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As a leader, we must make decisions not everyone agrees on

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel
Frosted mugs for the milk.

 

Breakfast platter
Plates of food falling off the table.

 

Coliseum of Comics YuGiOh Tournament
Neither of us knew they’d be closed. Makes sense though.

 

As a leader, we must make decisions not everyone agrees on. Yes, we could have gone back and delivered more boxes of food. Would could have made return trips for hours.

The van put it to a vote. As the tie breaker it was easy because:

The first ministry starts at home.

Don’t abandon your Family for work to be done. There’s a time and a place. Try to balance them.

There is a standing Sunday commitment to attend our Son’s tournament.

Not everyone has the same priorities. Not everyone has conviction. Not everyone has balance.

Do the best you can. Forgive yourself. Move forward.

Life is not a popularity contest.

But if it was, you’d want your Family to be your biggest fans.

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You’re a zealot and it wears people out

Tim Cook March 2015 Apple event.
Aim for perfection. Settle for excellence.

 

Notes from the final Disney Performance appraisal in 2014. These are word-for-word (copied and pasted here without editing). They were typed on an iPhone sitting across the desk from the leader during the meeting. Kinda like shorthand because we were talking one-on-one:

Zealot.
Teachable moment is every moment. Wears people out.
Willingly go to extremes… All the time.
Masters at their game… Leadership team.

The fourth line was a reference that i should study and emulate the experts, our departmental leadership team. The same group of experts that the team collectively voted as ineffective as the top issue on the employee survey.

Talk about a blind spot.

It is tiring.

On both sides no doubt.

But so is this, the DNA of Walt Disney Operations:

Deliver an excellent experience to every single Guest, every single time, every single day.

No operational leader ever says, “Anything less than 100% is acceptable today.”

Shifting gears…society’s focus on Easter pales in comparison to Christmas. From this it would be safe to assume Christmas is more important.

Is it?

Case in point, today, Christmas finally makes sense.

Happy Easter 2015.

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Leadership, failure and risk taking

Lee Cockerell Best selling books
Lee Cockerell’s best selling books made out of birthday cake by Disney Chefs.

 

Personal Leadership 101:

  • We will never get better at anything we don’t start.
  • The quickest way to fail at anything is to do nothing.
  • When we take action odds favor failure. However, by taking action and failing more often, we increase our odds of succeeding.
  • The best way to be inspired is to simply do the things we say we’re going to do.
  • Dreams do not awaken without action.

We know these things.

Or do we?

If we were apprehended, would there be enough evidence for a conviction?

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They say

Disney Conference Speaker
Laura wrote down many of the things her mentor said.

 

They say the measure of a person’s integrity is what the person does that no one will ever know. So many colleagues have privately shared gratitude that he had no idea existed.

After 15 years of focused, disciplined, passionate, and intentional contribution at Disney Institute (DI), he left a quiet, indelible mark on DI’s karma.

An influence as soft as water, yet powerful enough to carve through stone given enough time. He had 15 gloriously intentional years.

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It scared you because you felt safe

Disney Conference Speakers
Have passed through here a million times.

 

Dear self, this is genius. The way you step up. Your intentions. The way you structure your classes. Your analogies. Your metaphors. Your questions. Your vision.

And what did you get paid?

Compared to a compelling speaker with a great platform, peanuts. Literally nothing compared to what you get paid now.

(Don’t get yourself wrong, you wouldn’t trade the past for anything.)

Genius has boldness. (Yes, this is the reverse of Boldness has genius.)

Congratulations on breaking the mold.

And congratulations for doing what you said you were gonna do.

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