Bob Iger has a confession to make about his six-page farewell letter to Josh D’Amaro: it was supposed to be short.
The former Disney CEO decided to follow a presidential tradition when he stepped down as CEO of The Walt Disney Co. earlier this year. He wrote his successor a note and left it in his desk. “I decided I would write my successor a letter and leave it in his desk, as we’ve heard Presidents of the United States have done recently. And I wanted it to be short. It ended up being six pages long,” Iger said in an interview published by the Harvard Business Review on Thursday.
The letter was meant to be a quick reminder. Instead, it became a warning about power. “One of the things that I did write is be aware of how much influence you have over the company. You’re inheriting a company that’s 103 years old, and you think, well, maybe there’s nothing that any one leader can do to change it or influence it,” Iger said. “But be aware of the fact that you have enormous influence over it, and you can exert that influence quickly and sometimes almost inadvertently just by having the title.”
He added that the responsibility that comes with that influence is significant. “There’s a tremendous amount of responsibility. And I think if you are aware of the influence you have, then you act more responsibly, because you are aware of just how powerful that influence can be. It’s just so important.”
Iger’s First Exit
Iger exited for the second time in the last decade. His first retirement came in February of 2020, but it was short-lived. Disney’s board asked him to return in late 2022 after they expressed discontent with his chosen successor, Bob Chapek.
Chapek’s Side Of The Story
Chapek, as it happens, has a new memoir releasing this month where he gives his side of that story. In the HBR interview, Iger doesn’t mention Chapek by name, though he did say that, “Looking back, perhaps it wasn’t as thorough as we thought, in part because we thought we knew the person extremely well.”
“I’m not suggesting that we discounted the weaknesses, but in our zeal to check a box with succession and enable me to move on, first as executive chairman and ultimately to leave, I’m not suggesting that we ignored some of the issues, but I think we discounted them a bit more,” he added.
The Pandemic Changed Leadership
Iger also believes the current environment for CEOs is fundamentally different than it was before the pandemic. “We now live in an age where I think this crisis is almost omnipresent. We live in a state of almost perpetual crisis, or an environment in which a crisis can occur almost on a very regular basis,” he told HBR.
He argued that leaders need to be prepared for constant turmoil. “Now, this is, in a way, hindsight, but I realize today that leadership needs to be capable of managing an environment in perpetual crisis. So what does that mean? I think it puts even more emphasis on stamina. It puts even more emphasis on someone’s ability to, one, admit the crisis and deal with it, but never lose hope and optimism and balance that optimism and hope with realism.”
What the Board Wanted
Those qualities came into play when Disney’s board was choosing D’Amaro as Iger’s successor. “But as we approach succession this next time around, choosing my successor this past February, we asked ourselves some of these very questions about that person,” Iger said. “Is he resilient? Does he have the stamina? Does he choose a good team? 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?”
A Letter That Ran Long
The irony of Iger’s story is that he tried to keep things brief and failed. A six-page letter is hardly concise. But the message inside it is a serious one about influence, responsibility, and the weight of leadership.
| Iger’s First Exit | Iger’s Second Exit | |
|---|---|---|
| Successor | Bob Chapek | Josh D’Amaro |
| Board Reaction | Asked Iger to return | Board chose D’Amaro |
| Letter | Not mentioned | Six-page note left in desk |
What We Make Of It
Iger’s admission carries a quiet warning for anyone handed a large role. He believed he knew Chapek well enough to skip thorough due diligence, and it did not work out. Now he is telling D’Amaro to watch himself — that small gestures and unspoken expectations can shape a company far faster than any plan.
The pandemic-era crisis thinking is a separate matter. Iger is arguing that leaders must hold two positions at once: hopeful and realistic, calm and steady.
The letter itself is a curious artifact. It was meant to be a brief note of caution, and it became a six-page treatise on power. Iger’s honesty about its length is amusing, but the content underneath is serious business.
Disney has lived through two leadership transitions in recent memory, and Iger’s public reflections on both suggest the company’s future depends on successors who understand the scale of what they inherit. Here is how the two exits compare:
- Iger retired in February 2020 and returned in late 2022 after the board asked him to come back.
- The board chose D’Amaro as his successor this past February, asking questions about resilience, stamina, and crisis management along the way.
- Iger wrote a six-page letter for D’Amaro’s desk, warning him about the influence he would wield.
Iger’s letter is a gift of experience, even if it arrived in more pages than intended.
Source material: “Bob Iger Reveals That He Wrote a Six-Page Letter to Josh D’Amaro and Left It In His Desk,” The Hollywood Reporter.
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