Info

Creating Disney Magic

Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, shares his wisdom and experience from his time with Disney, Marriott, and Hilton. Lee joins show host Jody Maberry to discuss how you can apply lessons in leadership, management, and customer service to create magic in your organization.
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
Creating Disney Magic
2024
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2015
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2014
December


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: August, 2020
Aug 27, 2020

I am excited to announce the launch of The Cockerell Academy.

The Cockerell Academy is the best thing I have ever created. It is full of courses on leadership, management, customer service, and culture.

When you enroll, you will get instant access to six courses:

Time Management Magic

Morning Magic Planning

Career Magic 30

Career Success for Students

Perfect Day for Your Customers

World Class Customer Service (based on my book, The Customer Rules)

All of my courses will be inside the Cockerell Academy and you will have access to every one of them.

Plus, you will have access to the Phronesis Vault. Every month, I will add new content to the Vault, including articles, podcasts, videos, and exclusive interviews with some of my favorite people in business. Over time, the Vault will grow to become the most valuable part of the Cockerell Academy.

And this is just the start. Over the next few months, I will add more courses. Already, we are working on three new courses: Better Decisions, Diversity and Inclusion, and Real Leadership (based on my book, Creating Magic).

With the Cockerell Academy, you will have access to all of this for a yearly subscription. As an early adopter, you will lock in the pandemic price of only $249 per year for as long as you stay with the Academy. I am keeping the price low right now while we all work through the pandemic.

Even better, you will lock in that annual price for as long as you remain a member of the Cockerell Academy.

Click Here to find out more about the Cockerell Academy. 

Aug 25, 2020

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.

Aug 18, 2020

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. 

Aug 11, 2020

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.

Aug 4, 2020

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.

1