Author: Isadore Sharp, founder of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
In search of a Book Unusual worth your reading time, I used a selection method described recently in the Financial Times under the title "How to judge a book by its cover". The quoted graphic designer said she used faces in the cover design because "people are drawn in by faces".
When selecting this book by Isadore Sharp I had not yet read the Financial Times article. However, the window in the cover page showed the face of a gentleman, well dressed and airing the flair of a hospitality protagonist. The portrait photo itself was a special table of contents, and it triggered curiosity about an "evangelist, preaching the gospel of service every hour of every day".
The amazing thing about this book for me was that it was a perfect case study for a model I teach in organisational behaviour: leading and managing change. I call it "the 4x4 model", showing how to achieve change and prepare proactively (summarised in the The Nation, September/October, 2009).
Isadore Sharp lived through start-up, growth, downturn and turnaround while building up a hotel group using the right ingredients in the right mix. The start-up story: "A new kind of project", tells how ideas attracted funds, starting-up with the Four Seasons Motor Hotel in Toronto. One great idea: He picked a location immediately opposite to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. That's what I call creative budget saving - it ensured publicity for free. Another great idea: He integrated the institute of a famous sports coach - "Mr Fitness" - into the Inn on the Park. The fitness guru gave welcome publicity for years. A great example of the art of persuasion: In London, Sharp persuaded investors believing in the location, that paying the same rent for 230, rather than 320 rooms, would work. His philosophy and good cost controlling bred confidence. Many flights from Canada to London built up the trust of new business partners, and a final deal was made. Attracting partners with good communication was surely a success factor for continuing growth (pp 55).
Failures, missed chances and "a few bad apples" are openly described. However, I feel that Sharp intuitively followed a warning sign I read about years ago. The sign can be found in Ford's boardroom. It reads: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast". That is, your culture had better fit your strategy or you can forget about your strategy. In line with that warning, Sharp carefully built up a culture focused on quality as a strategic factor (p 91). He told his managers: Quality is "not vinyl but leather; not polyester but silk", because customers see it and smell it. Service was to be the second focus.
Sharp shows how to implement service quality and "how to get the message across" by "selling our culture" (ch 11) and "the golden rule" (ch 12). Service dedication was instilled by a lot of face time, communicating with employees and a strong philosophy. Managers resisting change got a clear message: Every personality in the team (commanders, autocrats or number crunchers) must follow the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", or leave. Walking your boss-talk is crucial, because "employees are boss-watchers", Sharp writes on page 101.
In a nutshell Sharp's golden rule was: do not send mixed signals; build a value code as a psychic core; build trust by communication to win believers; implant a sense of purpose; and train employees to act on their own. If employees do not change their attitudes, he goes for coercion as a last resort.
The golden rule helped to lead through downturns triggered by SARS, the September 11 attack in 2001, the Bali terrorist attacks and the current financial crisis. During these times, pressure on occupancies and revenues was a fact. Quality service, however, does come with a certain general and administrative expenses block, so in order to protect luxury brands, it is better to opt for creativity and employee-centered communication instead of simple cost cuts and lay offs.
My favourite example picked out of Four Seasons' business portfolio is an acronym forming the word SERVICE. I understand it as a behavioural checklist; a cunning little piece of paper entitled: Service Culture Standards, by observance of which employees could practice Sharp's golden rule on their own every day. I like it very much from a pedagogic point of view. It's simple and easy to remember.
SERVICE stands for: "smile (active and genuine), eye contact (even in passing), recognition (using a guest's name naturally), voice (in an appropriate manner), inform (about hotel products and guests), care (in all we do), exceed (guests' expectations)".
Simplicity is perfect in teaching and coaching your teams to live the golden rule culture from the level of steward and reservation clerk up to the hotel general manager. The culture checklist fits any business as a practical tool with which to build a culture of appreciation inside and outside an organisation. After all, every business is somehow a service business as long as we have customers, and we should not have to guess that this is the mission leading an organisation.
I intend to give this SERVICE checklist to all my employees and students. The plethora of service ideas in "Four Seasons" is brought alive by fascinating stories - about individuals, teams, living culture and change in one of today's global benchmark organisations. From now on, this particular Book Unusual will be part of "My Fab 5". That is, the 5 per cent of fabulous books in my library that I consult regularly.
"Book unusual" is a monthly column contributed by Dr Alexander Paufler, president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz (Thailand). He is currently a special lecturer at Thammasat University's Master's Degree in Marketing Programme. He can be contacted at alexander@alexanderpaufler.com.
"Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy" is available at Asia Books.
