The chief executive of The Walt Disney Co. outlined in a memo to the staff this week his three strategic pillars for the company’s continued success.
Bob Chapek wrote in the memo on Monday, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, that his three pillars for the Burbank entertainment and media giant will be storytelling excellence, innovation and relentless focus on the audience.
For the first, storytelling excellence, Chapek said he is setting up a monthly meeting with senior creative leaders to discuss opportunities that Disney faces as a storytelling enterprise.
“This will encourage collaboration, sharing of best practices, and stimulate cross-studio ideation,” Chapek said.
When it comes to innovation, the company must continue as the world’s foremost innovative storytellers as technology evolves.
“We should be especially innovative as we seek to bring stories to life in new ways – particularly if they enhance what many call our ‘franchise ecosystem,’ which is one of the things that sets us apart,” Chapek wrote in the memo.
With respect to the focus on the audience, Chapek called the consumer Disney’s most important guide, its North Star. “Right now, their behavior tells the company and the entertainment industry that the way they want to experience content is changing and changing fast due to technology and the pandemic,” Chapek said.
“We must evolve with our audience, not work against them. … And so we will put them at the center of every decision we make.”
Chapek took over as chief executive from Bob Iger in February 2020, just weeks before the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. Iger stepped down as chairman of Disney at the end of last year.
Shares of Disney (DIS) closed Tuesday up $1.29, or less than 1 percent, to $157.89 on the New York Stock Exchange, on a day when the Dow Jones closed up a fraction of a percent.