 on think tech Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou school boys varsity tennis team for 22 years and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game and it's about inspiration, leadership and building a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is the majority owner of the very popular Waikiki Malia hotel. He is Mike Kawazoi and today we are going beyond hospitality. Hey Mike, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Hey Rusty, great to be on the show with you, always pleasure. Mike, you've been doing, you're such a great leader, you're such a highly respected leader and you do so much to help the community but I want to first start with you being a graduate of Marinal, Marinal school. What's the what's the biggest positive impact that Marinal had on you? Yeah, I mean I think at a very young age just the you know they instilled no bless oblige which rough you know translation is to whom much is given, much is expected and so at a very young age you know giving back to my community, giving back to the next generation has always been you know ingrained in me and you know always happy to help out and be involved and assist where I can. And did you play baseball for Marinal? I did, we were on the first team as we separated from pack five and you know went on our own. We had a few rough years there where not too many wins but you know it taught us a lot of lessons about you know persevering and just giving it your best. And Mike after graduating high school you went to UNLV and I want to know while you were at your UNLV you took on an internship at Bellagio. Can you tell me about that? Yeah, I had a friend of mine David Ayala who was working there and I just happened to be mentioning you know casual conversation. Hey I'd love to work there. He's like you know actually we need interns to help you know get these 10,000 employees processed and hired for this new venture that Steve Wynn was on so you know went down there filled out the application lucky enough to you know get hired and got to see the process of building you know one of the best hotels in Las Vegas from the ground up and doing the hiring and that whole process. So it was a great experience to be a part of and I'm really proud that we were able to you know get that thing launched and it launched in 1988 if I'm not mistaken no 1998 I apologize. Yeah and did you have to like sort through like 50,000 applicants or something like that? It was like the advent of the internet so a lot of the applications were processed through that and and it kind of you filtered through that way but you know people had to come in person meet with the department heads and you know they had to have seven hurdles they had to pass through in order to get hired at Bellagio and so he had a Mr. Wynn had several different properties that he was able to pull from but there are a lot of outside candidates so I think we went through about 100,000 applicants for 10,000 jobs. Oh and then after graduating UNLV you started working at JP Morgan Chase and what was your role there and what did you learn about working at JP Morgan Chase? Yeah so at a very young age I took an interest in the stock market and you know how it worked and so after graduation even though I had gone into the hotel school you know I went and I got my securities license my 7 and 66 and went down that path of pursuing being a stockbroker and at the same time I had moved to Los Angeles unfortunately my first day on the job was 9-11 and so that was a short-lived experience but you know what I learned there is that you know perseverance a lot of good sales techniques you know through the organization and yeah just you know being able to communicate with people and and and learning the sales you know role. Now Mike tell me about your Waikiki Malia hotel. Yeah so our family was able to acquire the property back in 1989 and so we're on our 33rd year of ownership and you know what we've tried to do is create a good value proposition for the guests of you know that come to visit Waikiki and you know centrally located in Waikiki so duty freeze next door international marketplace is a five minute walk the beach is a five minute walk and so just a great value in the heart of Waikiki and if you want to be you know in the action it's a great place to stay and you know during COVID it was a rough go for us but you know we were live in the Kamahaina and you know the North American tourists to come back and you know help support us so you know really just you know proud to be owners of it and just you know very happy to be part of the you know the landscape of Waikiki. Well you're so right I mean the location is great right in the heart of Waikiki and Mike I know that you you are super proud of your employees and your management team what what makes your team so special? I mean I think it it goes back to my father of just treating everyone equally it doesn't matter if you're the GM of the hotel or you know the janitor you know everyone is an important piece of the puzzle and you know I kind of write this back to the sports analogy you know Joe DiMaggio used to say hey you you know you go out there and you play your best every single day because you might only see touch that one person that you know came to watch you that one time so same thing like the guests this might be their only time that they ever come to Hawaii come to Waikiki and so you want to give that best impression and so a lot of our employees have been with us 30 to 40 years which is kind of unheard of in the hospitality landscape and so you know much credit to them for just coming in every single day and and doing their best and treating everyone with the law. Now Mike as the leader what what is your culture of excellence that you're striving to build at your hotel? Yeah I think it's as you walk through the doors of the property it's it's completely focused on the guests the guest is the most important person in there and so I understand that there are bad days and good days and you kind of bring that to work sometimes but our employees I just can't you know give them enough credit they really just are super guest focused and it always shows and if you ever look at the reviews on the hotel it's always guests first guests first and you know the employees are the are the best. Now you mentioned earlier about COVID tell me how did you deal with COVID and how did you just get through it to serve to be able to survive? Rusty I gotta be honest with you it was rough you know without government assistance state and federal it would have been really tough to survive you know the one thing I'm proud of is that we never closed our doors you know throughout COVID you know I tell people that January of 2020 was the best month we ever had in the 30 years of having the property and April was the worst we had two guests the entire month and you know we did a lot of projects and things to keep the employees you know not only employed but you know busy and to do stuff you know on the property so we were able to accomplish a lot of good things during COVID but yeah it was a rough go of it for sure especially you know relying so much on the on the Japanese tourists who have yet to return we were you know we had to pivot and and start drawing from different areas once we open back up again. And Mike is it true that you did some renovations some upgrades as well? Yeah we were able to do the lobby while you know we had those low numbers to get the hotel and then we recently finished the entire 276 room tower and that just came back online in June so it's a fully you know renovated brand new room product for all our guests to enjoy and I think you have some of those pictures that you've been showing. Yeah so hopefully hopefully all your guests they come back very strong to really help support you and Mike you're you're also the owner of Rival Sports Bar which is located in your hotel. Yes. How did you come up with that concept? Well when I first moved back to Hawaii I didn't see a lot of options for you know sports bars you know in Waikiki and restaurants that you know showed a lot of sports there's just a handful of places and so I thought it would be unique to kind of meld a little bit of Vegas with you know a sports bar and so you know we invested heavily in like the sports memorabilia which you kind of see behind me throughout the bar and just it's kind of like my man cave that I'm you know sharing with the rest of the world and so you know a lot of good high definition TVs and that memorabilia that you can kind of reflect on those those memories and those moments. Well Mike I absolutely love your man cave because I love watching games that you're at Rivals and you guys have some great comfort food as well right? Yeah no we were known for our pizza and our and our wings and you know we've had to play around the recipe you know throughout the years and we kind of finally you know hit the nail on the head and so we're really proud of those two items so come on down you know we'll have some wings and some pizza together and maybe enjoy a few cold ones. Oh definitely and Mike what is your connection with Dana White the president and owner of UFC? Yeah so we met strangely enough we got a phone call one day and and it's you know Dana White's secretary and you take it with a grain of salt you know prank caller or whatever and said no no no Dana is really appreciative of you ordering all the fights you know since you've been open and he's going to be coming down to Waikiki with some friends so you know if you could make space for him he'd love to come down and hang out and so that's kind of how the relationship built but you know talking to him we have a lot of mutual friends friends that have worked for him in the in the past and so anytime he's in Hawaii and there happens to be a fight on he'll come down to rivals so you know we'll close off an area for him and you know he's great he interacts well with the guests and you know he's just really loyal to people that take care of his brand and his business interests well he seems like he's such a cool guy I mean and it's so cool that you you know him and that he comes to rivals and and Mike I want to ask you about slice of Waikiki I mean how did how did that concept come about well same thing like with the rivals concept you know I went around Waikiki and I'm just looking at hey what can we do with this little space that we have here in the front of the hotel and just saw a need for pizza by the slice you know there was some boroughs and a handful of other places but they're kind of hidden away and you couldn't see them so you know when you go to large cities on the mainland New York LA Las Vegas you'll notice slices are everywhere but there is just you know a demand for it so we were able to grow that business and I believe if I'm not mistaken is the highest grossing space in Waikiki per square foot well I can believe that because I mean there's always a line there I mean I'll stand in the line the line goes pretty fast actually but I want to know Mike you have both of my books what what are some concepts that stood out to you in it well the four Ps obviously you know I like the first line in there you know no successful organizations you know dictator like that's a huge thing that kind of resonates with me but really truly the best is the embracing of adversity you know I think in this day and age there's a lot of folks out there that just try to bubble wrap life which which you cannot do and so you know you teaching the young folks how to deal with adversity how to embrace it is is crucial and you know that kind of just goes along with my affiliation with you know different sports organizations I have a great appreciation for athletes that thrive and and take on challenges now Mike what would you say I love what you just said there you know I talk about welcoming adversity looking forward to challenges what are your thoughts about that well I mean life is going to throw things at you and you're going to have to deal with them and so unfortunately I didn't have your books when I was growing up rusty so you know I had to just kind of get thrown into the fire and learn from you know certain things and so like being in the financial service industry right we had the dot-com era we had 9-11 we had the financial crisis of 08 and then we had COVID and so you know for myself learning and being thrown into the fire and having to deal with that has set me up for you know the 08 crash and and COVID I was able to deal with it but if I was a young person with no experience whatsoever having to go in and deal with these things I don't know how how I would have reacted without those experiences and so you giving them kind of the roadmap you know ahead of time saves you a lot of headache and stress along the way now Mike you know both of us as we're growing up we're always on teams whether it be in sports or business and we watch what the leader does or what the coach does and we can learn you know what is it that they do good was it what is it that they do that is bad um what do you feel are some things that the greatest leaders do I think it's being eternally optimistic the glass half full because if you show fear and you're just oh geez I don't think this is going to work out that's not good leadership that's going to just drag down the whole organization and so I think having the perspective of always looking forward uh you know and persevering are crucial roles I mean you're going to get knocked down and you're going to you're going to fail at things but you have to get back up you know I think one of the quotes in the in your book you know just saying you know it's okay to fail but giving up that's permanent right it's temporary if you just fail at one thing but yeah just giving up and you have to keep persevering you're so right you completely right right there and and Mike you are a huge supporter of University of Hawaii athletics and every time I go to the Stan Sheriff's Center I always look for your seat I mean you're right there on on the floor I mean on the court literally um and you're so animated I love I mean if if I'm a player and a coach there I mean all I need to do is is look at you and just feel all that positive energy right yeah I mean I think if you do anything and you and you're cheering for things and you have to be passionate right like that's like one of the greatest things is that if you if you're passionate for something and I just can't you know contain it I'm that type of guy that has to you know exude that energy and it just feels like they feed off of it and so I try to bring it every day and uh you know cheer those guys on win or lose you know I'm just I'm an admiration of those guys of the work that they put in you know a lot of them thousands of miles away from home some internationally they come here and they're you know given that they're all to help make the state proud so kudos to them now Mike also can you share about I mean because you travel with a lot of the teams too I mean can you share about which events and which teams you've traveled with yeah we've gone with the football team to you know several different road trips we have a lot of upcoming trips we leave for Japan tomorrow for 10 days with the basketball team and this will be the first time that a lot of the new players will be you know with the old guys getting getting gelled and and just going through practices and learning how to play with each other and then we get back and then we'll head over to Vanderbilt with the football team but the experiences the camaraderie with you know the other boosters it's it's excellent getting to know these young men I mean they're just so impressive and you get to talk to them one-on-one get to know them and you know basketball is just a small part of their you know their life athletics the football players as well and getting to know them and what their interests are it's just really unique you know opportunity to spend time with them okay so Mike out of all of the University of Hawaii games that you've been to out of all of the great moments what was your greatest moment what was the greatest moment you witnessed that you saw I mean it has to be Jovan shot last Christmas I mean it was the Christmas day miracle you know we're down the whole game and I think the first time that we led was at the buzzer and it was just one of those moments that you cannot replicate the energy I was running around the court afterwards it was just one of those things that you know it's a special special moment that you know we'll never forget anytime soon now now I agree I mean I had Jovan on my show a few weeks ago and I mean as soon as that ball went in I mean everybody in the arena I mean just stood up jumped around you were running around I mean you look like Jim Valvano after he won the the NCAA national basketball championship right yeah yeah I just had that much emotion and it was just amazing that that happened you know you dream that you know like just seven seconds left you like please let the ball go in the basket and you wanted to will it and then when it actually went through it was just one of those moments and what that was the first time the basketball team won the diamond had classic too right yeah that's correct that's correct so it was a long time coming and so it was yeah it was a great day and a great memory that I'll always cherish and Mike you know I want everybody to know too I mean I mean aside from you being such a huge incredible supporter of University of Hawaii athletics I mean you do a ton behind the scenes to really help the community and earlier you had mentioned that you know that's a big part of you know what you how you are how you grew up with your family right yeah I mean for me you know you know be pretty well rusty I'm not a showy flashy guy I think you know my funds and my resources are better used to help another person you know achieve things and so you know that's just kind of how I live my life you know I don't like fancy things that you know watches and things of that nature but if I can help a kid with the scholarship and NIL deal that puts food on the table for him gets extra training for him to attain his goals I'm more than happy to do that and that's just kind of how you know my schooling at Marinal had taught me you know at a young age to to give back well you know and Mike you know you you're I mean what you see is what you get with you I mean you're you're a man of great character such a great leader I want to ask you you and I have have another thing in common our favorite band in the world is Def Leppard and you you met with Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen can you tell me about that experience yeah it was a concert in Las Vegas and my buddies had taken me for for my birthday and as we're walking in the entryway you see all this artwork on the left hand side I'm like oh what's this about so kind of go over there and it's like well if you buy an art piece Rick Allen will hang out with you after the show and you know talk store for a while I said well that sounds like a win-win for me and you know went there and said yeah let me pick up a piece and so you went through the concert and about an hour after the show we're all kind of corralled upstairs there's a few other people that had bought some pieces as well yeah and he he got to spend you know 30 minutes with each of us I mean there's about five or six of us in there so he spent significant time just talking to us and you know kind of at all of this you know inspirational character who lost his arm at a you know the height of you know stardom and was able to persevere and continue and you know even excel at his craft which was amazing and very nice guy you know a lot of times they say don't meet your heroes but that he's an exception to that rule he was just you know couldn't have been more courteous kind and spend a lot of time with me and my friends and so I'm very appreciative of that experience it's one that I'll always cherish I'm one million percent in agreement with you I mean he is so inspirational to lose his arm and then to really come back stronger than ever and and the other thing was his bandmates I mean they they weren't going to move on without him right right I mean that's that's true teamwork and a testament to the the bond that they had and they they built you know it's they could have easily said now we're not going to deal with this nonsense we just need someone that's going to be a regular drummer and not have to cater to all you know his special needs but you know kudos to them just as well as to rick himself yeah I just I love those situations where the person is more important than their role and and Mike you also met president George W. Bush I mean tell me about how that came about and what kind of person is he yeah I mean he was just like a normal guy I mean I think he won his elections because he's one of those guys that you'd want to sit down and have a beer with and that and you know although a brief interaction with him he was just a nice guy another guy off the street from Texas that you just had a conversation with and you know very nice guy I mean you know politics aside he you know he was just very generous with his time and you know was able to you know talk a little story talk about his artwork you know that he's that he does on the side and you know just enjoyed the time with him well I think that's amazing because I mean not too many of us have the opportunities to meet a current or former president but you did and I just love hearing the insights just to get you know more of the real deal about how they actually are you know when the cameras aren't on and yeah Mike I want to ask you um you know whether it's personally or professionally what are some what are some big obstacles that you had to overcome in life so far yeah I mean I would think it was different world events as I was starting my professional career you know those obstacles and how you had to deal with them you know right off the bat you know the first one would be 9-11 like I said my first day on the job at JP Morgan you know you're dealing with this situation where no one knows what's going to happen in the world and you know not just will I have a job the next day but what's going to happen in my career and I think the ability to be able to pivot and kind of roll with the punches is crucial if you're just stuck doing the same thing that's been done forever and ever you're going to get lost and so you got to be able to pivot and move and reinvent yourself yeah no I completely agree I mean things are rarely in a straight line I mean sometimes you go on these zigzags to really find a way to become successful and Mike speaking of success how you know success can be defined in many ways how would you define success well that's a tough question I mean I think at the end of the day I think happiness I think that's the most crucial thing you know I know a lot of people that get tied up in work and work is their life and yes some enjoy it but I think you know a work-life balance and just being happy with what you do I personally do not feel that any day I go into the office is work I enjoy and I love what I do and so if you're able to achieve that that that's the ultimate goal is that you know you're going to work and you're just not like punching in your clock nine to five if if you have that feeling I think you're in the wrong line of work and you need to figure something out where you're able to you know go out there and find something you're truly passionate about and truly love to do Mike I agree with you I mean happiness and you know when I'm looking at you I also think that you know making a positive impact on others is is success I mean that's really what you're doing and I want to ask you about empathy you know when you earlier were talking about your employees how important is empathy and you know you as a leader might have empathy for them but the key is they need to know that you have empathy right yeah absolutely I mean and we try to show the love to our employees any chance we get you know I'll sit there and chat with them if they have a concern really valuing their opinion because at the end of the day without our employees you know we're stuck in the mud we have a building an empty building right and we're not able to take care of our guests so I think understanding what they're going through understanding you know their needs what they need to be successful at their job and understanding that and giving them all the tools and resources that they need to feel comfortable and to help them execute you know what they need to do on a daily basis is crucial it's paramount and Mike I also you know think it's so important I mean when you catch somebody doing something good to really make it known to just I mean it just a quick pat on the back makes them feel like wow they matter and they're contributing and they play a role in the success of the organization right yeah and I really try to put myself in their shoes you know you know along with Bellagio you know doing the internship when I came back and I worked for Outrigger during my summers I was put in every position I was in housekeeping I was in maintenance I was at front desk so I've lived what they live maybe not for decades but you know I understand you know the the situations that come up and you know what they deal with on a day-to-day basis and so I think that's kind of an important part of you know my leadership is that I've actually stood in their shoes and I've done the same things that they're doing on a daily basis for us so I think that understanding helps me be a better leader oh I for sure I mean when they know that you were in their role doing their job I mean that's that's the biggest connection right there and I have to show pictures now you're gonna have to show me those pictures now I'm like oh you know I want to ask you what's what's a big valuable lesson you learned in life so far I think is no matter how bad the situation is finding the positive in it what am I gonna learn from this how am I gonna overcome this and just you know you have to be an optimist you know when things are at its worst you have to see the light at the end of the tunnel or figure out how to navigate to where you want to get to the other side and so I think you control your own destiny and you've got to be able to take the bull by the horns and and and put your will force your will onto something and give it your all to you know persevere and make it through to the other side I think that's the big thing is that you you'll have time to worry about and then sulk and and you know you always have to push forward I think that's the most important thing no I love hearing that insight and Mike I want to ask you one more thing before we wrap up how how do you who makes you feel fulfilled or what makes you feel fulfilled another tough question rusty I mean I like seeing the smile on the faces of my guests employees the kids that I'm cheering for at the different sporting events when they're successful or they're happy that brings me joy to know that hey you know what I'm doing something right here and you know if I could just be a little part of you know their happiness or their success that that makes me feel fulfilled well Mike I want more Mike colloise in the world I mean you are an inspiration and I just want more people to do what you do because you're making a big positive impact and I really want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today yeah no I appreciate the the invite and there's always love spending time with you so I appreciate the opportunity thank you so much thanks Mike and thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii for more information please visit RustyKomori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble I hope that Mike and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs aloha