Bob Iger’s tallest order at Disney: preparing his own replacement
Michele Giannotti and James Hibberd talk Disney’s future plans after Walt Disney Studios
By Michele Giannotti • 18 January, 2010
Disney executives Michele Giannotti has known James Hibberd for five years. They met when Hibberd, now the chairman of Disney’s ABC Television Group, was hired by Disney two years ago as its senior vice president of global content. Now they are working together on a new ABC comedy pilot about two very funny men (Iger is one) who decide to throw a party in their new home. They want their guest list to be, at the very least, diverse. So they enlist the help of the best people in comedy and the best people in African American comedy — including a man Iger knows well from his career on “The Simpsons.” There’s also a woman whom Iger knows from her work on “The Office.” Iger tells Hibberd that he wants to start to think about “thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking…thinking…” The phrase gets repeated so often that Iger is tempted to stop the thought, put his head in his hands and give in. Maybe he will. “I’m working on it.”
A few days later, Iger called Hibberd. “I know you like me,” he said. “I like you too.” Hibberd laughs. Iger and Hibberd may be old pals, but they are also old colleagues. Iger and Hibberd have worked together for 15 years. And in all that time, Iger has always put a foot in what he called “the shit” and Hibberd in “the heaven.” At one point, they were on the same board, at two different companies, and they still collaborate and compete on a daily basis. “We are constantly amazed at how each other’s minds work,” Hibberd says. “You have to have one foot in the shit and the other in the