Creating Magic Summary

The purpose of Lee Cockerell’s book, Creating Magic, is to share his powerful leadership strategies with every leader, or aspiring leader, so they can apply them to their own career. Mr. Cockerell is extremely qualified to discuss the topic of leadership for two reasons. First, Mr. Cockerell’s ten leadership strategies became the bedrock principles known as the Disney Great Leader Strategies, which are taught to all of Disney’s leaders, and are also taught to clients of the Disney Institute from various industries. In fact, after a scandal at Walter Reed in 2007, the Army turned to the Disney Institute to provide training for their leaders, physicians, and administrators. Second, Mr. Cockerell successfully assisted Marriot and Disney at becoming major forces in their respective industries during a thirty-five year
career.
Mr. Cockerell dropped out of college after two years and joined the Army, as a cook. Once Mr. Cockerell’s service was complete he joined the Marriot team as a banquet waiter and climbed the ladder, so to speak, and assisted Marriot at becoming a major force in the hotel industry. Furthermore, after his move to Disney, Mr. Cockerell successfully revamped the leadership style at Disney, using these strategies, and served as a senior executive for sixteen years. Mr. Cockerell credits a large part of his success to his farmer’s work ethic and the discipline he learned in the military. All military leaders should read Mr. Cockerell’s book because it provides easy to apply leadership strategies that can assist any leader in building a strong, motivated, and passionate team that will work diligently towards one
common purpose.
After a foreword and two opening chapters, which provide a useful background on Mr. Cockerell and his strategies, the book designates one chapter to each of his ten leadership strategies. He discusses the importance of his 80:20 ratio in an opening chapter. This ratio represents the breakdown between the eight chapters on the human aspect of leadership and people and the other two chapters on organizational structure and business procedures. The Army has a very rigid organization structure and its own standard operating procedures (SOPs) and doctrine. Therefore, one weakness of Mr. Cockerell’s book are the two chapters on organizational structure and business procedures. These chapters are far less applicable to military professionals than the eight chapters on leadership. However, the eight chapters on inspiring, motivating, teaching, building teams, and leading are very applicable to military professionals and easy to apply. Each chapter, or strategy, is easy to read and very well organized. Like many Army SOPs, each strategy has checklists and bullet points that are easy to find, follow, understand, and implement. Mr. Cockerell credits his continued work with the U.S. Army in his book on their commitment to staying ahead of the pack in regards to leadership excellence. Drawing on his long, successful career and codifying his proven strategies that have kept Disney competitive and that all types of organizations seek from Disney Institute as clients I have no doubt that these strategies are a recipe for success and applicable in all industries.
Military professionals will not only learn about leadership strategies in this book. They will learn about implementing organizational change, improving an organization’s culture, and building a cohesive team. There are many lessons that one can take and implement from Mr. Cockerell’s book, such as listening, coaching, recognizing performers, and empowering subordinates. By applying Mr. Cockerell’s leadership strategies one will be able to build a passionate team that is fully committed to one common purpose. Therefore, Creating Magic is a must read for military professionals.