
and the streaming television and film
00:17:52
world
00:17:55
yeah disney plus has been a tremendous
00:17:57
success for us and we've made the
00:17:59
transition essentially from
00:18:00
uh at least the way people saw us as an
00:18:02
old media company to a new media company
00:18:05
and i think that again goes back to that
00:18:07
walt disney quote that
00:18:08
you know yes we've had a lot of success
00:18:10
in traditional uh
00:18:12
film and television distribution but
00:18:13
we're not going to let that stop us and
00:18:15
that takes risks
00:18:17
that takes uh informed risk but it takes
00:18:20
some
00:18:21
some guts and some dogma breaking
00:18:24
the future is really going to be what
00:18:26
the consumer tells us it is
00:18:28
we are very consumer driven company uh
00:18:30
we want to escape though to where the
00:18:32
puck's going to be
00:18:33
not to where the puck is i like that
00:18:35
analogy because
00:18:37
we're not going to build it for today
00:18:39
we're going to build it for tomorrow
00:18:41
so we have to have some insight we have
00:18:43
to assimilate all the information that
00:18:44
we have
00:18:45
and create a vision for where we think
00:18:47
the consumer is going to want to go
00:18:49
in the future as an investment but i
00:18:52
tell you what what it will do it will
00:18:54
play off our strengths
00:18:56
as as a company that has tremendous
00:18:59
franchises
00:19:00
and uh it's that is really what makes
00:19:05
aside from the disney difference which
00:19:06
is the disney brand and all the values
00:19:08
that we've talked about
00:19:09
you know the power that we've got to
00:19:11
create new things that go off
00:19:14
and embellish the stories of star wars
00:19:16
marvel
00:19:17
pixar disney both in animation and live
00:19:20
action movies and the great library we
00:19:22
have
00:19:23
is tremendous so that will be the
00:19:25
creative fodder if you will
00:19:27
that will be the catalyst for news
00:19:30
stories going forward
00:19:31
but it will all be done with an eye
00:19:33
towards where is that puck
00:19:35
going in the future and how can we best
00:19:37
satisfy our our consumers and our guest
00:19:39
needs
00:19:41
uh next question technology
00:19:44
has always been part of disney's magic
00:19:47
so without
00:19:48
bob without giving us any of your trade
00:19:51
secrets
00:19:52
can you talk about some of the
00:19:54
technological innovation
00:19:56
that you have implemented and how you
00:20:00
have transformed
00:20:01
the walt disney company as well as the
00:20:04
broader
00:20:05
media landscape well let's
00:20:08
certainly let's take the digital media
00:20:11
world that we live in right now
00:20:13
um most people would make the assumption
00:20:16
that
00:20:17
you know they first heard the word
00:20:18
disney plus 18 months ago
00:20:21
and as such we started disney plus 18
00:20:24
months ago
00:20:25
we had the very embryonic beginnings of
00:20:28
this a decade ago
00:20:30
i worked on a project when i was head of
00:20:33
studio distribution
00:20:34
called keychest and keychest
00:20:38
was essentially a way to have
00:20:41
what was then the dominant way of
00:20:42
getting content into the homes which was
00:20:44
a physical disk
00:20:46
being able to unlock a digital file
00:20:48
through
00:20:49
a physical blu-ray disc and
00:20:52
that was was really the embryonic
00:20:56
beginnings
00:20:56
of disney plus not in terms of
00:20:59
conceiving of exactly what the service
00:21:01
is going to be and because
00:21:02
obviously a lot's changed it doesn't
00:21:04
need to be tethered to a physical disk
00:21:05
so a lot's chained changed but that
00:21:08
technology
00:21:09
really uh got us exercising a a muscle
00:21:13
that frankly
00:21:14
we never had uh and that's the new media
00:21:18
muscle
00:21:19
and so you know the development of
00:21:23
new technologies tend to be embryonic
00:21:25
and they last
00:21:26
a long time and they cook for quite a
00:21:28
while and it enabled us to hit the
00:21:31
ground running when we finally decided
00:21:32
we were ready to
00:21:34
completely jump in uh more recently
00:21:37
in the parks i don't know how many
00:21:39
people have had a chance to
00:21:41
go to galaxy's edge in either disneyland
00:21:43
or walt disney world
00:21:44
obviously we opened up those lands and
00:21:47
very shortly thereafter
00:21:49
very shortly the pandemic hit and so not
00:21:51
as many guests have been able to enjoy
00:21:53
it as we obviously would like nor would
00:21:55
they like
00:21:55
but there's a particular attraction
00:21:57
called rise of the resistance in our uh
00:22:00
star wars
00:22:00
uh galaxy's edge land both at land and
00:22:04
world
00:22:05
and uh there's five million lines of
00:22:08
code
00:22:09
that went into that immersive
00:22:11
interactive
00:22:12
experience and
00:22:15
it's impossible to separate technology
00:22:18
from the guest experience
00:22:20
although we believe that any technology
00:22:23
should be hidden
00:22:24
and all you should see is the interface
00:22:26
of that
00:22:27
uh experience so it needs to operate in
00:22:30
the background
00:22:31
it's not about the technology but the
00:22:33
technology needs to do one thing
00:22:35
and that's help you tell the story help
00:22:37
you round out the experience
00:22:39
and that's what rise of the resistance
00:22:41
does it is
00:22:42
mind-boggling how interactive it is and
00:22:46
and how uh immersive it is so there's
00:22:49
two examples
00:22:50
great thank you let's shift over to
00:22:54
diversity equity and inclusion
00:22:57
which are now more than buzzwords they
00:23:00
are expected to be purposefully
00:23:02
activated at all levels of society in
00:23:05
the workplace
00:23:06
at school in government etc
00:23:10
what is disney doing in this regard
00:23:13
well i think you know everybody in
00:23:15
society uh
00:23:17
had got a a pretty big wake-up call
00:23:20
uh over the last year in terms of
00:23:24
something that we all knew needed to be
00:23:26
addressed and we all
00:23:27
worked on it but i think we need to do
00:23:31
more
00:23:31
bigger faster and stronger uh so
00:23:34
this all happened uh when i got this job
00:23:37
not only at the time that
00:23:39
uh the pandemic was upon us but all the
00:23:41
social
00:23:42
unrest was happening at the same time so
00:23:45
i thought i would uh seize the
00:23:46
opportunity by setting up six pillars
00:23:48
for the company that would
00:23:51
be a way for the company to rally around
00:23:53
these efforts
00:23:54
uh the six pillars are transparency
00:23:58
representation accountability community
00:24:01
culture and of course
00:24:03
our content because our content is the
00:24:06
biggest way
00:24:07
that we have the ability to influence
00:24:11
the world around us right i mean
00:24:15
certainly disney writes big checks to
00:24:17
good causes
00:24:18
but it's not about the big checks the
00:24:20
biggest thing we can do is make content
00:24:22
that's representative
00:24:24
of the world around us and filmmakers
00:24:27
uh that have points of view that all of
00:24:29
us may not
00:24:30
have had just like my upbringing in the
00:24:33
region
00:24:34
shaped me filmmakers have all been
00:24:37
shaped
00:24:38
by their own experiences and we want to
00:24:42
ensure that our content represents the
00:24:44
world
00:24:45
not as people saw it 5 10 15
00:24:48
20 50 years ago but
00:24:52
as people see the world and should see
00:24:54
the world more broadly today
00:24:58
several alumni are curious if disney has
00:25:01
any initiatives
00:25:02
similar to the cbs naacp partnership
00:25:06
intended to increase diversity
00:25:09
and access and shows creators and so
00:25:11
forth
00:25:12
yeah well everything that we do involves
00:25:14
some type of partnership generally with
00:25:16
the creative community okay but we did
00:25:19
not tie ourselves to one particular
00:25:21
entity
00:25:22
instead what we did and this is very
00:25:24
typical of disney we built our own
00:25:26
and the project is called the undefeated
00:25:28
i don't know how many of you have seen
00:25:30
it
00:25:30
uh it's uh was created out of espn which
00:25:33
is another disney company
00:25:35
and it's the intersection of sports
00:25:39
culture and entertainment and it's
00:25:42
just phenomenal and it has become if you
00:25:45
will a beacon of inspiration for the
00:25:47
rest of the company
00:25:49
and uh it has been something that
00:25:52
uh we would look to expand as a brand
00:25:54
within the walt disney company
00:25:56
uh so that we can help filmmakers uh
00:25:59
uh diverse filmmakers tell stories so if
00:26:02
you haven't checked out undefeated it's
00:26:04
it's really incredible the other thing
00:26:06
we've done is created
00:26:07
a a a few councils uh bob
00:26:11
iger chairs a creative console where uh
00:26:14
we work
00:26:15
very aggressively against that one
00:26:16
pillar that last pillar i talked about
00:26:18
the creative pillar
00:26:20
where we try to inspire the people that
00:26:23
work in our studios
00:26:24
and tv areas to go out and find and find
00:26:28
diverse directors actors in front and
00:26:30
back of the camera
00:26:32
uh so that we are representative i
00:26:35
chair a ceo console consul along with
00:26:39
our head of diversity inclusion latondra
00:26:41
newton and
00:26:42
we meet regularly and tackle some really
00:26:45
tough issues
00:26:48
so one of the things that we've done out
00:26:50
of this group has made a decision
00:26:52
that at least 50 percent of our
00:26:54
charitable giving
00:26:55
goes to diverse uh sources diverse
00:26:59
organizations so now that we've got a
00:27:01
goal we can hold ourselves accountable
00:27:02
to that goal
00:27:03
and measure our progress that's great it
00:27:06
sounds like disney is
00:27:07
walking the talk and is action oriented
00:27:11
uh there's a lot of folks these days
00:27:13
talking about this out of the other and
00:27:14
it's all well intended
00:27:15
most of it but action
00:27:19
as they say speaks louder than words so
00:27:21
really impressed with what disney is
00:27:22
doing
00:27:23
in this regard one other question
00:27:25
related to
00:27:26
uh inclusion and diversity
00:27:29
again coming from the audience how do
00:27:31
you envision disney building on its
00:27:33
attempts to provide
00:27:34
culturally authentic stories like cocoa
00:27:38
moana and seoul right well you know the
00:27:41
the the
00:27:42
the it all starts with getting you know
00:27:44
script writers
00:27:45
who have broad points of view right
00:27:48
because the whole process starts in
00:27:49
development
00:27:50
with the script so you have to have the
00:27:53
the scriptwriters
00:27:54
but you also and and you you answered it
00:27:56
you have to
00:27:57
walk the talk right you can't just say
00:28:00
this
00:28:00
you actually have to do it we made a
00:28:04
decision to change some of our
00:28:07
attractions
00:28:08
that are in our parks that have been
00:28:12
around for a long long time again now
00:28:13
this goes back to the
00:28:15
legacy issue and you know super fans not
00:28:17
wanting anything to change
00:28:19
but when you really take a hard look at
00:28:21
an attraction that's been there for
00:28:22
over 60 years and you realized it's
00:28:25
based on song of the south
00:28:27
and song of the south is based on a
00:28:30
story
00:28:31
which you know depicts happy slaves
00:28:34
that is probably not you know a place
00:28:38
that we all want to be in a place that
00:28:39
disney wants to be
00:28:41
so you have to have again wrapping all
00:28:42
this up you have to have the courage
00:28:45
to go ahead and change something that's
00:28:46
been uh
00:28:48
you know pleasing a good number of
00:28:50
people has really high guest ratings
00:28:52
for the last 60 years and
00:28:56
make the change so that you could
00:28:59
not only talk about making positive
00:29:01
change but
00:29:02
really get into it and make those
00:29:04
changes and
00:29:06
so we're going to walk the talk and
00:29:07
we're going to hire people that have
00:29:09
diverse the people that are working on
00:29:10
the conversion of that to the tiana
00:29:13
story
00:29:14
uh are are very diverse and so we'll
00:29:17
make sure
00:29:18
that it's not somehow lost in
00:29:20
interpretation in terms of how that
00:29:21
tourist should be
00:29:24
told in a very uplifting and accurate
00:29:26
way
00:29:29
okay we're going to shift over and talk
00:29:31
a little bit about the college of arts
00:29:32
and sciences in terms of
00:29:34
the five foundational skills that
00:29:38
the college holds near and dear first
00:29:41
skill
00:29:41
is question critically next is think
00:29:45
logically communicate clearly
00:29:49
act creatively and live ethically
00:29:52
now your business is creative centric so
00:29:55
that is a given
00:29:56
of the remaining four foundations which
00:29:59
one is the most important
00:30:01
and why it would be by far live
00:30:04
ethically
00:30:05
it's a part of our culture it's a part
00:30:06
of our dna it's a part of what makes
00:30:08
us tick that is the anti to play the
00:30:12
game
00:30:13
so you're right we're in a creative
00:30:15
business and so that's a given
00:30:17
but the live ethically would go first
00:30:20
even beyond the creativity because
00:30:23
if that's broken then we
00:30:26
break the promise of what disney magic
00:30:29
that's what we call it disney magic
00:30:31
uh what disney magic is all about and
00:30:34
you know part of my
00:30:35
my job is to make sure all 200 000 of us
00:30:38
no matter whether they work in india or
00:30:40
whether they work in russia
00:30:42
or whether they work in europe or asia
00:30:44
that they were all
00:30:46
doing the same thing that's great so
00:30:49
when we met a few weeks ago we did talk
00:30:51
about ethics
00:30:52
and that topic is highly popular among
00:30:55
today's audience
00:30:56
those folks listening in today so how do
00:30:59
you cultivate and maintain
00:31:01
that strong foundation of ethical
00:31:03
behavior at disney
00:31:04
yeah well first of all it starts with
00:31:07
hiring people that have those
00:31:10
characteristics
00:31:11
you know so often i get
00:31:14
well so often defined as probably every
00:31:17
hour
00:31:18
i get an email or a phone call from
00:31:20
someone that says you've got to hire my
00:31:22
nephew
00:31:23
he really loves disney or you've got to
00:31:25
hire my niece you've got to hire my
00:31:26
daughter
00:31:27
they really love disney and
00:31:31
too often a love of disney is not enough
00:31:36
it certainly helps but you've got to
00:31:38
have the right
00:31:41
the right character to work at disney
00:31:43
you have to have
00:31:44
hospitality first you have to want to
00:31:46
serve you have to want to put
00:31:47
others in front of yourself because
00:31:49
essentially that's
00:31:51
the business that we're in right
00:31:56
so it really does start with making sure
00:31:59
that the people that are on the front
00:32:00
lines of people that are working all 200
00:32:02
000 again
00:32:04
really embody that not artificially or
00:32:07
not in a trained way
00:32:08
but it's part of who they are it's part
00:32:11
of their identity
00:32:13
and again that's an example of picking
00:32:16
that hill
00:32:17
integrity is everything and then making
00:32:20
sure all the people sort of
00:32:21
walk up that hill together
00:32:25
and we talked about you mentioned
00:32:26
northstar
00:32:28
earlier and we talked about that as well
00:32:30
a few weeks ago
00:32:32
one of the things that you mentioned as
00:32:35
you described
00:32:36
the career as a journey and talked about
00:32:38
finding your north star
00:32:40
you also made a point about being
00:32:42
flexible
00:32:44
can you expand on that yeah as if
00:32:47
it pertains to careers one of the
00:32:48
examples i like to use
00:32:50
often with students is a a silly one but
00:32:54
it it really captures the
00:32:56
idea of flexibility and it's i use
00:33:00
bumper bowling in other words when you
00:33:01
go to a bowling alley on a saturday
00:33:03
morning
00:33:04
and the little six-year-olds are trying
00:33:06
to learn to bowl
00:33:08
they put bumpers in the gutters so that
00:33:10
the ball can't go too far
00:33:12
off now everybody there wants to hit the
00:33:14
head pin
00:33:15
and i think a lot of people in their
00:33:16
career would like to hit the head pin
00:33:18
right away but sometimes you need
00:33:21
bumpers
00:33:22
but you can only deviate too far off
00:33:24
your given path
00:33:26
until you're wasting time or not you
00:33:28
know charting a course
00:33:30
to hit that head pin to achieve your
00:33:33
goal
00:33:34
so patience is a is a virtue in this
00:33:36
case
00:33:37
but knowing when to redirect and bounce
00:33:40
off that bumper
00:33:41
and proceed down that path towards the
00:33:45
head pin
00:33:46
is a really critical thing so again it's
00:33:48
about focus it's about knowing what you
00:33:50
want
00:33:51
and it's importantly about making
00:33:53
decisions along the way that advance
00:33:56
your achievement of that goal
00:33:59
so a lot of times when i counsel young
00:34:02
students they'll say well i've got two
00:34:03
different jobs i want
00:34:05
one's in a city that i really don't want
00:34:07
to be in and it doesn't pay as much
00:34:09
money
00:34:11
but it's really kind of in the field
00:34:13
that i want to do but another one is
00:34:15
really glamorous
00:34:16
and it's in new york and it doesn't have
00:34:18
anything to do with what i want to do
00:34:20
but it pays you know ten thousand
00:34:22
dollars a year more
00:34:24
is there a really decision to be made
00:34:25
here and so it's really about
00:34:27
you know again living true to your
00:34:30
values and living true to your goals
00:34:32
and making sure that you you live with
00:34:35
patients but at the same time
00:34:37
you're always heading towards your goal
00:34:38
in that head pin
00:34:41
as i mentioned we have three or 400
00:34:43
students in the audience
00:34:45
and they are curious to know what skills
00:34:48
you learned at iu
00:34:49
have been most useful on your path to
00:34:52
becoming ceo
00:34:56
uh determination uh
00:35:01
you know i i think it's safe to say
00:35:03
growing up in the region
00:35:05
i went to a high school
00:35:08
where not a lot of the students went to
00:35:10
college
00:35:12
uh we had some basic science
00:35:15
courses you know entry level physics
00:35:18
entry level chemistry biology
00:35:20
but when i got to iu
00:35:23
i found out that the students that i was
00:35:26
competing against
00:35:27
were much better prepared i hadn't heard
00:35:29
of something called an ap
00:35:31
class you know most of the the the
00:35:34
classes that
00:35:34
people took in my high school were shop
00:35:36
classes
00:35:37
you know um and the idea that
00:35:41
i thought i was well prepared but i got
00:35:43
in and realized i was woefully behind
00:35:47
the other students made me sort of
00:35:50
suck it up and sort of try to catch up
00:35:52
on my own because as you know once you
00:35:54
go to college
00:35:55
you know there's no there's no one you
00:35:57
know catching you if you fall
00:36:00
and that was one of my first lessons in
00:36:03
grit
00:36:03
and determination again all all part of
00:36:06
the
00:36:07
the the great upbringing that i had from
00:36:10
you know quote the region end quote
00:36:12
but you know the academic background was
00:36:15
insufficient to you know go into organic
00:36:18
chemistry
00:36:19
and i had to sort of figure that out and
00:36:22
be resourceful
00:36:23
and find a way and that has been very
00:36:26
valuable throughout my whole career
00:36:27
sort of defines who i am in some ways
00:36:31
great thank you bob uh
00:36:35
you became disney's ceo just about a
00:36:37
year ago on february 25th
00:36:40
and just a few days after that the
00:36:43
united states announced his first
00:36:45
coronavirus death what has the past
00:36:48
year been like leading one of the
00:36:51
world's greatest companies
00:36:53
during the pandemic well
00:36:57
you're right the first decision i had to
00:36:58
make was about three days after i got
00:37:00
the job and that was essentially to
00:37:01
close about 80 percent of our businesses
00:37:04
other than our tv networks and that was
00:37:06
very difficult
00:37:07
because um that was something that was
00:37:11
unprecedented unheard of i mean no one
00:37:13
could ever
00:37:14
have imagined that at the same time so i
00:37:18
was involved in a job of
00:37:20
making sure that the company frankly
00:37:21
survived
00:37:23
when you've got money flowing out
00:37:25
because we we paid
00:37:26
our cast members and our employees for a
00:37:28
long long time
00:37:30
uh before the businesses started kicking
00:37:32
in and unfortunately
00:37:34
you know we had to make some hard
00:37:35
decisions along the way uh
00:37:37
uh in order to sort of brace ourselves
00:37:40
for the long-standing impact of covid
00:37:43
but along the same time i had to make
00:37:45
the decision that
00:37:46
i wasn't going to only worry about
00:37:48
survival i was going
00:37:50
to use this as an opportunity uh
00:37:53
if you will to shoot forward as a
00:37:55
catalyst for the future
00:37:56
and so as we're you know taking on debt
00:38:00
in order to you know pay bills
00:38:02
and making sure that you know we had a
00:38:04
future uh i had one eye on that but the
00:38:06
other
00:38:06
eye was on accelerating our path our
00:38:10
pivot towards direct to consumer
00:38:12
and worrying about espn plus and
00:38:16
hulu and disney plus and our new
00:38:19
uh recently announced star general
00:38:22
entertainment
00:38:23
uh venture in the international
00:38:26
territories and really casting
00:38:30
the supply chain of new content that
00:38:32
would feed them
00:38:33
and getting that group of filmmakers and
00:38:35
scripts written
00:38:36
so part of it was about you know bailing
00:38:39
out the boat so the boat didn't sink but
00:38:41
at the same time
00:38:42
it was about charting of course for the
00:38:44
future and accelerating frankly
00:38:46
that dramatically and i think it
00:38:49
again sort of goes to the written
00:38:51
determination i could have you know gone
00:38:52
into a fetal position and
00:38:54
you know just you know hope that it
00:38:56
ended but
00:38:57
that wasn't what you know all of those
00:38:59
constituents i mentioned earlier i
00:39:01
our cast our consumers our guests our
00:39:05
owners at wall street
00:39:06
our local communities that's not what
00:39:07
they wanted they wanted leadership they
00:39:09
wanted decisiveness
00:39:11
and they wanted conviction and a sense
00:39:13
of optimism
00:39:15
and that's you know in those
00:39:18
you know three weeks or three days after
00:39:20
i get the job that's
00:39:21
sort of the cards i was dealt and but
00:39:23
that's how i played them
00:39:26
so the audience would like to know i
00:39:28
would like you to share leadership
00:39:30
lessons from this crisis
00:39:33
what have you learned during the
00:39:35
pandemic
00:39:37
uh i guess i guess i learned that
00:39:41
you have to always
00:39:45
focus on what makes a difference and
00:39:48
what makes a difference for us
00:39:51
is our cast we have direct guest
00:39:54
interaction in so many of our businesses
00:39:56
and people you know disney
00:39:58
it is yes uh just another company but no
00:40:02
it's not just
00:40:03
another company and people look to us
00:40:06
and when we say something or we do
00:40:07
something it resonates
00:40:09
you know 12 companies can do the same
00:40:10
thing and disney gets the headline
00:40:12
and in this world of social media when
00:40:15
it's so easy to sort of sit back
00:40:17
and and you know criticize and feel
00:40:20
supported by
00:40:21
groups of people that you know you're
00:40:23
you're in your social media loop
00:40:25
um you've got to stand strong and you've
00:40:29
got to do
00:40:30
you've got to do what you believe is
00:40:32
right and have the courage
00:40:35
knowing that no matter what you say in
00:40:36
this divided world you're going to get
00:40:38
criticized
00:40:40
and so it's really about finding your
00:40:42
element of truth
00:40:44
and representing that truth and
00:40:46
everything you do
00:40:48
and pillars such as transparency and a
00:40:51
high degree of
00:40:52
high degree of ethics certainly
00:40:55
uh bode well for you guys as you go
00:40:58
forward
00:41:00
um we've got a few more well i've got
00:41:02
one more question on the pandemic uh
00:41:06
you announced that disneyland will serve
00:41:08
as a
00:41:09
mass vaccination site so what prompted
00:41:13
that decision
00:41:15
well basically doing the right thing you
00:41:17
know if there's one thing we do is
00:41:18
handle large numbers of people
00:41:20
uh you know we've got tens of thousands
00:41:23
of industrial engineers
00:41:24
whose job it is is basically to make
00:41:26
sure the flow of people
00:41:28
is such that everyone has a you know a
00:41:30
good experience
00:41:31
and if you think about the process that
00:41:35
it takes to go through the various steps
00:41:36
of getting a vaccination
00:41:38
um you know maybe we can possibly help
00:41:42
and but at a minimum even if
00:41:45
uh you know the government had its own
00:41:48
way of doing its vaccinations
00:41:50
we had the facilities and everyone knows
00:41:53
where disneyland's at
00:41:55
in southern california and they
00:41:57
certainly needed a place to distribute
00:41:59
it so
00:42:00
we provided it and it was just the right
00:42:02
thing to do
00:42:05
okay we've got some more audience
00:42:06
questions
00:42:08
multiple audience members would like to
00:42:10
know what is your favorite
00:42:13
iu memory now like many of us i'm sure
00:42:15
you've got
00:42:16
a slew of fond memories from your time
00:42:18
at iu
00:42:19
but what are one or two that stand out
00:42:23
well first uh you know i met my wife
00:42:25
there
00:42:26
uh my second day on campus so
00:42:29
she's listening in i'm sure uh so that
00:42:32
that's that's a good decision to say
00:42:34
that no it's true uh that's that's the
00:42:36
best one
00:42:37
uh uh never forget it uh but also
00:42:40
uh how about the 1981 national
00:42:43
championship
00:42:44
that was my senior year uh i remember
00:42:48
it vividly like it was yesterday and
00:42:50
that obviously is going to be a
00:42:51
highlight for anyone
00:42:52
i was on campus when they filmed
00:42:54
breaking away which might was my first
00:42:55
exposure again for somebody from the
00:42:57
region
00:42:58
to filmmaking and so i would as i'm
00:43:01
walking to and from class stop and you
00:43:04
know
00:43:05
experience several scenes that they were
00:43:06
shooting and couldn't believe
00:43:08
you know what a big complicated deal it
00:43:10
was
00:43:11
now maybe some ways that what my whistle
00:43:13
for what i eventually
00:43:15
uh do now but i had no idea i actually
00:43:19
sat in the audience at the old little
00:43:21
500 stadium
00:43:22
uh during a filming of the filming of
00:43:24
the race
00:43:26
scene so those were i'd probably say
00:43:30
uh probably the biggest memories
00:43:33
those are great so i was on campus in
00:43:36
1976
00:43:38
when we won the national championship
00:43:40
that certainly is one of my favorite
00:43:42
uh iu memories i ended up in showwalter
00:43:44
fountain actually
00:43:48
came down with strep throat i was tossed
00:43:50
in the fountain during the celebration
00:43:53
and when i went over the categories at
00:43:55
the top of the
00:43:56
discussion that the audience
00:43:59
was interested in surprisingly
00:44:03
sports or specifically iu basketball
00:44:06
was was not a category but we we both
00:44:10
had a great experience being there when
00:44:12
they won a national championship
00:44:14
i'll take the 76 team by 10
00:44:18
over the 81 team yeah well
00:44:21
you also have what was the 87s team with
00:44:23
keith smart who made that shot from the
00:44:25
corner so
00:44:26
yeah you know we've we've had a good
00:44:28
fortune of having great players and
00:44:31
a great program uh over the years
00:44:34
a couple more questions this is a very
00:44:38
important question i'm going to stay on
00:44:39
this
00:44:39
in the sports uh arena
00:44:43
disney owns espn espn
00:44:46
broadcasts the rose bowl
00:44:50
if iu football makes it to the rose bowl
00:44:52
next year
00:44:53
bob can i count on you for a pair of
00:44:54
tickets
00:44:58
uh i will not give you an answer in
00:45:00
front of several thousand people
00:45:03
because i know what will happen but you
00:45:05
have my number
00:45:06
[Laughter]
00:45:09
thank you you talked about we talked
00:45:11
about your college career a little bit
00:45:14
what motivating forces and obviously
00:45:17
getting good grades
00:45:18
is a motivator but what motivating
00:45:21
forces propelled you during college
00:45:25
uh making a better life for myself
00:45:29
uh you know i really had my eyes opened
00:45:32
up
00:45:32
when i got to bloomington
00:45:35
uh you know work growing up in a working
00:45:39
class area
00:45:41
you have a fairly narrow view of what
00:45:45
success is and then you get exposed to a
00:45:48
much broader
00:45:50
group of people a diverse group of
00:45:52
people
00:45:53
and you learn what success can be
00:45:57
and i set my sights high
00:46:00
and uh i've been setting him high ever
00:46:04
since
00:46:05
well i think we're just about uh out of
00:46:08
time here we want to give you a chance
00:46:10
to wrap things up from your perspective
00:46:13
this kind of an open forum open-ended if
00:46:16
there's anything else you would like to
00:46:18
add
00:46:18
yeah before we uh wrap up wrap up the
00:46:21
event
00:46:22
yeah all i would say is that you know uh
00:46:25
indiana university has stayed with uh me
00:46:28
and
00:46:28
my family most of my wife's family or iu
00:46:32
grads
00:46:33
uh some of them are i'm guessing
00:46:35
listening right now
00:46:37
and it's really been a part of who our
00:46:40
family is for a
00:46:41
long time and it will continue to be i
00:46:44
don't get back there
00:46:45
nearly as much as i'd like because
00:46:48
i have other competing priorities
00:46:52
but it's always there and it's it's been
00:46:56
it's been great for us
00:46:57
and uh part of who i am now great
00:47:00
well bob thank you very much for being
00:47:03
with us this morning
00:47:04
and i it's a great way to to kick off
00:47:07
the weekend
00:47:08
and i would also like to thank dean van
00:47:11
kooten for
00:47:12
inviting me to serve as today's
00:47:14
moderator and thank his staff
00:47:16
for all the assistance that they gave me
00:47:18
as we prepared for this
00:47:19
with this event audience members again
00:47:22
thank you for joining us
00:47:24
uh marvelous turnout today and now i'll
00:47:27
hand it back over to rick to close out
00:47:29
the session
00:47:31
thanks doug douglas and bob that was
00:47:33
fantastic i think that was uh
00:47:35
just a wonderful just
00:47:39
example of the embodiment of liberal
00:47:41
arts education and how
00:47:42
you know bob you're able to move
00:47:44
smoothly from all the different areas of
00:47:46
your career
00:47:47
and it really struck me the north star
00:47:48
the curiosity and the need to keep
00:47:50
evolving i think our real
00:47:51
takeaways i also want to just express
00:47:53
just realization of just how
00:47:55
big a part of society disney is
00:47:59
and the fact that just how proud i am i
00:48:01
think the rest of the college is
00:48:03
to have a college alumnus at the helm of
00:48:05
probably the most trusted company
00:48:07
in the entire world um so just in
00:48:10
closing i'd like to thank
00:48:12
thank everybody here for joining us and
00:48:13
participating in today's live stream
00:48:15
once again express my my really deep and
00:48:18
sincere gratitude to bob and douglas
00:48:20
for their time and expertise and we're
00:48:22
grateful to you all
00:48:24
finally i want to acknowledge that
00:48:26
events like this would not be possible
00:48:27
without the support of donors who
00:48:28
understand the value of a liberal arts
00:48:30
education
00:48:31
that is given by the college and for
00:48:33
those of you who support the college
00:48:34
with your philanthropy
00:48:36
i thank you on behalf of all of our
00:48:37
students and students our faculty and
00:48:39
students
00:48:40
who do benefit from that and if you
00:48:42
enjoyed today's program
00:48:44
i hope you'll join us you'll join us for
00:48:46
our next
00:48:47
celebrating alumni contributions event
00:48:49
with alumnus and rolling stone
00:48:50
contributing editor
00:48:52
anthony de curtis on wednesday april
00:48:54
21st which i'm sure is going to be
00:48:56
very entertaining so in closing be safe
00:48:59
enjoy the snow and the rest of your
00:49:01
friday and the weekend
00:49:03
take care thank you