In a Harvard Business Review interview, Iger said Disney knew “some of his weaknesses” when it picked his successor in 2020. He never named Chapek, whose memoir comes out Tuesday.
Bob Iger is looking back at the biggest hiring decision of his career, and he’s not giving himself full marks.
In an interview published Thursday, Sept. 24, by the Harvard Business Review, the former Disney CEO said the process that chose his first successor wasn’t as careful as Disney believed at the time. He never said Bob Chapek’s name, but he didn’t really have to.
“We had a process back in 2019 and ‘20 when we chose my successor. Looking back, perhaps it wasn’t as thorough as we thought, in part because we thought we knew the person extremely well,” Iger told Nitin Nohria, former dean of Harvard Business School, per Variety.
What did Bob Iger say about Bob Chapek?
That Disney knew the person it was picking, maybe too well.
“He’d worked for the company for a very long time and for me directly,” Iger said. “And we knew his strengths, and we knew some of his weaknesses as well.”
Chapek became CEO in February 2020. Disney’s board ousted him in November 2022 and brought Iger back.
Was Iger responding to Chapek’s memoir?
Not directly, as far as the interview shows.
The HBR piece came out Sept. 24, days before Chapek’s book, “Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth,” hits shelves Tuesday, Sept. 29. Iger doesn’t mention the book in the quotes that have been published, and he never names Chapek.
The timing still made plenty of people connect the dots. Early excerpts and interviews from Chapek have already made headlines, including his claim, reported by Variety, that Iger ran a “relentless three-year campaign” to get him fired.
What does Iger look for in a Disney CEO now?
Someone who can stay calm in a mess.
Iger said the COVID era taught him that “leadership needs to be capable of managing an environment in perpetual crisis,” which “puts even more emphasis on stamina.”
“I don’t think people want fearless leaders, but they don’t want fearful leaders,” he said. “They want somebody that’s going to show some vulnerability, but never show that they’re frightened.”
He admitted those weren’t questions Disney asked the first time. “We didn’t ask ourselves those questions, though maybe it would have been premature to do so,” Iger said. “This was before COVID hit, right before COVID hit, for instance.”
Who is Disney’s CEO now?
Josh D’Amaro, the former head of Disney’s parks. Iger stepped down as CEO this March and handed the job to D’Amaro, per Variety.
Iger said Disney asked tougher questions the second time around. “Is he resilient? Does he have the stamina? Does he choose a good team?” he said. “Is he someone who can call it what it is, meaning we’re in a real crisis, but then deal with it in a reasonable and sane and steady way, mature way?”
For theme park fans, that’s a familiar name. D’Amaro ran Disney’s parks, experiences, and products division before moving into the top job.
What else did Iger talk about?
Politics, and why he spoke up when he did.
“I tried to speak up on issues that I thought were really relevant to the company,” Iger said. He said he was often accused of partisanship, but “it wasn’t about my politics. It was about what I thought was right for the company.”
When does Bob Chapek’s book come out?
Tuesday, Sept. 29. “Behind the Castle Walls” is Chapek’s account of his 30 years at Disney, including his time as CEO and how it ended.
So far, the two Bobs are telling very different versions of the same story. One is writing a whole book about it. The other said a few careful sentences to a business magazine and let readers fill in the blanks.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Harvard Business Review (Sept. 24, 2026), Bob Iger interview with Nitin Nohria
Variety (Sept. 24, 2026), Iger’s quotes, D’Amaro succession details and Chapek’s book
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