068: Bringing the Magic Back to Your Kingdom | A Conversation with Dan Cockerell

Making Elephants Fly | Conversations with High Octane Leaders, Dreamers, & Creatives

On this episode of Making Elephants Fly, Terry sits down again with Dan Cockerell. Dan is the former Vice-President of the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida. Upon graduation from Boston University in 1991, Dan moved to Florida and worked as a parking attendant at Disney’s Epcot Center. Subsequently, he joined the Disneyland Paris Management Trainee Program as part of the opening team and moved to France in 1992. After spending 5 years in France, Dan relocated to Florida and held a variety of executive roles at the Walt Disney World Resort, both in the theme parks and resort hotels. His last 9 years with the company, he was successively 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. In addition to his operational responsibilities, Dan was a keynote speaker for the world-renowned Disney Institute for 18 years. He has addressed open-enrollment participants from all over the world as well as attendees in custom programs including the USAA Bank, General Motors, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Army, the Southern Methodist University Business School, Porsche A.G., and United Airlines. After a fulfilling and exciting 26-year career with the Walt Disney Company, Dan and his wife Valerie made the decision to set out on a new venture and start their own consulting and speaking business. Join Dan and Terry as they talk about creating culture in our own organizations and the one piece of advice he would give to every leader facing uncertainty. Find out more at http://terryweaver.com and join Terry at the Thing at http://thething.live and use the code PODCAST for a discount.