Our company has been very forward-thinking about digital technology and the opportunity that it gives us. As we move into a world where we have more and more devices at our disposal, that really means more and more opportunities for the Walt Disney Co. to reach you: through our entertainment, through all of our divisions.
A good leader should focus on making sure everyone is being given the tools to do their job, not just expecting - poof! - that they're going to produce great work.
If you have a great day at work and you've been hit with all these great ideas and there's a lot of excitement on your team, your mind doesn't turn off. For years I've kept a pad of paper and pen by me at night, because things just occur to you.
'Dancing with the Stars' is a great format for us. It's a format we license from the BBC, so that can't travel for us, but we consider it a great success. 'Desperate Housewives,' on the other hand, a huge success for us internationally. 'Missing' has actually sold to 80 territories before it's even gone on the air.
The more opportunities people have to experience television on different platforms, the more television they consume overall. So there actually has been a benefit, but the ratings have gone down. But we've seen kind of the horizontal benefit of this. And it remains a great, great promotion engine.
We saw Hulu as an opportunity to broaden our audience for ABC content.
The value of the television network is partly tradition, serving as a navigation device and as a brand. Research shows that people do know and understand ABC as a brand, like Disney.
I think the must-have power qualities for a female or male power leader are really the ability to focus, to work hard, to be extremely goal oriented and to not let the noise and the nonsense interfere with your mission - what you really feel you want to do with your career and your life.
The more personalized television gets, the less passive the experience will become.
Piracy is a huge, huge issue for all of these major content companies, and everybody has a different way of addressing it.
Today, television is the most powerful medium in the world. Tomorrow it will also be the most personal. There is no one future for television. It will be defined differently for everyone.
When you are producing for ABC, you are producing for a big tent network. So when you are thinking about your story lines and characters, you are thinking about broad appeal. When you are producing for a niche interest, you are producing for a different audience.
My theme song is always: 'Pay attention to your viewer. Follow them.'
I am so very honored to be the recipient of MIPCOM's 2011 Personality of the Year. However, the accomplishments that have led to this honor are not mine alone. They are the result of the tireless efforts of so very many talented colleagues.
