In the early 1950s, Walt Disney toured New York City’s most famous seaside attraction, Coney Island, which he described as “run-down and ugly.” Disney had found what he didn’t want to build. “Mine’s going to be a place that’s clean, where the whole family can do things together.”
Disney didn’t want the park near the ocean with sand-encrusted vacationers slopping through his park in beach wear. Nor did he want to compete with the Pacific Ocean. Disneyland had to be its own attraction.
—Author Richard Snow in Disney’s Land
When I occasionally drive by the corner of Harbor and Katella today and observe all of the five and 10 story buildings on that 10 acres, I recognize that the greatest mistake that I have ever made in my life was failing to retain that property, which I quite easily could have done… Neither I nor anyone else at that time thought Disneyland would be anything more than a wide place on the road with a few of the amenities they put in.
—Developer Harry S. Rinker about selling a property next to Disneyland in the 1950s
In the past two years, a group of local business leaders has come together to form the CEO Leadership Alliance of Orange County (CLA-OC)… We are confident that if we can work together as leaders and champions of our county and focus our efforts, we will become a top-tier innovation region in America.
—Edwards Lifesciences CEO Mike Mussallem and CLA-OC co-founder Doug Wilson
Significant monetary gifts understandably garner high visibility…. But as we celebrate seven-figure philanthropy, it’s important to recognize that smaller gives can move the needle just as powerfully.
—OC Community Foundation CEO Shelley Hoss
My mother grew up in war-torn Germany, getting by on meager meals with nearly zero nutritional content. That lens informed my thinking when, as a 17-year-old, I took my very first job as a dishwasher at Marie Callender’s. As I tossed uneaten food into the trash, I had my first insight into the problem of excess food going to waste. I carried this mindset throughout my career as a merchant of food.
—Second Harvest CEO Harald Herrmann
What if more companies searched for young business talent the way colleges and pro teams search for promising athletes? … As executives who do a good deal of hiring, we believe strongly that our K-12 system would benefit tremendously from more business involvement.
—CHOC President Kimberly Chavalas Cripe and PIMCO Co-COO Robin Shanahan
Public employee unions in the Capital have significant clout and financial resources and will be reluctant to cooperate with even a reasonable solution to save retirement plans as the current formulas will be hard to let go of.
—Former California state senator John Moorlach
He did not view himself as the smartest guy in the room, and in fact, struggled with academics as a child, but my dad was a fighter. He believed that if he cared more about something than anyone else, his determination could win the day. My father credited most of his accomplishments to perseverance, or as he would say, “Staying the Course.”
—Bill H. Lyon, who was executive chairman of William Lyon Homes, about his late father Gen. William Lyon
We won’t come out of this pandemic the way we went in. At our firm, we’ve called this COVID-19 year “The Great Reset.”
—Joe Duran, founder of United Capital Financial Advisers, now a unit of Goldman Sachs
When it comes to how we educate nurses, California has been behind the times, predominantly because the California Board of Registered Nursing refuses to adapt to technological and educational changes that have already been implemented in other states.
—American Career College CEO David Pyle
In basic training, you learn all about small unit tactics and teamwork. You learn firsthand how multiple teams are stitched together to form a larger unit. People become squads, squads become platoons, platoons form companies, companies become battalions, battalion’s brigades, brigades become divisions and divisions become armies. A massive organization is created through a cohesive group of smaller units working in concert.
—Coolsys CEO Adam Coffey
I’ve estimated thousands of equations ever since I took my first course in econometrics back in 1966. Perhaps the most accurate of these is an equation developed by my students and me that forecasts the outcome of presidential elections… It has correctly called the popular vote victory or loss for the incumbent party candidate in 15 of the last 16 elections… It doesn’t rely on opinion polls… It has two variables: the average percentage change in prices and the average percentage change in jobs during the year of the presidential election…. The COVID-19 recession will not be kind to President Donald Trump’s re-election hopes.
—Chapman President Emeritus Jim Doti in a July prediction
Over the past decade, in U.S. war games against China, the United States has a nearly perfect record: we have lost almost every single time.
—Anduril Chief Strategy Officer Christian Brose in “The Kill Chain”
An essential priority of the post-COVID recovery will be organizational agility and nimbleness… 30%-50% of the corporate workforce will be classified as “contingent or flexible” by 2025—including gig workers, outsourced providers, temporary talent or robotics.
—Resources Global Professionals CEO Kate Duchene
The fact that about 600,000 people in Orange County are affected annually (by a mental health disorder) isn’t well known by the public… Orange County lacks the necessary psychiatrists, therapists and formal care units.
—Dr. Richard Afable and Marchall Moncrief, chairman and CEO respectively of Be Well OC, which is building a $40 million state of the art facility set to open early this year
Skip invited me to a practice, not to watch or observe, but to take the field with the team. Though many years their senior, Skip pushed me to keep up with the ‘Eaters, and I remember the grass stains like it was yesterday.
—UCI Trustee Jim Mazzo on former UCI’s legendary baseball coach, Skip Gillespie, who died in July
Before the pandemic hit, just one in 10 employees worked from home on a regular basis… Now, with plenty of time to render judgment on the experience, just 12% want to remain at home full time once it’s safe to return to the office.
—Steve Case, EVP of the Irvine Co.’s 50 million square feet of office properties.
I can’t describe the feeling of fishing with these heroes. No egos, all team attitude, amazing men. We, as Americans, just don’t know how lucky we are to have these heroes keeping us safe.
—loanDepot founder Anthony Hsieh after hosting seven combat wounded veterans to a weekend of sports fishing
For investors, one of the few bright spots on the tax planning horizon is equity investment in Opportunity Zones… This aspect of the Trump tax cuts is likely to remain unscathed even if the Biden tax plan is enacted in full.
—Former SEC Chair Chris Cox
