By Chad Hershberger

I’ve read a book by Lee Cockerell called, Creating Magic. Cockerell was the former executive vice president of operations for the Walt Disney World Resort. I picked up his book when I was once at Disney World. I’m always interested in reading others’ perspectives on leadership, which this book is about.

After reading just the first few pages, I began taking notes because the book contains many practical lessons that I wanted to incorporate into our summer camp program, particularly how we train our staff. As I turned each page, I got even more excited about adopting these lessons in both hospitality and leadership.

One of the things Cockerell writes at length about is how people need to be treated with respect. The thesis of his book appears to be that if you treat others with respect, everything else will fall into place. He writes that at Disney, they remind their employees to remember the acronym for RAVE: respect, appreciate, and value everyone. I’ve used that RAVE acronym with staff for a while now and they really seem to grasp onto that concept.

And so have I! When I read Psalm 112, I am reminded about the same lessons. As we appreciate and value everyone, everything else will fall into place. And we will be remembered for what we did, too.

Cockerell left a legacy at Disney because of the way he managed. As he recounts, he didn’t always do it the “Disney way.” In fact, what he learned over the years that he put into practice in his career came from hard lessons when he wasn’t an effective leader.

What legacy are you leaving for those who know us? Are you respecting God and others and appreciating and valuing one another? If not, how can you change now to make your legacy one that people will RAVE about?