By David Lund
The chapter below is an excerpt from my new book. It’s fiction but some of the characters and story lines are based on people I have worked with and events that have taken place in the hotels I have worked in. The book is a fable about a hotel manager who has some very bad habits. He must change in order to survive and the book takes him and you through the lessons needed to be a great hospitality financial leader. I’m writing ahead each month so I’m not sure how the book will end. I hope you enjoy it and if you missed any earlier chapters you can find them on my website blog tab.
For me the idea of being mentored or trained was a like a kick in the teeth. I didn’t need any of this. I was just fine the way I was. I mean really, What can this old man teach me? He has some Pollyanna view of the world and he thinks the hotel business is about letting people be instead of managing them. That’s it, he simply won’t face the fact that his job is not about being liked by the staff, he can’t face the reality that these people need a strong leader who will make sure they fall in line.
Those were my thoughts as my second week at the Norton began. I was not looking forward to my week or Mr. D. I got to the hotel and I was astonished to see the old bugger dressed in a doorman’s uniform in the port cochere. To my amusement he looked like he was there just for me. My signature and trademark entrance each morning for the past decade-plus has been to simply stop my car where it is most convenient for me and get out, and I always leave the door open and even the engine running. It’s “their” job to park my car.
But it felt different. I pulled up a little closer to the man waiting for me and he pointed me to an open parking spot to the right. He gestured me to a stop. I got out and he just looked at me and then it happened, I closed my own door! With this little task accomplished he retreated and I went to my office.
It was but 10 minutes later and he arrived in my office. My first words to him were clear and audible.
“What was that all about?”
He sat and looked at me for a moment and then told me the staff were there for the guests and not me and I must show them more respect if I am to be successful as the manager. This must start immediately, and he said by showing them more regard I would be helping my own cause.
To this sermon I said, “I don’t believe that showing the staff more respect will result in them liking me more and I certainly see no connection to me being more successful.”
To this he replied, “Really, you don’t believe…what if you dropped your need to believe or trust me and you just tested my theory?
“Here is your assignment,” he said, “From this point forward your job is test what I ask you to do and you can drop your need to trust or believe me or my methods, just test. Test, test, test and you can completely leave out the trusting part. Simply remove the trusting from your to do list.
“If you can do this, your world will change and you just might have a chance to be the kind of hotel manager that people will want to follow. Being stuck in a place where you think you have all the answers like you are somehow above everyone has got you where you are. If you are to have a chance at getting out, then you need to develop new tools.
“I can show you all the lessons I know but you are going to need to change and that can’t be accomplished by being stuck needing to trust me or what I am telling you. I want you to test what I tell you, is that clear?”
Not only is this guy a pain in my backside, he is also very persistent. Test, test, test. What is this place, a laboratory or a hotel?
I assured him that I will take a new path, so to speak, with the staff. Show them that I am with them and not above them. The words to this commitment came out clear and confident. With this little affair out of the way he bid me farewell and told me he would see me first thing tomorrow. See, already things are better.
