thank you good evening so I was thinking how could I during my speech elegantly and with excellence push my new book excellence wins but I couldn't come up with something elegant so we live with that so but so I went to Mayo Clinic for a checkup this typical executive checkup and I said I can feel something here and they said no it's really nothing but I was thinking about it so I called another doctor's appointment and I went for the checkup and they did ultrasound and that night the doctor called me and said we have to operate on Monday so I said wait a minute what is this all about no ball you have a tumor the size of a grapefruit and a Monday we have to operate telling a story why I'm here and it said it can can be and so they operated it turned out this it said a couple of days later they told me this is a cancer it's operated but it always comes back within a year as a snowstorm always an effect we have to take in a few days we'd have to take a cane and see if it is back already and so on Monday after week apart after the operation at the TOEIC cat scan to see if it's back already they said always comes back very rare cancer and and and they taught me on Monday of this game that it would give us the result which i think is crazy on Thursday we have a hard time after Monday until Thursday because let me tell you something and Wednesday night Sharon I am my wife were lying on the floor praying as my friend walk then John walks in and said hey guys he's one of those guys who said his temper is the exact opposite of me his temper goes about like that and mine goes like that so and he said hey guys how are you doing how am i doing terribly and he said well can I share we'd used something a vision that a head before I knew that you had cancer and sure he immediately said if it's not of Jesus we want don't want to know he said no it is and he said he woke up at 3:33 in the night I don't know why that hasn't that had a meaning but 333 in the morning there he woke up and he knew that there's a presence in there in his room and that presence told him don't worry about your friend Horst he's telling us that now don't worry about your friend Horst I have different plans for him he will speak for me in English and in German and since that time I'm consistently invited to make speeches in fact last year in Germany 16,000 people from Christian Leadership Conference I was there 20 years ago there were about 40 people there were 16,000 were encouraging and I started negotiating with God that are needed 15 more years at a daughter there was one one and a half five and nine imagine looking at them and being told you have a year before it comes back as is no strong believe me suddenly the relationship with God is a totally different one all ego is gone all pretence are gone all ambition is gone you took the world that is it it's a ring around you and and and sometimes doesn't let God and that's gone and God is there and the relationship can never be deeper and he say that would make speeches and that's probably why I'm here today and make that speech by the way that was 25 years ago so a year and and incidentally has spoke I made a speech to to John Hopkins the other day and and I was sitting beside all day over a year ago I sitting besides the chief oncologist for dinner and he I told him that I had this cancer he said that's not possible you wouldn't be sitting here I mean we started nearly arguing and he said well sir 25 24 25 years ago the Diagnostics were different and he said we're we're your operators at Piedmont in in Atlanta and he said what treatment did you have afterwards I said I just to treatment seven then I died I refused chemo if I was told you can it come back anyway why would I do chemo so I went on a I did two things and went my knees and how Sharon I and I went on a special diet and he said it's just not possible nobody has survived that cancer so finally he said well maybe Piedmont still have to slide send them in to me and we'll check it what it was really but it really was me sent him in and he called me back and said I didn't know anybody survived at cancer it was the kind of cancer that I told him to have and I go she ate at that time it got for 15 more years and it's 25 so thank you lord but and in the meantime I kept on working I kept on working and I started to make I got for some reason I got more and more invitation to speeches and try to minister a little bit during my speeches no matter to whom I speak I was recently in Africa by the way and in Ghana in organda and and Swaziland and South Africa and spoke met about 20 speeches in in about 15 days the fascinating thing spoke to business groups government has spoken in Uganda spoke to all nearly all in ministries from education to sport to everybody every meeting in Africa started with a prayer and ended with a prayer and then a spoke in New York well okay and anybody let me let me to tell a little bit this story I know most people did they want to know this story about Peter it's continents on its but it really the story for my business story started when I was 11 years old growing up in a small village in Germany after the war I've never left that village really there was no hotel in that village there was not even a restaurant there was a beer house over there and I've never been we have never been in a restaurant we're never been in a hotel before but for some reason when I was 11 years old I went to my parents and I said I want to work in a hotel business they said ok but I kept on saying it I kept on saying pretty soon that's not something you did in Germany at the time that was embarrassing nearly if you would have done that you went into technical job if I would have said I want to be an engineer my parents would have danced on a table or architect or something or a carpenter that was all that was honorable but working order I kept on insisting on and baking and crying for it so my parents inquired how to how to proceed if I want to have a career in the hotel business so they said well you have to find the best hotel that you can where he would start as a dishwasher or whatever so sure enough they found a job but unfortunately was about a hundred kilometers away at that time that was very far on the kilometers away but it was the best hotel in the region by far so as my parents talked me down my mother taught me there but my parent told me four days now when you go there I mean once you're there those this is a hotel for very important ladies and gentlemen this is not wouldn't before we could never go there behave yourself accordingly and of course it with all the admonishment the mother would give you what your underwear was she here take a shower and so on and and very important ladies and gentlemen when I got that the general manager basically told us the same thing you are here to serve the guests a very important ladies and gentlemen but there was also welcomed by the maitre d of the hotel an exceptional human being truly an exceptional millimeter and major important line he told me the first day don't come to work from now on when you come here come here to create excellence in what you're doing but I went over my head of course I was 14 come here it excels in washing dishes cleaning floors cleaning ashtrays that was my job and I went on now typical upbringing and Wednesdays we went to school hotel school all the kids from the area come to the coat they'll have hotels coolers typical German up ring then you go back to work after school after two years the teacher in my class told us write an essay as to what you now think about the hotel business now that you're in it for two years and I was thinking going back three pages got back contemplating what would I would I write I said worked in the restaurant cleaned the table over here I could feel the melody and when he entered a room you could feel it he had the presence of is indescribable nearly it would have never ended and look unless he looked perfect he was perfect and everything he did including that to our teaching and he kept on Romania's you don't work you create excellence in what you're doing that day and then it turned around as his son come in and he approached the table now my new dear ladies and gentlemen and we are nothing that was very clear that was told us but we need approach that table was very clear that the people and that tip was by proud that he came to them in a realist that's true all around everybody every guess they always think he's the most important person and so did we the employees thought is the most important as I contemplated that I wrote my essay I realized that he defined himself as a gentleman as a person of excellence by what he was doing and said wow I can do that so I named my essay we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen which when I started ritz-carlton I met at the motor of the company in our business of became world famous we are ladies and gentlemen servile Edition and every employee is a lady or a gentleman I worked in it so I finished there worked in the finest hotels in Europe really if you Plaza Athenee Paris to Savoy London Burbage Palace in law some Bell Bell V palace in Perrin and cetera et cetera I said as I worked through this finest hotels and finally came to the United States started in in room service in San Francisco and we as a as I started there I had that thought was I'm gonna go back in a year I soon realized that being a large hotel the room service supervisors got easily promoted into other shops in the restaurants and so on which opened the job for the waiters to get promoted room service supervisors I decided the next promotion will be mine I knew I was the best waiter there I clearly knew it and now years had gone by since my apprenticeship but I clearly knew I was the best waiter I had worked in the finest places in Europe I was the best waiter and room service and evening by the way I brought in a small restaurant in French restaurant I knew I would get that job not only did was did I know I was the best way that the manager of room service was German so I had an inn that was it and then the promotion came and I didn't get it so stupid management is right that went through my mind it took me several months to admit about three months that started to admit that the guy who got it deserved it more you see I was very young I went out in the evening I was it wasn't only tired when I came to work in the morning but at 6 o'clock it showed all the way and I was sometimes a few minutes late and he never did that and when my boss said two days and said why me why not somebody else he never did that so I went back to my little apartment in the first District in San Francisco you can hardly walk through it now anymore a little apartment and I went back there and had a conversation with my old melody he had passed away in the meantime but had a conversation with him and said I'm forgive me I didn't go to work to create excellence I went to work to work I'm so sorry you taught me never to do that but I went to work to work that's why I didn't get this promotion that's why and he should have got it I apologize and I promise you I promised him right there this will never ever happen to again in my life from now on is excellence to God or why he waste my time to just go to work why not go to work to be excellence in what I'm doing and to find myself accordingly and sure enough I went I went to work and the promotion happened and the next promotion happened I went voice of Rockford Hilton I got promoted through the food and beverage director give it a rough run down but joint hired became food and beverage director of the largest hotel in Hyatt became rooms director at Hotel two years later that was general manager I made it a point to be the best and go to work to be excellent and enjoy enjoy the people around me the people two years later I was promoted to a large hotel two years later that was reaching a vice president with ten hotels two years later I was vice president over 65 hotels the United States and had a great job this was going to be my job I have my golden handcuffs we lived in Chicago I love Chicago was married to a fabulous woman sherry I married over 40 years I don't own a lover I'm still in love with her by the way that's my decision guys that's a decision every single life is a decision I made a decision to be in laughs not at just love ever since I made a decision there to create excellence from there on so I was hired everything was great got the hang of everything right I was highly respected in the company lived in the right City had great friends when we got the call and said there is these people developers and money people they have to tell construction in Atlanta and they they want to create their own print they need somebody around the operations no I have no interest why were you talking to me well we you were recommended and you said you're the guy to do this and and survive I have no interest forget it went to work but he called again and as I started talking to sherry and said you know if I would they take this job what I would do is this and this and I told that things what I would do and it would pull the credit score tell company world if I would do it and I could do it myself because they said operationally I could do what I want but then he called again and I said so find that evening I said please do not call me again I've never gonna meet move to Atlanta this is it I went to work the next day and something happened I could not really well lifted make came to work came back to work - but - a home and sure enough they called again and I said yeah I will talk in the meantime sherry my wife was praying furiously because she could sense because my constant talking about that I hadn't certain interest there feverishly that the door would close or downward open sure enough they stock lost and if few and a few months learned later and moved to Atlanta and if any of the first week of children Chen in 1983 and a year later we opened the first hotel there is Colin bucket which is not a anymore I went there for only one reason my dream was this I will if I'm allowed to do when I'm allowed to do I would call and create the finest hotel company in the world that was a vision people should not live with and work without vision a vision is the purpose of your working life and and of course even the Bible said people will perish without purpose I know we all have a higher purpose but you buy why would we limit our work to listen then having a purpose I clearly developed myself a purpose the one trim the reason why I would do everything to create a finest hotel company in the world I started hiring people hiring people told him and begin don't come to work with me come to join a purpose and here's the purpose everything we do and everything we think is to create the finest hotel company work well cause some of them love their service you we don't have a hotel yet my goodness I said that doesn't matter this is the purpose of everything we're gonna do so people joined and we sat down and say how we gonna do this to create the finest hotel company in the world now first of all you have to understand I had to understand our market I clearly define the market segment is the top market segment and then we said okay what does that market one if if I am to my market in my market segment if you are in you market segments more sufficient to your customers then the competition is with other words they like your product more than they like the competition's product if you do you do better for them and at the same time you're more efficient it doesn't cost you more if you saw how I'm going to be more sufficient am i efficient to my customer but I have to know what my customer wants if I'm even know what my customer wants is so it is totally focused on your market it's not what you want it's not what you believe in your product is not what I believe it's what they believe so we started to make studies and abort a couple of studies by the way I bought them myself at the time because nobody understood that I had to have I they said you have experience why would you buy knowledge I thought you were the one that the expert so so God got a study from the University of Colorado the behavioral behavioral science department I started talking in and worked with them a lot as we went on what does my market want but with another group you say yes sir yes which group in order Florida and so we've we finally we understood what the market wanted and this is a this is fascinating and we suddenly knew what you want when you come to hotel in fact it came it became clear no matter what we buy in life you you customer buys from you I know what you want when you buy anything so we we started so there is a subconscious expectation and let's be very clear the subconscious is stronger than the conscience it's very important to understand that there's a subconscious expectation when you buy anything at all if it is a house or a car or TV or a bottle of water for that matter let's stay with a bottle of water because you all have water around what what is your expectation when you buy a bottle of order it's very simply this you want the product to be defect free you don't want anything to swim in there you don't want to leak you you expecting subconsciously you're not thinking about it but that's what you expect the other thing that you expect that you get it when you wandered not when they want to give it to you but when you want the timeliness is of extreme importance by the way timeliness today is much more important that it was 20 years ago or it's longer we opened our first hotel in January 1985 in bucket at that time we knew when somebody checked out checked in during the rush hour and it took no more than four minutes to wait for check-in so we knew after two minutes we came out with soft drinks we talked to them so they wouldn't notice it talk and talk longer we knew that we know today it's 20 seconds in fact I noticed myself and I went checking in today when they didn't pay attention to me immediately I was already nervous it's 20 seconds timeliness has become extremely important so what does the customer wants note effect and not untimeliness what else do you want when you buy that puddle of water or anything else you want the TV defect-free product you wondered when you wanted and you want the people who give it to you to be nice to you which is called service caring service and by the way it is to create a striver of customer satisfaction get it no matter what you think not in your peers and your business and every business in in fact Price Waterhouse method started this year and they concluded that customer satisfaction no matter what product is purchased customer satisfaction is driven to 87% by the treatment together by the experience they had from the be the people that they were dealing with in fact 70 percent said that they're willing to pay more if they have the right experience in treatment they for the same product that they would get somewhere else for less that's how important customer satisfaction through caring and true relationship is so so we understood that now now we understood that is the expectation in the meantime I looked and thought what it would be a great company what is a great company well a great company if it is relatively simplistic but that's what it all what is all about you have to come you have to take all the difficult thing and put it into very simple norms what is a great company a great company number one keeps the customers they have number one you take you keep the customers that you have and you cannot encroach on that I mean number two three and four what why what how do you get loyal customers that you have well a custom loyal customer loyalty is nothing else but they trust you they have developed trust in what you do that's why they become loyal but by the way there are three terms of customers that a dissatisfied customers they're terrorists against your company they will do they love to talk bad about you then they're dissatisfied customers they are satisfied you are satisfied with what you got but if next door you get a better deal that's where you're gonna go and then they're the loyal customers the ones that trust you that one to deal with and any create organization concentrates on that that's number one concentration we had in our company loyal customers we measure that every month I expected topics that at least ninety two percent say I want to come back and I want to recommend you and I measure that ongoing in every hotel and it would slip below I mean I talked with the regime as president over the channel manager if it kept on staying below I said watch out I work on the indices now if it stays again formulas I moved into the hotel to correct the issue and nobody liked that nobody so number one concentration was very clear we keep the Cosman number two we find new customers number three we charge as much as we can we get as much money from them as we can wait a minute we own business oh wait a minute without losing them in other words you're giving them value and number four what you do is efficiency do it all efficiently so we concentrated on that you know how I'm going to keep the customer by giving them the things that they like ongoing but how am I gonna make sure I'm giving them what they like because I'm not doing it because I'm sitting in their office and their main dish was a doorman bellman made as cooks they're really giving it so of course I have to align the organization behind what we wanted to do it you know these are the buzzwords today empowerment alignment and all those possible passwords what is alignment alignment is simply if every I'm thinking about Stephen Covey when a group like that when he spoke to a group like that he always said stand up everybody why everybody point north and of course everybody pointed in different direction and that's what they said that's typically how you all work together because you're not aligned we make sure we had total alignment behind what we did we started that in selecting the right employees alignment is simply if every employee understands clearly this is the division this is the purpose of the company it--and we didn't hire people anymore we invited people to join our purpose don't come to work at showing us in this dream we connected them this is the dream that we have and we want to be in that dream within the next 10 years and the purpose the motive of that dream is so we can grow which means you can grow as an individual the motive is so we will be respected that means you will be respected that will be honored so you will be honored and that we have better income so you will have better income we connected every employee to the more to purpose of the company and to the motive that we have and connected them with their motive that's how we brought people in we didn't hire people anymore we selected people and finally when they came to work what did we do we orient them them to who we are and let's be honest ladies and gentleman what happens when a new employee comes to work generally I've seen it a lot of times I'm not guessing this the new guy comes to work build hypothetically the new waiter bill and the manager makes his pathetic team speech we're a team here we work together working together is not a team a team is a group of people who have a common purpose and help each other to but that purpose so not know and then but build a new waiter that's how what happens normally the bill the new way that comes and bill now we are team here and now work with Joe he knows the ropes I thought you were a hotel business not in the raw business but somehow here knows ropes so we turn over a bill to show and on the way to the kitchen Joe tells bill this is this company is the worst that's his orientation now what do we possibly expect then then I done down and um we make speeches we have alignment when there's no alignment so what we did simply is that we we made sure the first day by the way by the first day I opened every every Hotel ice the employees that started a new hotel or a takeover hotel that sulfa saw me basically first they were waiting on a day of orientation altogether there have been the advancement of that was Osaka or Shanghai or Berlin or Philadelphia or Hawaii it doesn't matter I went there and I was there for ten days from the orient initial orientation to the beginning of training I heard and I walked into the room and there sit there sitting on you they knew the new employee is little nervous and then comes this big shot from the America and see your own present of the company he comes in violent oh my goodness what is going to happen what is he going to say and I came in to the room every time and I told them my name is Horst chilsen I'm CEO and and president this company I am very important because he shocked through the room you could see this shocked looking oh my gosh what did I get myself into here they look at me and he said but so are you you are important as a human being no one can claim importance over the next human being and I don't claim that I just want you to tell you we are all important assume being God has made us that way you are all important as far as your job is concerned your mind chop let me tell you something if we don't if you don't come to work in in 10 days when we own this hotel and we don't wash dishes we don't make bets we don't check people in victim cooked food we have a disaster your job is very important by the way if I don't come to work nobody will even know and this is effect so we took him in align them and then I told them who we are here's our heart here's our soul here are our dreams showing us four dreams showing us to be create excellence and not just work let us create excellence together and create and consequently define ourself together as human being as managers as employees as people of excellence by the way about a little bit over a year ago I was invited to the five-star award dinner which Forbes magazine gives and gives the awards from around of five-star managers from around the world in New York and was a guest and anyway the Forbes guy gets off and said by the way host Jules is in a room and all the managers stood up and applauded did I really applaud me no they applauded the image that we created with ritz-carlton and later capella hotels that's what they promote applauded because that's what we created at the right image which was is a value to everybody and how but the employees well I can tell you up even today when a Ritz Carlton employee looks for job in the hundred others the Ritz Carlton employee gets it because of the image that we created together and we defined ourselves that we knew all the time we define ourselves so we aligned everybody we and so that's what what the orientation was so we did the right selection we did a right orientation and then the second day of orientation the first day we just told them who we are and what who I saw against what do they want from us here let's let's work together and create something together we pointed out the purpose for them legend chime that cannot be Aristotle said if you without purpose you cannot have fulfillment in life so why would I not give purpose to an employee that is my neighbor love your neighbor as yourself why wouldn't I give them purpose why would I just give them function let's check them at the chair on which is sitting is fulfilling a function why would we give our employees function rather than a purpose and and the function is only there they're not there for the function they're there for the purpose the function only has to be fulfilled in order to accomplish the point the purpose and the purpose is of value to all concerned but of course when you establish a purpose for your company you have to question yourself is this purpose this future moment is that we work for it's just really good for all concerned so we question our self and we establish our progress all in the beginning is this truly truly good for us yes is it good for the investor clearly it was good is it good for the guests yes is it good for every employee yes is it good for society as a whole yes in this moment I had money I had my direction of how to manage the company in this moment I had no more right to compromise for myself no for anyone else because if it would have compromised I would have compromised against investors against the employees against society so it was I was very clear I had no problem to let somebody go on it was necessary because they had no right to go against all because it was clearly identified if that person doesn't help us the quarter in fact stains in the way I had no right to compromise because it was the division was good for all concerns so establishing that and then aligning understanding the customer aligning every employee behind the customer expectation and it showed them the value that it has and work and give him honor and respect as ladies and gentlemen we call them ladies and gentlemen and not employees that's how we build the company one by one and incidentally the successes were traumatic after the first couple of difficult years by the way we prayed very heavy the first couple of years in the ritz-carlton were horrendous I didn't tell sherry my wife because she just had a baby we couldn't sell our house in Chicago we had dead it was disastrous and became worse and worse and I thought we wouldn't be even in business anymore so after a while I I had to tell her because it was becoming so serious I had to prepare her so he said sherry let's sit down we made a mistake moving here and she looked at me and said why would you argue with God we prayed on it I said okay I will never argue with God in front of you again and so so and she said maybe they're chop doesn't work but we didn't make a mistake we prayed heavy on it and we did so there when done of course in the meantime one success after the other and it can tell you verifiably there isn't hotel that we opened around the world that didn't become the leader in the market segment well different cultures many different languages and in fact that just had an invitation to come back to Osaka the owners of the hotel invited me to come back to speak to everyone in their company and the hotel employees have nothing to betrayed scorned anymore because of the 20th anniversary around the world total successes total successes because of the of the several things that we did concentration on the market understanding the market understanding changes of the guest constantly constantly some by the guest months and seated slight changes and changes happen we had to readjust many things in the organization together with the market the total concentration and total concentration on the employees respecting them as ladies and gentlemen and aligning them totally behind the dreams of the organization and of course the second day of orientation we we also had a tender fine if we want to be the leader in the world what are the 20 things that we have to do superior to the competition we identify the 26 that it would have to happen in a hotel superior to the competition we identified those things so the second time we taught those 20 points we taught them very very clear for the second time same time and that is and the third time we align them for the and third time for example we very careful taught problem resolution problem resolution because I know problems will happen and I know that if there is a problem with the guests and we don't correct it they become terrorists if I really correct it very well they become ambassadors so it's worthwhile to me right away to teach them problem solution we taught him the 20 points with taught and problem or a solution we had totally aligned him to the company and done we can let him go to work and the 20 points that we taught every day you cannot go to work every day one of those points is repeated you cannot go on no matter my new we were 24-hour business with many shifts but he cannot go to work unless you listen to them to the message of the one of the 20 points of the day today it may be I don't know anymore I'm not there anymore and I'm I prayed after I retired from ritz-carlton I retired traveling 250 days a year my wife I said it is really time that I retire it is really time I read and finally I retired as soon as they allowed me to because at a contract and a Friday she picked me up with the kids and say goodbye a few tears and laughter drove home and said I'm free and it's Saturday I thought about it and talked to my neighbor who also retired much younger than me and said and told him why did you why did you retire I said so he said so I can do what I what a laugh I love to play golf I laughed at her I said oh my gosh I love to play hotel yes so on Monday I said to my wife I'm gonna do it one more time she she declared me insane immediately and said this is outrageous this is outrageous and I realize she's right this is this is crazy and just finish on Friday what's going on with me and a couple of days later said look I know that's who you are I will support you whatever you gonna do if you're gonna do it don't exaggerate don't make it too big I support you so I went out and we started cappella hotel company and there's an ultra luxury hotel company I sold the company two years ago and finished just finished a month ago a contractor still overlooked some what the company we started with a few luxury hotels alter luxury what does it mean we have for instance in Singapore we have a few minutes away from there it's cotton - rich cotton it's a sensational hotel I mean it's a crater towel and I think with fondness when I opened it and did training and there's just a great hotel and the capella is a few minutes away the the Ritz Colin runs an average daily rate of about 400 dollars we run an average daily rate for about $1,000 that's it's ultra luxury but the smaller hotels that totally concentrated Cosme we call every reservation and said what can we do for you so that that's what we did we did afterwards so but what what did i do there the total success and capella if they continue what they're doing what we did it will be known as the since the deep the word for excellence excellence and by the way what is really excellence in what is really excellence excellence is if this thing that you created is is functioning excellently very well for what it was created and maybe a knife that cuts well or a hotel room that does well and is beautiful and so on but excellence in human being is a different story Hume being excellent of course you're functioning properly and what you're doing and try to get to do the best in what you're doing in functioning but human being that is functioning excellence and then there isn't a human being relational actual excellence and that's really that's really what service is caring for the customer relation be relation looking them their eyes save outcome make them feel well know that the human being said others should feel well but of course the other thing and excellence is is its moral excellence we all know that and the sourcing is spiritual excellence and if we do the best that this possibly can be done all for done via excellence as human beings and we have to have to have in ended in koi and and if that incorporates the relationship incorporates love your neighbor as yourself and goodness why wouldn't our customers be our neighbors well it wouldn't be every employer be our neighbor so rather than rather than just giving you and your employees function i am i remind you hire them to be part of you not only is it the right thing ladies and gentlemen it's the moral thing to do good luck with that thank you very much