Aging & Wisdom Quote by Robert Iger

This is disruption talk with a very specific beneficiary: the company doing the “following.” Iger frames reinvention as humility - listen, adapt, meet people where they are - but the line quietly flips agency. “Follow the consumer” sounds democratic; in practice it’s a mandate to rewire an entire business around data, distribution, and leverage. The consumer becomes both compass and justification, a clean moral alibi for decisions that are actually about power in the marketplace.

The key phrase is “put some of the old rules aside.” Rules here aren’t ethics; they’re legacy constraints: windowing, cable bundles, theatrical exclusivity, release schedules, regional rights, even the idea that audiences should come to you. Iger’s era is defined by the collapse of those gatekeeping systems under streaming, mobile, and global platforms. If the consumer “wants to go” to on-demand, subscription, and personalization, then the company has to become less a studio and more a platform operator - or be eaten by one.

The subtext is also a subtle threat to incumbents and internal skeptics. He’s not debating tradition; he’s declaring it optional. That’s how corporate change is sold: not as a gamble, but as risk management. “Best interest” implies there’s no alternative, only adaptation.

Yet there’s an unspoken tension: consumers rarely articulate coherent “wants.” They respond to what’s offered, nudged by frictionless interfaces and endless recommendation loops. Following the consumer can be another way of leading them - just with better metrics and softer language.