Disney CEO Bob Chapek On Developing The Greatest Strength In The World—Willpower
As a track and cross country athlete in Hammond, Indiana, Bob Chapek used to run beneath the smokestacks of the steel mills, oil refineries and soap plants dominating the backdrop of his hometown and imagine that he was going someplace else.
The odds seemed stacked against him.
“For a lot of people, it was all about getting a job after high school in a metal shop, machine shop or wood shop and joining a union,” Chapek told the Corporate Competitor Podcast in an insightful interview. “To an extent, running for me was a symbol of wanting to persevere and do something bigger and better, starting with college.”
His legs were strong, but his imagination and resolve proved even stronger and carried him far away from those smoke-clogged neighborhoods to study microbiology as a first-generation college student at Indiana University. From there, he earned an MBA at Michigan State University and landed a job at J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in Chicago, which proved a springboard to a position in the consumer products division of Disney, a brand that brought back fond memories.
“When I was growing up, my family used to take vacations in Florida. I remember the first time I visited Disney World. It was such a shock to drive for two and a half days and, all of a sudden, end up in this beautiful, utopian environment,” Chapek reflected. “There probably could be no two more different environments than where I grew up and the idyllic Main Street of the Magic Kingdom.”
Once he returned to the Magic Kingdom in those early years as a professional, he never left. Chapek has spent nearly three decades leading growth and transformation at some of The Walt Disney Company’s most respected and beloved brands around the globe, including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, ESPN and National Geographic.
In February of 2020, the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chapek succeeded Bob Iger as CEO, becoming just the seventh person to hold that vaunted title since the company’s founding in 1923. He may be a member of corporate America’s executive elite, but he wears his blue-collar credentials with pride, especially as they pertain to the time-tested values of hard work, dedication, preparation and sheer, unbridled determination.
“I think one of the greatest strengths in the world is willpower. Individual human willpower,” said Chapek. “I got a taste of it in those situations when I was running for the finish line and there was someone right next to me. I’ve seen willpower at work in my friends battling illnesses, in my own family battling various challenges, and countless other ways. Life has taught me never, ever to underestimate the power of one person’s will to get something done!”
Chapek is a member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation National Board, a position with special significance for him given that nearly half of all wishes requested by children with life-threatening illnesses have some component of Disney built-in.
Chapek views willpower as a value to be nurtured and a set of habits that can channel all that grit and determination in productive ways. Here are several of the practices that have served Chapek well as Disney’s leader.