Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney

"Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney" is an outstanding book! The author shares practical and insightful leadership strategies drawn from their experience at Disney. A must-read for anyone looking to enhance their leadership skills and create magic in their organization. Highly recommend this book!

Walt Disney World is an organization that has a 70% return rate for guests, as well as one of the lowest employee turnover rate. Disney World is considered to be the biggest tourist attraction, 25,000 acres with four parks, 32 hotels, as well as plenty of other buildings to maintain. When visiting, guests often feel as though they are in a land of magic due to how the front line employees (maids, street sweepers, desk clerks) treat the guests. Yet behind good front line employees are their leaders that enable them to create magic. Cockerell was once that leader; VP of Operations; the man who made the giant city sized tourist attraction run smoothly. His strategies are listed simply and filled with common sense ideas that although he doesn't reference any, can be backed up with research. The checklists at the end of every chapter enables the reader to easily put forth what they learn from the book into their own company or even in smaller leadership roles that they may have. Since it is filled with 'common sense' the strategies are very easy to understand, especially since in his work life, Cockerell has many examples to pull from that show why he leads the way he leads, and why you should lead that way too.Cockerell provides vivid examples of why he uses the strategies that he uses, as well as why the reader should use them as well. His writing style is simplistic as well as very organized, making it a very easy read. The way he organizes his book seems to also showcase how he is a very organized leader and gives merit to his book. His book allows the reader to go inside one of the most well-known companies and see exactly why the company works the way that it works. Reading it will give incite on why they have the lowest turnover rate, and why guests can’t seem to get enough of the theme parks.The leadership strategies Cockerell provides are very easy to understand, as well as to follow. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to be a leader, or even a great employee. The book not just for those in the workforce, the ten common sense strategies can be used by many people in different positions in their life. This makes the book a very good read for anyone who is interested in improving their relationship with those around them, being more trusting and fair.I gave this book five stars being that when one visits the park, you can see for yourself that the leadership strategies employed by Walt Disney Worlds are one worth attempting. Disney World does create magic, and reading this book will enable one to create magic in their organization or their life as well.

This is a great book for several different groups. Leadership guru types and anyone who is thinking about leadership should read this book. It is a book about leadership and how it works in the real world with real-life examples. It is a book to read and understand, but also a book to re-read often. Many of the lessons need to be refreshed or you need to be reminded of them. This is a very accessible book and an easy read.It is also a great book if you want behind-the-scenes-info about Disney. It is not a book about Disney but many of the illustrations are from the author's time at Disney, or somehow connect to Disney. If you are interested in the company, or want to understand how and were the Disney Magic (no not the boat) comes from, this is the book to read. Many of the stories are heartwarming and charming.Finally, it is a great book for anyone who is thinking about leadership or going into a leadership role. It gives you a look at the "other side of the desk". Instead of fancy theories about leadership and what it takes to be a leader, the author gives simple outlines of what a leader needs in their toolkit to be successful. It takes away the mystery and provides very easy to follow advise for people who supervise one other person, to a CEO who supervises a whole company.

I really enjoyed this book and thought there were quite a few great leadership tips for the future. It had a slow start in my opinion, but his back story was necessary to understand where he was coming from throughout the book and why you should trust him. I definitely had a few take aways that are going to be important for my business in the future. The reason I gave 4 stars is because it is not the best leadership/management book for my profession that I have ever read (I would give the book 4.5 if I could)

Overall, Mr. Cockerell's book provides straightforward and common sense lessons for creating better companies, better employees, and a better you. I appreciate the frank and honest approach taken in the book. The author discusses his successes and failures evenly, even when his mistakes led to physical retribution from his employees! Considering the hospitality industry's complex operational and HR issues, I can appreciate his recommendations that are easily implementable yet powerful ways to improve a business.One issue I have with the book, while not directly relevant to the overall subject, is not discussing in enough detail the importance of developing a company's long-term strategy for success. Anecdotally, I have heard that Disney has a large number of fresh out of business school MBAs that are more concerned about short term profits and cost control than maintaining high quality standards and preserving long-term brand identity. I would be interested to get the author's reaction to this challenge, which he surely must have dealt with during Eisner's last years as CEO. While the author must consider his relationship with his former employer, it would have been interesting to get his reaction to a sore subject that many would argue has challenged the long-term success of Disney's brand.I hope Mr. Cockerell considers writing more life and business lessons in a future book. I will be among those to purchase a copy!

Fantastic book!

Lot of positivism, but not great reading

Excelente abordagem do autor sobre a perspectiva da liderança baseada em princípios. Com uma linguagem objetiva e prática, oferece várias dicas que podem ser aplicadas em diversos segmentos de negócio.

Great read. Recommended for leaders who wish to take the customer service of their organisation to high levels of satisfaction.

One of the best book about leadership that I have ever read. Encouraging and teaching by practical examples and past experiences how to become a better leader in your work and personal life