Love and "The Emperor With No Clothes"

I just woke up and found myself like many mornings at a hotel in Some City, USA. Today, I’m far from my California home in the beautiful downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee Marriott. I’m here to teach a time management module to a group of excited sales representatives. It’s fitting that the idea for today’s post comes from “The Spirit To Serve” written by J.W. Marriott, Jr. and Kathi Ann Brown.

The story serves two purposes. First, it speaks to the importance of loving your boss enough to tell them the truth. I once interviewed for a sales management position in Orlando, Florida. I was paired up with Wade Smith, who would go on to be my peer-mentor in the organization the first year. I had a number of questions for Wade in Orlando and through out the year, but one I remember like it was yesterday. I asked him, “In this organization, with this set of bosses, how do I go about telling them in effect ‘you’re standing buck naked in the middle of main street’”. In other words, how do I tell the emperor he has no clothes. Wade looked at me dead in the eye and spoke in his characteristic deep, soft, slow, southern drawl, “veeery caaarefully”.

Many organizations are marked by lack of candor, and are much weaker for it. Henry David Thoreau said, “It takes two to speak the truth– one to speak, and the other to hear”.

Here’s the story:

Many years ago, a group of Marriott executives was waiting in our boardroom to update me on a hotel project I was particularly excited about. Senior-level representatives from all the key functions were there: feasibility, finance, design, construction, operations, etc. The group apparently killed time by talking about what an absolutely terrible idea the project was.

A few minutes later, I walked in the door, clapped my hands together enthusiastically, and asked, “So, how’s my project looking?’ Everybody responded, “Well, Bill, it’s looking good, really good.” Everybody except one fellow, a junior executive who had not opened his mouth.

Turning to him, I commented: “You haven’t said anything. What do you think?”

He proceeded to rattle off all the reasons why the project was a disaster in the making-the same reasons that everyone around the table had been airing just minutes before I came in.

I paused a moment and then replied: “You know, you’re absolutely right. Kill it.”

I walked out. Jaws dropped around the table and that was the end of the project.

The second purpose of this Marriott story is that it segues nicely into the topic of listening. And that’s where we will spend the bulk of our time this week.