From Disney To Dog Dad: Jim Fielding On Reinventing Leadership, Love, And Life After Corporate

Jim Fielding spent decades running the show at Disney, Gap, and DreamWorks.Corner offices. Global teams. The whole machine.Then he walked away from it.Not because he failed. Because he finally got honest about what success was actually costing him.In this conversation, Jim gets into the stuff most executives would never say out loud.Like how "authentic leadership" is mostly a buzzword… until you've actually had to fire someone while pretending you're fine.How being "too American" in a global role isn't confidence — it's a liability.How AI isn't coming for experienced people… it's coming for rigid ones.We also talk about planning a queer wedding while semi-nomadic…Managing dogs across multiple time zones…And why the hardest part of leaving corporate wasn't the money.It was the identity.Jim doesn't give you a TED Talk. He gives you the version he'd tell you over a drink — the messy, funny, uncomfortably real version of what it looks like to burn down a "successful" life and build one that actually fits.Fair warning: this episode has been known to cause sudden urges to quit your job, adopt a rescue, and stop performing competence for people who don't deserve it.