Creating Magic:Leadership Lessons
fromLee Cockerell
bySharon Link-Wyer, PhD
All rights reserved. (c). 2016
I had the pleasure of working with former
Disney V.P. of Operations, Lee Cockerell, to
film leadership training videos for an online
course I developed. I flew to Orlando and
worked with Mr. Cockerell at his house. I had
never been to Disney World before. We were
filmed by a videographer who previously
worked for HGTV and Lifetime Television. Lee
has become a good friend is now one of my
references.
Here are some of my most memorable quotes
from this experience.
Sharon Link-Wyer, PhD
Lee Cockerell is the former Executive Vice
President of Operations for the Walt Disney
World® Resort. "As the Senior Operating
Executive for ten years Lee led a team of
40,000 Cast Members and was responsible
for the operations of 20 resort hotels, 4 theme
parks, 2 water parks, a shopping &
entertainment village and the ESPN sports
and recreation complex in addition to the
ancillary operations which supported the
number one vacation destination in the
world."
Who is Lee Cockerell?
One of Lee's major and lasting legacies
was the creation of Disney Great Leader
Strategies which was used to train and
develop the 7000 leaders at Walt Disney
World. Lee has held various executive
positions in the hospitality and
entertainment business with Hilton Hotels
for 8 years and the Marriott Corporation for
17 years before joining Disney in 1990 to
open the Disneyland Paris project.
What is one of Lee's lasting legacies?
Lee Cockerell, LLC is a leadership,
management & customer service consulting
company which specializes in leadership and
management training with an emphasis on
how to create worldclass customer service
through great leadership. With so many
products and services on the market which
are very similar, it is the interaction between
the employee and customer which makes the
difference and gives you the competitive
advantage. Learn how “YOU can create
magic too” in your organization.
Lee has written four books. He presents on
a variety of topics around the world to
diverse audiences.
Lee creates lifechanging magic for many
audiences of thousands of people.
Traveling around the world sharing his
enduring themes, Lee's message centers
on strong leadership, hard work,
excellence, and perseverance.
Lee's work shifts the culture in
organizations that need his wisdom, seek
his advice, and benefit from his inspiration.
Since retiring from Disney...
2008 2013 2015 2016
Lee's bestselling books...
TheInterview
People who pay attention
to what is going on
around them are much
more successful. Pay
attention to your fellow
team members and to
what is going on around
you just like you would if
you were in a dark
parking lot late at night.
This may save your life
and your career.
Pay attention. This may save your life and your career.
Sit down right now and
make a list of the people in
your life that you appreciate
and then go about telling
them before the week is
out. If any of them faint this
is a sign you are not doing
it often enough. You can
not do it too often. This
builds self confidence and
self esteem. Your actions in
this area will make a big
difference in how people in
your life succeed. We all
need appreciation,
recognition and
encouragement.
Tell people that you appreciate them.
Leadership is hard. It is
full of paradoxes. You
often have to do two
opposing things like cut
costs and keep the
customer happy; or
sometimes you have
three different things
which don't sound like
they are possible. Great
leaders do the impossible.
Leadership is hard.
Being excellent is hard.
So when you have
something hard to do,
remember you are being
excellent. Do you want to
be remembered for being
good or great?
Being excellent is hard.
A Leader's job is to do
what has to be done,
when it has to be done, in
the way it should be done,
whether he or she likes it
or not. This applies at
work with your employees
and at home with your
children. You have to
develop your children
you can't fire them. If you
focused more on
developing your
employees, you would not
have to fire them.
A Leader's job is to do what has to be done...
When you are in a senior
leadership position you
must be an inspirational
leader and not just an
administrator if you want
to get the results which
are possible with a team
of inspired followers. So
many top leaders today
are just administrators
who focus on doing things
instead of inspiring
people.
You must be an inspirational leader, not just an administrator.
Always tell the truth, even
if it means admitting a
mistake; as we learned
from Watergate and other
scandals, actions are
usually forgiven, but
coverups are not.
Be careful whom you hire
and promote. They are
your company, they are
your brand.
Your people are your brand.
People ask me what I
worry about. I can tell you
one thing I worry about is:
how disoganized people
are. Take a management
course. Your credibility
and reputation are at
stake.
"I worry about how disorganized people are."
Lee and his wife Priscilla
live in Orlando Florida.
I was inspired by Lee and
Priscilla's marriage and
family.
It was an honor to visit
them and work together
on this project.
Lee's wife, Priscilla Cockerell.
Leadership is about
integrity, honesty,
character and inspiration.
Managment is about how
to do things. Leadership is
picking the right things
and management is
getting them done.
I can tell you one thing,
and that is in every job I
had as a young person, I
thought I was underpaid,
underappreciated, and
many other unders
('unders is a new word I
made up')... But one thing
I received was great
experience, which paid off
big time in the later on.
Find ways to create
comfortable relationships
with everyone in your
workplace. The better
they know you and the
more often they see you,
will give them the courage
to tell you the truth about
the business. And every
leader needs all the help
they can get.
More words of wisdom from Lee...
Testimonials
"Elegant in its simplicity and
practicality, Lee has distilled
many powerful leadership
strategies into the lessons many
of us learned as children. They
are no less relevant to our
working lives. At its core,
Creating Magic is a collection of
stories that reminds us to
demonstrate care and respect
for every member of the team
and to focus our efforts not our
ourselves but on the people we
lead."
Testimonials...
"In Creating Magic, Lee
Cockerell delivers his ideas
about leadership in a
common sense way that can
really reach people and help
them improve their
effectiveness at work, at
home, and in their
communities. His valuable
leadership strategies and
remarkable Disney stories will
ring true for everyone who
reads this book."
"After reading Lee Cockerell's
preliminary Overview and
Chapter Content outline for his
book on leadership I am
looking forward to reading the
book and recommending it to
others. Lee's common sense
principles and down to earth
storytelling is refreshing. His
book will help leaders and
managers at all levels become
better in all parts of their lives."
Ken Blanchard
Coauthor of The One Minute
Manager®
and Leading at a Higher Level
George Bodenheimer
President, ESPN, Inc and ABC
Sports
Lee Huebner
Lee Huebner is currently the Director of
School of Media and Public Affairs at the
George Washington University.
Thank you!
Top Related