In the early 2000s, Josh Simon was fresh out of Harvard and working his first corporate job at the Walt Disney Company. As the most junior person on his team, he didn’t expect much interaction with Disney’s CEO, Michael Eisner.
But Simon had a skill that came in handy: Having written for The Harvard Crimson, he knew a thing or two about editing. So when his boss sent him an op-ed Eisner had written and asked what he thought, Simon didn’t simply send back a few thoughts. He took out his red pen and rewrote it.
The move might sound risky for a 20-something employee critiquing the work of one of the most powerful executives in media. But Simon said it ended up doing something he couldn’t have expected at the time: it put him on Eisner’s good side.
“I was like the most junior person in the company, and he was CEO,” Simon said. “And it started a relationship between us that continues to this day.”
For Simon, now the CEO of Funko—the $300 million (by market value) pop-culture collectibles brand— that experience taught him a career lesson he still carries with him: Don’t wait to be asked to contribute more.
“I do think if you are really good at your job, there’s always opportunities that I would say…like don’t really ask for permission, but find these little niche pockets where you can take on more work or do something extra that no one has asked for,” Simon, 48, told Fortune.
“If you’re really thoughtful about what that is, then I think it helps to set you apart in your career.”
What Funko’s CEO learned from the CEOs of Disney, Nike, and Netflix
Growing up in South Florida, Simon’s interest in media and entertainment started as early as kindergarten, when he said he watched a documentary about the making of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video and was blown away by its cultural impact.
He eventually considered journalism as a career, interning at local TV and radio stations and writing for The Harvard Crimson. But his interests ultimately shifted toward the business side of entertainment.
After joining Disney in 2000, Simon spent six years in corporate strategy and later in film production and development, briefly joining Color Force, the DreamWorks-based production company later behind The Hunger Games, and then co-founding Function Drinks, a health and wellness company that was eventually sold. In 2015, he joined Nike, working across strategy, product and merchandising. Five years later, he moved to Netflix as vice president of consumer products.
Last September, Simon was tapped to help Funko, the company known for its vinyl figures and bobbleheads with oversized heads, recover from a perfect storm of issues, including declining sales, excess inventory, tariffs, and looming debt payments that that had raised questions about the company’s ability to keep operating. Funko’s sales had fallen 22% year over year in the second quarter of 2025, just before Simon joined, and the company had ousted its previous CEO that summer.
As he took on the role, Simon drew on lessons from the three influential CEOs he had worked for throughout his career: Eisner at Disney, Mark Parker at Nike, and Ted Sarandos at Netflix.
Simon said one inspiring trait united all three: a deep passion for their customers and what their companies created.
Parker, who started his career as a shoe designer, would sometimes sit in meetings sketching sneakers in his notebook. Sarandos was a voracious consumer of movies and television, a passion that stretched back to his days working at home-video stores. And Eisner, even late in his tenure at Disney, would attend test screenings, read scripts and offer detailed notes on the company’s films.
“They all really have an extreme passion for what their companies are creating, and in many ways, they’ve all been in the trenches,” Simon said. “They’ve all come up through these industries and have done these jobs in such unique ways that you can really sense their deep knowledge and passion.”
Now, Simon is trying to bring that same philosophy to Funko, which he sees as evolving beyond simply being a licensed-products company into more of a “canvas for fans to engage in pop culture”—and one that can respond to cultural demand sooner. As an example, as KPop Demon Hunters took the world by storm, Funko responded with a product line that accounted for 7% of Funko’s net sales in the first quarter of 2026.
Funko’s stock is up 35% a year into Simon’s tenure. His advice for Gen Z: Master your job first
A year into Simon’s tenure, there are signs of progress at Funko.
In its most recent earnings report, Funko reported net sales up 7% year over year—driven by growth in Europe, where sales were up nearly 20%. The company also reported net income of $15.4 million, compared with a net loss of $40.5 million a year earlier—thanks in part to expected tariff refunds and the release of accrued tariffs. The company’s stock is up more than 35% year over year.
But taking on a challenging environment has been nothing new for Simon.
He described his first job at Disney as a “24/7, almost like an all-nighter” culture as the company faced pressure from the rise of cable television and the emerging internet. And while amongst that tough environment, he benefited from editing Eisner’s op-ed—and doing something he wasn’t asked to do—Simon said young workers should first focus on becoming exceptionally good at the job they already have before worrying too much about what comes next.
“I feel like you’re most valuable early on if you just focus on what your job is, and you do incredibly well,” Simon said. “It’s remarkable, I think, like how few people actually do that and take that advice—and that you’ll really stand out.”
The post He was Disney’s most junior employee when he rewrote the CEO’s op-ed. Now he’s a CEO, with advice for Gen Z: ‘Don’t really ask for permission’ appeared first on Fortune.
