Make time to grow into your passion....

Throughout my HR career people asked me for career advice: I’d always tell them to find a job you love. Mind you: most of the jobs people take are not the ones they love…at least not initially. Love at first sight is a nice story but rarely found in work. Most of the time you have to grow into a job: getting familiar and comfortable with your surroundings, developing the relationship(s) with those you work with, and gaining both competence and then confidence. I believe that you need to give a new job at least 6 months to determine if it’s a good fit, both ways. So my advice to managers is to give new hires time and space to get comfortable, to learn enough that they can relax and participate, to be a good listener and an active coach, and to allow them to give you feedback. The best job for anyone is most often the one they have; the key is to allow them to make it the one they love.

Steve Jobs (1955 –2011): American entrepreneur, business magnate, inventor, industrial designer, and co-founder of Apple

You are responsible for the paths you choose....

I vividly remember the forest service ad that featured Yogi Bear: “Remember: only you can prevent forest fires.” It was probably the first time that the concept of personal responsibility was used in an advertisement and it made a big impression on me. We vacationed a lot back then in the mountains, with forests all around, and so the message seemed very important.  But it’s the broader message that’s also important: each of us is responsible for all that goes on in our lives.  From preventing forest fires to making sure all kinds of bad things don’t happen to the people and things important to us.  That was important back then, and it seems even more important today. Don’t point fingers or wring your hands: get involved and make your voice heard today.

Albert Ellis (1913 –2007): American psychologist

Something for a Saturday....

Stay alert....

During my years at Wynn, we had thousands of employees: in all that time I never saw the kinds of inappropriate behavior that are all over the news media these days.  Don’t get me wrong: we had our share of things happen, but employees knew how serious we were about our zero tolerance policy. We actively addressed this issue with employees: annual trainings, reminders sent to employees’ homes, and an open door policy they knew about and trusted.  If anything was reported we investigated thoroughly and quickly, and took appropriate action.  Any incident of harassment, discrimination or inappropriate behavior was a wake-up call to stay alert and act wisely and decisively: we did not let problems fester or get swept under a rug. So many of today’s stories talk about silent acceptance of known misbehaviors: good companies don’t let that happen. And neither should you.

Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954): American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

It's easy when you love what you do....

The Wynn team that opened the Mirage was made up of a group of relative novices: we learned from our efforts and got good at what we did.  We then took those lessons and applied them to Treasure Island, learning more about what worked and what didn’t.  All that practice made us good enough to take on all the new ideas and challenges (like dancing fountains, nightclubs, art galleries, a beautiful conservatory and celebrity chefs) that became Bellagio. I still see people who worked on the Bellagio opening and they all say it was the most satisfying and rewarding thing they ever did.  It’s the same with everything in life: if you study and practice hard enough, immerse yourself deeply enough, and commit to learning enough, you ultimately get good at what you do. I guess it starts with really liking what you do: that ultimately motivates you to want to get fully involved and be as good as you can be. Practice at being the best at what you do today.

Malcolm Gladwell (b. 1963): English-born Canadian journalist, author, and speaker

How's the fire in your belly....

It’s nice to think that things happen all by themselves: the truth is it takes hard work to make anything happen. After Steve Wynn sold Mirage Resorts to MGM, he bought the Desert Inn and began to plan a new company that ultimately became Wynn Resorts. After all the years he and his team had worked on developing the Mirage Resorts properties you might think that his new company would start up easily: success in that new endeavor, however, was harder than expected. Each and every one of us who worked on starting that new company had to set ourselves on fire: we had to start over and get fully involved with the planning, hiring, and launch of what was in many ways a start up. We had to reignite our creative and collective selves: there was nothing spontaneous about that combustion. When change happens, make sure you’re ready, willing and able to get your fires going again.

Arnold H. Glasow (1905 - 1998): American businessman and humorist.