The wrestler's curse is a concept often discussed in the world of professional wrestling. It refers to the belief that wrestlers are cursed to lead difficult and tragic lives, both inside and outside the ring. While professional wrestling is known for its spectacle and entertainment value, behind the scenes lies a dark and troubling reality. One aspect of the wrestler's curse is the toll that the physical demands of the sport can take on a wrestler's body. The intense physicality of the performances often leads to injuries, including broken bones, torn muscles, and concussions. The constant strain and punishment on their bodies can lead to long-term health problems and chronic pain even after retirement.
This is ‘common sense’ indeed: Everyone wants to feel included, respected and heard!. When raising children, it is important that they feel they are special, and a parent can give them that feeling by knowing them well. This is no different with employees. Like a parent, you should be available day and night when your people need you.
Episode Highlights 00 03 08 Nobody should want you to get training more than you 00 04 44 Learn what you need for promotion, and find opportunities for self-education. The secret for creating magic in our careers, our organizations, and our lives is simple outstanding leadership--the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results.
The constant strain and punishment on their bodies can lead to long-term health problems and chronic pain even after retirement. This physical toll can affect every aspect of a wrestler's life, making even simple tasks a challenge. Another aspect of the wrestler's curse is the toll that the sport takes on a wrestler's mental health.
Creating magic lew Cockerell
Being a manager, who tells people what do, is something completely different then being a leader, who asks and listens! Great business leaders foster an ‘inclusive’ environment in which everyone’s opinion counts, and in which everyone gets the possibility to learn. In many ways this resembles how parents raise their children, by respecting, coaching and stimulating them. And the good news is, this can spread like an infection through your organisation, in the end resulting in more satisfied customers and better business results!
This is the main message of Lee Cockerell, in his book Creating Magic. As executive vice-president, he was responsible for all operations at the Disney World Resort during the period 1997-2006. What can we learn from Cockerell? A lot! Which manager doesn’t want to know how to create the environment in which everyone wishes to work, and which attracts customers in magical way?
Lee Cockerell (see the picture on the left) received several awards for outstanding leadership. But above all, he is known for his creation of the Disney Great Leader Strategies. These guidelines still serve as the primary resource for developing all leaders at Disney. In addition, they form the core of the management training programs at the Disney Institute.
In his new book “Creating Magic”, Cockerell explains how he came to his ideas.
This book is not about process improvement methods like Lean, Six Sigma or Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). However, Cockerell implicitly applies a lot of the underlying principles, like:
1. Cockerells "Discover the truth" ≡ Go to the Gemba or working place to discover problems in Lean management
2. Cockerell's "Everyone is important ≡ Everybody, every day, should help to pursue improvement in Lean management
In addition, concepts such as pre-shift meetings (like in TPM) and standardizing working processes and adapting them after finding the root cause of possible problems are applied (like in Six Sigma).
However, let me emphasize once again that none of this Lean or Six Sigma stuff is discussed in this book.
People
Cockerell’s book is primarily about people management. He wants to answer this question:
How can you create an “inclusive” environment in which everyone feels his or her contribution is appreciated, so that everyone will start to look for ways to perform better, and does not hesitate (or is afraid) to suggest process improvements.
Both the customers of Disney, the Guests, and the employees, the Cast Members, are deliberately written with a capital letter in the book.
That way, Cockerell wants to teach us that putting the Customer first, begins by treating your Employees with as much care and respect as possible.
His business formula is simple: Committed, responsible and inspiring leaders create a culture of care. This will lead to services and products of high quality, to satisfied customers, and finally to ‘magic’ business results!
Disney's Seven Dwarfs all serve as a metaphor for a guideline to serve the Guests. Sneezy represents spreading hospitality like an infection. This is the heart of Cockerell's leadership
Expectations
According to Cockerell, employees and customers have the same expectations. Fulfilling these can therefore spread like an infection, from your employees to your customers:
- Make me feel special.
- Treat me like an individual.
- Respect me.
- Be professional (to a customer) or Make me professional (for an employee).
Exceeding customers’ expectations so that their experience becomes magical (so that these people in the end become a Net Product Promoter, as Philips would say) is done within Disney by adding small, well thought-out and customer-specific services: Be so kind to your customers, that they don’t believe it !
Huge
Cockerell is entitled to speak: The company he managed so successfully is huge.
The World Disney Resort in Orlando (Florida) is about the same size as San Francisco, and is the biggest tourist attraction and one of the biggest congress centers in the world. It has 32 hotels and four big theme parks, connected by roads with a total length of 267 kilometers. With 59.000 Cast Members it is the biggest employer at one place in the world.
The subtitle of Cockerell’s Book is “10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney”. In my opinion, Cockerell is to modest with this. What he means is: A lot of his strategies are familiar, and are even practiced in daily life by parents raising their children. However, there are not a lot companies applying these “common sense” rules. Therefore, a better subtitle might have been “10 overlooked common sense Leadership Strategies”.
Title: Creating Magic
subtitle: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney
by: Lee Cockerell
Supplemental information: 278 pages, Publisher Double Day (English version)
Pro's en con's:
+ This book addresses the often encountered problem of how to get committed and emotionally involved people, who all continuously strive for perfection.
+ Cockerell’s principles about being a good leader seem to be applicable in all business sectors. Focus is however on how to stimulate involvement of people to improve existing business processes.
- Focus is on success stories, some readers might therefore erroneously think this is all an American dream
This book can, among others, be ordered at:
Amazon.com (English version)
Warmth
The book is not only inspiring, it is also written with warmth. Cockerell sounds like someone you wished you had as a friend when you started your business. However, he admits that he has not always been this way. On the contrary, in the beginning of his carrier people saw him as a manager showing no mercy!
During his life he became convinced that this was a bad strategy, because it made people afraid to approach him to tell about problems in the working place.
Lee’s story is about a manager who changed his approach from ‘telling’ (do what I tell you or leave!), to ‘asking’ (what do you need to do your job better’), and ‘listening’ (to problems people might have and to the voice of customers, who are not always fully satisfied).
This is not a ‘soft’ approach, it simply gives better business results!.
Business case
The reorganization of Disney from top-down to ‘democratric’, which was accompanied with the formulation of the Disney Leader Strategies, started in the early 90’s. There was a clear business-case for doing that: The switch was based on the finding that company parts with the highest ratings in customer satisfaction, were lead by managers that were rated best in listening, coaching, and giving recognition and decision-making authority to their people.
In my personal opinion similar characteristics explain why Toyota is so successful with Lean, where many other companies fail. Therefore, Cockerell's book is not only of interest to people working in the service industry, but to people in any sector. He himself points out that products and services can be copied easily, whereas quality and high service cannot.
Lee Cockerell’s reaction
Creating the right culture for Six Sigma
Cockerell: “I think this review was well done. I like the points made by Jaap van Ede about the relevance to Lean Management and Six Sigma. I believe that he is correct that the strategies and principles in my book relate very well to Six Sigma work. I often speak to Six Sigma groups. I will be attending a Six Sigma event in Orlando soon and am also speaking to a Six Sigma conference in Boston in October. My talks are about creating the right culture and environment so that maximum effectiveness of Six Sigma implementation can take place and stays in place. When everyone in an organization is committed to make an organization more efficient and effective then you have the right culture for achieving maximum business results.”
Lee Cockerell, october ’09
Inclusion
Cockerell starts his book with the following sentence: “I am grateful to the following people for their contributions to this book and to my life. Everyone Counts, and I want that everyone knows that he or she counts”.
This points ahead to his first and most important leadership strategy: Inclusion. The reason why this is so important: If everyone knows that he or she counts, they will come to their work with pleasure, and they are willing to invest all their energy and creativity!
This is ‘common sense’ indeed: Everyone wants to feel included, respected and heard!. When raising children, it is important that they feel they are special, and a parent can give them that feeling by knowing them well. This is no different with employees. Like a parent, you should be available day and night when your people need you.
Cleaning toilets
People who are cleaning the toilets are just as important as their managers and CEO’s, says Cockerell. In addition, he stresses the need to take the practical knowledge of everyone seriously: Ask them for advice, and let them know you are open for suggestions. ‘How many times have you heard leaders say, after a crisis, why didn’t anyone tell me that?. Probably this is simply because they didn’t dare!’.
Cockerell gives in his book 13 tips to create an inclusive environment. When a reader studies these well, he or she will almost certain find things to improve personally, not only as a manager but also in daily life. For me personally, ‘listen to understand’ was a real eye-opener. Like many other people I do not focus completely on the person I have a conversation with, but instead I am also busy formulating my reply or - as a journalist - thinking about what my next question will be!
After the chapter about ‘inclusion’ of people, nine other chapters follow, which all address one of the ten Leader Strategies of Cockerell (see the box below).
- Everyone is important. Foster an ‘inclusive’ environment, by Respecting, Appreciating and Valuating Everyone (RAVE)
American dream
The book is inspiring and well-written. Of course, there are also a few minuses. Problems, like people who are simply not willing to give their full commitment or who will make abuse of you ‘being available all the time’, are rarely discussed.
Some readers might therefore think ‘Isn’t this all an American dream?. This thought is a bit provoked by some methods which are mentioned to show that you appreciate your people, for example by organizing a monthly ‘Prize Patrol’ through the company. This might work in America, but probably not in Europe.
It would however be a pity if someone wouldn’t take the message of Cockerell seriously because of that. I think he clearly shows how to make maximum profit with a good product, in this case the magical world created by Disney.
Time management
Cockerell is an ambassador of time management. In the chapter ‘making people your brand’ he stresses that he finds it very important that people are very organized, and that the people he hired were always like that.
No one will deny that it is very important to behave in a structured way in service industry. But what about people who should develop new products or should invent ‘breakthrough’ business processes? Personally I don’t think these very creative people would have been hired by Cockerell, because these persons are often to chaotic. What about the people who think up the new adventures of Disney's Donald Duck, which I read with so much pleasure every week? Would these people be great time managers? And what about Google, a company which is more or less driven by creative people?
The pressure to perform at a high level, along with the constant travel and grueling schedule, can lead to feelings of burnout, anxiety, and depression. Wrestlers often struggle with substance abuse issues as they turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with the physical and emotional pain they endure. Beyond the physical and mental toll, the wrestler's curse often manifests in tragedy and untimely deaths. Many wrestlers have died at a young age due to factors such as drug overdoses, suicide, or complications from their injuries and substance abuse issues. The wrestling industry is filled with stories of promising talents who met tragic ends, leaving behind a legacy of unfulfilled potential. The prevalence of the wrestler's curse has led to increased awareness and efforts within the wrestling community to prioritize the well-being of wrestlers. Promotions are implementing safety measures and protocols to minimize the risk of injury, and there is a greater emphasis on providing mental health support to wrestlers. These efforts aim to break the cycle of the wrestler's curse and create a healthier and more sustainable environment for those involved in the sport. In conclusion, the wrestler's curse is a somber reality that hangs over the world of professional wrestling. Wrestlers endure immense physical and mental challenges, often resulting in long-term health issues and tragic outcomes. However, there is hope for change as the industry recognizes the need for better support systems and a focus on the well-being of its performers. Only through these efforts can the wrestler's curse be lifted and wrestlers can find the happiness and fulfillment they deserve..
Reviews for "Beyond the Mat: The Wrestler's Curse in Real Life"
1. John - ★★☆☆☆
I was really disappointed with "The Wrestler's Curse". The storyline was predictable and cliché, offering nothing new to the genre. The acting was subpar, with unconvincing performances from the cast. Additionally, the pacing of the film was off, with numerous scenes dragging on for far too long. Overall, I found it to be a lackluster and forgettable movie.
2. Emma - ★☆☆☆☆
"The Wrestler's Curse" just didn't do it for me. The characters were poorly developed, making it difficult to connect or care about their fates. The dialogue felt forced and unnatural, often leaving me cringing at the poorly written lines. Furthermore, the special effects and CGI were laughable, detracting from any potential enjoyment. It's safe to say that this film was a waste of my time.
3. Mark - ★★☆☆☆
I had high hopes for "The Wrestler's Curse," but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. The plot felt disjointed and all over the place, making it hard to follow or understand the character motivations. The action sequences lacked excitement and were poorly choreographed. I found myself checking my watch multiple times, waiting for the movie to end. Overall, it was a disappointing experience that I wouldn't recommend.
4. Sarah - ★★☆☆☆
As a fan of the wrestling genre, I was excited to watch "The Wrestler's Curse," but it left me feeling underwhelmed. The story lacked depth, relying on tired tropes and predictable plot twists. The performances were lackluster, failing to capture the intensity and passion of the wrestling world. I wanted more from this film, but it failed to deliver anything memorable or engaging.
5. Daniel - ★☆☆☆☆
"The Wrestler's Curse" was a complete letdown. The script was poorly written, filled with unimaginative dialogue and uninteresting story arcs. The pacing was sluggish and made the already dull film feel even longer. The cinematography was uninspired, with lackluster visuals that failed to create any atmosphere or evoke emotion. Overall, it was a forgettable movie that I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on.