9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Of all the characters[br]in all the Disney films

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the one I love the most[br]is Jiminy Cricket from "Pinnochio."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
My favorite scene in the movie

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is when the blue fairy[br]is saying to Pinnochio,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Always let your conscience[br]be your guide."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Pinnochio asks, "What are conscience?"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and Jiminy Cricket is scandalized[br]by the question: "What are conscience!"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"What are conscience!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Conscience is that still small voice[br]that people won't listen to,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that's just the trouble[br]with the world today."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I love the way Jiminy Cricket[br]is always there

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with a nerdy, ethical thing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
just as Pinnochio's coming up[br]with some kind of good plan.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think of him as speaking[br]truth to puppet.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I always wondered what it was[br]about Jiminy Cricket

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that made me love him so much

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and one day it hit me.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was because he sounds[br]like my grandfather.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
My grandfather was a very sweet[br]and cuddly man

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I loved him to the moon and back.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But I shared him with the big, wide world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
His name was Roy O'Disney,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and together with his younger[br]brother Walt Disney,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he came from a very humble[br]upbringing in Kansas

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and started and ran one of the most[br]iconic businesses in the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Two things I remember the best[br]about going to Disneyland

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with my grandfather.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The first thing was he always[br]gave me a stern warning

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that if I ever sassed[br]anybody who worked there

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was in deep doo-doo when we got home.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He said these people work really hard --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
harder than you can imagine,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they deserve your respect.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The other is that he never[br]walked by a piece of garbage

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
inside of Disneyland

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or anywhere else,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where he didn't bend over to pick it up.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He said no one's too good[br]to pick up a piece of garbage.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In grandpa's day,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a job at Disneyland was not a gig.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A person could expect to own a home,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
raise a family,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
access decent health care,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
retire in some security without worrying,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on just what he earned there at the park.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Mind you, grandpa fought the unions

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he fought them hard.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He said he didn't like to be forced

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to do something he wanted[br]to do voluntarily.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That was [rank] paternalism of course[br]and maybe a tiny bit of BS.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He wasn't an angel,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and everyone wasn't well[br]and fairly treated across the company,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
something that's well-known.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But I think in his core he had[br]a very deep commitment

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to the idea that he had a moral obligation[br]to every human being that worked for him.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That actually wasn't such an uncommon[br]attitude for CEOs of the day.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But when my grandfather died in 1971,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a new mindset was beginning to take hold

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the American and eventually[br]the global imagination.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Jiminy Cricket got shown the door[br]by economist Milton Friedman,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
among others,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who popularized the idea[br]of shareholder primacy.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, shareholder primacy is a pretty[br]reasonable idea when you think about it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Shareholders own the company,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
shareholders want profits and growth,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so, therefore, you prioritize[br]profits and growth.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Very sensible.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But unfortunately, shareholder primacy[br]was an idea that became a mindset

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and then that mindset jumped the rails,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it came to fundamentally[br]alter everything

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about the way companies and even[br]governments were led and managed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Milton Friedman's pivotal op-ed[br]in the "New York Times"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was followed by decades of concerted[br]organizing and lobbying

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by business-focus activists

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
along with a sustained assault[br]on every law and regulation

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that had once held businesses'[br]worst impulses in check.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And soon enough,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this new mindset had taken hold[br]across every business school

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and across every sector.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Profits were to be pursued[br]by any means necessary,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
unions were kneecapped,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
taxes were slashed,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and with the same machete,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so was the safety net.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't need to tell you[br]about the inequality

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that's been the result of these shifts.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We all know the story well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The bottom line is that everything[br]that turns a gig into a livelihood

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was stripped away from an American worker:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
job security,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
paid sick days,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
vacation time.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
All of that went away

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
even as the wealthy saw their net worths[br]bloat to unprecedented,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and yes, unusable levels.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Although if you're Scrooge McDuck[br]you could change it all into gold coins

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and backstroke through it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So let me just address[br]the Dumbo in the room.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes, I am criticizing the company[br]that bears my family's name.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes, I think Disney can do better.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I believe that many of the thousands[br]of magnificent people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who work at the Walt Disney Company[br]wish that it would do better

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
just as much as I do.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For almost a century,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Disney has turned a pretty profit[br]on the idea that families a kind of magic,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that love is important,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that imaginations matter.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's why it turns[br]your stomach a little bit

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when I tell you that Cinderella[br]might be sleeping in her car.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But let's be very clear:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this is not just about Disney.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is structural and this is systemic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
No single CEO on his own is culpable,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and no single company[br]has the wherewithal to buck this.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The analysts,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the pundits,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the politicians,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the business school curricula

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the social norms that drive[br]the shame of the contemporary economy.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Disney is just doing what[br]everybody else does,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they're not even the worst offender.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If I told you how bad it was for workers[br]at Amazon or McDonald's or Walmart,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or any one of a thousand other places[br]you've never heard of,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's not going to hit you as viscerally[br]as if I tell you that 73 percent,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or three out of four of the people[br]who smile when you walk in,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who help you comfort that crying baby,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who maybe help you have the best[br]vacation you ever have,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can't consistently put food on the table.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's supposed to be[br]the happiest place on earth.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And the people who work there[br]take incredible pride,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that they pursue a higher purpose.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a higher purpose

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that both my grandfather and[br]great-uncle very intentionally built

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when they made it a place that honors[br]an interaction over a transaction.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, I know that a word like magic[br]makes you wonder

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if I've taken leave of my senses.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I know it's hard to imagine[br]that something as ephemeral as love

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can support a brand as big as Disney,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I know that it's hard to imagine

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that things as unquanifiable[br]as moral obligations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
should have any call on us

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when we seek to deliver[br]value to our investors.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But accounting and finance[br]don't run the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Beliefs,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mindsets --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
those are what drive business ethics.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And if we're going to change[br]those mindsets and belief systems,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we're going to have to use the most[br]Disney superpower out there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We're going to have to use[br]our imaginations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You're going to have to invite[br]Jiminy Cricket back to the party.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, Jiminy Cricket might start[br]with some low-hanging fruit

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like, greed is not good,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like the world is not divided[br]into makers and takers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that nobody ever,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
without any help,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
pulled themselves up[br]by their own bootstraps --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if you know anything about physics[br]you'll understand why that is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Jiminy might remind us that every[br]single person who works for us,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
without exception,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
whether they fill out the spreadsheets

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or change the bedsheets,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
deserves the respect[br]and dignity of living wage.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's as simple as that.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And Jiminy might wonder[br]how managers and employees

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
could possibly have any kind[br]of empathy for each other

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when their workplaces have[br]become so segregated

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that it seems normal and natural

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that an executive needs[br]an especially swanky place to park

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or eat or go to the bathroom,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or that an executive is too good[br]to pick up a piece of garbage.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We are, after all, just the one species[br]living together on just the one planet.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Jiminy might ask us to question[br]some of our dogma.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Does a CEO really need to be paid[br]as much or more than every other CEO,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or is that just creating[br]a competitive dynamic

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that's driving numbers[br]into the stratosphere?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He might wonder if boards really do know[br]all that they really need to know

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when they don't have frontline workers[br]ever at their meetings.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He might ask if there's such a thing[br]as too much money.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or he might wonder if maybe we can[br]make common cause

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with consumers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with workers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with companies,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with communities,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for all of us to come together

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to redefine this incredibly narrow idea

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of what the purpose[br]of a company really is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Jiminy would want us to remember[br]that nobody works in a vacuum,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that the men and women who run companies

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
actively co-create the reality[br]we all have to share.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And just like with global warming,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we are, each of us, responsible[br]for collective consequences

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of our individual decisions and actions.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I believe that the most profitable[br]business ecosystem

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the history of the world

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can do better.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I believe we can take just a little bit[br]off of the upside,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
take a tiny bit of pressure off[br]the speed at which things are happening.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I believe that everything[br]we lose in the short-term

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
will more than make up for itself

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in an expanded landscape of moral,[br]spiritual and financial prosperity.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I know what the cynics say,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it's true:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you [... ... ... ] your principles.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But you've can't breathe[br]a basis point either,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and neither can your children.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I idolized my grandfather[br]probably too much.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He worked in very different times

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and those are times[br]none of us want to go back to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for all kinds of good reasons.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I know there are a lot of CEOs today[br]who are just as well-meaning

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and just as decent as my grandfather was,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but they're working at a time[br]with very different expectations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and much more cutthroat context.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But here's the good news:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
expectations and contexts are made

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they can be unmade too.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There is so much to learn[br]from the simple integrity

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of how my grandfather[br]understood his job as CEO.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Behind every theme park[br]and every stuffed animal,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a handful of principles[br]governed everything.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Every single person deserves[br]respect and dignity.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
No one is too good[br]to pick up a piece of garbage,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and always let conscience be your guide.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We could all do worse[br]than listen to Jiminy Cricket.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thank you.