Creating Disney Magic

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Business
**Creating Disney Magic**

Lee Cockerell shares his wisdom and experience from his time as the Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World. Along with host Jody Maberry, Lee discusses how you can apply lessons in leadership, management, and customer service to create magic in your organization.

Latest Episodes:

How to Manage Your Mood Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

On this episode, I'll answer two reader questions on "How to Manage Your Mood".

The first question is from John Sparks.

John asks "How did you grow to control your thoughts and reactions? How do you catch and manage your moods?"

Here are my best tips for managing, catching, and controlling moods.

-When I am feeling good I can control my behavior, thoughts, and mood much easier. -I always preach "Don't underestimate the influence you have on people." This is very applicable to the world today. -I think about it often so that it has become a part of how I control myself. Nothing good comes from having a bad attitude. -While I have the ability to be upset, the positive feedback from being positive is a part of what keeps me focused on how I respond. -Attitude and behavior can be controlled if I think about it. -When a failure happens I ask, "Why and what can I do about it?" so that it doesn't happen again. -I can still be honest and firm without degrading people. -If I am nice, polite, and helpful people want to be around and talk to me. -It's all about attitude. -The more you practice being positive the more positive you become. Soon it becomes a habit. -Getting over a bad day is easy when you help other people have a great experience. -So the next time you find yourself in that spot see who you can help to have a better day and watch how your outlook changes.

The second question is from Evan Markowitz. Evan asks me to clarify what "Professionally Ballistic" means when I didn't get the General Manager job with Marriot.

I was firm and professional when I went to talk to them about being passed over. I was persistent but not annoying.

Evan then asked if I "Had not ended up going to Disney would I have left Marriot after that?"

Yes because I wanted to go and do something different.

Even followed up with "Had you been looking at all outside of Marriot for a different job before that?"

No, I was happy, appreciated, and valued where I was at so I wasn't looking for something else.

People who are appreciated and valued will be the most loyal employees.

Take Time to Hire the Right Person Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

When it comes to hiring, always hold out for the right person.

Play the long game. Don't hire someone who is not the right person just so you can fill a position.

If you don't have great people you won't become a great organization. Being excellent is hard. And you need the right people to be excellent.

Sure, it can become frustrating to deal with the extra work that comes from an empty position. But hiring the wrong person will create even more work.

How's The Culture in Your Kingdom Aug 11, 2020

Show notes

Dan Cockerell returns to Creating Disney Magic to talk about his new book, How's the Culture in Your Kingdom.

Four stages to building a healthy culture; Leading Self, Leading Teams, Leading an Organization, Leading Change.

A leader understands they have to take care of themself before they can take care of other people. Taking care of yourself is probably the hardest thing a leader has to do.

Dan explains there is more to taking care of yourself than physical fitness. You also need to tend to your mental and moral fitness, too.

How you take care of yourself flows into how you lead a team.

Few organizations have a leadership strategy. How's the Culture in Your Kingdom will help you develop a deliberate strategy for leadership. Don't leave leadership to be a byproduct of the work you are doing. Be deliberate about building a culture. It's all about people.

In this episode, Dan will walk you through how to develop a clear leadership strategy.

Don't miss out on the new book, How's the Culture In Your Kingdom.

The Mistakes You Make on Your Website Aug 04, 2020

Show notes

Most organizations make two big mistakes with their website.

First, we are confusing people about what we sell. People should be able to look at your website for five seconds and be able to know what you sell, how it will make their life better, and what do you need to do to buy it.

When you tell people what you are selling, they tend to buy it.

Some of the confusion we create comes from the curse of knowledge. We know so much about our product, we project our knowledge onto the customer.

The second mistake we make with our website, is we talk too much about ourselves. Instead, you want to talk about the customer and the customer's problem. People don't read your website to find out about you, they are reading to find out how you can solve their problem.

"Don't be the hero, be the guide." - Donald Miller.

You can talk about yourself as long as you are talking about empathy, "I feel your pain", and authority, "I have the expertise to get your out of your problem."

When we express empathy and authority, people will end up wanting to hear your story. But you have to earn the right by showing people you care about their problems.

If you enjoyed hearing Donald Miller on this episode, you will also enjoy the Building a StoryBrand podcast.

To get more marketing tips from Don, you will want to check out the daily Business Made Simple videos.

Finally, don't miss Don's new book, Marketing Made Simple.

Marketing Made Simple Jul 28, 2020

Show notes

When it comes to marketing, most businesses guess.

Donald Miller wrote Marketing Made Simple to help businesses create marketing that actually works. The book will give you a step by step guide on what to do to connect with customers.

Story is the hidden language we all speak. If you don't use stories in your marketing, you will not connect with people.

You are in business to solved a problem. If you don't solve a problem and transform people, you've got no story and no business.

Marketing Made Simple breaks down marketing into this simple plan:

Creating a landing page in a specific way with specific language.
Have a lead generator that makes people want to give up their email address.
Send some emails to build trust and offer free value.
Close the deal with a sales campaign after you have built trust.

Between Donald's last two books, Building a StoryBrand and Marketing Made Simple, you can implement a simple, clear marketing plan to get more leads and earn more customers.

To learn more, visit StoryBrand.com

The Power of Your Voice Jul 21, 2020

Show notes

The 300th episode of Creating Disney Magic.

After recording 300 episodes over 6 years, here are the biggest things I have learned:

The power of hearing your voice. Nothing else can compare to people hearing your voice.
Keeping episodes short have allowed us to deliver content quickly.
Listener questions have allowed me to know what people are thinking and what topics are important.
A Podcast can help you learn more about yourself and polish the way you talk about what you believe.

This episode includes a few special messages from people with congratulations on reaching 300 episodes.

One thing I want you to remember is don't underestimate the power of your voice. We all need to stand up and speak out loud about what we believe in.

How to Make Hard Decisions Jul 14, 2020

Show notes

People who make good choices get ahead in life.

To make good choices, you need to understand your values. Take time to figure out what you stand for and what you stand against.

It is easy to make the wrong decision. It is tough to be brave and step in and help someone who doesn't have the same influence you don't have.

In the long term, it will pay off to stand up for what you believe in and do what is right. Making an easy decision may benefit you in the moment, but there is no benefit later. In fact, it will hurt you down the road. If not with other people, you will erode your confidence in yourself.

We all have influence. If you speak up you never know who is listening. If you take the right action you never know the impact it will have on the people watching.

Applying What You Learn to Improve Your Organization Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

When you learn something new, it is only entertainment if you don't use it.

On this episode of Creating Disney Magic, Chris Jaskiewicz joins us to explain how he used what he learned to improve his organization.

Chris is the President and CEO of Icon Park in Orlando.

Icon Park was the first attraction in Orlando to open as the city began open again after the Covid-19 lockdown. Chris explains how they used story, not facts, to present the case why Icon was ready to open again.

Chris also explains how he used what he learned from me to improve his organization. With the improvements to Icon Park, they have been acknowledged by Forbes and USA Today.

Whether you learn from me or someone else, you need to find a way to use the new information to improve. Don't go through the motions and then claim you are better. Apply what you learn and actually get better.

Share Your Opinion With Your Boss Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

When I was the Executive Vice President at Walt Disney World, I treasured my team coming to me with their opinion. They did not think of me as the big bad boss. They knew I was open to hearing their opinions.

I told them to keep me out of trouble and not let me make stupid decisions.

This attitude flowed up, too. Often, I would tell Al Weiss, my boss, what I needed to get work done.

Part of your responsibility as a leader is to do the right thing. Telling your boss what you know is the right thing. If you know something and don't share it with your boss, that is on you. You are not in your job to get along and get to retirement alive.

Too often, people are scared to speak up and let their boss know what they thing. If this is you, you are likely overrating the chance of getting in trouble with your boss.

If you don't have an environment where you can share your opinion with your boss, consider if it is the right place for you. When you hold back, it begins to have an impact on you when you don't get to tell the truth. It gets to you. Maybe it is time to move on.

Your Organization Cannot Operate in Silos Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

When I was Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World, Operations and entertainment sometimes had a conflict. The live shows were tremendous, but at times the cost was concerning. There was an entire operation to run, but live entertainment was a big piece of what people enjoy at the parks.

There are times when two department's priorities conflict with each other.

The key is you both have to have a mindset that you are going to work it out. Get a team together to find a way to make it work. When the right experts are in the room, you can work out the details and come out feeling both sides get what they need.

If you go in with the attitude you are going to win, everyone will lose. You won't look for a solution, you will just try to win.

There is no upside to winning when both sides are reaching for the same goal of serving the customer.

When you have a good attitude, you can avoid most of the problems.

Once you get people in the defensive mode, it can be difficult to get them out of being defensive.

Don't fall in love with your idea. There could be a better solution. Give your point of view, but you have to be willing to listen, too.

The leader of an organization needs to be clear that you will not operate in silos. If one department doesn't work, none of the departments will work. No department is more important than any other department.

To keep an organization from operating in silos, the leader must set high expectations, clarity of expectations, quality of hiring, and a high-level of training. Basically, it is your culture.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected