Our special guest on this week’s episode of the Vibrant Leadership Podcast is Dan Cockerell, the author of How's the Culture in Your Kingdom? Dan graduated from Boston University in 1991 with a degree in Political Science. After graduating, he moved to Florida and worked as a parking attendant at Disney's Epcot Center. He went on to join the Disneyland Paris management trainee program and went to France as part of the opening team in 1992. 

After five years in France, Dan came back to Florida and held a number of management positions at the Disney World Resort, including Vice President of Epcot, Vice President of Disney's Hollywood Studios, and eventually Vice President of the Magic Kingdom, where he led 12,000 cast members, and entertained over 20 million guests annually.

Dan says, “I think a lot of times leadership becomes too inwardly focused for people and it's about who they are and what they do. At the Magic Kingdom, it didn't matter who I was because I didn't see the guests; I was leading 12,000 people who interacted with 20 million people. My job was to make sure those 12,000 people loved what they did so we could complete our mission to create incredible magical experiences for guests.”

We chat with Dan about setting clear expectations, as well as: