0:00:01.142,0:00:03.776
Of all the characters[br]in all the Disney films

0:00:03.776,0:00:06.879
the one I love the most[br]is Jiminy Cricket from "Pinnochio."

0:00:07.835,0:00:09.786
My favorite scene in the movie

0:00:09.786,0:00:13.029
is when the blue fairy[br]is saying to Pinnochio,

0:00:13.029,0:00:15.362
"Always let your conscience[br]be your guide."

0:00:15.720,0:00:18.136
Pinnochio asks, "What are conscience?"

0:00:18.136,0:00:20.584
and Jiminy Cricket[br]is scandalized by the question.

0:00:20.584,0:00:21.925
"What are conscience!

0:00:21.925,0:00:23.559
"What are conscience!

0:00:23.559,0:00:27.489
Conscience is that still small voice[br]that people won't listen to.

0:00:27.489,0:00:29.886
That's just the trouble[br]with the world today."

0:00:30.937,0:00:34.320
I love the way Jiminy Cricket[br]is always there

0:00:34.320,0:00:37.356
with a nerdy, ethical thing

0:00:37.356,0:00:40.821
just as Pinnochio's coming up[br]with some kind of good plan.

0:00:41.201,0:00:43.685
I think of him as speaking[br]truth to puppet.

0:00:44.163,0:00:46.684
I always wondered what it was[br]about Jiminy Cricket

0:00:46.684,0:00:48.063
that made me love him so much

0:00:48.063,0:00:49.243
and one day it hit me.

0:00:49.243,0:00:51.827
It was because he sounds[br]like my grandfather.

0:00:52.784,0:00:55.843
My grandfather was a very sweet[br]and cuddly man

0:00:55.843,0:00:58.655
and I loved him to the moon and back.

0:00:59.520,0:01:02.287
But I shared him with a big, wide world.

0:01:02.433,0:01:04.211
His name was Roy O. Disney,

0:01:04.211,0:01:06.697
and together with his younger[br]brother Walt Disney,

0:01:06.697,0:01:10.598
he came from a very humble[br]upbringing in Kansas

0:01:10.598,0:01:14.791
and started and ran one of the most[br]iconic businesses in the world.

0:01:15.884,0:01:18.785
Two things I remember the best[br]about going to Disneyland

0:01:18.785,0:01:20.233
with my grandfather.

0:01:20.233,0:01:23.739
The first thing was he always[br]gave me a stern warning

0:01:23.739,0:01:26.405
that if I ever sassed[br]anybody who worked there

0:01:26.405,0:01:28.960
I was in deep doo-doo when we got home.

0:01:30.295,0:01:32.527
He said, "these people work really hard --

0:01:32.527,0:01:33.962
harder than you can imagine,

0:01:33.962,0:01:36.146
and they deserve your respect."

0:01:36.829,0:01:40.891
The other is that he never[br]walked by a piece of garbage

0:01:40.891,0:01:42.062
inside of Disneyland

0:01:42.062,0:01:43.213
or anywhere else,

0:01:43.213,0:01:45.143
where he didn't bend over to pick it up.

0:01:45.400,0:01:48.822
He said, "no one's too good[br]to pick up a piece of garbage."

0:01:50.101,0:01:51.527
In grandpa's day,

0:01:51.527,0:01:53.960
a job at Disneyland was not a gig.

0:01:55.006,0:01:57.222
A person could expect to own a home,

0:01:57.222,0:01:58.955
raise a family,

0:01:58.955,0:02:01.552
access decent health care,

0:02:01.552,0:02:05.378
retire in some security without worrying

0:02:05.378,0:02:07.699
on just what he earned there at the park.

0:02:08.297,0:02:10.828
Mind you, grandpa fought the unions,

0:02:10.828,0:02:12.223
and he fought them hard.

0:02:12.641,0:02:14.599
He said he didn't like to be forced

0:02:14.599,0:02:17.121
to do something he wanted[br]to do voluntarily.

0:02:17.374,0:02:21.200
That was rank paternalism of course[br]and maybe even a tiny bit of BS.

0:02:21.681,0:02:24.049
He wasn't an angel,

0:02:24.049,0:02:27.183
and everyone wasn't well[br]and fairly treated across the company,

0:02:27.183,0:02:28.933
something that's well-known.

0:02:30.399,0:02:35.231
But I think in his core he had[br]a very deep commitment

0:02:35.231,0:02:39.524
to the idea that he had a moral obligation[br]to every human being that worked for him.

0:02:40.441,0:02:44.662
That actually wasn't such an uncommon[br]attitude for CEOs of the day.

0:02:45.702,0:02:49.261
But when my grandfather died in 1971,

0:02:49.261,0:02:51.822
a new mindset was beginning to take hold

0:02:51.822,0:02:55.506
of the American and eventually[br]the global imagination.

0:02:55.910,0:03:00.160
Jiminy Cricket got shown the door[br]by economist Milton Friedman,

0:03:00.160,0:03:01.391
among others,

0:03:01.391,0:03:04.389
who popularized the idea[br]of shareholder primacy.

0:03:05.162,0:03:10.228
Now, shareholder primacy is a pretty[br]reasonable idea when you think about it.

0:03:11.266,0:03:13.122
Shareholders own the company,

0:03:13.122,0:03:17.440
shareholders want profits and growth,

0:03:17.440,0:03:20.282
so therefore you prioritize[br]profits and growth.

0:03:20.614,0:03:22.240
Very sensible.

0:03:22.516,0:03:27.162
But unfortunately, shareholder primacy[br]was an idea that became a mindset

0:03:27.162,0:03:29.682
and then that mindset jumped the rails,

0:03:29.682,0:03:32.890
and it came to fundamentally[br]alter everything

0:03:32.890,0:03:37.305
about the way companies and even[br]governments were led and managed.

0:03:38.515,0:03:41.876
Milton Friedman's pivotal op-ed[br]in the "New York Times"

0:03:41.876,0:03:47.617
was followed by decades of concerted[br]organizing and lobbying

0:03:47.617,0:03:49.970
by business-focused activists

0:03:49.970,0:03:54.570
along with a sustained assault[br]on every law and regulation

0:03:54.570,0:03:59.337
that had once held businesses'[br]worst impulses in check.

0:04:00.101,0:04:01.246
And soon enough,

0:04:01.246,0:04:04.666
this new mindset had taken hold[br]across every business school

0:04:04.666,0:04:06.395
and across every sector.

0:04:06.954,0:04:11.001
Profits were to be pursued[br]by any means necessary,

0:04:11.001,0:04:13.319
unions were kneecapped,

0:04:13.319,0:04:14.568
taxes were slashed,

0:04:14.568,0:04:15.988
and with the same machete,

0:04:15.988,0:04:17.652
so was the safety net.

0:04:18.130,0:04:20.287
I don't need to tell you[br]about the inequality

0:04:20.287,0:04:22.372
that's been the result of these shifts.

0:04:23.198,0:04:24.882
We all know the story well.

0:04:25.170,0:04:29.485
The bottom line is that everything[br]that turns a gig into a livelihood

0:04:29.485,0:04:31.655
was stripped away from an American worker.

0:04:32.268,0:04:33.442
Job security,

0:04:33.442,0:04:34.720
paid sick days,

0:04:34.720,0:04:36.135
vacation time --

0:04:36.135,0:04:37.255
all of that went away

0:04:37.255,0:04:42.562
even as the wealthy saw their net worths[br]bloat to unprecedented,

0:04:42.562,0:04:45.284
and yes, unusable levels.

0:04:45.457,0:04:48.917
Although if you're Scrooge McDuck[br]you could change it all into gold coins

0:04:48.917,0:04:50.598
and backstroke through it.

0:04:51.278,0:04:54.184
So let me just address[br]the Dumbo in the room.

0:04:54.799,0:04:58.479
Yes, I am criticizing the company[br]that bears my family's name.

0:04:59.553,0:05:01.919
Yes, I think Disney can do better.

0:05:02.595,0:05:06.792
And I believe that many of the thousands[br]of magnificent people

0:05:06.792,0:05:10.192
who work at the Walt Disney Company[br]wish that it would do better

0:05:10.192,0:05:12.134
just as much as I do.

0:05:12.910,0:05:14.895
For almost a century,

0:05:14.895,0:05:17.053
Disney has turned a pretty profit

0:05:17.053,0:05:20.639
on the idea that families[br]are a kind of magic,

0:05:20.639,0:05:22.962
that love is important,

0:05:22.962,0:05:24.882
that imaginations matter.

0:05:25.280,0:05:27.411
That's why it turns[br]your stomach a little bit

0:05:27.411,0:05:30.613
when I tell you that Cinderella[br]might be sleeping in her car.

0:05:31.064,0:05:32.335
But let's be very clear:

0:05:32.335,0:05:34.447
this is not just about Disney.

0:05:35.136,0:05:38.091
This is structural and this is systemic.

0:05:38.466,0:05:42.193
No single CEO on his own is culpable

0:05:42.193,0:05:45.320
and no single company[br]has the wherewithal to buck this.

0:05:45.517,0:05:46.521
The analysts,

0:05:46.521,0:05:47.516
the pundits,

0:05:47.516,0:05:48.524
the politicians,

0:05:48.524,0:05:50.116
the business school curricula

0:05:50.116,0:05:54.374
and the social norms that drive[br]the shape of the contemporary economy.

0:05:54.622,0:05:57.100
Disney is just doing what[br]everybody else does,

0:05:57.100,0:05:59.204
and they're not even the worst offender.

0:05:59.204,0:06:03.654
If I told you how bad it was for workers[br]at Amazon or McDonald's or Walmart,

0:06:03.654,0:06:07.172
or any one of a thousand other places[br]you've never heard of,

0:06:07.172,0:06:11.999
it's not going to hit you as viscerally[br]as if I tell you that 73 percent,

0:06:11.999,0:06:15.570
or three out of four of the people[br]who smile when you walk in,

0:06:15.570,0:06:18.199
who help you comfort that crying baby,

0:06:18.199,0:06:21.900
who maybe help you have the best[br]vacation you ever have,

0:06:21.900,0:06:24.418
can't consistently put food on the table.

0:06:25.374,0:06:27.937
It's supposed to be[br]the happiest place on earth.

0:06:28.715,0:06:31.997
And the people who work there[br]take incredible pride

0:06:31.997,0:06:34.307
that they pursue a higher purpose.

0:06:34.648,0:06:35.882
It's a higher purpose

0:06:35.882,0:06:40.037
that both my grandfather and[br]great-uncle very intentionally built

0:06:40.037,0:06:44.584
when they made it a place that honors[br]an interaction over a transaction.

0:06:45.682,0:06:48.718
Now, I know that a word like magic[br]makes you wonder

0:06:48.718,0:06:50.884
if I've taken leave of my senses.

0:06:51.545,0:06:55.390
I know it's hard to imagine[br]that something as ephemeral as love

0:06:55.390,0:06:58.473
can support a brand as big as Disney,

0:06:58.473,0:07:00.381
and I know that it's hard to imagine

0:07:00.381,0:07:05.008
that things as unquanifiable[br]as moral obligations

0:07:05.008,0:07:06.724
should have any call on us

0:07:06.724,0:07:10.303
when we seek to deliver[br]value to our investors.

0:07:11.018,0:07:14.739
But accounting and finance[br]don't run the world.

0:07:15.855,0:07:17.421
Beliefs,

0:07:17.421,0:07:18.772
mindsets --

0:07:18.772,0:07:21.072
those are what drive business ethics.

0:07:21.224,0:07:24.705
And if we're going to change[br]those mindsets and belief systems,

0:07:24.705,0:07:27.771
we're going to have to use the most[br]Disney superpower out there.

0:07:27.913,0:07:30.263
We're going to have to use[br]our imaginations.

0:07:30.523,0:07:34.140
You're going to have to invite[br]Jiminy Cricket back to the party.

0:07:35.305,0:07:39.589
Now, Jiminy Cricket might start[br]with some low-hanging fruit

0:07:39.589,0:07:41.956
like, greed is not good,

0:07:41.956,0:07:45.773
like the world is not divided[br]into makers and takers,

0:07:45.773,0:07:47.406
and that nobody ever,

0:07:47.406,0:07:48.381
without any help,

0:07:48.381,0:07:50.951
pulled themselves up[br]by their own bootstraps --

0:07:50.951,0:07:54.490
if you know anything about physics[br]you'll understand why that is.

0:07:55.291,0:07:59.045
Jiminy might remind us that every[br]single person who works for us,

0:07:59.045,0:08:00.859
without exception,

0:08:00.859,0:08:03.145
whether they fill out the spreadsheets

0:08:03.145,0:08:04.788
or change the bedsheets,

0:08:04.788,0:08:08.435
deserves the respect[br]and dignity of living wage.

0:08:08.706,0:08:10.306
It's as simple as that.

0:08:11.113,0:08:14.674
And Jiminy might wonder[br]how managers and employees

0:08:14.674,0:08:19.342
could possibly have any kind[br]of empathy for each other

0:08:19.342,0:08:22.976
when their workplaces have[br]become so segregated

0:08:22.976,0:08:25.310
that it seems normal and natural

0:08:25.310,0:08:29.040
that an executive needs[br]an especially swanky place to park

0:08:29.040,0:08:31.124
or eat or go to the bathroom

0:08:31.124,0:08:34.947
or that an executive is too good[br]to pick up a piece of garbage.

0:08:35.254,0:08:40.087
We are, after all, just the one species[br]living together on just the one planet.

0:08:41.383,0:08:44.925
Jiminy might ask us to question[br]some of our dogma.

0:08:45.836,0:08:50.538
Does a CEO really need to be paid[br]as much or more than every other CEO,

0:08:50.538,0:08:53.089
or is that just creating[br]a competitive dynamic

0:08:53.089,0:08:55.687
that's driving numbers[br]into the stratosphere?

0:08:56.247,0:09:00.509
He might wonder if boards really do know[br]all that they really need to know

0:09:00.509,0:09:03.548
when they don't have frontline workers[br]ever at their meetings.

0:09:04.811,0:09:08.393
He might ask if there's such a thing[br]as too much money.

0:09:08.839,0:09:12.241
Or he might wonder if maybe we can[br]make common cause

0:09:12.241,0:09:13.466
with consumers,

0:09:13.466,0:09:14.467
with workers,

0:09:14.467,0:09:15.467
with companies,

0:09:15.467,0:09:16.468
with communities,

0:09:16.468,0:09:18.220
for all of us to come together

0:09:18.220,0:09:22.136
to redefine this incredibly narrow idea

0:09:22.136,0:09:25.715
of what the purpose[br]of a company really is.

0:09:26.695,0:09:31.395
Jiminy would want us to remember[br]that nobody works in a vacuum,

0:09:31.395,0:09:33.811
that the men and women who run companies

0:09:33.811,0:09:37.928
actively co-create the reality[br]we all have to share.

0:09:38.215,0:09:40.515
And just like with global warming,

0:09:40.515,0:09:44.499
we are, each of us, responsible[br]for collective consequences

0:09:44.499,0:09:47.312
of our individual decisions and actions.

0:09:48.640,0:09:51.924
I believe that the most profitable[br]business ecosystem

0:09:51.924,0:09:53.225
in the history of the world

0:09:53.225,0:09:54.377
can do better.

0:09:54.490,0:09:58.406
I believe we can take[br]just a little bit off of the upside,

0:09:58.406,0:10:02.389
take a tiny bit of pressure off[br]the speed at which things are happening.

0:10:02.696,0:10:05.701
I believe that everything[br]we lose in the short-term

0:10:05.701,0:10:07.571
will more than make up for itself

0:10:07.571,0:10:13.479
in an expanded landscape of moral,[br]spiritual and financial prosperity.

0:10:13.928,0:10:15.574
I know what the cynics say,

0:10:15.574,0:10:16.571
and it's true:

0:10:16.571,0:10:18.581
you can't eat your principles.

0:10:18.581,0:10:21.004
But you've can't breathe[br]a basis point either,

0:10:21.004,0:10:22.891
and neither can your children.

0:10:23.215,0:10:26.747
I know I idolized my grandfather[br]probably too much.

0:10:26.963,0:10:29.046
He worked in very different times

0:10:29.046,0:10:31.446
and those are times[br]none of us want to go back to

0:10:31.446,0:10:33.378
for all kinds of good reasons.

0:10:33.804,0:10:37.075
I know there are a lot of CEOs today[br]who are just as well-meaning

0:10:37.075,0:10:39.853
and just as decent as my grandfather was,

0:10:39.853,0:10:43.109
but they're working at a time[br]with very different expectations

0:10:43.109,0:10:45.703
and much more cutthroat context.

0:10:46.097,0:10:47.821
But here's the good news:

0:10:47.821,0:10:51.407
expectations and contexts are made

0:10:51.407,0:10:53.341
and they can be unmade too.

0:10:53.727,0:10:56.783
There is so much to learn[br]from the simple integrity

0:10:56.783,0:10:59.811
of how my grandfather[br]understood his job as CEO.

0:11:00.729,0:11:04.119
Behind every theme park[br]and every stuffed animal,

0:11:04.119,0:11:07.100
a handful of principles[br]governed everything.

0:11:07.759,0:11:11.897
Every single person deserves[br]respect and dignity.

0:11:13.184,0:11:16.887
No one is too good[br]to pick up a piece of garbage,

0:11:16.887,0:11:20.375
and always let conscience be your guide.

0:11:20.792,0:11:23.910
We could all do worse[br]than listen to Jiminy Cricket.

0:11:24.620,0:11:25.802
Thank you.