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Bryan Buckley

What You Need to Consider When Choosing Your Preferred Airlines

Most business travelers have one thing in common: airplanes.

Some travel internationally, most just domestically. Ironically, not every business traveler takes the air. Some are literal road warriors in every sense of the word. They’re on the road their entire trip.

And many are a combination. They fly into one city then drive to another city. Let’s say flying into Dallas then drive to Austin then to San Antonio then fly home to Chicago. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

As a result, there’s an unspoken process many business travelers go through in choosing an airline.

But do you know who doesn’t know this process?

The new guy or the new girl. That new business traveler who’s never been taught our secret handshakes. They choose an airline without much thought if it’s the best choice for them in the long run.

When I first started traveling for work, I was trained inside-and-out on the product. Sound familiar?

And the only information I was given on the travel part was: “keep it as cheap as possible.”

That was helpful. (Insert sarcasm here)

Everything revolved around price from the flight to the hotel to the food. And it was always what was best for the company, definitely not for me but I didn’t know that at the time. I was naive and thrilled to be “on the road” and “on my own.”

What I’ve learned later, is that the company wanted what can be summed up in two words:

CHEAP RESULTS

I’m on a mission to help companies realize that cost-focused business travel yields not only cheap results but short-term results because of one major rarely talked about subject: business travel burnout.

And hence learning the most effective ways to travel that yield consistent results. Did you catch that? Consistent results.

Since most business travelers fly for a living, we need to make sure we’re choosing an airline that enhances becoming an Elite Road Warrior.

So, if you’re about to begin business travel, have aspirations for business travel, or are already into the groove, there will be something in this article to help you in this area.

Before we dive into the five ways to choose your preferred airline, let me give you a word of caution right out of the gate:

Be hesitant to choose a budget-only focused airline such as Spirit Airlines or others in that similar category. Why? Because the “nickel-and-dime you” approach will be un-necessary travel friction. They charge you for a carry-on, for luggage, choosing certain seats, snacks, even to go to the bathroom. Okay, not the last one at least yet, but you get the point. They have ways of making up that low fare at your cost, not the company’s and it’s exhausting.

(Now that I got that rant out of my system…)

Five Ways to Choose Your Preferred Airlines

Consideration One: Hometown major airlines

You have an airport within striking distance to your house as a road warrior and if it’s a larger or even medium-sized city, it’s going to have a primary airline or what I call your hometown airline.

They’re going to offer you the most flights which means more times and more options.

For example, I live in one of the best cities to be a business traveler. I have two airports around 30 minutes from my house (O’Hare and Midway).

Chicago is home to three major airlines:

  • United (hence the United Center – home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks)
  • American Airlines (major hub)
  • Southwest Airlines (in fact over 90% of Midway Airport is Southwest and one their largest hubs)

I realize this ideal situation is rare and I’m thankful for it. But you may be in a city where Delta or American Airlines is “the” airline of choice and by default, becomes your best option.

This is a major consideration and often an easy decision due to the presence of this one primary airline and the best selection of flight options.

Key Action: Know your primary hometown airline options around you and find out if you have more than one choice

Just remember, this is a strong consideration but definitely should not be the ONLY consideration.

Consideration Two: Willingness to fly connection flights

This 2nd consideration is on the heels of consideration one of hometown major airlines.

For some, the choice is driving hours and hours to a large airport when others prefer taking their regional airport and connecting to the larger airport. Often times, trying both once or twice will make your decision very obvious, very quickly.

Other times, it depends on the cities you need to frequent and how many flight options your preferred airline provides.

I know road warriors who will drive 2+ hours to a major airport so they can take a direct flight and other road warriors who drive 30 minutes to their regional airport and connect to a major hub. They both have their reasons.

The longer I’ve traveled, the more I limit connection flights. That dude, Murphy (you know, from Murphy’s law) always seems to take my connection flight with me and of course, something goes wrong. Murphy seems to get a real kick out of thrusting me into the busyness vortex of hurry, worry, and scurry. #NotAFan

If a connection is my option, then I plan for the worst by giving myself contingency plans to limit my travel friction and stress (Aka: more margin for error) because the delay is almost always on the 1st leg of the flight which affects my connection flight. For me, it’s unwanted and unneeded stress.

One connection I don’t mind if I don’t have a choice is a direct flight which means you have a stop but you don’t have to leave the plane. You’re just dropping passengers off and picking more up. This is the lesser evils for a connection flight.

Key Action: You need to determine if a connecting flight is optional or mandatory and know if you’re a connection-type of road warrior

 

Consideration Three: Reward programs

Every airline has a reward program available. And if they don’t you shouldn’t be getting on their plane!

And there are key questions to ask about the reward program:

  • How long does it take to actually reap the benefits of your travels?
  • How far do your miles take you? (This is usually the catch in the program)
  • How difficult is it to actually use them?
  • Do they expire?

For example, when I first started, I signed up for every reward program which I suggest as well. But I also flew every airline because of CHEAP RESULTS expected from my company. I would fly sometimes 3 or 4 different airlines on just one week of travel. Craziness.

This also means I never earned enough on any airlines to benefit from my travels. I was in Points Purgatory which is not a fun place for a business traveler. I had a ton of miles but spread out amongst all the airlines.

Then I stuck with one specific airline for a while, but it just took me forever to use any of the miles.

I finally chose Southwest Airlines for the following reasons:

  • No cancelation charges and easy to change flights
  • A-List Preferred gets early boarding /free WiFi /drink coupons
  • Incredible customer service – I was talking to a real human being in 30 seconds who was actually enjoyable to talk to (is that even possible when dealing with airlines?)
  • But most importantly: Companion Pass = my wife can fly anywhere I fly for free

You may not choose your preferred airlines solely based on the Rewards Program but I’m here to tell you it definitely matters and should be considered.

I could easily have better status overall with United or American with living in Chicago with certain other perks I’ve had in the past such as 1st class seating, lounge access, etc. But at this point in my life, my family coming on multiple trips a year with me or a few vacations where my wife flies for free just matters more to me right now.

I chose to give up the personal perks for the greater benefit for my family during this season of business travel.

You need to determine how much the Rewards Program matters to you and where it falls in choosing your preferred airlines.

Key Action: Do your research on your airline options rewards programs

Consideration Four: Do you like their experience?

This is a bigger deal than you realize upfront. I may have a convenient airline and it may have a good reward program. But… if the service is bad, flight attendants are rude or developed their personality in a car crash, it makes a huge difference in your overall experience especially if you fly often.

If you’ve only flown a couple of airlines, you may not have much to compare your experiences to, so if you’re early on and shopping around for an airline, pay attention to the experience.

For example, I flew American Airline more at the beginning, but between us girls, I didn’t like the service. The flight attendants had the same social skills as my local DMV.

Service comes in two major forms:

  • Flight Service – what food/snack/drink options are available to you? How’s the WiFi?                               1. Are they friendly and smile or dread their job and you’re an obvious inconvenience?
    2. Is it any good?
    3. Are they generous? (Like an extra pack of snacks is going to throw their budget completely out of whack)
  • Customer Service – when (not if) something goes wrong, is the process painful or easy?

A few years ago I had to take an airline I had never flown. I was traveling with a co-worker and about an hour before the flight, we both got an automated call that the flight was canceled. No reason and no next steps. I didn’t know who to call or what to do next.

We finally talked to someone and the next flight was 24 hours later which means we would miss all of our meetings. It was an absolute mess and to be honest, made me thankful for Southwest customer service along with how personal, casual, generous, and humorous the flight attendants are on any given flight.

The longer I fly and the older I get, the more important my experience on a flight is to me and I really notice it when my family comes with me on more and more trips.

Key Action: Notice with a high level of critique how your overall experience with your potential preferred airline is.

Consideration Five: Have a strong secondary option

Sometimes, your preferred airlines may just have a high price that is going to flag the system or not get approved or you get some heat that’s just not worth it.

Or the date/time just doesn’t work for you especially if it’s a last-minute change.

Another reason is your airline is more domestic than international.

Back to my example, when I switched to Southwest Airlines as my primary, there are locations domestically they just don’t focus on and I need a second option. They also don’t fly north to Oh Canada, east to Europe, or west to Asia, Australia, etc.

So, Delta is my strong secondary option. When I flew to Madrid or Sydney, Delta was my obvious and preferred choice unless the price or dates/times just couldn’t work.

Having a strong secondary option also means you’re signed up with their Rewards Program along with having your TSA Pre-Check number (if you have one and you should) already in their system.

I shopped around with United and American Airlines as my secondary options and use them every once and a while, but I’ve had a good experience with Delta each time and it’s become my secondary option.

Key Action: All of the above considerations should be used on choosing your preferred secondary airline

If you’re about to start traveling for work or you’re in the honeymoon phase of business travel and still trying to figure everything out, then really work through these five considerations.

And if you lead a business travel team, check in with each road warrior and see where they are in this process of choosing a preferred airline. Limit the CHEAP RESULTS strategy and take care of your road warriors!

I feel for some of you road warriors where your choices are limited or you feel stuck. Living in Sheboygan, WI wasn’t the optimal choice when you became a business traveler.

Take choosing your preferred airlines seriously. You do have choices. So, wherever you are on the road, do something, anything, just not nothing to master the business travel life. Leverage your airline to help you become and remain an Elite Road Warrior today to eliminate burnout and exceed results.

You Got This!

Five Ways to Effectively Click with People on Business Travel

I had a polarizing father when he was alive. He was a business traveler, public speaker, and would light up a room when he entered.

But although he was bigger than life in so many ways, he had a rare quality for someone who was great on stage.

The legendary Frank Buckley could take the energy he had in front of hundreds or thousands of people and bring it to an audience of one: the person right in front of him.

When he was talking to you, nobody else in the world mattered to him at that moment. He would lock-in and make you feel like the most important person on the planet.

Everybody knew my father.

It didn’t matter where we went, if my father had been there before, he was greeted with a smile that would make you smile and a hug that breathed life into your body.

Everybody felt like my father was for them and their close friend. It wasn’t an act. It was who my father was because he knew the magic of connecting with people.

When my father passed away many years ago, we were not prepared for the number of people that would show up at his wake and memorial service.

The small town of Lockport, IL that held his viewing was not prepared for that night. The funeral home was not prepared. The amount of traffic that overflowed that town was not prepared.

The police showed up to handle the traffic and parking.

It was a two-hour wait just to view my father’s body.

The funeral home had to set up partitions to handle the people flow that was like going through a ride of Disneyland or general security at an airport during peak hours.

But what was amazing, even overwhelming, was hearing the stories that people shared on how my father had touched and impacted their lives.

People had driven hundreds of miles and flown thousands of miles just to attend. But also my father’s dentist, chiropractor, grocer, barber, hardware store guy, and on and on and on.

While people waited in the long long lines, the question that came up with complete strangers was “how did you know Frank Buckley?”

It was incredible to hear the stories from complete strangers of how my father had influenced them so much they felt compelled to say goodbye to the man who was bigger than life but had touched their own life.

How?

My father knew the power of connections.

He instilled the importance of this unique skill set. He told me that many can light up a room but few can warm a heart.

It was a skill that he encouraged and developed in me that has served me my entire career.

Awhile back I read a book that was unlike any other I had read in a long time. Why? I felt like it was explaining how and why I connect with people and what my father demonstrated and taught me.

Sadly though, most people are not taught how to have a conversation or how to click with people in ways that truly matter in business and life.

I don’t want that to be your story and hence this article on conversation and clicking with people.

When you’re able to truly connect with another person on the road, it’s a game-changer. The business side all of a sudden just seems to open up and things get easier.

Why?

Because in the end business is done between people.

  • People we know.
  • People we like.
  • And ultimately, people we trust.

And if we can learn this skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and learned, we will become an elite road warrior in the 4th energy habit, PERFORM, the why we’re on the road.

Five ways to Effectively Click with People on Business Travel

 

In the book, Click, the magic of instant connections, the authors discussed five ways or environments for click to happen naturally.

1. Physical Proximity:

Physical distance directly affects the likelihood of establishing a connection to someone else. You are more likely to become friends with the person sitting next to you at work than someone who works on a different floor of the same office building.

You connect with the neighbors right next to you not as much as those down the street.

Two Variables:

  • How often – The more often you’re around someone on the road, the more opportunities to click with that person.
  • How long – The more time you spend with someone your odds increase as well to connect. 3 minutes in a brief meet-and-greet vs. going out to dinner or attending an event

 

    • Example: when I can take someone out to lunch or dinner vs. in a conference room, the physical proximity changes for the good. If I can take them to an event like a ballgame or Top Golf, it’s a whole different level due to the forced proximity.

2. Similarity:

It’s known that we like people who are like us and the more we feel that we are like others, the more we create our own “in crowd”. It’s an us versus them mentality that influences quickset intimacy.

When you find someone who:

  • Has the same name
  • Grew up in the same area
  • Same job or role
  • Likes the same food, drink, hobby, sports team, same age or bday, left-handed
    … you have a quick opportunity to click and connect with them

 

    • Example: NYC dinner at a high-end Manhattan restaurant and my job was to connect 12 people (6 on our side / 6 on their side) since we were going to be working together for a long project – I spent time getting to know each person then connect them with someone else on my team.

3. Safety:

The safer we feel with another person/environment the more likely we are to open up. And conversely, the more unsafe the outside environment, the more it pushes us together.

IF someone is more introverted, reserved, or shy, it will take them longer to feel safe with someone they don’t know especially in larger groups.

This is why the 1st two “click” ways are important to build safety: proximity and similarity.

    • Example: I find the more I can lead by asking questions that uncover similarities and create environments for more physical proximity, more people will warm up and feel safe. But note, I’m also intentional to create a safe environment.

4. Resonance:

Think “awareness” of what is going on when you’re with other people.

“Being fully in the moment” allows you to tune into the emotional mood of others around you.
By being aware of others’ needs, you are better able to satisfy them. In doing so, you increase the likelihood of clicking with them. This is emotional intelligence, being willing to be present and not distracted.

    • Example: let’s go back to the NYC dinner example. It’s easy to just “resonate” if you will to those around you (physical proximity) and that’s fine but if you want to click at a deep level, you need to be aware of how others around you are in the moment. Are they not talking? Why? Do they seem dis-engaged? Bored? I’ve learned through the years to pull them back in by 1:1 with just that person and ask a question to get them re-engaged in conversation first with me, and then potentially the group.

5. Vulnerability:

When an individual opens up to another and reveals personal information about himself, they increase the other person’s perception of his trustworthiness.

You have to be smart AND intentional about what, when, and how much to share.
Whether it’s the first time I meet them and we only have a few minutes or I come back for a 2nd time. (Physical proximity)

Or maybe we spend a good amount of time together at a dinner or event (to create Similarity and Safety opportunities)

The key is leveraging RESONANCE when you’re fully aware of the right moment and reading the person.

    • Example:
      • I’ve let people know in the past I’ve been let go of a couple of jobs or why they didn’t renew my contract.
      • I’ve let people know I’m divorced
      • I’ve been honest about my faith as a Christian by mentioning my morning routine which includes reading the Bible or our family goes to church

You have to determine what you’re willing to share (vulnerability) and what feels safe at the moment.

But I’ve learned from experience when you’re vulnerable and specifically GO FIRST, it’s an absolute game-changer in the connection to click with people on the road.

Let’s transition to… Five Specific Ways to Connect with People in Meaningful Ways on the Road

These are remedial but after decades on the road and dealing with people, I’m shocked how many people struggle in these five ways.

So, as I share them, don’t assume you already do them and brush them off.

Really think about them.

ONE – Eye Contact

TWO – Questions

Why? To find something that resonates with you and them.

“Son, ask people questions and they’ll talk to you for hours. Talk about yourself and they’ll listen to you for seconds at the most.”

THREE – Observe

It’s amazing what you can learn looking at how someone dresses, presents themselves, what they bring with them, the pictures on their desk, how open they are or talk about other people, are they Peter Positive or Debby Downer, etc. –

FOUR – Researching

Leverage LinkedIn to know what they look like, their past roles and experience, their schooling, clubs, etc. Michigan State convo and their disdain for U of M?

You’d be surprised what you can learn. I also leverage #2 of questions and may ask someone else who knows them anything they’re willing to share about the person. I get so much quality information and it’s quick research that really helps me.

FIVE – Remembering

This one is huge especially if you’re following up with this person via email, text, or call at first. What did you learn from your questions, observations, and research that you can use to continue the CLICK with this person?

When I know someone likes something or a sports team, I will always reference it right away.

I have an industry friend who is a Patriots fan and we text anytime his team or my team (da Bears) are on national TV. It’s changed our connection and relationship big time.

And especially when you come back to visit, simply remembering their name and addressing them by it. Referencing something they told you.

I know there are many Road Warriors out there who want to improve in how they perform on the road. They realize they’re either not connecting with people or they can and want to improve in this area.

If that’s you, then maximize how to click with people.

Where can you improve? Seriously? Where are you weak? But also, where are you strong?

This is a skill my father taught me early on that has served me so well in business and especially on the road.

Be near people and look for things in common by asking good questions and create a safe environment. You do this by being fully present and aware then lead with being honest that allows people to open up as well.

You Got This!

088 – Leadership and Disney with Dan Cockerell

Transcription

Bryan Paul Buckley 0:00
Episode 88 of the Elite Road Warrior podcast. Welcome to the Elite Road Warrior podcast where we believe you can leverage the road to transform your work, health, and home life while on business travel to ultimately master the business travel life. If you’re a road warrior, and a great chance you’re on the road right now than this podcast is for you.

Welcome to the Elite Road Warrior podcast. I’m your host Bryan Paul Buckley, fellow Road Warrior, husband of one, father of five yeah five and on a mission to help business travelers eliminate burnout and exceed those elusive results. I’m also committed, each and every business trip to becoming and remaining an Elite Road Warrior. And man I’d love nothing more than for you to join this master evil plan and worthwhile road trip.

Now I’m naturally drawn to books on personal Professional Development. And I came across a book covering both levels of development, which actually is energy of number five develop. And I found this book through the reads only podcast with Jeff Brown. And I was instantly drawn to reach out to this guy. And Wow, did we click just in a conversation and I couldn’t wait to have an interview with somebody who not only with such vast experience but could also speak specifically to the leaders of business travelers. So let’s meet our subject matter expert. Dan cockerel 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, get this, 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 move to Viva La France in 1992. After spending five years in France, Dan relocated to Florida have held a variety of executive roles at the Walt Disney World Resort, both in the theme parks and resort hotels.

His last nine years with the company he was successful as a vice president of Epcot vice president Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and eventually vice president of the Magic Kingdom, where he led ready for this 12,000 cast members and entertained over 20 million guests annually. After a fulfilling and exciting 26-year career with the Walt Disney Company, Dan and his wife Valerie made the decision to set on a new venture and start their own consulting and speaking business. Dan provides customized authentic presentations, insightful workshops, and one on one coaching, focusing on leadership and management practices, drawing upon his extensive Disney career with relevant examples and inspiring storytelling, and he’s going to do exactly that in this episode, specifically for business travel leaders. And in a moment, I’ll be asking The following questions. What is the difference between a training program and a development program? And why do both even matter? What is the 30/60/90 day retention plan? Why are personal relationships so important for you and your team members? And why should it matter to a business travel leader? How and why did you implement consistent recognition with your teams at Disney? And how did you do it very uniquely to that individual? And in no additional charge, so much more.

It’s go time

I’m live right now with Dan Cockerel. Where are you and how are you my friend?

Dan Cockerell 4:04
Okay, I’m doing well. I’m in Orlando, Florida. I’m exhausted. We’ve been cleaning. We’re moving. So I’ve been moving all my stuff to a storage facility. And my wife is directing and won’t give me a break here. So I’m really glad we’re doing this podcast.

Bryan Paul Buckley 4:19
We can go for hours and hours, right?

Dan Cockerell 4:21
Yeah, I’m just gonna keep you here talking whether you’re on or not.

Bryan Paul Buckley 4:24
You know what end? I’ve got enough time we’ll make that happen on there. And it will maybe it’s maybe we’ll do three episodes of this here. Three different takes. Take one take. Two, take three, and that that’s all I do. Yeah, we also have a few common connections, a guy named Jody Mayberry, who is the host of your own podcast, and a longtime friend of myself as well. And then some guy named Lee, with the same common last name is yours. what’s that about?

Dan Cockerell 4:50
Yeah, well, um, you know, my dad, and he. He’s been a great mentor. You know, he retired from Disney at 63 had a whole second career, writing books and speaking and he’s got all kinds of stuff going on. So when I decided to leave Disney, he was a big part of my encouragement to have the courage to leave and go start something. So I’m really a, you know, my parents have done. They’ve been with me the whole way at 51 years old, and they’ve been married for over 50 years. So were they’ve done a good job.

Bryan Paul Buckley 5:23
Well, and I couldn’t speak more highly of your father, actually, God introduced myself to your dad, and on a former podcast that I had called the energy edge podcast. And I just so appreciate your dad’s honesty. Just how hard he went and how his health and crashed and I was able to rebuild that back and strengthened his marriage and helped him with his second career on there. So just nothing but the highest respect for your dad. And when you just well, man I’m excited, though, to talk about you. And I’m excited to talk about your book. So would you give us kind of that backstory of why you wrote the book, which is entitled

“How’s the Culture in Your Kingdom? Lessons from a Disney Leadership Journey” and a 30,000-foot view kind of is what I’m looking for right now of the book you could give us that Dan.

Dan Cockerell 6:11
Sure. Well, you know, when you

know, for a lot of people writing a book is it gives you some authority. You know, someone pointed out to me that the word author isn’t the word authority. So it gives you some credibility. And when I left Disney, I really sat down one night after a couple of months, and I said, Okay, what do I know? You know, what do I actually know that people want to hear about because when you work in the same company for 26 years, everything you do is sort of second nature. And you just think everything’s done this way. And the good thing is Disney does a lot of things really well. So I learned in a very, very positive environment of how to do run a business and lead.

Bryan Paul Buckley 6:53
You had how many positions while you’re at Disney?

Dan Cockerell 6:55
Yeah, 19 different jobs over 12 years. So I was always looking for that. Next learning moment I was I was an on the novice into my jobs. Most of my career I was in a learning mode most of the time, which kept me very on my toes and energized. So, one night I just wrote down, you know, okay, let’s, let’s go with the basics. What do I know how to do? Alright, communicate? Yep. I’ve learned how to communicate it does. What does that mean? I learned how to collaborate. What does that mean? I’ve learned how to build a strategy. What does that mean? And I came up with this big laundry list of things. And then I sent it off to a buddy of mine who’s a professor at the Cromer graduate school in Winter Park here in Florida. And I said, Keenan, I don’t know what I have here. I got a bunch of stuff. And within 24 hours, he sent me back he said, Dan, I’ve arranged everything you wrote and these little subtexts into three, three different areas. Leading self, leading team, leading organization, he saw it, it was clear to him and I was just like, so grateful to him to have seen there’s a there was a theme there. And that’s what my websites built my keynote speeches.

My book is set up that way, with those themes, and I, we added a fourth section towards the end of the writing the book called leading change, because that’s just, it’s seemed like a lot what I’d written could fit in that category. And that’s such a big issue these days, obviously, with the acceleration, of everything that’s going on. And actually, there’s something that really influenced me a book called, thank you for being late by Thomas Friedman. And he has he talks about the fact that between climate change and globalization and technology, technology is now actually accelerating and evolving faster than humans can adapt, and it’s causing a lot of stress. It’s causing a lot of confusion, ambiguity, and complexity. And so we talked about leading change. So I just started writing. And, you know, I wasn’t very organized. I’d never written a book. I’ve never really written anything. And so it’s just sort of stream of consciousness. So the editing process took a while because it was kind of a mess. But we hired an editor to help us out. And when I got a little burnt out on it, my wife took over. And she wrote about half the book. So when my daughter read it, she was Oh, I know which parts you wrote. I know which parts mom wrote.

Bryan Paul Buckley 9:11
And not just because she’s French, she wasn’t like she wrote in French. Is that obvious, right?

Dan Cockerell 9:15
No, no, no. But she, you know, she and she is a real creative writer. So we’re figuring how to be a really great team now. And so I’m super proud of it. Because you know, it took a couple of years to get done, and it’s just getting it done. It just seems like it’s never gonna end you get up every morning and the first year I wrote 10,000 words. And then this in the second year, in six weeks, I wrote the rest of the book 45,000 words. It was one of those moments where I just sort of had a panic attack and said, Dan, you’re failing you better get on this and I got up every morning for six weeks and finished it.

Bryan Paul Buckley 9:51
A get it done moment.

Dan Cockerell 9:53
Exactly. It was and so now it’s great. It’s a great way to introduce myself to people. It forced me to put my Thoughts down, it forced me to go back and remember lots of stories I had forgotten about. And the biggest thing about the book, from my perspective, well, first of all, the editor said, Dan, I don’t want to rain on your parade. But I just want to remind you, you’re not the first person to write a book on leadership and management. So you better be interesting, you better have some great stories. And that was important because people learn through storytelling. And the other piece of this book that I really, I like about it is at the end of every chapter, I share something called Fast Track results. Because I’m a big believer in a lot of these management, leadership books. They don’t give you anything at the end, like what should I go do tomorrow, you understand the concepts but you don’t know the behaviors. And so I really honed in on the behaviors if you want to become a better collaborator, a better communicator, better at giving feedback, better recognition. You know, here are 5678 things you can do, starting tomorrow to become that leader. And I’ve gotten a lot of really good feedback on that because people want tactics and I wanted to get in there with that.

Bryan Paul Buckley 11:00
great use of lingo calm the fast track there for those that know the Disney World on there. Well, it’s a great read, I just want to touch on one observation that I had on it, which is very unique. And we can unpack this at another time, because you actually talked about with Jeff Brown on the read elite podcast and we’re gonna want up, Jeff, good morning to both of ours. But nonetheless, you chose to lead with leading self at the beginning of the book, which probably cause a little bit of pushback. And I heard that in your interview, but actually loved it. Because if you can’t lead yourself, it’s hard to lead teams lead an organization and lead change any quick thoughts on that?

Dan Cockerell 11:36
Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s the editor we talked and he said, You know, people are expecting a management leadership book and it feels like a self help book. And so are you sure you want to have that the beginning might turn people off? And I said, Well, look, it’s common sense. Everyone knows it, but there are so few people that do it right. Eat right, get enough sleep, do stress. I have the right price. be organized. And it’s That’s why every couple years that a new magical diet comes out because no one wants to… They want a magical solution. They don’t want to do the hard work. And it’s like, you know what, if you burn more calories than you put in, you’ll lose weight period. And whether that’s a protein or whatever you want to say, and there’s no magical way to do it. So I wanted to, and Valerie, my wife, and I talked about it. She said, Well, Dan, if you really do think that’s the most important thing, if you don’t put it into the book, you’re telling people it’s not important. And I said, Yeah, we gotta make a stand. So we left it up front. And a few people said, it’s tough to read because you have to look in the mirror and go, am I really taking care of myself the way I should be? And as I get older, I find I get more discipline, and I find that I don’t take my health for granted like young people do. Does, you know we all used to be indestructible. You get older, it’s not about you know, it’s I mean, in my mind, it’s not necessarily about just trying to live a really super long life, which would be nice, but to enjoy it. You know, there’s today science will keep you alive for a long time. But are you actually enjoying it? Can you physically go do what you want to do? Can you mentally do what you want to do? And I think it’s important to just make sure you incorporate that into your habits as a person.

Bryan Paul Buckley 13:12
Well, as your editor said, there are a lot of leadership books that are out there. But there’s also a lot of exhausted overweight leaders out there as well. And to your point, you know, leading with that, and really putting that as a priority is a huge wake up call. And the focus of the remainder of the questions will kind of be on that leader of a business travel team. And Dan, you know, I don’t want to pull any punches or rugby hits in your sports past, you know, being a former rugby guy here. But, man, you have four primary areas of leadership that I’d love for you to focus in on translating what you’ve learned from your experience at Disney and as your life on the road warrior that you had sprinkled throughout your four main headings of the book. So we’re gonna talk about training, talking about development, talk about relationships, and talk about recognition. So you had a quote, Dan that I loved. And it was this. And people kind of would push back on this, you said too often we see training as a cost and not as an investment. So would you unpack that book?

Dan Cockerell 14:13
Yeah, it’s, I’ve seen that happen in a lot of companies and Disney, we’ve done that before, where we spend all this money to hire people to get them in, put ads out, get them to the interview process, bring him in, give them orientation. And then we start, we go into training. And once we get them in the door, a lot of times we sort of just say, okay, you know, good luck, you’re here now, and we’re going to give you someone to show you the ropes. And we don’t think about it in a way like, this is a really, really great way to get started off on the right foot with people and really set the tone of what the company is about and what the job’s going to be about. And we kind of just say, Okay, well how long is the training going to be? We need this person to be online and contributing. And I think if you really do it right, and take the time up front, you may have missed a little bit of time and productivity. But if you can get that, right, you set people up then they’re going to deliver so much more afterward. And we actually tested that out of Disney, we had a program called emerging leaders. And it took a few years to get this, but what would happen was a leader would leave the company or get promoted or transferred to another area Then we would post the job, we would interview for the job, we’d hire for the job, would bring the person in and take you know, four to six weeks maybe to train them. And during that whole time, their team is running short. And so we finally said to finance, “hey look, why don’t we start training people before the positions open up and give ourselves the gift of time?” We know there’s going to be turnover This is not going to be money that’s wasted. And so we started doing that, we actually would take leaders, interview them for let’s say, a job in food/ beverage, and then we’d have them do a little six-week training program.

But they’d be trained in food and beverage, they spend time in a location they’d have a mentor. They take classes On Time management, how to deal with the union, food sanitation. And at the end of that six weeks, they’d be sent back to their location to go back to their regular job. So when a job came open, we had now a pool of people who are qualified. The person you thought was the right person, you’d plug him in, you’d give him the local training, which took a few days just for the nuances of that location, and they’d be up and running. And what we found was this Emerging Leaders Program, they actually had more skills and knowledge than the managers who had been in the roles for like 15 or 20 years, because they just you know, if you don’t learn something you never learn it.

And you just keep working the way you work and you don’t know there’s a better way. And we realized we had to put all these other managers who had all this experience, put them back through training. So they learned all the things that had changed since then. So it’s just something that to your point, we just look at as a cost. And it’s like what could we do, the minimum, so people can execute upon the job rather than how do we set people up to be wildly successful and training is a huge part of that. And I’ve been in moments before, why didn’t get trained well, and took a hit on my confidence, my performance. It’s really not fair to put people in jobs and not give them the full breadth of everything they need to know to be successful.

Bryan Paul Buckley 17:13
But I love your spin on on Zig Ziglar quote, where you said, why do we spend all this money and time on training them, and they leave? But the response was, but even worse, what if you don’t train them well, and they stay? Right? And I thought that was great, because that’s what happens.

Dan Cockerell 17:29
Absolutely, they stay and every guest comes in, has a, you know, maybe a bad experience, or, you know, 2 out of 10 have a bad experience. And now they tell others now our intent to return goes down or intend to recommend goes down. And it’s, it’s part of a big, you know, it’s part of the plan. You’ve got to get… make sure you’re delivering a great level of experience for your guests all the time. And that’s done through many things, including training, which is a big piece of that.

Bryan Paul Buckley 17:55
And it leads into the other question of under training that you had an (I was very intrigued by this) 30/60 and 90-day retention plan for your new hires. So tell us about that. And why is that so important?

Dan Cockerell 18:08
Yeah, well, you know, it’s funny, Disney’s a pretty sophisticated place. And we came up with these, these ideas based on problems we needed to solve. And so you know, someone had done some data analysis and said, you know, what, most of the people, the highest percentage of people that actually leave Disney, leave in the first 90 days, Once you get people past 90 days, their retention rate goes way up. Because they’ve gotten used to the commute. They’ve got they’ve made friends or maybe they realize they can do the job. There’s but at the first 90 days, it’s really easy to kind of say, maybe this isn’t the right job for me, you’re not emotionally attached or connected yet.

You’re still the new person. You’re learning every day. So it’s stressful. You’re still learning how to where’s the cafeteria? And you know, there’s just a lot going on. And so what we realized was okay, well if we’re going to spend all this money to hire People, let’s spend more money to retain them. So they don’t leave, get them over that 90-day mark. And so we set up a program and we just said, leaders after one week, after 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, we want you to sit down with every new hire. And here’s a list of 10 or 15 questions you can ask them. How are you feeling about the job? Is there anything you want to be retrained in? Are you feeling comfortable with it? How’s it going in your personal life? Is there anything we can do for you, and just have that moment because you know, this is a big place and it moves fast. And it’s easy to be a number and people don’t know who you are, forget you’re there.

And so we wanted to make sure we had a process in place. And we and there was an impact. When people had great check-ins the leader was able to find out well, know I don’t feel as comfortable on the register. Maybe I could do like another day of training, or the commute is not like what I thought it was going to be. Can I get it take a couple of weeks off and get moved? And then we work with them on that. So when you take a personal interest in people and you really try to solve problems for them, you get repaid with people hanging around, because they know that you’re you put your hand out, you’re there to help them, you care about them, and they’re more willing to stay with you. And once you get over that 90 days, then you have a much better chance people still leave, but you’re at least protecting your investment.

Bryan Paul Buckley 20:16
And to the world of business travel, the quote is, if you invest in me personally, I’ll invest into you more professionally. So when I was reading this, Dan, I was thinking through my goodness, how many missed opportunities of companies that I’ve worked for that if they would have done that, for me going from non-travel to all of a sudden travel, and especially in a more of an intense clip, what that could have been like for me 30/60 and 90 days. So as you’re talking right now to be a leader of a business traveler, how do we take the application, the fast track results to this, you know, hiring and what did they say if I don’t train them well into this 30/60/90 days of being personal more than just, you know, let’s go after your Q1 MBO’s and KPIs and what are your results in those First 30/60/90 days, how do we take that personal side of your experience for that business travel leader to implement that in their world?

Dan Cockerell 21:08
Sure. But I mean, if you’re leading someone who, most of their job is travel, you really should make an investment to make them really good at that. And so, you know, hiring if you don’t, you know, everyone, there’s people out there who are have become experts in everything. And there are people like yourself who have become experts in travel. And I don’t know if you remember the movie, I’m sure you’ve seen up in the air with George Clooney. Right? And he talks about, here’s how you handle this. Here’s what you do with this and it because everyone has their…

Bryan Paul Buckley 21:40
30 seconds here, wasting a minute here.

Dan Cockerell 21:42
Yeah, they have their hacks, they have their you know, how do you get the right seat? How do you make sure and everyone has so you know like we do it at businesses with best practices. Why wouldn’t you take a leader who’s going to start traveling more aside and say, Look, I’m either going to find someone internally in the company who’s you know, a master at this. Or we’ll hire someone, or I’m going to send you to a class or here, here’s some materials or a podcast and YouTube channel. And here’s a list of all the things you really should have when you’re traveling, go ahead and expense them and have them available to you. And, you know, people learn it over time, but why not accelerate that learning process and find out and then when people get back, you debrief them, you know, how did the trip go? Anything that we should be working on had the travel agency do with your planning? And so what you’re doing here is a few things a, it’s continuous improvement, right? So you’re… because you know how I mean when it… when travel doesn’t go well. It’s like taking care of yourself. Other things don’t go well, you’re not as focused in the meeting. You’re maybe a little short-tempered. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that goes along with that. So one is how do you continually make it better. And secondly, when you’re as a leader when you’re asking people how they did and that’s showing empathy, you care, you’re putting yourself in their shoes, to empathize with them. And when you start to show people you care about them, that you’re treating them as individuals, that’s what retains people that’s what guests of Disney World want. They want us to treat, make them feel special, treat them as individuals and our employees want the same. And so, you know, treat it like you would anything else, you know, when we, when you hire someone, you train them on a new software program or you train them how to operate a piece of equipment, why wouldn’t you train them how to travel efficiently? And with the right, all the right tips and tricks to really enjoy themselves and be able to take advantage of all the learnings maybe you had over time? And same with 30/60/90. You check in with them? Make sure how’s your family doing? I mean, we all know what the pressures are right?

Bryan Paul Buckley 23:40
Wait, wait. You mean, you talk about family? We’re talking about results here on the road and a quarter what why would a business leader ask about how’s your family doing and how tired you are? Why… Why would, Why does that matter, Dan?

Dan Cockerell 23:53
Yeah, well it comes back once again leading self you have to know that people will perform If everything in their life is in balance, and we all know for a fact that travel creates a lot of really tough situations for families, you know, if I know that you have a new baby at home, or I know that you’re a coach, or I know that maybe your son or daughter plays a varsity sport, I know that there is an interest there to be involved, probably. And if I can start talking about that, it doesn’t mean I’m going to just take say, Well, you know what, for the next five years, you don’t have to travel anymore. Don’t worry about it. But at least we can start working together and we can start negotiating, we can start having a conversation about it. Because most people say, Well, why would I bring that up?

I agreed to travel when I took this job. How can I go back now and say that I want to come home a day early? So I want to see my kids, it’s a great question and they can play and that should be in play that that conversation should be had because there’s lots of creative ways to do that. And once again, the more you help people reach their personal goals, like you said, they will be more likely to want to do more for you and find ways to give you more discretionary effort. And it’s a and you can help them a lot with that. And, you know, you and I talked when we met a couple of weeks ago, and we talked about that book, soccer-nomics, which was a sort of a lot like Moneyball it talked about which football soccer clubs in the world were really successful or not successful based on their spend. And it turns out that the town my wife’s from Leo, in the south of France, that team when you look at how much they spend, versus their results are one of the most efficient soccer teams in the world. They get the most results with the least amount of investment. And when they dug into it, they realized that one of the things they do, they have a great onboarding program and a great concierge program for all their players. Because a lot of these players you know, they travel from Brazil, Spain, Italy, UK, these countries, so they’re bringing their families with them.

They don’t speak the language they have to afford schools and Leo realizes You know what if we can take care of these families and help the spouse out and make sure the kids are being taken care of and get them in the right house, the right apartment and make sure they have the right transportation set up, they’re learning the language. Now the player can focus on playing, when he goes home at night, there’s not this sort of, I don’t want to be here. And he’s not on the field worrying about his family he knows are being taken care of. So it’s, it’s the whole package. It’s, you know, you want to take care of people. And if you put them in that, that situation, they’ll perform at a much higher level. But we seem to put those in silos and say, Well, your family is not our that’s not our thing where we pay you, we don’t pay your family, and people just don’t take a broader look at people’s lives.

Bryan Paul Buckley 26:42
And I love the example Dan, in fact, when we were kind of unpacking that conversation, I mean, even my first 90 days when I really really really started traveling hard in North America, and I’m gone most weeks, I didn’t know at the time that it was gonna be as much stress on my wife nor did she as a school teacher. And at that point, having really young kids didn’t know the stress that was going to be But the ability of, if I’d had a manager that I could talk to about that a leader kind of process, that of what that looked like and whether that meant I traveled less or whether that meant there is some assistance, you know, heading home. Like for example, you know, what if at that fourth day that the company paid for my wife to go out to eat on her own and pay for a babysitter. I mean, what’s a minimal cost for a company that’s going to be… but what would that say to my wife or I did you know, overseas and I came back for three or four weeks in a row and gone for like six weeks straight, international and all over the country. Well, the house is a wreck. What if there’s a few dollars and somebody came in to clean the house, what a difference that would have made so I absolutely love this stance. I really appreciate your taking that punch in a good way of why this is should be important to a business leader for business travelers. We’ll be back for the remainder of this interview. after this short break.

Overseeing a business travel Team is a challenge, especially when you just want consistent results. Is that too much to ask? There is a grind of business travel that has two levels of costs, if you consider the first is obviously the business traveler, and secondly is the company. When your business travelers only a short flight away from burnout due to the stress of the road, they’re costing you money and results the entire way. According to the Kingston study, 45% of the 200 frequent business travelers surveyed reported higher stress levels than normal while on work trips, and 31% said they’ve experienced emotional exhaustion, which is one of the major risk factors of burnout and this is on a weekly basis. Another study showed 80% of those who have experienced mental health problems, aka stress on the road, have never told her employer and you need to know you may not even realize burnout could cost you up to 200% of their salary. And this doesn’t even factor in the loss of productivity of that person going from busy to beat down to burn out. These stats are staggering. Get most companies continue to do business as usual or in this case, business travel as usual. Why? Too many companies who have business travelers and especially those that lead the road where your teams are just simply unaware of any signs of burnout, and as a result, elite road group has done the heavy lifting for you. We’ve created a resource called seven early warning signs for companies to avoid business travel burnout. You can find this absolutely free PDF resource at elite Road Warrior calm. Get your copy of the seven early warning signs for companies to avoid business travel burnout at eliteroadwarrior.com.

So I’m going to segue to we talked about training sometimes people just end With training, whether they only train for the product and services, or the extension of training, how to do business travel, how do you master the business travel life, but then it could stop there as well. You did a great job on packing in the book. There’s training, but then there’s also development, right? What’s the difference between the two? And why should both matter?

Dan Cockerell 30:22
Yeah, this started out. Interestingly, this concept. I have a cousin who went into West Point, and he flew helicopters army in Afghanistan. And he shared with us one time we were talking to him and his time had come up and he was trying to decide whether he was going to reenlist or leave the army and go work in the private sector. And he said he wanted to stay. But at the time, he said, You know what, the Army’s training me but they’re not developing me. And I said, Well, tell me more about that. He goes, Well, I know how to fly the helicopters. And they’re always investing me getting better at what I do, but they’re not helpful. Think about my future, they’re not looking at focusing on how I can better, have better relationships with people. And so training is sort of, I want to give you the skills so you can get better at your jobs, the company will do better.

And development is I want to give you training and skills is going to make you get better as a person that’s going to help you from a career long term. And a lot of companies just say, look, let’s get them trained. So they can execute X, Y, and Z. But that’s not enough. Because people want development, they want to feel like they’re growing. And some people, you know, they either say, well, you’re not getting promoted, so you can’t grow anymore. And I don’t think that’s true. I think you should continue to grow no matter what you’re doing. And there’s people at Disney and people I knew that they were fantastic at their jobs. And the worst thing we could do would be promote them because that they were in a perfect job. But we had to make sure they felt like they had a future. It’s not like I think what we end up doing is someone stays the same level too long. We start devaluing, saying, Well, I guess you hit your maximum, you hit your your potential. That’s fine, make those people feel great about what they’re doing. And they can deliver a ton of value for you. And a big piece of that is development, you can pay them more, you can do a lot of stuff. But a lot is development. And I think sometimes we only send the people who are moving up the ladder, and we look at sending them to do things we kind of take are solid people who did a really good job for granted. And I think making those investments in them is pretty powerful.

Bryan Paul Buckley 32:26
Especially if you want to keep them long term. And as a person grows and develops, you realize maybe I would like to do something different. So I love the focus of that in the book. And so let’s kind of turn it into relationships, though. So we obviously we dealt with the training and development side on here. But you personally, obviously are big on relationships. So is Disney because of obviously the four major values of that. So why is relationships so important to you and with your team members?

Dan Cockerell 32:54
Yeah. Well, it’s a couple things. I think, first of all, that’s sort of how I’m wired. I’ve always gotten things done through relationships. I always connected with people, I’ve always been pretty open minded. We traveled a lot when I was growing up. So I saw a lot of parts of the world, my parents were very raised me in a way and you respect everybody and we’re open and, you know, then in my career to be able to move to France, it really tested me to Okay, now you got to make relationships with people who don’t speak English. And how do you do that? And how do you connect with them? And so I do it naturally. But I’ve also come to realize if you make if you invest some time in doing that, it’s a great business strategy. It’s not, it’s not just like, well be a good person and be nice to people because that’s how you should be. When you have a relationship with someone, it gets rid of all kinds of friction. It gets rid of these small moments where you don’t trust somebody when you have a relationship. You just assume it’s a misunderstanding. Or the person or when you make a mistake, and you have a great relationship with someone. You can apologize and move on.

Rather than that becoming a point of breaking with the relationship. When you have a good relationship with people, when you want to give them feedback on something on performance, you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to set it up. You just tell them because you have a great relationship with them. And they’re more likely to listen to you because they know that you’ve spent the time to get to know them. And once again, it’s like if I want to, if I want to get the most out of people from a performance perspective, I have to get down to know them individually. I’ve heard people before say, Well, you know, in my department, there’s favoritism, everyone’s treated differently. I say, Well, good. Now, you know, I don’t I do I favor people who perform better. That’s true. And, so I said, I will treat people differently when I had a one on one with people. Some people we talked for a long time about their kids, that that’s what their thing was, and other people we talked for a while about their dogs, and other people we get right to business and just talk about business because they really didn’t I want to talk to me about their personal life that wasn’t their personality. And so I didn’t try to treat everyone the same. I tried to figure out how they’re individually different and connect with them there. And I once again it was up to me to get them the most comfortable that it could be to perform the role. And if I could get that relationship it just like you said, it greases the wheels and it made everything easier.

Bryan Paul Buckley 35:19
And you gave a great example that in the book, which surprised me, it wasn’t that difficult Dan, where you would take a new individual a new hire, it was on your team out to lunch, but it wasn’t to talk about anything of their job unless it came up. It was specifically to get to know them the personal side And to your point right here, whether they wanted to talk only business there or was really shy about their family or to find out for the example like you gave earlier, “well I got a newborn back home,” or “I’ve got two kids about ready to go to college” or “I have a special needs child” or whatever is going on in their life, that you could leverage that in a good way to serve them. Well, back to the quote, if you invest in me personally, I’ll invest more in You professionally. Right? You also gave, like a questionnaire to them. So can you talk just for a moment of why you did that? And what were the benefits of just taking a little bit of time, and handing out a questionnaire?

Dan Cockerell 36:11
Yeah, I just give a questionnaire and just say, Look, I don’t have a photographic memory. And if you can fill out as much as you feel comfortable filling out, but who’s your spouse, your partner? What is their name? And what are your kids names and ages? And when’s your birthday? You know, HR is like “we can’t ask them what year” I’m like, I’m not, I just want to know on their birthday to say happy birthday. That’s my goal. I want to talk to them about what’s your favorite snack? What’s your favorite restaurant? What’s your favorite song? What’s your favorite alcoholic, non-alcoholic beverage, your favorite snack? So then when we had a Christmas party, or I was looking to send them a basket to thank them for something or we were having a team outing, my assistant not only me, but my assistant could look at that list and call them and say look, I know you’re vegetarian. In the restaurant we’re going to these are the options they have. And now I’m treating them as individuals just role modeling how I want them to treat their people. And it was it wasn’t sort of this subtle thing. I just asked them straight out and said, Look, I’m not gonna pretend I remember all this stuff. But sure enough on the way to a Christmas party or reception somewhere, my wife and I would be driving and I’d say, okay, tonight, we’re going to see all the general managers here are their names, this is their spouse’s names, and she remembered a lot of them. And it made a big deal when she walked up and introduced and knew their names. And once again, it wasn’t like, I know a lot of people seemed it seemed a little calculated, but um, you know, we all have these computers in our pockets now called iPhones or androids and you can put a lot of data in there, so why not? Why not have this stuff, remember it? And, and then you can find these little ways to treat people special during the really busy times. You know, put a pack of Snickers bars in your office, like maybe you can forgot you’re like, wow, Dan, What a lucky guy. He didn’t know that was my favorite. Well, yeah, I did. He told me two years ago.

Bryan Paul Buckley 37:59
Exactly. You made it easy. Yeah, I know that we still need a long pitch, man, just because you got the questionnaire doesn’t mean you’re going to use the questionnaire. Right? You know, and what I would add for a business travel leader is what is your anniversary? And that wouldn’t be for the business traveler. It’s how can I make sure the business traveler is not gone on his anniversary or his wife’s birthday? And I failed at both those too many years. And it is a constant reminder, that boy, if I have a chance that I’d have to take that trip on a Thursday to make my wife’s birthday or make my wife’s for our anniversary would have made a huge, huge difference.

Dan Cockerell 38:33
And anticipating it’s so powerful. It really is.

Bryan Paul Buckley 38:37
So how and Why did you implement consistent recognition with your team? You got to know them. But then you constantly did recognition and you did it in some really unique and creative ways. Why is it important? And can you give me some examples?

Dan Cockerell 38:53
Yeah, once again, I think a lot of people think Well, yeah, recognizing people it’s a nice thing to do, builds morale and makes people feel better. Once again, it is a great business strategy. Because recognition, the side benefits of it are making people feel better building morale. Yes. But the purpose of recognition is to reinforce behaviors. When you do something that

Bryan Paul Buckley 39:16
Why did you do it again, because this is important instead of just because it’s the employee of the month. Nobody cares about, or knows it’s fixed anyway, or you get picked because you weren’t the last 11.

Dan Cockerell 39:25
So why do you do it? You’re reinforcing specific behavior. Exactly. So if I read a guest letter, and I read that, you know, as a cast member, someone said, You know, I was at the Emporium shopping at Magic Kingdom, it was my little girl’s birthday. And they went in the back and they brought out this balloon for her and they all sang happy birthday, and I want to thank John for making that happen. Well, now I can take that letter. I can let everyone know write John a letter and I can put his you know, picture on board and say, John, thank you so much for creating this magical moment for this family. Thank you for getting that balloon, and you know free balloon-like free balloon at Disney. I mean, those things are like 15 bucks. So a free balloon is a big deal. And now not only does john know Wow, I didn’t know that was such a big deal, but I’m going to do that again. Because apparently that’s a big deal here. Then you have all the other cast members looking at John going well, shoot, I can do that, you know, let me do that too. And now you’re building more of these moments. So people you’re just communicating to people about the things they’re doing are valued. And that can be things big and small. But it has to be about something specific. You know, a lot of people have the boss. Hey, man, I just want to say we really glad having you here. Well, that makes me feel good. The second time we like you on the team. Third time you’re like, Okay, why? What is it I do that you like me being here? It has to be specific.

So I know how to continue to do whatever it is you like that I do. And for a lot of people, something for most people I’ve found it’s peace of mind. It’s just going home, be able to tell your wife, hey, my boss said I was doing a great job today. So this week, we’re good because I know there’s a lot of mistrust out there and people are just They never know what’s going on and into someone for someone to tell you for now, but you’re doing a great job. And it’s like, all right, I don’t care what level of an organization you are, they love hearing that. And some people, it’s they’ll tell you, it’s not a big deal, but it is writing them a little note sending them a text message. You know, after the Christmas season, we work really hard, send him a couple of meal coupons for them and their spouse and maybe a bottle of champagne and saying, thank you so much for you know, being here, 14 days straight, great season, I really appreciate your commitment, in fact, throughout the park every day with your people, and it just you just keep reinforcing that. And it just… people will, well, at a minimum say, well, you appreciated it and a maximum they’re going to do more of it, because you’ve been very clear about what you value.

Bryan Paul Buckley 41:45
And, Dan, you mean, you mentioned that in the book as well. I mean, it’s this attitude of being personal but being specific, it’s the nuance of, well, what’s expected but just because it’s expected doesn’t mean it’s appreciated. And I even like how you touched on it, making sure you know about person’s, well, do they want praise or recognition publicly? Or are they prefer privately? Do they want it written? Or would they rather have it oral? Or would they like it monetary? Or would they like it to be, you know, an object or something like that. So I just really don’t want to make sure we fly by that all pun intended here. We’re talking about business travel, because of business travelers who out there doing it and sacrificing so much. There are so many ways as a business leader that we could come back and really, really serve them by recognizing, so I’m gonna hit you with some lightning round right here. Okay, here, Dan.

Preferred airlines.

Dan Cockerell 42:44
Southwest.

Bryan Paul Buckley 42:45
All right.

Dan Cockerell 42:48
And Virgin,

Bryan Paul Buckley                                                                                                                                                                I was just gonna say who’s your secondary, especially with you flying International. Yeah. window or aisle.

Dan Cockerell                                                                                                                                                                              I go between both just depending on the length of the flight and

Bryan Paul Buckley 43:05
does that mean you’re a middle seat guy if you’d like to go between the two of them and just you in the row

Dan Cockerell 43:09
no one wants a middle seat.

Bryan Paul Buckley 43:11
Good point. Good point. One thing you always do on a flight?

Dan Cockerell                                                                                                                                                                            I sleep. I’d love to be productive but man I can just close my eyes and out and I’m asleep and I can sleep through anything and that’s what I do on the plane.

Bryan Paul Buckley                                                                                                                                                                    If we’re on the same flight and in the same row. I want you in the window, not the aisle, because I gotta go to the bathroom because I’m a chronic urinator on a plane. I drink too much water

Dan Cockerell 43:33
there you go those longer ones, then you don’t want me in a window seat.

Bryan Paul Buckley 43:36
Nice, nice, preferred hotel chain?

Dan Cockerell 43:40
Um, yeah, Marriott is we’ve had some great experience with Marriott. And you know obviously we don’t get to go there a lot but when you go to you know, four seasons is awesome. Although I’m always whenever I go there, I have a client for that one.

Bryan Paul Buckley 43:56
Well done. Well done and your dad was big Marriot guy for obvious reasons. rental car or rideshare

Dan Cockerell 44:05
rideshare I used to you know, get a car once a while but now I mean to me Lyft and Uber and all the scooters you can get and all that stuff I actually I was in San Antonio, I was at a hotel and I had a flight like four hours later and I got one of those little lime scooters with my suitcase and I scootered to a brewery about a mile or two away and then took a cab from there or an Uber from there so there’s all kinds of creative ways to travel But yeah, I love the rideshare very efficient

Bryan Paul Buckley 44:34
That’s awesome. Least favorite airports in the world.

Dan Cockerell 44:40
Gosh, um I don’t know if I have a least favorite although I do know that every time we buy off we’ll fly through Amsterdam and its gigantic airport I don’t know if it’s the way it’s designed, but it seems like we’re always about to have a heart attack by the time we get to the next gate. So, but generally, we’ve had some pretty good experiences the past couple of years since we’ve been traveling more with airports and stuff and we’re pretty organized but…

Bryan Paul Buckley 45:12
That helps. Yeah. favorite city to frequent?

Dan Cockerell 45:19
New Orleans. We used to do our tradition Actually, we I never had a T-shirt made but after December, in two weeks of December Christmas at Disney is two business weeks of the year. And I’d work every day many hours a day. And then the weekend after New Years, we would go to New Orleans and I called it the main street to Bourbon Street tour. You know, the kind of cleanest place in the world to the roughest places or exactly in a manner of speaking. Love going down there and having oysters and listen to music and *unintelligible*

Bryan Paul Buckley 45:52
last one biggest road trip pet peeve?

Dan Cockerell 45:56
yeah I don’t have a lot of pet peeves but there is something I always whenever I’m in a hotel I’ll write a note to the gym of I see this. You get up in the morning, and you get in the hallway and the plates from room service are still there from the night before. It’s just, it’s just not right. That’s an odd checklist. It’s just it just makes you feel like nothing is going good.

Bryan Paul Buckley 46:20
especially coming from your history with Disney and obviously how clean those rooms are and just how organized things I can only imagine what that is for you. So any closing thoughts for us as business travelers and especially business travel leaders?

Dan Cockerell 46:40
Yeah, I just want to re I want to come back to that idea that you know, when you’re under the when you’re under pressure to perform whether you’re traveling or not keeping yourself when I find I get under stress. I’m like, let me go take a run. I just feel better or go take a walk You know, and I know you drink a lot of water, there’s just a lot of these little habits that people just don’t realize are so important and are gonna make a big difference. They’re right in front of you. And you just got to take advantage of them. And I had just back in February, I won’t tell the whole story. But you know, my wife and I are pretty fit, we work out, we eat pretty healthy. And back in February, took a run, I had some chest pain, I ignored it.

Two weeks later, I swam, and it came back and we went to the clinic, then the cardiologists, and within 72 hours I had a heart catheterization, and my Widowmaker artery was 95% clogged. And so, you know, rushing around, we’re running our business, we’re busy doing everything. And I was literally, I don’t know, weeks away from dropping dead, and none of it would have mattered. And so I just think you just got to pay attention, pay attention to things. Go to the doctor. There’s great technology now. I mean, I did a heart catheterization, I was out running four miles, 48 hours. Later, I mean technology that is all there. There’s no reason you shouldn’t know if you’re not to your best health. And once you get that done, then go off and work do stuff with your family and figure out how to be a great business person and how to travel well and do all that other stuff but just don’t take the health part for granted because it’ll catch up with you.

Bryan Paul Buckley 48:19
I appreciate you saying that. And that’s the reason you started the book with leading self and to the title of your book. How’s the culture in your kingdom can obviously be you know, a double, double, or triple entendre you know with obviously Disney but it could also mean within our team, but also obviously means our self here. So if you are a business traveler or specifically a business travel leader, pick up the book how’s it culturing your kingdom? lessons from a Disney leadership journey. Dan, how can we find out more about you follow you hire you learn more about you and what you have to offer?

Dan Cockerell 48:51
Yeah, sure. You can go to Cockerellconsulting.com. My wife built the website and it’s fantastic. It’s got videos of us. It’s got links to everything we do. Do an article the week I started sending those out like 23 years ago when I first got email that would go outside of Disney. And every week I’d send an article to my managers and I’d send it to people and I built up a mailing list over the years and now that I left Disney I’m continuing to do it it’s I just collect articles I think are really good. It’s food for thought. And those come out every Friday morning. You can sign up on Cockerellconsulting.com, my podcast “Come rain or shine comes out every Thursday morning. We’re at like 105 episodes now with Jodi, and my cell phone number’s on there, my email’s on there and we do customized workshops. I do executive coaching, we do business consulting, we kind of we don’t say no to anything. If you’re looking to help with leadership or management things. We’ve Valerie and I’ve done it, so there you go.

Bryan Paul Buckley 49:49
That’s awesome. I’ll make sure all the links are in the show notes. Dan, what a pleasure, man. I mean, for the moment we had a conversation, to even actually even before that listening to the interview with our friends and ally Jeff Brown three delete podcast seems like a lot of shameless promotion for that guy recently, but earned, because of what he does brought us together, Jody, and I just love how things kind of come together. But most importantly, I want to thank you for being willing to take your experiences and put them into the world of the business traveler and the business travel leaders. So I greatly greatly appreciate that Dan.

Dan Cockerell 50:22
Thanks, Brian. I like I love your energy. I was excited to do this because you’re, you’re on all the time. It was good. I hope everyone enjoyed and thanks for doing what you’re doing.

Bryan Paul Buckley 50:31
I appreciate. Thanks, Dan. I’d like to thank Dan Cockerell for his time. Man, his challenges as a leader specifically going to us as business travel leaders of how we can maximize recognition, training, and development relationships so we can improve our business travel team and keep consistent talent and draw top talent. You can find the transcript and everything reference in this interview in the show notes at eliteroadwarrior.com/088 along with the free resource seven early warning signs for companies to avoid business travel burnout. I personally love to hear from you and you can connect with me on my primary social media pages. LinkedIn Bryan Paul Buckley. Also at the company page elite road warrior and on Instagram @eliteroadwarrior

but as I always say it is so critically important. Wherever you are on the road, do something anything, just not nothing to master the business travel life, leverage this interview with Dan cockerel to help you become and remain an elite roadwarrior today to eliminate burnout and exceed results. You got this! Man, I think that so much of Dan.

Five Lies About Business Travel

Business travel has many misconceptions. Someone who lives in the 9-to-5 office world truly does not understand our world. At all.

They have the essence of routine, consistency, and predictable-ness. Every single day.

Almost the exact opposite of a business traveler. And we like it that way.

Then there are family and friends who think we’re continually on vacation and we “have the life.”

Although they may think this is the case, whether we realize it or not, there are realities about business travel that are just not true.

Two specific groups of people within our inner circle of business travel, need to know the truth:

  1. Future business travelers – whether you’re in a company that is grooming you to travel or you want to switch jobs or even careers to begin to travel for work
  2. Leaders of business travelers – those that oversee and influence the work life of a road warrior

Why these two specific groups?

It’s because perception becomes reality and truth oftentimes just must be shared to expose the lie.

I’ve uncovered five specific lies I want to expose especially for future business travelers and those who lead business travelers. Each lie will also have a pushback, the truth, and an elite tip.

Five Lies About Business Travel

Lie #1 – Business Travel is a luxurious life

This is the one I hear all the time from friends and family. When someone meets me for the 1st time or hasn’t seen me in a while, they usually ask about all my “cool adventures.” Aka: tell me about your luxurious work life.

Here’s the Pushback – When someone hears you travel for work, they think or even say, “That’s awesome. You get to fly to cool cities, stay in really nice hotels, eat out at restaurants all the time, and get served. And you’re by yourself. That’s the life! I would do anything for your life.”

Does business travel offer some great perks? Of course. But like anything, too much of a good thing, or anything for that matter, grows old and loses its luster. The same is true with business travel. Just ask a road warrior who’s been at it for a while.

We’re not going on a vacation with a stress-free flight to an exotic place. We’re going to work, man. I’m in a suit, not shorts and flip-flops.

Hotels begin to look the same. The food begins to taste the same.

The outsider, whether an office-only co-worker or friends/family just doesn’t see what we know as “traveler friction” – delayed flights, canceled meetings, endless traffic, late nights with people we don’t really like. And on and on and on.

Truth: Business travel is a vocation not a vacation with different expectations and needed results.

Elite Tip: Find something to look forward to “doing or seeing” on every single trip:

  • Go to a ballgame
  • Visit a cool site in the city
  • Eat at a local favorite restaurant

In Elite Road Warrior lingo, we call this Downtime – time to be, not to be on. You need downtime to allow yourself to unwind so you can perform at your best. If I’m by the ocean, I always see a sunset. If I’m in a town I’ve never visited, I always see the sites. If they have a sports team, I must see a game. If they’re known for a certain style of food, I find that premier restaurant. You get the point.

Business travel is not a luxurious life but it doesn’t have to be a boring life either and if we play it right, the road can bring us the energy to perform at an elite level.

Lie #2 – It’s hard to eat healthy on the road

At first, this lie is very easy to believe.

For too many years, I believed, supported, and defended this lie. I flew by the Travel 20 to the Entitled 40… pounds that is, when in reality, I simply had no food boundaries and literally had the weight to prove it. I didn’t pass up on any of the king’s food or miss any of the king’s wine. So, of course, I said it was hard to eat healthy on the road.

Here’s the Pushback – Many of my meals I don’t actually choose the food (meaning the client provides lunch or chooses the dinner location).

This is a generalization and, again, I get it since it used to be me. It’s true, this happens, but sometimes, most of the time I have choices. And even if the client provides the lunch or chooses the dinner location, there are still healthier options.

Truth: Eating healthy is a proactive decision, not a reactive determination.

You can influence the client far more than you realize. Often, they’re uncertain what to choose in the first place. I’m often very clear that I eat on the healthier side. And I never let them determine “what is healthy for me.” I’ll give them examples of a grilled chicken dark green salad for lunch or steak or seafood with veggies for dinner.

I also realize there are often limited options at the airport. I get that but don’t rely on the airport for your nutrition.

Elite Tip: Do your intel at an airport. For example, as I’m walking out of the airport from the gate after landing, I’m looking around at all my food options but not for right now. But for when? My return flight home so I know if I can eat at this airport or I need to prepare in advance to eat somewhere else.

Elite Road Warrior teaches four words that should be your guide on eating healthy on the road: Make the Healthiest Choice.

Not the easiest choice, or the quickest choice, or the largest choice, or the tastiest choice but make the healthiest choice. It can be done if eating healthy is a proactive decision, not a reactive determination.

 

Lie #3- I have no control of my time on the road

This lie is a sneaky one because we subtly learn to be reactive on business travel. We watch others. We see our co-workers, bosses, fellow road warriors.

We do things in the moment. We’re just not trained how to do Road Life.

Every company I’ve ever worked for did a good or great job training me on the product or service but when it came to how to do road life and how to manage my time and energy on the road, it happened only… NEVER!

The road is a completely different animal that is a developed, learned skill to know when and how to work in the margins so you’re not working all the time which leads to burnout and inconsistent results.

Here’s the Pushback – I’m not in charge of my schedule. You don’t know how many meetings I have or what’s required of me on every single trip. I work every second I can on the road.

I hear you on that one and have been “that guy” before for way too long.

Truth: You have far more control of your time and results than you realize.

Once I started taking personal responsibility for MY time and MY energy, everything began to change. I didn’t wait for my company to train and teach me because in my case, it never would’ve happened. In fact, this is the very reason I created the Elite Road Warrior Group! I want to train business travelers, like you, how to make the most of the road.

Elite Tip: Intentionally put up Road Blocks every day of your business trip. Huh? I thought Road Blocks were a bad thing. Not if you use them properly.

A Road Block is a barrier around something to get work done. In this context, you want as many Road Blocks on the road as you can get in your day!

You need to schedule blocks of time to focus on one specific task (email, phone calls, quotes, data entry, presentations, etc) for a set period of time so you can get consistent results.

When you schedule Road Blocks and focus, you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in this set window of time and you’ll have more time than you think on the road. It’s the work smarter not harder principle.

Energy Habit Four is Perform and goes into a ton of detail about how to perform at an elite level. The book, Elite Road Warrior goes into far more detail so pick up the physical, digital, or audio version today.

Lie #4 – My family is not affected when I’m on the road

This lie gets personal quick and can easily get exposed by a handful of inquiry questions.

A few questions can expose just how any given road warrior views “life back home” while on the road.

Or to put it another way: “Says the man who leaves his wife or significant other to take care of everything back home including YOUR kids!”

Disclaimer: Women don’t fall for this lie at all in fact they actually feel the stress of home on the road worrying if things back home are going as planned.

For the rest of us, do you know who is really affected?

  • Your spouse who is left to take care of everything on their own
  • Your kids who now have to rely on just one parent

Here’s the Pushback – Well, they’ve never said anything or they don’t know anything different because I’ve always traveled.

Truth: Your family needs you to be present on the road just as you are at home but leverage the time in a different way.

Energy Habit Six is called Connect and it focuses on leveraging your time on the road to connect with those you love back home in intentional, thoughtful, and creative ways.

This means leveraging the road to continue to be present in ways you wouldn’t normally do at home and end up making an impact on them.

Even though I’m not physically there with my family, I can still be visually and audibly present.

There was a stretch that my travel was so heavy and it brought on so much stress with my wife and kids. It was brutal on my marriage and my relationship with my kids, especially the younger ones.

I finally heard my wife say “something’s gotta change” (words you never want to hear) and realized she had been giving me clues all along. I just wasn’t listening and noticing.

As a result, I vowed to “change my ways” but realized I need to be patient, purposeful and planned.

Elite Tip: three tangible “change my ways” products to help you stay connected with your family on the road…

  • Not Forgotten Journal – learning to take just two minutes to write something to my wife each day in a journal I would one day give to her
  • Flat Kiddos – colored characters that I take pictures of in my world
  • Connect Cards – creative cards made by kids for kids that I leave and send to my kids writing meaningful words

I challenge you to stop denying that your family is not affected and to make connecting a huge priority.

 

Lie #5 – There are no temptations with business travel

We’re all wired differently from our interests to our style to our preferences to our attractions.

For those who don’t travel and are put in a place where temptation can appear, they can easily assume and even judge that it would never happen to them.

Here’s the Pushback – I’ve handled being put in a tempting position before and would be strong again

But do you know what changes? Being potentially thousands of miles from home and nobody may ever know.

Episode 085 and the article from two weeks ago discusses the dark side of business travel because it’s real, scary, and dangerous. We discuss the five downward spiral choices into the dark side of business travel.

  • There are food temptations / drink temptations / sexual temptations on the road
  • We have endless opportunities to experiment that can lead to new road habits that can lead to hidden addictions
  • We can even be put into moral decisions we thought ever thought we would be put in and respond in ways we may regret the rest of our lives

Truth: You can have integrity on the road when you’re aware of the temptations and have boundaries.

Elite Tip: Two Powerful Words: Know Thyself

The phrase came from the teachings of Socrates and popularized by Plato. It was the first of three maxims inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. The two maxims that followed “know thyself” were “nothing to excess” and “surety brings ruin”.

The 2nd phrase is applicable here too: nothing to excess.

Know Thyself means to recognize how human I really am and the right place meeting the right circumstances can take me down. So, let me get personal: I know I have an addictive personality. I’m a risk-taker and too easily push boundaries.

As a result, I MUST be very cautious on the road to not compromise my integrity, reputation, and family. I’m old enough to know the difference between short-term pleasure and long-term regret but must never believe the lie there are no temptations that can affect me on business travel.

Awareness on the road is key. My hope is this article was revealing, challenging, and a reminder of how easy we can fall into lies that can affect so many aspects of our road results and ultimately our lives.

Leverage….. to help you become and remain an Elite Road Warrior today to eliminate burnout and exceed results.

You Got This!

Four High-End Sleep Aids for Business Travel

When I first started as a business traveler, the hotel was my escape.

I loved two specific aspects or gifts if you will:

  1. Solitude – nobody but me
  2. Silence – any noise came from me

I stayed up late watching whatever I wanted and oh I did.

I also created a bad habit of not sleeping well in a hotel or so I thought. This was self-imposed because if the evening was my own, I would eat dinner with my laptop lover, bring her up to my room for a nightcap. I would turn on the TV, iPad, had my phone on – any screen all the time.

Then I would have the room lights on until way too late.

Hmmm… shocking I was not able to sleep between all the stimulus, lights, adult beverages, etc.

But once I crashed a few years ago physically, I had had had to learn how to redo life in general then transfer it to the road.

My first adjustment was influenced by one of the authors of the book (and my favorite title ever) Sleeping Your Way to the Top by Terry Cralle.

She taught me I needed to focus first on the quality of my sleep before I ever worked on the quality of my sleep. This was GREAT news for someone who didn’t sleep that much or that well.

In the Elite Road Warrior Group we call this concept: IMPROVE Then INCREASE.

So, I began to look for tools, gadgets, hacks, resources that could help me improve my sleep first.

Some were small, inexpensive tweaks that all worked and I still use today.

But the longer I’ve been on the road, my gadgets’ costs and importance have increased. Now, I’m cautious with my money, and although not afraid to spend it on worthwhile products and services, I always did my homework and research sometimes to a fault.

As a result, I found there are a few key sleep aids that I’ve come to rely on big time on the road. These four are in the order I use them on any given evening on the road not necessarily order of importance.

Three of the items are one-time purchases and the 4th is an annual subscription.

Four High-End Sleep Aids for Business Travel

One – Blue Blocker Glasses

The research is overwhelming now on the effects of the blue light that emits from our screens whether a TV, phone, or tablet.

Doubt me? Drive through your street in the evening and see a window that has a TV on and watch that room glow with light – blue light. More proof? If you have an iPhone or iPad, put on Night Shift or Android to Night Mode or Night Light to very warm, and you’ll see the change in color hue big time.

Now, I’m not so hardcore that I don’t have the TV on in the evening or my computer screen or phone. I’ve dramatically improved since my days of old in my quest to become an elite road warrior.

So, the 1st of the high-end sleep aids for business travel became quality blue blocker glasses. I started with inexpensive blue blocker glasses from Amazon and it was just that, a start. But once I got the quality blue blocker glasses: game-changer. It was such a noticeable difference and worth the price.

Personally, I use The Swanwick brand called Swannies and on Amazon they are $69. You can also purchase straight from the Swanwick site here.

When do I use them?

When I’m in my hotel room for the night, I have an evening routine where I do the following:

  • Turn the room temperature down (66-68°)
  • Turn the room lights down
  • Change into comfortable clothes (I’m an UnderArmor/Hurley guy)
  • Put on my blue blocker glasses

Now, whatever I do the rest of the evening in my room from work on my computer, have the game on the tv, or watch a show on my iPad, my glasses are blocking the blue light emitted from the screen.

What if you have a blue blocker already set on your screens? Great! Double it up. Try it and you’ll notice the difference.

I challenge you to do something, anything, just not nothing with Sleep Aid 1: blue blocker glasses. Start inexpensive and work your way up or learn from me and just make the investment of the high-end glasses upfront.

Either way, begin implementing this tool to improve your sleep.

Remember, IMPROVE than INCREASE your sleep.

Two – Dep Sleepwear Hoodie

There are comfy clothes for bed and then there’s next level wear that is designed to enhance your sleep.

I do everything I can in my room to block out any light at all and literally GO DARK in my hotel room.

But often, no matter what I try with my hacks for the curtains with BYOC (bring your own clips) or packing electrical tape in my Sleep Kit (episode 035), oftentimes, the light just finds a way in the room.

I was searching for a solution and met the founder of Dep Sleepwear, Glenn Paradise at the Sleep Show sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation.

I loved hearing the back story of how Glenn came down with the flu and his body temperature was all over the place not to mention struggling to sleep during the day with the light. So, he solved his own problem and created a product that regulates temperature with compression fitting wear that has both a hood and an eye mask that is inside of the hood.

Brilliant!

I just had to try it and was hooked on the first night in my hotel room.

Since it could help me IMPROVE my sleep, I was in and loved trying this experiment.

So, once I turn the corner and get ready for bed, I do the following:

  • Brush my teeth
  • Wash my face
  • Plug in all my devices to charge
  • Put on my Dep Sleepwear hoodie

This seemingly remedial routine is a trigger for me and cues my body it’s time to “shutter down”.

The hoodie comes in male and female versions along with compression and loose fit.

If I forget my Dep Sleepwear hoodie, I instantly know it and of course, it’s my 4 or 5 day trip for the week.

Rookie mistake.

The founder and I are working on creating an Elite Road Warrior branded Dep Sleepwear version so keep an eye out by checking out the store at EliteRoadWarrior.com for this and other Elite Road Warrior Products to help you implement the six energy habits.

The cost is $99 at the Dep Sleepwear website.

This product will be a must for you once you experience it and it’s worth every penny if you’re serious about IMPROVING your sleep.

Three – 10% Happier Meditation App

I was one of the biggest skeptics of meditation. I had every excuse for why it wouldn’t work for me and if you remember the quote I put in the Elite Road Warrior book,

If you want to do something you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. –  Jim Rohn

I didn’t want to and therefore had an excuse. The reality is I didn’t know how or really understand the benefits so therefore we don’t try what we don’t understand.

But after listening to the audiobook, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris, I gave it a shot and learned to translate it to the road.

“Getting my Road Tate On” is what I call it now.

So, when and how do I incorporate meditation and bedtime? Once I put my Dep Sleepwear on, I have the room dark and I do the following:

  • Open the 10% Happier app
  • Choose a 5 or 10-minute sleep meditation
  • Try to relax and slow my body and mind down

Does this always work? Nope.

But it DRAMATICALLY increases my chances of falling asleep sooner which matters immensely to me who often has a difficult time falling asleep in a hotel room. If I’m really struggling to fall asleep and just can’t shut the thinker down, I do a second round of meditation and get my Road Sleep Tate on again and often that does the trick.

I personally prefer and endorse the 10% Happier app paid version. There are a ton of free and paid apps and I spent a ton of time researching, experimenting, and narrowing it down to 10% Happier. I like the teachers, the variety, and the interface. The paid version is $99.99 per year and around the holidays you can find it 40% off.

The point is trying meditation a few minutes before bed to just slow you down.

Four – Bose Sleepbuds

I’m a huge fan of Bose in general and traveled for years with the Bose Noise Canceling Headphones.

I had seen the initial advertisement and research on the Bose Sleepbuds but at the same Sleep Show I found Dep Sleepwear, I had a conversation with an engineer who designed the Sleepbuds. A cool conversation that did not put me to sleep. Just sayin’.

He mentioned the product target market is the business traveler and was very interested in Elite Road Warrior Group trying them out especially after his boss heard me speak later that day.

What makes Bose Sleepbuds different?

  • They actually fit in your ear and are surprisingly comfortable
  • You have numerous sounds to choose from that actually download on to the Sleepbud
  • Each sound is not a loop (like many sleep app sounds which actually disrupts your sleep)
  • They are NOISE-CANCELING which is huge in a hotel room
  • An alarm can be set to gently wake you up

Personally, I love to control the sounds in my room that don’t come from my phone at a safe distance away so the Sleepbuds are critical.

When do I use my sleep buds?

  • After my 10% Happier Sleep Tate is complete
  • I set my wake-up time alarm
  • Choose the sound that just feels right
  • Boom – put my sleep mask on from my Dep Sleepwear hood and off I go

Honorable Mention – Lavender Essential Oil

Back in a past interview, I interviewed Beckie Farrant, an essential oil expert and I admitted my skepticism of essential oils.

After being surrounded by research and hesitant personal experience, I’m a big believer in essential oils, especially for sleep.

How do I use essential oil to help me sleep?

Two ways:

  1. In the vents – Huh? Come again? Before I leave my hotel room for the evening, I put a few drops of Lavender essential oil on a cotton ball and put it in the vent. Why? So when I come back to my room, the scent is of the calming scent of Lavender and helps prepare me for bed. It’s become a routine for me now.
  2. On my feet – I use a rollerball that has a mixture of essential oil (Lavender and Serenity by DoTerra to be exact) along with fractionated coconut oil and rub it on my big toe. Why there? It’s the highest absorption spot on my entire body.

There are two options to start with Lavender:

  1. Buy a small 5ML bottle of Lavender in an introductory travel kit provided by DoTerra which also has Lemon and Peppermint. Listen to episode 020 to learn more about the benefits of Lemon and Peppermint but the cost is under $30 and lasts for many months.
    2. Buy a large 15ML bottle of Lavender on its own.

I feel using the essential oil of Lavender will help aid you in sleep on the road and can become part of your evening routine and an essential element in your Sleep Kit.

To learn more about my Sleep Kit check out episode 035.

There you have it Road Warriors, four high-end sleep aids for business travel:

Remember, the overall goal with Sleep under the REST energy habit is IMPROVE then INCREASE your sleep.

For me, I start with the blue blocker glasses to control the blue light from the screens, put on my Dep Sleepwear hoodie to control my body temperature and light with the eye mask, get my TATE on with a meditation from 10% Happier to slow my brain down, then set and fall asleep with my Bose Sleepbuds controlling my sound.

Often, sleep quality is all about the controllable:

  • Light
  • Sound
  • Temperature
  • Focus

And that is exactly why I leverage the four high-end sleep aids on the road. If you’re serious about your sleep or need to get serious, then make it a priority to invest in the four high-end sleep aids for business travel.

Go and leverage the four high-end sleep aids to become an Elite Road Warrior today.

You Got This!

Other References

Top 10 Business Travel Hacks Guide

7 Early Warning Signs for Companies to Avoid Business Travel Burnout