Isadore Sharp: The golden rule

We all have something to offer, and we are only going to succeed as a team. It's not about the me, it's about the we. Well, if we're going to make service our competitive advantage, that can only be done by the people who are going to deliver that product — our line people, the doorman, front desk, housekeepers, engineers. So if we are going to ask them to make us the best, we had to give them what they needed to rise to that occasion. And that's when we set in place the concept of the golden rule — that we would give our people the respect that they're entitled to, we would give them what they required to want to work in an environment that suited them, that's why they stayed with the company, and that they would have satisfaction in the results of what they were going to accomplish. So that was the third strategic decision, but each one of these were following the one before. So that was how we were going to become the best.

Well, that idea was put forward, oh, I guess it was late '70s, 1980, and it didn't receive much support because senior people felt that, you know, that's motherhood, you're talking philosophy, this is business. Fortunately, I've always controlled the company, and as you will discover, when you are the founder and you control something, it's no longer a democracy. So you don't ask permission — you've got the privilege to be able to decide what you think is right, and you're going to follow through. So the people who don't buy into it, we parted company with the most senior people in the company, because I knew that if you only gave lip service to something that you were going to rely upon, that was going to be authentic, you had to believe it and you had to be prepared to act that out. So that took many years of being able to — we had a mission statement that we did write out, but we never circulated it. It was just so we would understand that we could communicate personally our goals, our beliefs, our principles. So the next senior person that I put in charge, he and I traveled to every hotel and we met with the senior people and we discussed what we intended to do and would they as a group be able to live within the hotel. I'm talking when you're working for the company, this is how we expect you to behave and how we expect you to treat people who you work with. How you live your personal life is your business.

Well, that took time — years to sort of get that message across, discussed, and then when it slowly seeped down to the bottom of the triangle, that's when we could use it. So to set a strategy based upon an ethical credo — could we create a highly motivated, competent workforce based upon an ethical credo? A theory? Well, over the next 20 years, through the practice of that by thousands of people, that theory is now a fact. There's no doubt. We have over 45,000 people working for this company, every one of them understands and believes in that theory because it's the way they've been brought up. It's not something that they had to remember, it's not something that was foreign to them. That one principle of the golden rule is embodied in every scripture.

Because when we started on this, I wanted to know a little more about it. I asked my wife, Rosely, I said, 'Rosely, would you do some research? Who were the scribes who came up with this very profound single statement?' And she did, and she came up and showed me a list of all ten religions, and in each one, scriptures embodied the principles of the golden rule — every one of them. So it's part of a universal belief system. So wherever we've gone and wherever we are going, it's not something that's foreign to people. And we don't talk about it — it's something you act, and people see and believe what you do, not necessarily what you say. So that took many years, but now it's embedded, it's part of the company's culture. It's the most important — the brand and the culture are the two things that will keep this company's legacy going indefinitely.

No, very interesting. Well, you know, we can all in good times — we can all be fair-weather friends. Things are great, we're good for everybody, give you a bonus, everything going good. What do you do in the downturn? How do you then manage to deal with your principles both in business and then with your employees when things are not going well? Now there's no doubt — look, when markets turn, you have to manage that. So you do reduce and downsize, and you do it carefully and you do it in a manner which doesn't affect the company at all. So it's not what you do, it's how you do that.

So wherever we've had to, we've gone through this many times — where the markets turn in '74, '81, '91, the SARS, all these times we've had economic cycles, we've been able to stand by our principles by letting people know why we're doing something and how we go about that. So when the most difficult thing in any business you're running is dealing with your people — if there's going to be some people who have to be terminated for whatever reason — how that is managed is crucial. So if you are in a situation and 5% of your workforce has to be laid off for a period of time, our management people worldwide deal with that so sensitively that they look after the person as best they can, they try to find them another job, they keep in touch with them and bring them back as quickly as they can. But they have to remember that if you're losing 5% of your workforce, 95% are still with you, and they are their peers, they are their friends, and they see how you've managed through that process. And that's where leadership means the most — how you handle things when things are going south.

As an example, a couple years after the markets turned and we're back on good times again, I was in Istanbul talking to the general manager. And I asked him, I said, because Turkey is a tough place to work — they live with terrorism, earthquake, everything — but the people are just so energetic and so enthusiastic about the role they've got. And I asked him, I said, how did you manage during the downturn? He said, 'Well, we didn't lay anybody off.' I said, 'Well, how did that work?' He said, 'We in management decided we would only get three weeks out of every month's pay, because the EXP costs are a major part of our labor cost.' So they took a major reduction in their salary so they wouldn't have to lay anybody off. He didn't come and tell us that. I only found that out because I asked the question when I was there.

That's leadership, and that's what I mean by you demonstrate to the people how you act. Your actions speak much louder than your words. So that type of approach permeates throughout the company. There's a sensitivity about how they deal with their people in a manner which is very different, and it works.

Well, that video we were just watching before I came on — when he talked about risk, you must take risk. He's right. But never risk what you can't afford to lose, and you can never ever compromise your trust. Because once you lose that, you never get it back. It'll take a lifetime to build and minutes to lose. So that's something that is embodied in this 'do unto others' principle. It's, you know, simple concepts of leadership: trust, integrity, and optimism. So people understand that that is who you are, and you try to make sure that that doesn't ever enter into people's decisions of how they will come to what is the right thing to do. And that's so important, because sometimes it's costly, and sometimes you know you're going to pay the price for doing the right thing.

So, you know, I'll keep referring to your video up there. As he mentioned, we're all born with a DNA of our own. We all have something that is ours — a skill set, gift, that might be something that's unusual. And then we're all brought up, so is it nurture or nature that causes us to be who we are? And I think it's a combination of both. So if we're fortunate to have an upbringing that encourages you, gives you confidence, the support that we all need, that lets you then develop your skill set. So we try to make everybody understand: we all have something to offer, and we are only going to succeed as a team. It's not about the me, it's about the we.

And therefore, if we get people to be involved in a meaningful way, that they are participating in what everybody's doing and they all get self-satisfaction out of it, you build this sense of cooperation. And trust plays a major part of that — when people know that what they hear you say, they believe, and you build that credibility up over a long period of time. And that's why I mentioned when we first talked about using this golden rule as a mission statement, if the people at the very top weren't about to carry on in a trusting way, it wouldn't work. And that's why I say it took a long time to sort of get that down to the very bottom where everybody then bought into it.