The book

A memoir four years in the making

Within weeks of taking the top job, a pandemic closed the parks and the cruise ships. Two years later he was out and his predecessor was back in the chair. This is his account of both, written with New York Times bestselling co-author Don Yaeger.

In 2022 the end came in a weekend, over a phone call, with the board pointing at a quarterly report. Chapek has spent four years working out what he thinks happened. This book is the answer.

What's inside

A memoir in four parts

Thirty years at one company, from a division that sold films on cassette to the chair at the top.

ONE

The videotape years

He arrived in 1993 at a Disney division that sold films on cassette, then carried the business through DVD and Blu-ray and into streaming. Three format shifts that ended other companies, and the rise that followed from them.

TWO

Running the parks

Shanghai Disneyland, Pandora and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and more than $24 billion invested in parks, hotels and cruise ships, a figure the New York Times noted was greater than Disney paid for Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm combined.

THREE

The corner office

The pandemic shutdown and the reopening, Disneyland turned into a mass vaccination site, and the pivot to streaming. The decisions that defined the job, told from inside the room.

FOUR

The exit

The weekend in November 2022 when the board replaced him with Bob Iger, five months after a three-year extension. What he thinks happened, and why he waited four years to say it.

The author

About Bob Chapek

Robert A. Chapek spent nearly 30 years at The Walt Disney Company, leading home entertainment, consumer products and the parks before serving as chief executive from 2020 to 2022. This memoir is his first book, written from inside the company he joined in 1993.

He grew up in Robertsdale, the Hammond, Indiana neighborhood beside the Whiting oil refinery, studied microbiology at Indiana University, and earned an MBA at Michigan State before a career in brand management and advertising took him to Disney in 1993. He and his wife Cynthia married in 1981 and have three children. The book was written with Don Yaeger, who has written or co-written more than thirty books, most of them with athletes, coaches and executives.

Background

Career record

A factual timeline of Bob Chapek's career, newest first: his current advisory work, then the Disney years, then his education. Most entries link to the source they come from.

NOW

Advisor to Ninja AI

Advisor to Ninja AI (NinjaTech.AI), the company that built and manages this site.

NOW

Advisory and board mandates

Consulting and Advisory services in location-based entertainment, artificial intelligence, media technology, and private equity real estate.

2024 to 2025

Board of Directors, Masimo

Joined the board of Masimo, a medical technology company, in January 2024. He resigned, effective at the 2025 annual meeting.

2020 to 2022

Chief Executive Officer

Named the seventh CEO of The Walt Disney Company on February 25, 2020, succeeding Robert Iger.

2018

Chairman, Parks, Experiences and Products

Leads the segment created in 2018 that combines the parks, consumer products and experiences businesses.

2015

Chairman, Parks and Resorts

Named chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Shanghai Disney Resort opens in 2016 under his tenure.

2011

President, Disney Consumer Products

Promoted to president of Disney Consumer Products. He holds the role from 2011 to 2015.

2009

Walt Disney Studios

Named President of Distribution for The Walt Disney Studios.

2000

President of Home Entertainment

Named President of Home Entertainment in 2000.

1993

Joins Disney

Arrives in a marketing role in Disney's home entertainment business. The Disney career runs almost 30 years.

EARLY

Education and early career

B.S. in microbiology, Indiana University Bloomington, and an MBA, Michigan State University. Before Disney: brand management at H.J. Heinz Company and advertising at J. Walter Thompson.

Education

B.S. microbiology, Indiana University Bloomington. MBA, Michigan State University.

Sources: Disney, Feb 2020, Disney board announcement, Disney, 2011 promotion, CNBC, PBS NewsHour, Masimo resignation (SEC).

Press

Press kit and photographs

Everything a producer, booker or reporter needs, in one place.

Downloads

A short author bio and a one-page fact sheet for the book, ready to drop into a program or an article.

Press kit and bio Download the bio (TXT)

Press desk

Publishing enquiries: Gallery Books publicity, Simon & Schuster.

Behind the Castle Walls book cover panel with the title and publication date — Cover art: Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster, shown to identify the work.

Behind theCastle Walls

About Bob