14 Feb 2020 · 7 min
Lee Cockerell, who managed 40,000 cast members at Disney World, says treat everyone as important, from custodians to executives. He calls it "burn the free fuel": tell people you appreciate them every day. Hire the right people, train them hard, and listen to feedback from the front line.
This is five minute Friday. For those who have not heard of Lee, he is the former executive vice president of operations for the Walt Disney World Resorts. And as a senior operating executive for 10 years, Lee led a team of 40, 000 cast members and was responsible for the operations of 20 resort hotels, four theme parks, two water parks, a shopping and entertainment village, and the ESPN Sports and Recreation complex in addition to many other things.
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Well, I think the most important one is strategy number one in the book, and the title of it is, Remember, everyone is important. And I think this is not done well in American business. The guy cleaning the bathrooms, the guy in the parking lot, the housekeeper making up rooms. And this chapter really deals with making sure you're the kind of leader who shows respect to everyone, and here's how you do it. and we've got about 10 or 12 techniques in there to show, send the message to your people they are important. And if you can get that one right, your life works out pretty well. And then I think strategy three is make your people your brand. This is all about how to hire the right people. Don't make a mistake, get the right people, promote the right people. Strategy four is create magic through training. I mean, when you think about it, what do parents worry about their children? Safety and training, education. and that's one of the truths. Strategy six is learn the truth, telling leaders you better get out there and learn the truth or you won't be able to make good decisions if you don't know what's going on. And you got to have comfortable relationships with your people so they'll tell you the truth and they'll help you run the business. So there's a lot. There's one on appreciation, recognition and encouragement and it's called burn the free fuel. We all don't do that enough. We have opportunities every day to thank people and appreciate them and we let it get by. And let me tell you, when you show appreciation, recognition, encouragement, people perform better. Sure. Yeah.
So it's- what's something you can do to facilitate that process of appreciation and acknowledgement?
I think when you're thinking every morning, you ought to think about it. When you get into work every day, before you go in and turn your computer on, walk around your office and say hello to everyone and ask them how their mother's doing in the hospital and how was the soccer game last night and tell them how much you appreciate the good job they're doing if they just did a project for you. I try to think, I got in the habit now that my goal, and I wasn't always this way, I was a terrorist in my early career. I didn't treat people very well, but I really came around over the years and understood that if you don't show respect to people and make them feel good about themselves and build their self-confidence and build their self-esteem, they're not gonna give you 150%. We know that. With children, we always tell them how much we love them.
Why?
Because we want her to feel safe and appreciated and loved. And now I tell my wife every day I love her. That way she won't leave. But you just think about it every day, the chances you have to say something nice to somebody or to mention it to somebody or write a little text to somebody, tell them how much you appreciate them being on your team or it's just powerful. I mean, it's unbelievable. It turns people on. It's a very strong fuel that drives human performance. and it's way underused. Right.
What would you say if you had to attribute one thing to your success, what would that be?
Well, I don't have a college degree. I dropped out of college after two years because I was too dumb to get through college. So I was the most likely not to succeed. But my mother was married five times. I grew up on a farm. We were very poor. She started marrying better guys. So number four and five had money. And so I got to go to college. But I will tell you what made me, Successful in my life, I know what it was. I have a very positive attitude. There's nothing you don't give me, I won't get done. I won't disappoint you. I'll get it done with a smile. You'll never see that look on my face. I will figure it out one way or another. I will finish it. Positive attitude and I'm organized. I'm disciplined. Every boss I had knew when they gave me something, it was done. They didn't have to follow up. So I think having good reliability and keeping your promises and having a good attitude can really take you a long way in your life.
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