Chapek is a lifer who was promoted far above his ability or skills. He should have stayed managing the Disney Vault and never have been put in charge of the parks, much less the whole company.
I have a bone to pick with Iger, too. He had talent, but lacked creativity and artistry. He may have been an excellent #2 in command. When Eisner was being pushed out, Roy didn’t want Iger to be made the head because he felt he would be a detriment to the long term health of the company. This turned out to be true. Creativity and innovation have kind of stagnated. To disguise it, he bought others’ intellectual properties to use. He hamfisted the cash cow of Star Wars in his rush to milk it dry. (It made money, but nothing like what it could have been had time been taken to plan out well designed and thought out stories, making good use of beloved legacy characters.) He patched over the parks with cheaper quick fixes with popular characters instead of creating new classics. Plus he misguidedly blew wads of cash unwisely (Avatarland instead of a timeless and thematically correct modern version of the original Beastly Kingdom plan, or theming Star Wars land to the Disney trilogy when Imagineering was telling him it needed to be based more on the classic version.). He also got way too obsessed with chasing after China. He created the environment that allowed Chapek to rise to dizzying heights.
Disney is at its best when there’s a creative-oriented #1 working closely with (and at times being shepherded by) a strong, financially responsible #2, and when many of the executives have past experience having done some Disney grunt work (like working in the parks at some time) and are required to regularly visit the park as a guest would (to have an accurate understanding of guest experiences).
I’ve gotten fired up and gone off on a tangent. Iger at least saw some value in the creatives, even though he wasn’t one himself. BLAB probably doesn’t think deeper than what color the cupcakes are this week. If they were rich, they’d be Chapek’s target audience.
Narcoleptic psychopath
I put in a request a couple days ago. Looks like it was granted!
