Decide what you want to be when you grow up...

Here we are, the last message for 2022. Monday starts my 15^th year writing the Arte of Motivation.

 

·      We do things

·      Because we can.

·      But some things we

·      Do because we simply

·      Love doing them… period.

 

I tell the story often that these began as discussion starters for the pre-opening team’s daily briefings at the Resort at Pelican Hill. After opening, department managers there asked me to continue so they could use them in their pre-shift meetings. And two years later when I left, their President asked me to continue sending them in. They were based on their company’s 10 values – and each week I would focus on one of them. And now – 14 years, 728 weeks, and 3640 messages later, I’m still doing them. Interestingly, this last week of 2022’s value is Integrity, the one I think we need now more than ever. Because if you have integrity, nothing else matters; and if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters. As we close out another year, I am hopeful that everyone will make a resolution to act with integrity in the new year. Because nothing else matters… today and every day.

 

Alan Kooi Simpson (born 1931): American politician and member of the Republican Party, who represented Wyoming in the United States Senate (1979–97).

Inspire those around you...

I had the opportunity to reminisce with old friends yesterday: they are former Mirage colleagues, and it was the first time we’d seen each other in many years. 

 

·      We picked up

·      Where we’d left off  

·      All those many years ago.

·      It was like no time had passed at all.

·      That’s the definition of true friendship.

 

We met when working on The Mirage opening together: we were together for a dozen years there and through the opening of Bellagio, and then circumstances sent us on our separate ways. Those experiences formed a bond of friendship that was immediately evident as we recalled the things we had done together. A common theme in our reverie was how much Bobby Baldwin influenced our careers.  As the President of the Mirage (and later Bellagio), he provided a steady and supportive role in developing us. He treated people with respect; if you won his trust, he supported you unconditionally until you did something egregious to lose that trust, he listened to our ideas and worked with us to make certain they were sound, and he never went back on his word. We appreciated him then and would walk through fire for him again. Leaders like that are precious and should never be taken for granted. Remember what your best leaders taught you and apply those things to your efforts today.

 

Hilary Hinton “Zig” Ziglar (1926 – 2012): American author, salesman, and motivational speaker.

Surround yourself with optimistic people...

I’ve written often about the importance of hiring for attitude and training for skills. 

 

·      Most attitudes are innate, 

·      Meaning they can’t be learned.

·      If you hire someone with a bad attitude

·      That’s what they’ll usually bring to the job.

·      And the training you provide rarely changes that.

 

It’s simple: Human Resources screens all candidates for the attitude(s) you wish your employees to have, and hiring managers conduct second level technical interviews only with those who pass that initial screening. In our case, we screened applicants for general optimism – those who pass are generally more upbeat, open to change, flexible, see the glass as half full, and, in general, more prone to smiling. We were very open about this screening concept with those we hired, saying we knew they could, so we’d expect those smiles on the job. Then, and only then, did we train them to do what was expected. Bottom line: optimistic employees were happier and, generally, better employees. And, at the end of the day, that’s what hiring managers wanted. It was a straightforward approach that produced higher performing employees who stayed with the company longer. Make a resolution to begin looking for those kinds of employees today.

 

Jenny Diski (1947 – 2016): English school teacher and writer of autobiography, fiction, non-fiction, and travel books and articles who was mentored by the novelist Doris Lessing.

Tell the truth...

When did it become okay to lie? 

 

·      Little white lies are still lies.

·      No less than big bold lies.

·      Lying should never 

·      Be acceptable.

·      Ever.

 

A guy running recently for Congress from Long Island won, and then when questions started to be asked, admitted he lied about his education, work history, and family background. Not inadvertent mistakes. Just lies, meant to deceive, and make himself look good. He’s unrepentant. Said it’s no big deal. I don’t care which political party he’s with, he lied and that should be universally unacceptable. Over the years, I’ve rejected job candidates who lied on their applications, and I’ve also terminated employees whose lies on their applications were later discovered after we hired them. Tough medicine, but the right thing to do. Yet we accept lies from elected officials: what’s that say to our kids. There should be consequences for dishonesty: your words should stick to you like a badge of honor or a stain of dishonor. And saying you’re sorry shouldn’t make the lie go away or allow the liar to get away with it.  We should live our lives so that we wouldn’t be ashamed if our parrot got sold to the town gossip. Have the integrity to be honest today.

 

Will Rogers (1879 – 1935): American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator.

Decide where you want to go...

It’s hard to believe how quickly the years seem to pass. More so now, it seems, than in the past.

 

·      The longer we live

·      The faster time goes.

·      What little we do seems 

·      To be a lot even though it’s not.

·      So, make the most of every day you’ve got.

 

I was feeling comfortable typing 2022 when I started thinking about having to soon start typing 2023. There: that’s the first I typed it – as awkward as anything done for the 1^st time. Which brings up the issue of change in general; even though this is a small in comparison, this pending one digit change comes after 12 months, 365 days, 8736 hours of doing it the old way. It’s a habit to be changed. And that starts me reflecting about whether I did enough in these past 12 months and what I want to do in the next 12 months. I used to automatically say “more” when asked what I’ll do in the future, but now I think I’ll qualify that by adding ‘effective’. As in ‘to be more effective’. That, then, is the road I plan to take to get me where I want to go in 2023. That’s a question we all should be asking as we peek through the looking glass today.

 

Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1899):  Paraphrase of what the Cheshire Cat said to Alice in Alice in Wonderland, which influenced George Harrison (1943 – 2001) in his song: Any Road.

Think outside the box...

One last Mirage opening story. This one’s about the obstacles, challenges, and opportunities we faced with the Culinary Union.

 

·      Most companies

·      Think unions hurt

·      Their ability to operate.

·      Maybe they should consider

·      A completely different approach.

 

When I got to Vegas, some in the company wanted to open without the Culinary Union.  I learned in my college collective bargaining classes that there are self-interests on both sides of the negotiating table: we wanted a contract that didn’t restrict our legitimate operating interests or add to our operating expenses; the Union didn’t want to face the negative consequences of having The Mirage open non-union and emboldening other companies to try to operate without the Union. Barry Shier and I negotiated for the company, John Wilhelm, and D Taylor for the Union. Together we negotiated to scrap the old 126-page contract, develop a more streamlined one, restructure its 96 job classifications, and revise many unnecessary restrictions. And most importantly, we agreed to work in partnership to develop a new style of labor/management relations. We ended up with 36 job classifications, freedom to hire who we wanted, and an understanding that we’d work together to resolve any differences throughout the life of what became a 5-year agreement; they ended up with a card-check rather than an election, and a process where shop stewards would work more closely with company management. The result was closer labor management collaboration, unprecedented labor peace, and 12 years without a grievance or arbitration. Nobody rolled over on anything – we just worked together on everything. We viewed the challenges we faced as real opportunities to do something innovative and impactful. And everybody won. Whatever your challenges, don’t miss the chance to innovate and win big today.

 

Marijane Meaker (1927 – 2022): American writer who was credited with helping launch the lesbian pulp fiction genre, the only accessible novels on that theme in the 1950s.

Treat your employees like customers...

Here’s another story from The Mirage opening. It was a big step up for our company – going from downtown Las Vegas to the Strip.

 

·      Recruiting 

·      Means asking 

·      People to leave 

·      Their current job and

·      Take a chance on your company

 

Early on we decided that to attract the best talent, we would have to treat applicants and employees like guests. That simple, yet far-reaching philosophy set the tone for our employee relations strategies. For example, the Recruitment Center: we greeted applicants like they were guests in our casinos, with the service and design elements that our guests had come to expect. And our orientation program was like going to a Broadway production, with assigned seating (by department), name tags on their chairs, a printed program, and lots of positive interaction with their new supervisors and co-workers. And job training that mimicked the best of what we’d learned from community colleges, with team size limited to no more than 20, and as much team building as skills training. The best part was seeing the looks on their faces when they first saw the back of the house – with finishes the same as the guest areas, wide bright hallways, clean spaces, and service centers designed to meet their needs without requiring them to go into someone’s office. And then there was the Staff Dining Room – cleverly named the Strip Joint, it was a great restaurant that served  complimentary meals, all freshly made and meant to please (just like the guest restaurants) – and they could bring a guest once a month for free. Because we knew that catching the best employees meant we had to dig deep to win their trust and loyalty. Treat your employees like customers today.

 

David Lynch (born 1946): American filmmaker, visual artist and actor.

Pack your bags...

Here’s another story of incredible creativity from The Mirage opening.

 

·      Everything was different.

·      Our solutions had to be different too.

·      And that demanded the need for creativity.

·      We had to look far and wide for ideas and solutions.

·      And that sharpened our drive for excellence everywhere.

 

Building a volcano was challenging. But figuring out how to handle baggage for three thousand rooms checking in and out at the same time demanded creativity at a whole new level.  A dedicated team of hotel professionals, led by Barry Shier, researched this from every perspective and determined that much could be learned from the baggage handling systems at the biggest airports. From that they came up with the idea of taking the bags at curbside from guests checking in and sending them on conveyors to a huge storage area on the mezzanine level. And then the baggage handling team figured out how to use the hotel’s new electronic door-lock system to alert them when a guest first used their keys to open their room door: they then ran and delivered the bags to most rooms within 7 minutes. And of course, this all resulted in those employees being there to get a generous tip from the amazed guests. The same concept was operated in reverse as the guests checked out. Bottom line: there were never many bags in the lobby. The team really learned the meaning of moving a mountain by carrying away the small stones. Big challenges need creative solutions, and those solutions almost always come from the employees doing the work. Be sure to listen to your employees today.

 

Confucius (551 – 479 BCE): Chinese philosopher and politician whose teachings and philosophy underpin East Asian culture and society.