Mentally Unpacking a 68 Hour Whirlwind
I recently had the honor of attending a Lee Cockerell Mastermind session in Orlando Florida. If you’re not familiar with who Lee Cockerell is, he is the former Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World. He oversaw 40,000 employees, 5 parks, and 20+ hotels. His responsibility included the water parks and golf courses. He wrote The Disney Leadership Strategies that was the document that started the renowned Disney Institute. He was honored with his own window on Main Street at Walt Disney World and is now an author and speaker. Yeah…he has some leadership experience. Since I’ve decided to become a consultant, Lee and his business partner Jody Maberry, have been nothing but mentors to me. Always available, always a text or call away, and always free with suggestions and resources. I was excited to attend Lee’s Mastermind!
My whirlwind trip began on Friday at 5:30am and flew to Orlando via Oakland and arrived at my hotel around 8:30pm EST. Long day. I was so excited to be at this event the next morning I had trouble sleeping. I managed 4-5 hours of sleep before I got to the meeting location at 8:00am Saturday morning and people were already there.
Intimidated at first, I was in a room with 11 other leaders committed to being exceptional leaders. Their industries included pharmaceuticals, the tech industry, consulting, home building, paint companies and education. They came from Florida, Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, Arizona, and me from Idaho.
Lee and Jody were great hosts as they welcomed me to the meeting. I had an assigned seat at the table, and like a little kid visiting Disneyland, I was excited to see a pile of “swag” waiting for me. Autographed copies of Career Magic (a good one if you haven’t read it), Disney note pads, a copy of Carol Quinn’s book Motivation-Based Interviewing (great read and more on her later), a nice lanyard with my name on it, awesome Mickey Mouse ears all in really nice Under Armour bag provided by Jamie Eubanks and Magical Vacation Planners (MVP). I was set.
We went around the room, introduced ourselves, and spoke a little bit about our backgrounds. These 11 leaders blew me away with their experiences and training. Like I said earlier, I was intimidated, but as the day went on, I started to be more comfortable.
We began the day with opening thoughts by Lee, then received instructions for the day by Jody. Jody reminded us that a week before the event we were all sent an email with these instructions:
Answer these questions
1. What is the Core Issue, the specific challenge/opportunity you want help with today?
2. What do people need to know (details) in order to give you their best thinking?
3. What 3 questions you want/need answered in order for this magic seat to be helpful (be specific).
I had mine all filled out, and we were off! He asked for a volunteer to start us off. It wasn’t me.
The questions everyone had were thought provoking, and the conversations were incredible. The advice from the group was so constructive and thoughtful. It was a safe-haven of support and encouragement. There was no time limit, and everyone participated.
The topics included clarity of expectations, customer and employee satisfaction surveys, branding, customer service, accountability for performance, and so much more. Because I’ve only been a consultant for a short time, I asked for “advice for starting a new business”. So much great information. I took 6 pages of notes!
The group had a discussion about how nobody is ever too good to not need a mentor(s). We should each have a few mentors and they should be male AND female. There is not a leader in the world who knows it all and we all need help.
Throughout the day, I had time to talk to Lee, who has been so generous with his advice and time since I started consulting. He let me know he was there if I needed anything. He also said “make it easy for people to do business with you”, and “always be available to people”. That sank in.
We had the honor of having hiring expert and popular keynote speaker Carol Quinn, who wrote the book Motivation-Based Interviewing, with us as 1 of the 12 participants. Her book is about hiring the best and how it requires more than just assessing a candidate's skill. Interviewers must also determine the candidate's attitude toward overcoming obstacles and how passionate they are about achieving your goals. Really good book and we were lucky enough to have her there!!!
Carol told us that employees who are complainers are likely to be the low performers and have bad attitudes. She gave us great advice on how to properly phrase hiring questions and what to look for in a prospect. Many of us had questions that pertained to our own business, but the answers Carol gave benefitted all of us. We were so lucky to have Carol there. If you are interested in learning more about Carol and her work visit https://www.hireauthority.com.
The event lasted 10 hours and those hours were resource-rich and advice-packed. At the end of the day, I had pages of notes, a head full of ideas and a room full of people I can call friends. Business cards were exchanged, “safe travels” said by everyone. After this experience I now have 11 people I can contact if I need advice on anything leadership. I also have 11 new Facebook/LinkedIn friends and a phone full of pictures!
I left the event like when I left high school class reunions, hugs and well wishes were given to new friends. Soon after, I sat in my hotel room with my head packed with so much great stuff. Exhausted and motivated at the same time, I had to get to bed because of an early flight. That was tough.
On the flight back, a broken windshield on the plane caused an 8-hour delay in Louisville KY. What was supposed to be a 9-hour travel day had turned into a 19-hour travel day. But I was re-reading my notes at the airport and started to “unpack” the events of the meeting in my head. The whirlwind ended at 1:15am Monday morning.
What I took away from Lee Cockerell’s Mastermind Event…for me “Remember the Basics” was the underlying theme of the day. Leaders need to focus on 3 things: Hiring, Culture, and Training (testing). As a leader our priorities should be 1) Self-Health: “We can’t do anything for anyone else if we’re not taking care of ourselves” (that one hit home), 2) Family: “We have to take care of ourselves in order to take care of our families now and in the future”, then 3) Business: “it’s all about life balance. And the way to handle our business is totally effected if our self/family/work balance is off.” Too many leaders make leadership difficult and convoluted.
Two days later, as I write my events of my 68-hour whirlwind, I am filled with new motivation, encouraged by the new knowledge I’ve acquired, and blessed to have new friends around the country. At the beginning of the meeting I was intimidated and nervous, in awe of the talent around me. By the end of the day I was more comfortable and found out that everyone in the room had many of the same traits…humility, passion, all self-driven learners who care about our teams and want to become better leaders. As leaders we are all aware of our strengths, weaknesses, and values and continue to refine them.
I am forever thankful for great people like Lee & Jody and the class of 11 others. Thank you for an amazing experience. See you in October!