Creating Disney Magic

If you’ve worked at a company for any length of time, you’ve probably come up with some ideas for how it could improve. It’s hard when you get excited about something and bring it to your boss, only to have them shut it down. On this episode, we’re answering a listener question about this very subject. This listener explained that when she gives ideas to her boss, he always shoots them down. It’s become such an issue for her that it’s affecting her growth and happiness. She wrote in to ask for better ways to present her new ideas and get her supervisor to be less fearful about trying new things. There are many possible reasons a boss would shut down an idea. It may be that the idea just isn’t good. However, it could also be that the boss doesn’t want to put in the effort. Start with analyzing the ideas you’re bringing. Are you presenting them in enough detail? Are you explaining the end result of the changes you’re presenting? Have you thought through what will happen if you don’t implement this idea? It’s part of your boss’s job to sift through ideas he or she receives. If it’s not solving a problem for them, they probably won’t be apt to consider it. At some point, though, it’ll come down to two choices for you. Wait it out until that boss leaves the company or move on yourself. If you’re wired to do new things and think you have great ideas, it can feel like a slap in the face to have them continually shot down. This has happened twice in my own career. I didn’t align well with my boss and I felt like they weren’t listening, so I moved on. To hear more about this issue and learn ways I liked to be approached with new ideas in my time at Disney, tune in to the rest of the episode. If you have another question you’d like us to answer on the show, reach out at http://leecockerell.com or http://jodymaberry.com.

I’ve been very open about my struggle with depression in the past. Though I am doing great now, I still remember what it was like. A listener recently told us that they were just coming out of their own struggle with depression, but were feeling overwhelmed with building back their healthy habits. This is not something that I want to be an expert in, but the truth is that I am. We can’t expect everything to be fixed immediately. We didn’t fall into depression overnight, so we won’t come out of it overnight, either. It’s a process that takes time. However, there are things you can be doing to jumpstart that process. Some of the things that helped me were getting out into the sun, exercising, and spending time with other people. I didn’t always feel like doing these things, but I forced myself. Eventually, they brought healing and made me feel much better. Another helpful practice was scheduling my priorities. Get into your calendar and put the habits in there that you want to start again. Schedule the things that will help you. You can establish a new routine this way. Be very mindful about the way you’re treating your body, as well. Caffeine and alcohol can be really harmful. Pay attention to the way your body reacts to certain foods at certain times. Take any stressful things you can out of your life and try to keep an environment of calmness around you. Always make sure to get lots of sleep, too. That can make the biggest difference of all. Hopefully, my openness encourages you to be honest with the people around you. If you’re honest about your struggle, the people in your life can help you. On the other hand, the stress of keeping it a secret can be even worse than the depression itself. We always take your questions like this one and keep them on file, so if you have another question or topic you’d like us to talk about, reach out to me or Jody at http://www.leecockerell.com or http://www.jodymaberry.com.

It’s performance review time for many organizations. Towards the end of a year or the beginning of a new year, many companies will hold these reviews for their employees. They look back on what each one worked on and accomplished over the last year. On this episode, we’re discussing performance reviews from a different perspective than we have before. A listener asked how she, as an individual contributor, could demonstrate and document leadership skills to her supervisors during her performance review. First, you must understand what leadership really is. Don’t overcomplicate it. Leadership is about stepping up, raising your hand, and giving your opinion. It is doing whatever is necessary to make things better in your organization. Leaders take on responsibility and don’t back down from hard things. You have to demonstrate this leadership ability to your supervisors clearly. They’re busy, so they might not notice when you do something great. Don’t be afraid of self-promotion. If you don’t tell people something, they just won’t know. So make sure you get noticed. Go to your supervisor and tell them of your aspirations. If you’ve gotten involved and done great work, make sure they know about it. They’ll either tell you what you need to do to get where you want to go or will remember you when a promotion opportunity arises. If they’re not helping you advance, consider leaving. Go someplace where they will help you get what you want. To learn more about how to get your supervisors to notice your performance at work, listen in to the rest of this episode.

This week’s episode is a special one. We’re sharing a clip from our conversation with Ron Logan. Ron is retired now, but he was the Executive Vice President of live entertainment for Disney worldwide. If you have ever experienced live entertainment at any Disney location, Ron had a part in it. Even though he is retired today, his impact is still felt at every Disney park. Ron is a man of attention to detail and creativity. He wouldn’t send anything out unless it was perfect. He even brought some of the shows he produced at Disney to Broadway, which is no easy task to accomplish. In our conversation, Ron talked about his beginnings with Disney. He started out as a trumpet player on Main Street at Disneyland. This led to him putting whole parades together and eventually coming back to work for Disney full-time. A lot of Ron’s success resulted from his interactions with his bosses. He had lots of amazing mentors, but he also had some bosses he didn’t like. His secret was to treat them as the hero. If you have to deal with top executives in your job, make them your hero. Make their jobs easier and you’ll be in a much better position. Tuck away your problems with them and keep the faith. Who knows, maybe you’ll take their spot one day. You can get access to our entire conversation with Ron inside the Cockerell Academy. There is also a lot of exclusive content from me and amazing courses that teach high-level concepts you didn’t learn in college. Find out more about the academy at https://www.cockerellacademy.com/.

Are you helping or enabling? Do you know the difference between the two? Listener Greg Parsons recently asked us what the difference is. On this episode, we’re breaking it down and explaining how you can tell if you’re helping or enabling. Helping is setting clear expectations and sticking to them. It is teaching somebody how to do something and then letting them go off on their own to do it. When you work with someone to make them responsible, you are helping them. Enabling, on the other hand, is doing something for somebody that they should have done themselves. It is not enforcing the expectations that we have set. When we enable, we’re giving people permission. We’re telling them that we actually didn’t mean what we said. In the long run, this hurts them. We need tough love instead. By helping the person take responsibility we are showing them that we care. If you have a problem that’s recurring, you might actually be the problem. By seeing the same behavior over and over again and doing nothing about it, you’re allowing it to continue to happen. Stop taking the easy way out and letting things go. Instead, educate, inspire, and hold people accountable. In this way, you’re helping them. If you want to hear more from Jody and I, tune in to our guest episodes on the podcast How That Happened. You can find Jody’s episode here and my episode here.

On this week’s episode, we’re answering a question that came to us from Joe Fernandez. He is a Park Ranger and is wondering how to respond well to a crisis. Joe wants to know how he can continue to lead with a positive attitude during times of uncertainty. At Disney, we were prepared for anything. We thought about crises before they happened. You should do the same. Anticipate what could happen and make sure that you’re ready for all of it. Think about what resources you’ll need and which people you will need to go to for help. You can be ready for most things, even if you don’t know the specifics of what will happen. When a crisis does occur, do any follow-up necessary to get back to normal operations. At Disney, everyone who had a piece in dealing with a crisis would sit down afterward. We would reflect on what happened, what went right, and what could have gone better. During a crisis, you don’t have a lot of time to sit and reflect. So make the space to do it after the fact. This will make sure that you respond better the next time something happens. We’re all experiencing something along these lines with the pandemic. Use this experience to prepare you for anything else that may come along in your life or your organization.

One important key in time management is realizing that being late is a choice. Too many of us think it’s a phenomenon. In reality, we can make the choice to be on time or we can make the choice to be late. When we become that person who is always five minutes late, our reputation is damaged. People start to believe they can’t trust you. You appear unprofessional and impolite to the people who are left waiting. Your lateness starts to become a joke. You are no longer seen as reliable or credible. You’ll get into all kinds of other trouble when you’re late. You could miss flights, let people down, make bad decisions, and miss important information. A listener named Jennifer struggles with this exact problem. She wrote to tell us that she’s heard a lot about what to do with your time, but wants to hear about how to actually get places on time. One key is to become more aware of what’s going on. Know the trends in traffic and the events that happen over and over again. It may also help to get up earlier and plan out your day. You could even consider getting to appointments an hour early to read and get some work done. Tune into this episode to hear more advice on how to be punctual. We also teach about time management in The Cockerell Academy. Learn more at https://www.cockerellacademy.com/.

People feel they are the only one until you say it out loud. In a recent training session, I gave this advice when someone asked about communication. I wanted those leaders and I want all of you to understand that by not speaking up when someone says something you don’t agree with, you’re approving it. This all comes down to communicating effectively as a leader. We need to make sure that we are always clear and honest when we speak with our teams. Anything that could or might happen (whether good or bad) talk about it. Your team wants to know the rules so they won’t get penalized. Train them in those rules and then support them when they follow them. On the flip side, if we don’t practice clarity as a leader, people will assume where you stand. Unless you tell people what you believe, they won’t know for sure. You don’t want them guessing. So communicate your values, the way you work, what you believe in, and anything else you want to be clear about. This applies to all people you communicate with. Whether they’re above you or below you, make sure your message remains the same. Always be honest--the truth is always the best route. To learn more about leadership and communication join us in the Cockerell Academy - www.cockerellacademy.com

Everyone has a story they can tell. If you’re good at anything and have a message that can help people, you can become a speaker. It just takes habit and practice. Listener Steve Ross asked how I knew the time was right to become a keynote speaker. I started by speaking at conventions that came to Disney and eventually started working and traveling with a company for a year. I also did lots of free speaking, which helped me develop the skill more than anything else. Through these experiences, I learned that speaking is like anything else. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. The more you practice, the better you become. If you have trouble speaking, remember to tell a story and not a speech. People love personal examples from your own life. Use those and other things that you’re passionate about. Any time you have the opportunity to stand up and give your opinion, take it; that’s what speaking is all about. Start getting into the habit of speaking by finding volunteer opportunities. There are so many out there. Find people that need help and offer to speak for them for free. Do your research and find relevant examples each time you speak. Above all, don’t stop practicing. Keep doing it and keep getting better at it. Over time, you’ll begin to see what’s most important to people. Your message will get a lot clearer. Listen to audience feedback and questions and hone your message from there. Join us in the Cockerell Academy. Find more information here - www.cockerellacademy.com

Team sports are all about learning to rely on others and taking responsibility for your own actions. No matter what each player looks like or where they come from, they all work together to accomplish the goal. Reggie Williams learned this lesson during his 14 years as an NFL star. He experienced incredible hardships, but through the entire process developed resiliency. Many people don’t overcome difficulties in their lives. They get angry, get in trouble, and give up. However, Reggie overcame obstacles many of us couldn’t imagine. He credits this to his upbringing. His parents emphasized the power of education from a young age. He learned to seek the truth, which provided the foundation from which he navigated many adversities in his life. Reggie has spent a lot of his life building bonds that last. In relationships, you receive not only companionship but also a reservoir of truth. If you stop kidding yourself and operate in that truth, you can deal with amazing challenges. When Reggie joined Disney, he learned so many things he hadn’t in his time at college and in the NFL. He learned how to operate a business and what true leadership looks like: not doing things your way, but the right way. To hear more of Reggie’s story and the raw truth he has to share, get his book, Resilient by Nature. You can find it here - Resilient by Nature.