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How's the Culture in Your Kingdom?: Lessons from a Disney Leadership Journey
How's the Culture in Your Kingdom explains how to lead oneself and their team/organization by using relevant stories and practical examples from Dan Cockerell’s 26 year Disney leadership journey. Dan Cockerell started his Disney journey as a parking attendant. Over the next 26 years and 19 different jobs, he became the Vice President of the biggest theme park in the world, The Magic Kingdom Park . During the course of his Disney career, Dan learned many life and leadership lessons and teaches those learnings within How's the Culture in Your Kingdom . Within its pages, Dan explains how to lead oneself and how to lead their team and organization by using relevant stories and practical examples from his 26-year Disney leadership journey. How's the Culture in Your Kingdom helps prepare leaders to lead their team by teaching them how
200 pages, Paperback
Published August 11, 2020
76 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 12, 2020
My dear friend Betsy was kind enough to loan me her copy of Dan’s new book. It came at the perfect time. It was unlike any other book on leadership I’ve read as Dan starts the book with a section on self leadership. Self care and self leadership is the foundation upon which true leadership is built.
This book + 145 days of furlough taught me that I cannot be a leader or care for others well unless my self care and self leadership is my biggest priority. Mental and physical health are equally important and you can’t have a happy, healthy, balanced and successful life without both.
There is an immense need for destigmatization of mental health in our country. I believe that as a society, we need to get rid of toxic positivity and recognize we are all humans with complex emotions. I think our communities at and outside of work need to stop rewarding unhealthy behavior like bragging about being busy or only getting 4 hours of sleep.
The book also included tactical, actionable leadership advice like questions for 30/60/90 day check ins and how to give and receive feedback. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This book + 145 days of furlough taught me that I cannot be a leader or care for others well unless my self care and self leadership is my biggest priority. Mental and physical health are equally important and you can’t have a happy, healthy, balanced and successful life without both.
There is an immense need for destigmatization of mental health in our country. I believe that as a society, we need to get rid of toxic positivity and recognize we are all humans with complex emotions. I think our communities at and outside of work need to stop rewarding unhealthy behavior like bragging about being busy or only getting 4 hours of sleep.
The book also included tactical, actionable leadership advice like questions for 30/60/90 day check ins and how to give and receive feedback. I cannot recommend this book enough!
February 8, 2022
I had mixed feelings when I was holding this book in the bookstore a few months ago, eventually I was not impressed. This book is mostly listing the best practices from leadership classics and then providing qute generic examples from Disney Worlds that relate to respective practice. My expectations were somewhere between Creativity Inc. (Pixar) and Powerful (Netflix) and this book does not get close to them.
December 22, 2023
One of my favorites to date. Principals are not novel, but palatable and interesting to understand what makes Disney run and the parallels between military service and the leadership and management styles of a Disney VP.
August 18, 2025
A very good 101 and 201 course on leadership in an organization, and as a leader how to set tones for culture. A few parts I will admit (section 1, parts of 4) were not applicable either to person or circumstance however overall it was a solid leadership book!
October 5, 2020
Really enjoyed Dan’s first book. I have been a fan of Dan’s podcast for about a year now and really enjoy his insights in leadership and building culture. Culture is something that is talked about in companies, but I feel few actually practice what they perceive their culture is.
Dan takes what he has learned during his 26+ years at Disney, a company known for and prides itself on culture and training, and give you the reader what you need to practice it in real life. He gives real examples of these lessons that he brings from his time at Disneyland Paris as the leader of the parking lot to his time as the VP of the largest and most visited theme park in the world.
I really enjoyed this book, and as someone who is really into a companies culture and how companies can create a culture of sustained success, I plan on re-reading certain booker marked chapters and I feel there’s more to unpack from them.
This book is a quick and easy read, but don’t mistake that for having lack of information, you’ll learn new and old strategies to building culture around you and your company.
Dan takes what he has learned during his 26+ years at Disney, a company known for and prides itself on culture and training, and give you the reader what you need to practice it in real life. He gives real examples of these lessons that he brings from his time at Disneyland Paris as the leader of the parking lot to his time as the VP of the largest and most visited theme park in the world.
I really enjoyed this book, and as someone who is really into a companies culture and how companies can create a culture of sustained success, I plan on re-reading certain booker marked chapters and I feel there’s more to unpack from them.
This book is a quick and easy read, but don’t mistake that for having lack of information, you’ll learn new and old strategies to building culture around you and your company.
July 14, 2020
While the title led me down the path of this being a book on building or enhancing culture from a Disney experience, the reality is that it is a management handbook based on Dan Cockerell’s experience at Disney. As a new manager getting started or an experienced manager needing a refresher, this book is a valuable primer in managing people and a business for great results. It reinforced my feeling that The magic at Disney mostly comes from training and consistency in their processes. Grab it, read a chapter a week or day, and put yourself on the track to a solid management career.
November 12, 2020
How’s the Culture in Your Kingdom: Lessons from a Disney Leadership Journey by Dan Cockerell collects leadership lessons from a 26 year career in Disney Parks working from a parking supervisor at Disneyland Paris to Vice President of the Magic Kingdom. The book provides four main sections, “Leading Self”, “Leading Teams”, “Leading an Organization”, and “Leading Change” that are each filled with smaller sized chapters around one central theme. Each chapter ends with a “Fast Track to Results” section which summarizes Cockerell’s major points and provides thoughts that a manager can implement quickly.
The text provides a number of business lessons for managers. While many of them may seem like common sense or lessons one can get elsewhere, Cockerell wraps them around stories of his time at Disney. The stories range from his early Disney days especially working in a France as a young professional to the end of his Disney journey. The stories honestly do not go deep into the inner workings of Walt Disney World, there are no dirty little secrets of My Magic Band. Instead the stories and content really shows the value that Cockerell puts in relationships as part of servant leadership. He shows candor as his leadership lessons make it clear that not every decision can please everyone. And there is risk in leading. But in the end, Cockerell has built a career, and now a consulting business, on placing a high value on a culture of relationship. Cockerell also spends significant space discussing something that I may only now be understanding, the need for self care. A leader must take the time to care for themselves by getting sleep, moving and thoughtfully eating in order to be their best for their people.
How’s the Culture in Your Kingdom is a leadership book with a Disney core. Cockerell shows his leaders the importance of people in an organization. It is a lesson that can be easy to forget in these trying times. And there is just enough Disney to help keep the leader with a Disney passion focused on the lesson.
The text provides a number of business lessons for managers. While many of them may seem like common sense or lessons one can get elsewhere, Cockerell wraps them around stories of his time at Disney. The stories range from his early Disney days especially working in a France as a young professional to the end of his Disney journey. The stories honestly do not go deep into the inner workings of Walt Disney World, there are no dirty little secrets of My Magic Band. Instead the stories and content really shows the value that Cockerell puts in relationships as part of servant leadership. He shows candor as his leadership lessons make it clear that not every decision can please everyone. And there is risk in leading. But in the end, Cockerell has built a career, and now a consulting business, on placing a high value on a culture of relationship. Cockerell also spends significant space discussing something that I may only now be understanding, the need for self care. A leader must take the time to care for themselves by getting sleep, moving and thoughtfully eating in order to be their best for their people.
How’s the Culture in Your Kingdom is a leadership book with a Disney core. Cockerell shows his leaders the importance of people in an organization. It is a lesson that can be easy to forget in these trying times. And there is just enough Disney to help keep the leader with a Disney passion focused on the lesson.
July 2, 2024
I had the chance to hear the author speak at a national conference several years ago, at a time when he said he was writing a book that may someday come out. I was so glad to see it happen.
The Disney tag helps, but the experiences that Dan had and what he made of them truly made this book what it is, a strong and concise guide to leadership. The fun thing was that even after only an hour and 15 minutes in his presence - several years ago - I could hear Dan's voice coming through the printed words. His energy and presence in person validate the passages in the book. I could actually imagine him walking around Disney distributing banana breads to cast members.
I think one of the most intriguing sections of the book for me, something that generally gets overlooked, is the fact that he believes that leadership can't take place until someone looks at themselves in the mirror every day. He stresses that before you work on your team, your company or your grandest visions, you should take care of yourself first. I'm sure I'm not the only one on the planet who rushes straight into work some days without considering where I am in the moment, and whether I'm making all the right decisions. Life can just get too fact-paced at times.
Its a book I'll refer to a lot going forward.
The Disney tag helps, but the experiences that Dan had and what he made of them truly made this book what it is, a strong and concise guide to leadership. The fun thing was that even after only an hour and 15 minutes in his presence - several years ago - I could hear Dan's voice coming through the printed words. His energy and presence in person validate the passages in the book. I could actually imagine him walking around Disney distributing banana breads to cast members.
I think one of the most intriguing sections of the book for me, something that generally gets overlooked, is the fact that he believes that leadership can't take place until someone looks at themselves in the mirror every day. He stresses that before you work on your team, your company or your grandest visions, you should take care of yourself first. I'm sure I'm not the only one on the planet who rushes straight into work some days without considering where I am in the moment, and whether I'm making all the right decisions. Life can just get too fact-paced at times.
Its a book I'll refer to a lot going forward.
April 25, 2023
You can't really go wrong with business books based on Disney principles, or written by Disney leadership.
The advice is practical, timely, and readily implemented ... because so much of it is based on the common sense principles of safety, courtesy, efficiency, and "show" (good customer service) -- in that order or priority.
Dan Cockerell started out as a parking lot attendant and rose to become VP of EPCOT over the course of his career; he believes in learning the hands-on aspects of every job, which helps to see where the areas of concern for the front-line employee might be found. Cockerell was no ivory tower executive during his tenure with Disney; he really did do it all.
I think that most leaders would benefit both from this approach and from this book. We've all had leaders who didn't think about the front-line impact of their decisions, and we all know how miserable that can be when dealing with the fallout.
Anyway, the book was written in an engaging, practical fashion and had a lot of great ideas. Highly recommended.
The advice is practical, timely, and readily implemented ... because so much of it is based on the common sense principles of safety, courtesy, efficiency, and "show" (good customer service) -- in that order or priority.
Dan Cockerell started out as a parking lot attendant and rose to become VP of EPCOT over the course of his career; he believes in learning the hands-on aspects of every job, which helps to see where the areas of concern for the front-line employee might be found. Cockerell was no ivory tower executive during his tenure with Disney; he really did do it all.
I think that most leaders would benefit both from this approach and from this book. We've all had leaders who didn't think about the front-line impact of their decisions, and we all know how miserable that can be when dealing with the fallout.
Anyway, the book was written in an engaging, practical fashion and had a lot of great ideas. Highly recommended.
January 26, 2022
I think this is an excellent book given the goal.
Do not expect a deep analysis of Disney, culture, leadership, etc.
Instead, this book is a good summary of good practices and lessons with a setting that is broadly relatable. Also serves as a nice introduction to management concepts.
I imagine I will use it as a sort of personal evaluation- I can go down the list of topics and think how am I doing on each. I also think the book would be an excellent book to lead discussions with people interested in management. It might also provide some ideas here and there for experienced managers.
As noted above, the book also does not 1) put forth some hip paradigm shifting concept that you need to implement to stay ahead or 2) provide some insight into some deep research topic related to business or personal improvement. That is not the intent of the book.
Do not expect a deep analysis of Disney, culture, leadership, etc.
Instead, this book is a good summary of good practices and lessons with a setting that is broadly relatable. Also serves as a nice introduction to management concepts.
I imagine I will use it as a sort of personal evaluation- I can go down the list of topics and think how am I doing on each. I also think the book would be an excellent book to lead discussions with people interested in management. It might also provide some ideas here and there for experienced managers.
As noted above, the book also does not 1) put forth some hip paradigm shifting concept that you need to implement to stay ahead or 2) provide some insight into some deep research topic related to business or personal improvement. That is not the intent of the book.
June 22, 2021
Dan was so kind to send me a copy of his book, and I can’t say enough great things about it! We’re all storytelling creatures, and through these specific personal stories Dan illustrates professional and personal lessons that anyone would be smart to take into account. Not only is it fun to learn more about how Walt Disney World operates, but it’s illuminating to learn how leaders of all sizes can incorporate safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency into their efforts!
February 27, 2022
How's the Culture in Your Kingdom? is a very good book on leadership and management. Dan Cockerell does a splendid job of sharing a career of experience with practical applications that can be implemented immediately. This is as page turning was business books get! I greatly enjoyed the time spent and ended up with more on just about every page. Regardless of your experience, you find magical nuggets of wisdom. Strong recommendation.
March 13, 2024
Good easy read on leadership. A lot of the concepts are so obvious and easy to implement, but often overlooked. I was able to relate to almost all of the concepts in this book even though I work in a completely different industry. The beginning of the book is focused on you. Reminded me of a self help book in that part. But it’s so true, if you aren’t your best self, how can you be a successful leader.
August 11, 2020
A fabulous leadership book, littered with lovely stories of Dan journey at Disney.
I really liked the layout which starts with self leadership. This has led to some real introspection with my mentor.
Totally recommend
I really liked the layout which starts with self leadership. This has led to some real introspection with my mentor.
Totally recommend
October 7, 2021
One of my favorite reads this year. Balanced read with stories and principles. Each chapter ends with a takeaway section.
Book follows the career from Parking Attendant to VP and as a plus Disney is always at the center of the story!
Book follows the career from Parking Attendant to VP and as a plus Disney is always at the center of the story!
April 22, 2022
Not your average business book
I read this book for a work book group, and I'd say anyone, in any setting or position, can get a lot out of it. Also, it was fun to see "behind the scenes" to the inner workings of Disney!
I read this book for a work book group, and I'd say anyone, in any setting or position, can get a lot out of it. Also, it was fun to see "behind the scenes" to the inner workings of Disney!
December 31, 2024
Very insight, well-written, and captivating!!
Would absolutely recommend this book to people at all leadership levels, from executive to entry level! I fully enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it
Would absolutely recommend this book to people at all leadership levels, from executive to entry level! I fully enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it
June 17, 2020
Very insightful
Dan made it easy to read and follow through his experiences, in order to learn about how to be a great leader.
Dan made it easy to read and follow through his experiences, in order to learn about how to be a great leader.
January 31, 2021
Leadership tips made easy, accessible, and practical.
September 20, 2021
While it’s certainly not a page turner there is some valuable insight to be gained.
March 16, 2025
Engaging and relatable with good end-of-chapter summaries, exercises and linked supplemental material on his website.
August 11, 2020
A great book full of insights and lessons from the author's 26 year career with Disney. One of my favorite parts of this book are the real-life examples of the ideas and principles taken from Dan's various jobs and roles at Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World.
I recommend this to anyone looking for leadership lessons, as well as to fans of Disney parks for the behind the scenes look at how the Disney parks are run and managed.
I recommend this to anyone looking for leadership lessons, as well as to fans of Disney parks for the behind the scenes look at how the Disney parks are run and managed.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews