Ep. 3 – Management Mastery with Lee Cockerell

Audio Transcription

What testing for the center of the universe and the thrive 15.Com world Business Coach Podcasts headquarters, alright tribe, nation, welcome back to another exclusive podcast adashun of the thrive time radio show. In this case the podcast show and I’m actually going to be interviewing. Today, lee cockrell, the former executive vice president of walt disney world resorts, evil context when lee was managing walt, disney world resorts, remember, he’s managing basically a small city. He was managing 40,000 employees at one time and goes to 1 million customers all week. The entire tourism industry I could be wrong, but I don’t know that millions of people come to tulsa a quarter of a million people, a quarter who are traveling to tulsa for tourism. On a million a week, I mean what would that feel like it’s only cockrell talks to us about follow up any importance of constant follow-up. It micromanagement is actually not a bad thing when he’s talking about managing everyone differently. When he’s teaching you about technology and modern business management. What he’s talking about you? If you aren’t doing the hard things that you aren’t doing the right things when he talks about people? Don’t care about your problems? You just have to deliver he’s up he’s a source of wisdom and I would just encourage you to take notes and try to implement the specific things that lee cockrell is teaching us all. During this podcast interview with lee cockrell, the former executive vice president of walt disney world resorts, how do I trust an invalid verify? How do I get to the truth to see if he really is installing counters the right now, I’m, probably going to go out there with the first or second one, the real skill you know today, there’s no I mean you should have the customers cell phone number. He should be calling them. Says he’s finished. Bob should have to call you when he’s finished you may want to go by and check it yourself. I mean there’s no. There’s, no there’s a million ways to hold people synonyms for procedures in place that way with all the technology. You don’t have an excuse.

Why you’re a lot of a lot of this from small business? It’s just frustrating to me that I should i, say:i shouldn’t have to follow up on somebody who installs the counter, so you should just be able to do it. I shouldn’t have to follow up on the waiter. I should have a follow up on my and your sayings. Even though that’s a dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb statement, you just go for it and let everybody do whatever they want and then I think they just say that, because they’re frustrated, i, don’t even know when you think about statement by the time it will say, I just feel like I shouldn’t have to micromanage. You know my call center reps I feel like they should just say the Business Coach Podcasts script right. Why do I have to micromanage it? Would you say the person says i, don’t want to micromanage my people. Excellent people are 1 out of 10 and excellent, just to train them, hold them accountable and make sure they know they can’t get away with it and eventually they all think they’re great, because they will become straight and I will forget that used to be incompetent because you can make. If you work with me long enough, you’re going to get to be very good at time, management be out there looking for a job, terma i, look at it as I can hear you’re following up with someone. That’s not there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s what you should be doing, but there’s a lot of people that you may have to do that I had other managers reported to me. I knew I had to trace it. I had another one who never had an issue so I got over it, people as individuals, not as one pilots trevor. If john needs follow-up till he gets better at it and if bill doesn’t and never disappoint, you he’s always early with the word. He takes care of them.

Spend your time where you need to spend it and you’ll see. There was five children you’re going to have to spend more time with some of another’s you’re going to have to get a tutor for one, maybe and then on another one in the other was going to be brilliant and I was going to hate me and you’re going to get it you’re not going to get after the one. That’s great and math he’s going to new york I mean it’s just like I tell you understand, individuality parents can understand how different are your children and they all came out of the same mom and dad. How did this happen I’m different summer? Very since you got to be very careful, others can take a head of the pack and I think what I meant by that is. That’s an individual thing for each one of us to understand. Are we keeping up? We keeping up with technology did not using it than not caring and they can’t because it’s different, it’s hard. I didn’t grow up with it. So if I don’t keep up I get behind, then I can’t communicate problem with customers. I can apply the technology to the business and, and then you got all these young people coming up behind you that that’s all they use it and you don’t understand it. So now you have a credibility issue with your employees. Cuz I think you’re a dinosaur, my boss, getting turn on the computer. He gives us all these excuses. Why we can’t go online and learn our schedules because he doesn’t know how to get it into the system and he got to keep up. You got to be tough. How do you become a better Business Coach Podcasts manager? Can you be better next year than you are this year? Yes, what were some of the major technology changes that you ran into where you had to do? Make big changes to stay out of the back for so long for me to sell phones back and I started 90s, not most people I mean they were cell phone, but most people didn’t have the device smartglass a smartphone.

You could do everything, you know about. Look all the stuff and I remember really. First, what was that want to have a little thing you have isaac and I had a guy works when he put me bought me when he put it on my desk. I looked at it for about a month, I finally opened it up and I gave it to my sister I said I’m, not reading this manual I want you to read. It teach me how to use it when I started it. He still talks with matt leacock retirement, pic leak on the boss to start using technology, and then I got in the end of that I had a blackberry and then I have a after that. It’s always hard to get out of your old system and adapt. Adapting technology for old people to certain age is really hard. But if you don’t do it, you got a problem. What’s your even saying that you have for you, it was hard to do, but you just had to do you just get you got it. I always tell people you’re not doing the hard things you’re not doing the right thing you got to do it. You got to keep up. I have to know what everybody in the entertainment business is doing so I take trips when I go to new york I go to la or go to las vegas every year to see. What’s going on, can I find a new way to do something and I go to the marriott and go to a banquet, see that they have all their waiters at standing and every table reading you and seating you I go back and I put that in disney. So you give me the disney. You know disney’s that the peak company in the world for really family entertainment-you still in other places, to see what’s out there to see what’s relevant and to bring some of the year 2000 with we sold 3 million dollar trading, pins disney pens. Somebody was at the olympic winter olympics in japan, and saw the athletes trading pins in the bicentennial year 2000. So we did it that year we sold 25 million fans today over a hundred million dollar business pens, because somebody went and saw it and said what we could do that and see which one I did. A hundred million. A lot of Business Coach Podcasts march is good on those panels. Chinese are over there, making those bills and you put on your leadership pan or it’s a cinderella path bike.

If I give you some gems today and you take him back to your kids, will be happy to see you in your book. You said you want to be careful about what you say and do and I want to just give you some real examples. I have some clients at work with over the years when I come to my mind, vividly about 5 years ago, she’s going through some really intense health problems. Okay, another client sales were flat, the both of them kept saying out loud. You know that they say their employees in the first 5 minutes. Employees does. How are you today in the boss says i, just don’t feel good or sales are down and I just hope we can make it through this quarter or that kind of thing talk to me about why you can’t say something like that, or maybe what you should say if you are going through a health problem and you’re going well. First of all saying it’s not going to help you out with people, you all your problem, smoking and somebody said if you’re ill, don’t tell me it go see a doctor says he knows, people don’t care, they don’t want to know about your problems unless you are asking for help, I’m really not feeling well this Business Coach Podcasts week, we could you take my shift and showing that there’s a way you can help me I’ll help you if you have a problem in your life, but there’s no upside to that and I think people expect the boss to be up and pause it cuz. If the boss is down. What’s next or parents being pause front of your children, they don’t want to see you arguing with mom. They don’t let that and make some feel unsafe, and it makes him feel and you’re saying if there’s an owner or a boss or manager I don’t have if I want to be successful, I don’t have permission to project. How I feel I need to just pretend like i, feel good and discuss it with what’s up okay, feeling good you’re on the floor at disney, someone says:how do you feel when you say have a cold but I’m, feeling great or I mean you night and again, i, don’t even need to know yet so I don’t want to shake your hand. I might say how do you wash your hands? You need to act this way. Even if you don’t feel that way, you need to just act it you need to pretend your urine stay or i. Do yes, so down in charleston south carolina couple years ago, 3 years ago and I got up at about 1 in the morning to go to the bathroom and i:couldn’t go I couldn’t go through I couldn’t, but I did and I had a prostate that was growing for I can’t go and when you can’t go, I got myself in the car drove myself to the emergency room. They took care of it strapped a bag on my way and left a insert so that I had to empty that back. I had for speeches and next day, first date with a guy with a junior college, all the staff connection was with high school students 55 minutes the next one was everybody in the community from the chamber of commerce one and a half or two hour presentation and the last one was dinner with everybody.

With this bag and I had to get up about every hour and a half per hour to go vent. It then I drove back to orlando, urologist. Okay, he lied. He took care of. It gave me some medication. You didn’t tell me what about this. Like I told him afterwards, just as a story, and they just repost me by the way, they just think that blue there might so you’re goes by i. Don’t do anymore I’m down in brazil brazil of a sudden I can’t go out again at night, I tell the guy and there’s a dinner date. I said:i need to wrap a clam stand in five star hotel. He took me to murder me put me ahead of everybody else. Two things happen, the doctor had just come back from disney world and he loves disney. That I gave jeremy and I went back in an hour and a half went to the dinner. You know what I mean:okay, I didn’t get up when I made my speech and said you know where I just came from. I will say it’s interesting, but mike. He remember when we found out that her son was was born. Blind, who said he can see. You remember. I was at a wedding reception in dallas, and the bride’s are ready to go down the aisle and the young man that was Business Coach Podcasts training with me. He saw like will tear you know:cuz i, just read the message, my wife and he’s like he’s:okay and I’m, like yep, he’s what you going to do.

My swollen like 5 hours from now I’m going to hop in the car and probably talk to my wife and but for right. Now we’re going to do this bride’s wedding, we’re going to make it happen, cuz nothing I can do and watching utah I’m here. Let’s do it and I think that is where the rubber meets the road and in in business cuz. It’s about honoring, your commitment, no matter what the biggest exception I got to go, but most of the stuff we like to whine and complain about I’d, say most people don’t care anyway. You know what people care about themselves, other people who do care, but if you’re in a leadership, position and I’m sure your children don’t want to be here and sushant age, your concerns are the business or no or whatever issues you’re having or until they’re older, and can understand that the things are going on. So you know I just keep it to yourself. Unless somebody can meet unless they can help you with it, if you’re sick see a doctor, I’ll tell me about it:i can’t help you, unless I can’t help you cuz you’re, asking for some time off, because your depression or you need to source. Only tell me if I can do something with you are you want me to do? Tell me what you want me to do with this Business Coach Podcasts information. You just I think I will now always think about lee cockrell when I think about my prostate i, don’t know what I think about my prostate that much but I know. I will probably begin thinking about my prostate, often as a result. As a result of that interview and it’s always free to poop