The Real Magic Needed To Provoke Greatness in Your Team: An Interview with Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President (Retired & Inspired) Walt Disney World® Resort
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Release Date: 04/23/2017
Provoking Your Greatness - Misti Burmeister
Want employees who care greatly about creating remarkable results? Listen to this interview! Lee Cockerell is one of the most down-to-earth and transparent leaders I’ve been privileged to interview. Far beyond management and leadership, Lee got to the heart of what’s needed to provoke greatness in yourself and your team. Enjoy! Resources from the interview: Learn more about Lee Cockerell’s speaking and online courses . Here’s to your greatness, Misti Burmeister
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“Why don’t they put more time and attention to that client? If they don’t, they might lose them.” “Can’t they see I would be excellent in that position? Why don’t they consider me?” “Don’t they understand that if they’d just have more team building activities throughout the year everyone would work better together? Collaboration clearly improved after our yearly retreat.” “Why don’t they spend a little extra money on the furniture in our waiting area? At least they could provide fresh tea/coffee and relaxing (or energizing) music for guests!...
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Running beneath the surface of our conscious awareness is a set of beliefs—sort of an autopilot of assumptions and expectations. The role models we’re exposed to as children, along with the stories we consistently hear, instruct our belief system and set us up to repeat patterns that create the results we see every day. Do you know the beliefs you bought into as a child that continue to create your current reality? I thought I did, and then I came face-to-face with the reality of an undesirable result I’ve recreated too many times to count. Frustrated and angry, I’ve found myself...
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Why do leaders struggle to create collaborative work environments where team members step up and do whatever it takes to create remarkable results? Is it because they haven’t set a vision that is compelling enough? Maybe. Is it because they haven’t counseled their team enough about the importance of working together, despite the weekly—no daily—reminders? Probably not. Is it because the team hasn’t decided on a shared set of values? I doubt it. The biggest reason leaders struggle to rally a team is less about what they’re doing and more about what they’re allowing. While enjoying...
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Company culture experts urge leaders to establish clearly defined values to serve as a guide for decisions and behaviors throughout an organization. To ensure they have the best representation of the values shared among those in leadership, companies often spend gobs of cash and time on experts who ultimately produce a document aligning the most common ideals. Mounted on the wall, and often on the website, these key words or phrases are meant to ensure everyone is on the same page about what’s expected and acceptable. While these values are typically...
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The greatest teachers in life are rarely the ones with great advice. They are remarkable role models who consistently show the way, while asking the kind of questions that stop us in our tracks. Their questions infect us with the kind of curiosity that leads us in the direction of our own answers. You know the kind of person I’m talking about. Their question pierces through our internal chatter and commands the truth we’ve been searching for. In November of 2016, I witnessed a teacher so committed to his craft that he not only showed the way, but provoked questions in...
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We shy away from sharing or expanding into what we have to offer in the most obscure ways. We think that getting out of our comfort zone means doing something big, which is exactly what keeps us trapped and doing what we’ve always done. Finishing up lunch with a client at a nice restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, I kept thinking about that beautiful basket of bread (that we didn’t even touch) going into the trash. While a business lunch is perhaps not the right environment to request a to-go box for the bread, I found myself imagining the delight of handing it off to a homeless...
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In a rush to get from one experience to the next, we may miss the simple and seemingly superfluous opportunities to inspire greatness. Believing that inspiration only comes in oversized packages, we may forget to look for the tiny (barely noticeable, really) opportunities to inspire others into action. Having an “off” day and needing a shift in scenery, I headed to the pool for a workout. The moment I pulled into the parking lot, I started talking myself out of swimming—“It’s been a rough day… I could just go across the street and grab a hot tea, read and relax,” I...
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They should is a trap that kills enthusiasm and growth faster than any economic downturn ever could. When you catch yourself thinking, “They should or shouldn’t,” stop and ask yourself, “How can I help them reach their goals?” Consider letting go of the shoulds (work harder, pay their dues, respect me) and shouldn’ts (go above me, think so highly of themselves, be so lazy), and instead focus on communicating your vision while helping them reach their goals. Their success is your success, regardless of whether you’re the boss or the employee. Embrace this...
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Greatness chases greatness. Companies and leaders in continuous pursuit of evolution (personal/company brand), worry more about keeping up with demand then poaching. On the flipside, those who hoard resources and acknowledgment wind up losing their most precious assets to the competition. Sitting in one of the nicest business clubs in Washington, DC, just before the start of an event, Lena, a fellow businesswoman, peeked over her computer and asked, “Excuse me, are you familiar with LinkedIn?” “I’m no expert,” I said, “but what do you need?” “If I...
info_outlineWant employees who care greatly about creating remarkable results? Listen to this interview! Lee Cockerell is one of the most down-to-earth and transparent leaders I’ve been privileged to interview. Far beyond management and leadership, Lee got to the heart of what’s needed to provoke greatness in yourself and your team.
Enjoy!
Resources from the interview:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Learn more about Lee Cockerell’s speaking and online courses here.
Here’s to your greatness,
Misti Burmeister