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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.
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Now displaying: December, 2022
Dec 27, 2022

Today, Jody and I discuss how to reinforce good customer service. It’s not enough to require your team to provide customer service. You need to recognize specific actions, so it is reproducible.

As a leader, it is your job to recognize and reinforce the attributes you want your employees to embody. The only way to do that is to be out where it happens. Have your feet on the ground and see how your team treats the customers. When you see behavior you want repeated, call it out, and recognize the individual for it. The best recognition is specific.

When you are present and observant, it becomes easy to see what is cultivating in the culture of your team. You hire the team to make a difference, but you must create an environment for them to work within.

Expressing genuine and specific interest in people is the best way to recognize individuals and help them feel valued. Pay attention today, on purpose, and call them out for it. Recognized and rewarded behavior gets repeated. Bring it up and follow up. Make recognizing people part of who you are. That is how it becomes the culture.

You will make people’s lives better, and you will better yourself by intentionally seeking out opportunities to recognize others. Serve everyone like they are your best friend or family member. When you have a lot of happy people on your team, you will make more money. Simple as that.

If you want to experience great customer service, make sure to reach out to Magical Vacation Planners. They can help you plan your next vacation. You can reach them at 407-442-2694.

Resources

About Lee Cockerell

Mainstreet Leader
Cockerell Academy

Dec 20, 2022

Today, Jody and I are looking at how to identify and deal with your biggest problem.

Identifying issues and problems that we have can be challening. Choosing which ones need to be tackled first can feel overwhelming. But failing to do the hard things and deal with problems will haunt you. The quicker you deal with something, the happier you will be.

It takes discipline to work on the hard things. When you put problems off and don’t confront them, they grow and taking care of them doesn't get any easier.

Built-up problems cause anxiety. Depression can paralyze and keep you from the action. Something that seems small in the beginning can become much harder to overcome. Just do it. Attack it and get after it. Just like there are symptoms in our body that something isn’t right, we have symptoms in our life that tell us if something needs to be dealt with.

The first step to dealing with issues is to identify them. Stop what you are doing. Make a list of what you need to get rid of or the hard things you know you need to do. Little things can grow into big issues if left unchecked. Don’t let the little things in your life grow into big issues.

When it comes to dealing with issues with people, it is the same process. Take a moment and make a list of your grievances. Next, set up a time to discuss it and talk through them. Conversations are key. Whether personal or professional, identify the problem and take action to rectify them.

If you want to limit issues on your next vacation, make sure to reach out to Magical Vacation Planners. They can help you plan your next vacation. You can reach them at 407-442-2694.

Connect with Lee

About Lee Cockerell

Mainstreet Leader
Cockerell Academy

Dec 13, 2022

Today, Jody and I discuss the recent changes that have taken place at Disney. I also provide my interpretation of what may have led to it and what we, as leaders, can learn.

As many have heard, there was a recent change in leadership at Disney as Bob Chapek stepped down and Bog Iger returned to head the company. When Bob Chapek stepped into his role at Disney, he came in hard, and centralized everything. Unfortunately, centralizing communicates distrust. This led to mistakes and an atmosphere of discontent.

I’ve mentioned before how business is a three-legged stool. Take care of your customers, take care of your employees, and take care of Wall Street. If you don’t do one of these, you become unbalanced, and it will topple. A three-legged stool can’t stand up when it has missing legs.

Great people want to be involved and make a difference. When you communicate distrust, you will lose your best people. When you get a good team, trust them. Give them authority. You aren’t as good as you think you are. If you want to get somewhere fast, go alone. If you want to get far, go with people.

These are the differences between Chapek and Iger. One led with trust and allowed autonomy, and the other did his best to hold the reins on everything. A good leader knows success comes from people. Value input and be a good listener. Value input above ego, and you will go far.

If you are considering visiting Disney to see the changes for yourself, make sure to reach out to Magical Vacation Planners. They can help you plan your next vacation. You can reach them at 407-442-2694.

Connect with Lee

About Lee Cockerell

Mainstreet Leader
Cockerell Academy

Dec 6, 2022

 

Today, Jody and I discuss the difference between having fewer meetings and more conversations and how that can benefit your company.

I recently attended a two-day conference for camps in Chicago. Something that stuck out was the number of things they solved and situations they brought clarity to through involved conversations. We are used to a culture of meetings. People show up and listen to others talk, and everyone walks away without solving much.

As a leader, don’t sit at a table with people who don’t want to be there. Be strategic and get the people who care about the topic in the room. Now you can get to the bottom of things. Another approach is getting rid of the table. Without a table, it is harder to be disengaged or on your phone.

It isn’t too difficult to implement. Take a problem and introduce the concept of gathering people together and getting opinions. Allow the appropriate amount of time. Once people get comfortable, they will start contributing.  Not only does this expand your pool of knowledge and experience, it helps educate others and expand their understanding of the situation.

So, next time you need to start a conversation, even if you are the owner of a corner store, do what needs to be done. Close early, grab some food, expand your search parameters, and add value to the reason people should join.                           

If you are interested in visiting Chicago after this episode, reach out to Magical Vacation Planners. They can help you plan your next vacation. You can reach them at 407-442-2694.

Connect with Lee

About Lee Cockerell

Mainstreet Leader
Cockerell Academy

The Customer Rules

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