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Today we're going to look at how a high school jock whose priority was partying turned his life around and built one of the most successful hotel chains in the world. This is the story of Issy Sharp from the Four Seasons and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.
"Whatever you do, don't ever use a crutch, and don't ever think of having an excuse for not having said, 'Yeah, I did my best.' - Issy Sharp
To learn more check out my list of Issy Sharp articles at http://www.evancarmichael.com/Famous-Entrepreneurs/962/summary.php or http://community.telustalksbusiness.com/blogs/talk_business/2011/03/14/3-ways...
Action Item #1: Inspire Your Employees
If you ever want to build a successful business beyond yourself you're going to have to have a team of people working with you who are inspired to give their best every day.
Sharp didn't become the leading luxury hotelier in the world all by himself. In the over fifty years he has been in the industry, Sharp has developed a unique leadership style that has encouraged his employees to devote 110 percent of themselves to the company. By creating a working environment that is built on trust, credibility, and integrity, Sharp has inspired his team to work to realize their best efforts. In the end, he understood that this was the secret ingredient to helping the company realize its best results.
According to Sharp: "We do that, first of all, by establishing a meaningful goal, an overriding purpose that most people can relate to. If the goal is clear and the focus is sharp and constantly reinforced, we unify and energize through a sense of common purpose that inspires employees to ardent effort."
Action Item #2: Really Service Your Customers
The best companies are based on happy customers and repeat business. You want to strive to create an experience where your customers love buying from you and tell their friends as well.
In each and every one of its worldwide locations, the Four Seasons tends to set the top hotel price for the area - it is usually about 20 percent higher than its closest competitor. How can Sharp risk such a pricing policy? He does it by guaranteeing that his "guests get a fail-safe experience so that a company is eager to pay the extra $50 to ensure a hassle-free trip for an executive who might be working on a $50 million deal."
According to Sharp: "Our competitors interpreted luxury chiefly as dazzling architecture and décor, but how important is that to our customers? They are mostly executives, often under pressure, fighting jet lag, stress and the clock. We decided to redefine luxury as service."
Action Item #3: Live By The Golden Rule
The Golden Rule is to treat people as you would like to be treated. It's not only a great way to achieve happiness as an entrepreneur, it's also a highly profitable strategy.
The driving force behind Sharp's success has been his desire to treat Four Seasons employees with the same level of respect that they in turn are expected to give their guests. The success of this policy has shown itself not only in terms of customer happiness but also employee engagement and satisfaction. For years, the Four Seasons has been the only Canadian company to land on Fortune magazine's list of the 100 best companies to work for in the U.S.
According to Sharp: "We aimed to treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. Enforcing our credo was the hardest part, and senior managers who couldn't or wouldn't live by it were weeded out within a few years... We hire for attitude. We want people who like other people and are, therefore, more motivated to serve them. Competence we can teach. Attitude is ingrained."
Closing Thoughts
Are your employees motivated? What have you done or are you planning to do to keep them interested in giving their best? What part of Issy Sharp's message impacted you the most? As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!
*** Music by Calikokat: http://www.youtube.com/user/calikokat1
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Business Ideas - 3 Lessons from Robert Kiyosakiby ModelingTheMasters669 views
@bigal21110 Thanks for sharing your story Al!
ModelingTheMasters 3 months ago
IMO being good role models and humble. When I had my sporting goods, I was one of the guys! I played soccer with them, went to dinner, etc.
Now I am not self employed but my boss is in a way that way. He is invited us for XMas party at his beach front house (I also think he wants to show off) but either way its nice to do stuff like this and make employees feel like they are pretty important as well
bigal21110 3 months ago
@bogwasi Maybe I should get into the hotel business!
ModelingTheMasters 11 months ago
you guys have a resemblance.lol
bogwasi 11 months ago