I broke into the gaming business at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. The smallest casino there at the time. Which became the #1 casino in every category. Size didn’t matter. What mattered was style and service, as it always does. The staff there proudly participated in that style and reveled in the success and notoriety it produced. Like David and Goliath. Like all little guys who refused to let size hold them back. There were much larger properties and corporate egos there and I’m sure some bristled at the Nugget’s success and market dominance. They might have learned from the things we did, but their egos were apparently unable to copy the workplace culture that made it possible. Because success like that means trusting and respecting the front-line staff that makes customer experience and satisfaction possible, listening and responding to their suggestions, and giving them the tools to do their job. A leader’s role is to provide the vision of what a product should be, marshal the resources to bring it to market, build an organization to carry out the plan, and support the staff to create the success. Those employees still talk about how special working there was, and many remember it as the best job they ever had. A culture, I’m proud to say, that was repeated in the other resorts we built around the world. Much to other’s chagrin, the fact that size isn’t the determining factor in success and stature is a lesson to be learned. Whatever the size of the enterprise, inspire and support your employees to make it great today.
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 – 1895): English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy.[1]
[1] He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
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