March 6, 2025 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, a legend in the hotel world, Horst Schulze reshaped how service and hospitality are defined in business—standards that have become world famous. Throughout the years he worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of the luxury hotel chain, The Ritz Carlton in 1983. Here's Horst with his story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
And to search for the Our American Stories podcast, go
to the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts. A legend and leader in the hotel world,
(00:30):
Horse Schultze has reshaped house service and hospitality are defined
in business standards that have become world famous. Throughout the years,
he worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation
before becoming one of the founding members of the luxury
hotel chain The Rich Carlton in nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Here's Horst with his story.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I was born thirty nine when the war started in Germany,
small village, and my father soon afterwards was drafted and
was in the war. I my my mother, in fact,
was an extreme opposition to what was going on from
the beginning, from before Hitler came in. In fact, when
(01:17):
they tried to hit assassinate Hitler, the message came in
the radio that Hitler was dead, that Hitler was assassinated,
which was a signal for others to take over. For
the that was involved in the plot to take over
my mother happened to be in a crocery store, and
and the the owner Crosser's store, screamed, aw they they
just killed h Hitler. And and my mother said emotionally,
(01:43):
thank God finally, but the next DAYE was arrested before
that reason, and and and probably would have been a
serious ending if her uncle wasn't a committed Nazi who
helped to get out of it. So that was the
the life. Even in the village. The village is a
small village. There is no hotel. I want to emphasize
(02:06):
that in the village there was none. In fact, I
never was in a hotel. I never was in a
restaurant before. But when I was eleven years old, I
told my parents I would like to work in the
hotel business. And they said, well, okay, because it didn't
take it serious. But I was possessed with it for
some reason. We don't know why. Nobody knows why. I
(02:31):
must have read something. I mean, that's what we assume.
That was not a good thing to do at the time.
In a small village in Termany. You you went into
technical chops. If it would have been an engineer, now
that was the ultimate honor at the time. Or a
doctor or something like that, of course, but nearly equally
if you were a carpenter or anything that handwork, hand
(02:55):
craft work. And I said hotel business. Grandfather asked me,
don't tell anybody. It was embarrassed. It became it became
the discussion in the class what you're going to do?
So and it's just when you when you come close
to fourteen, that's a discussion in Germany because you go
(03:15):
done in two directions. Either you learn a trade and
go to that trade school at the same time, or
you go into higher education. And so they asked around
teachers of what are you gonna do that? And they said,
you know, I'm going to go trade? What are you
going to do? Hotel business?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
While I can work as a coconuvador? Now that was
funny to everybody. The class was screaming, laughing, And when
they went home told their parents obviously, why is it gone?
That was funny? And uh and I and that day gone,
I happen to play in the streets for him to
play soccer was a little bit late coming home. But
(03:54):
when the time came home, the neighbors already had a
run to my mother. But you know what he said
in school, something very terrible. So that was something really terrible,
you know. Slowly my parents started to inquire and found
there is a way to go to a boarding school
(04:15):
in about one hundred kilometers away, a hotel boarding school
and done you get placed into hotels from there, and
that's what they did and found done the best hotel
in the region. After that to work as an apprentice,
which meant busboy. And also it was one hundred kalambas
(04:37):
in the other directions. So I left when I home
when I was fourteen. The beginning, you wash dishes, you
cleaned the ash ashtix was the only thing you were
allowed to clean or do in the restaurant in the beginning,
in the very beginning, and done, and finally and wash dishes,
wash glasses and sort thing. I'll come in the morning
before the breakfast, cleaned, the room, cleaned after breakfast, clean
(05:01):
before lunch, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, it's nearly
all amount of cleaning all day long. And in fact,
it was kind of funny when in the very beginning,
the first few days there the madri d who was
an exception gentleman. His never was Kyl's Seidler Kyl was
(05:22):
an exceptional gentleman, truly exceptional young being that you running
run across once in a while. And he told us
there were others that started at the same time. And
we lived in a dorm in a dorm room in
the hotel, and he told us, now, from now on,
when you come to work, don't just come to work.
Come to work to be excellent in what you're doing. Excellent.
(05:47):
That went over my head, obviously at fourteen, excellent. And
what I'm doing excellent and cleaning ash trees and alan
washing dishes and glasses and cleaning floors and so on,
while yeare do it, that's excellent that I can I
didn't get the gist of what he's saying. In fact,
the funny thing is he used the word excellent, which
(06:08):
is really not a chrum word. He used that word
all the time. He used trumpbord stool, but used that
word excellence. And in fact, sometimes when he passed you,
he looked in ias excellence. He kept reminding you and
selling us on doing better. And that went over my head.
But slowly I grasped his thinking because not because of
(06:34):
what he said, because how he lived.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And you've been listening to Horace Chelsea tell a heck
of his story. When he was eleven years old, he
told his parents he wanted to work in the hotel business.
And that wasn't exactly a respectable idea in Germany at
the time. An engineer, a doctor, a carpenter, those were
respectable professions. Where did he figure out that he wanted
(06:58):
to be in the hotel business? He didn't know why,
but at the age of fourteen, hotel boarding school. Then
within a one hundred mile radius found work at a
fine hotel where all he did was clean. And then
came that Matrede carl who taught him a word that
would define his life, the word excellence. When we come back,
(07:20):
more of Horse Schultz's story and the story of the
rich Carlton here.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
On our American Stories.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Here at our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories from a
great and beautiful country that need to be told. But
we can't do it without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
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go to our American Stories dot com and click the
(07:51):
donate button, give a little, give a lot, help us
keep the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories
dot com. And we continue with our American stories. We
(08:12):
last left off with Horse Schultzi, founder of the Rich
Carlton Hotels, talking about a man named Carl who changed
his fourteen year old life forever. Carl was the matre
d at the luxury hotel. Young Horst was serving out
his apprenticeship with as a busboy. Carl kept using that
word excellence to define Horst's work ethic, an English word
(08:36):
that stood out considering they only spoke German.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Here again is Horst.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
What it did? He was a human being of excellent
everything he did, and he would have never ended a
restaurant without looking absolutely perfect and working in tails at
a time, totally perfect perfection and everything he did. So
you got a sense of what they meant with excellence.
(09:04):
And I got hit that night, very very It was
like a revelation. That night. I worked in the corner
and I felt the melody coming into the room. I
mean that you could feel it when he entered the room.
She just knew it. He had the presence penetrated. And
I turned around and he just approached the table and
(09:28):
I saw something that or recognized something that I had
seen before, but it didn't really recognize, it didn't really
feel it. The guests on the table that they approached
were proud that he came to them. Wow. And now
I look at that moment, the medody, those final agends gentlemen,
(09:50):
and they were we were the finest hotel close to bond,
which was at the time the capital of West Germany,
and all the diplomat and so I came in that hotel,
came to that hotel. This was an exceptional place. But
I saw that these people very proud that he came
to the table, and I suddenly realized. Everybody in the
(10:12):
room things that Carl Zeidler is the most important person
in the room. Everybody respects him. And for the first
time my life, I realized that I can define myself.
I'm not defined by my but my job. But the
name of the job is by what is I define
(10:33):
myself how I execute my life or including my job
and my job to a great extent, because that's why
I spent my life, my time. I got the point
of excellence. I got it very strongly, even when I
jumped forward for a moment, because I believe it or not,
(10:54):
I can see my methody in front of me right now,
and that's why I tell the next story. Years later,
I'm working in San Francisco in the Hilton as a
room service leader. I had come a few months before
to the US with the intent of going back to
Europe within the next eighteen months or so. But my
(11:15):
plan was seeing how room service worked in the Hilton
and San Francisco with several rooms of supervisors who got promoter,
and saw one promoter after only three months being there,
and at a wait a minute, if they get promoted,
I can get promoted to room service supervisor and then
(11:35):
got back to Europe and having learned the language better,
having worked in different culture, learned the culture, and and
having been promoted. That will be my kickoff for my
career in Europe. When I got back, well, sure enough
a few months laters, and by the way, I knew
I was the best leader in the house. I had
(11:55):
worked in the finest hotels in Europe in the meantime,
truly in the finest I was. I had knowledge about
my profession. I didn't just deliver food. I had knowledge,
and I had one more in my room. Service manager
was German also, so I got the inn I will
(12:16):
be promoted, and then I could see it. I knew it.
I built everything around it. And then a few months later,
sure enough, while the supervisors was promoted out and another
way that not, I was promoted into the supervisors shop.
That was devastating to me. It was my whole thinking
(12:36):
was around it. It was devastating, and of course what do
we think then as a young man, I think that
was stupidity by management, outrageous and so on. It taught
me several months too slowly, and and I suffered. I
truly suffered through that. I took a few months to
(12:58):
admit the guy that got the promotion deserved it more.
I was very young, partying in the evening, being laid
in the morning. I wasn't only tired. You could see
from one hundred feet that I was tired as I
come to work and sometimes five minutes late. When my
manager asked me to do something related to my work,
(13:21):
I said, why me? Why not the other guys? And
there was an attitude of looking down at the guests.
They don't even know how to handle silver. And I
developed my thinking the elegance. Yes, there was a lot
of elegance. It was truly an elegant. The restaurant this
elegance without warmth and caring is arrogance. Elegance without warmth
(13:48):
is arrogance looking down at the guests. And of course
the restaurant and survive. The food was exceptional. The service
delivery was I was repelling rather than attracting. You don't
go out to eat. You have eaten a food near refrigeratory,
(14:11):
go out to feel good, to experience something excellent, and
when you take that away in your service delivery, you
kill it all. The gentleman who got promoted never did that.
He was in time, he was in a good moon
in the morning he said, yes, I'm happy to When
he was out something I had done, went back to
(14:31):
my little room. I had a little furnished room and
the worst district in San Francisco. But I went to
my little room and talked to my Madre d who
had passed away in the meantime. But I had a
serious conversation with him and apologized. I went to work,
to work, not to be excellent I had. I had
(14:54):
drifted away in the situation on the situation and young
mustam it would never happen again. I absolutely made a
commitment there from now on, I will never go to
work for anything less but create excellence of what I'm doing.
I met that solemn commitment there and kept on working
(15:18):
and I got my promotion. I worked in a private
club and then joined Hilton again as a catering manager,
became assistant Food and Barassed director, became Food and Barashed
director over two hotels, always working having in mind excellence
(15:40):
of what I'm doing. Truly was committed. But ever I'm
doing and do it, will try and do it better
than anybody else, for myself, for my maj d. And
it was fulfilling. It's much more fulfilling than just going
to work. That was always there doing right and Dana
(16:03):
sjoined hired as a Food and Bears director in Chicago
in the Number one hotel. Was promoted two years later
to room's manager, and a year later was promoted channel
manager in Pittsburgh. As soon as I took the job,
people called me and said, oh my goodness, Pittsburgh, you
(16:25):
must be kidding me. It's the worst place to work
because there as a union that is truly you cannot
work with, so what I can work. I have a
thick skin. I can work with a union.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
And you've been listening to Horace Schultzy tell a heck
of a story about his own life and particularly the
impact that this one man, call this matre d had
on it. And that is the standard of excellence which
he was to try his best to carry through his life.
As he said, it's much more satisfying to go to
work when you're thinking about excellence. And there's also a
(17:01):
terrific story about being passed over, and he realized ultimately
that he was passed over for good reason. The person
chosen was more qualified than him, he was better than him.
Rather than lash out at management and quit, he looked
within and found out the source of the problem, which
was himself. And then back to that excellent standard which
(17:23):
again would drive his life.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
When we come back more of.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Horse Schultz's life story, the co founder of the Rich Carlton.
Here on our American stories, and we continue with our
(18:09):
American stories and with Horst Cholsey's story, and he's the
co founder of the Rich Carlton. Let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
There was the classical thing was the first day at work.
I was sitting in my office for the first time,
and general manager of a hotel, and I'm sitting on
my on my chair with the secretary. Comes wrong and
the union is coming, so let him come come in
(18:41):
and here to come with six people, five of them
sit in chairs facing me around one of them and
all that gentleman who incidentally had no hair, no hair, brows, nothing,
and talked like a character in a movie. Well yeah,
so so he turned it, put his back to me,
(19:05):
and he said to ask him him? Was me? Ask
him if he ever saw car blown up? That was
his introduction. And I said car blow up? No, And
he half turned around to me and said, I meant
with somebody in it. There was a warning to me.
(19:25):
That was the first introduction by a union to me,
absolutely unbelievable. I was stunned, of course, And he said
what does that all mean? And they left if they
after give me several warnings to treat our people properly,
(19:46):
treat our people properly, and I can't unsend them. My
people do. The hour says that treat and angry look
at me angry. Obviously it was clear they wanted to
intimidate me from their one and uh and this went
on and and by the way that union bossed the
baldy the c he called others that are had to
(20:09):
have baldy at none. So this kind of funny thing.
He showed up every day at one o'clock, every single day,
five days a week. He showed up in the office
in a pool of secretaries, and he screamed, way is
the and there's some bad words, which was me looking
for me every day. He knew where my office is,
(20:31):
but he came in the script that way is the
and he'd like to use the bad words and done.
He met with me and up separated me about anything
that happened potentially And at that lasted several months when
one day and became I and we started. I started
(20:52):
in June. It was in November that he didn't show up,
and so I I w what's happening? I wa did
always at one o'clock. I knew it would be there,
and I didn't want to have a bigger scene than
there was already. Every day he didn't show up, so
I ran to the union hall, which was eight blocks away.
I ran there and walked then and frankly, I said
(21:15):
the same thing that. They said where are they? And
I used the sand birds and he said you can't
go in there. I said, but where are they in
an executive conference? And I said, like heck, I can't
go in there. And I woke woke in the door
and said, where there are you? I was waiting for you.
(21:37):
We have a meeting and you don't show up. What's
the matter with you? You can't be in here? And said like, heck,
I can be. We have a meeting. You didn't show up.
You and I want to if we have our meeting.
This and this happened. They said we'll talk and finally
the said we'll talk about tomorrow. And I left and
(21:59):
a couple of years a little bit left. By that
time I got a naught and well one of the
people in there that was in the room said, when
you left, we said, the SB likes it because they
want me to be intimidated. Now they realized he is
enjoying it. We may we have to have a different approach,
(22:20):
and and the relationship became very good. Their starter respect.
We had became in the meantime a very busy hotel.
It was a terrible hotel before. We were very busy,
highly highly rated, the highest rated in Pittsburgh, highly respected.
The employees were happy, they made money. Suddenly we hired
more people. And it was leadership that created this environment.
(22:45):
If every employee understands the vision of the company, and
every understand employee understands the motive of that vision, and
every body everybody understands how their individual motives connects to
the mode of the organization with other us, the vision
is truly good for all concerned. And if you said
(23:08):
the vision has an organization, you have to organize. Is
this good for all concerns? Is it good for the investor?
Of course, If it's good for the customer, it has
to be. Is it good for the employee it must be?
And is it good for society as a whole? And
if the answer is here, done, asks yourself what God approve?
(23:29):
And if everything is yes, then you know you're doing
the right thing. In fact, from there on all your
decisions are easy. Only done. Can that vision be a
real vision for the organization? But then you have to
let everybody know. And if everybody knows and everybody knows
the expectation of the customer, now you have an aligned workforce.
(23:51):
Otherwise it's on your rhetoric. We're talking about empowerment, and
nobody's empowered. If you tell an employee here is what
is wrong, and I want to have some response to that.
They say, I call a manager and not empowered to
make a decision. We empowered our employees to make a
(24:12):
decision up to two thousand dollars any time, and I
would not question them. And of course when I introduced that,
it was like letting go a nuclear bomb. You mean
you want then passboy to give away two thousand dollars. No,
(24:33):
I want a passboy to keep the customer. And it
is of extreme importance because to understand, there are three
times of customers. There is the loyal customer, there is
the satisfied customer, and there's the dissatisfied customer. The loyal
(24:55):
customer is your ambassador. The dissatisfied is a terrorist against
your company. Now what am I willing to do to
change a terrorist to an ambassador. I cannot do that.
The employee who faces the customer can do that. And
(25:16):
if the customer has a complaint, we should move heaven
and earth to keep that customer anyway. And in the
case of a bass as an example, if the guest
comes in the morning for breakfast and the buss boy said,
good morning, sir. I hope you have a night stay
with us, and the guest said, no, I didn't, my
(25:37):
TV didn't work. In that moment, the boss per owns
the TV, and that moment the bassa should look at
I am said, I feel embarrassed. I'm so sorry. Please
forgive me. I feel so bad. I will buy a
breakfast this morning. Guess what you just created a loyal
guest in that guest is embarrassed. The even complaint the
(25:59):
bass boy is by wow, what kind of an organization
is this? I trust this organization, and loyalty is nothing
but trust. See you want to critiny brum, but it
guess trusts you. That's why they deal with you. After
they trust you, why should they deal with somebody else.
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And you've been listening to the co founder of the Fitz,
Carlton or Chelsea, tell a heck of a story about
vision and motive in an organization. Is the vision good
for the investor? Is it good for the customer.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
The employee, and society? And would God approve?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Horst asked if the answer to all of those questions
is a yes, you're on your way.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
And then it's all.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
About execution on the expectations of the customer. That idea
of giving two thousand dollars to employees to spend on
behalf of the customer, to keep that customer, to keep
that customer loyal, so powerful. And by the way, I
love what Horse said about customers kind. There's a loyal
customer who's an ambassador, the satisfied customer, and the dissatisfied
(27:06):
customer whom Horse called a terrorist against the company. The
story of Horse Chulzy, the story of the Rich Carlton,
and so much more here on our American stories. And
(27:37):
we continue with our American stories and the story of
Horse Chulzy and the story of the Rich Carlton. Let's
pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I actually had met the standing in a focus group
using a word on a list, and I want to
know what do they feel when they always say I
want to feel at home in the hotel. I don't
know what that means. And this analyst came back and said, Gee,
they don't want to feel at home. They want to
feel like in their subconscious memory they remember their mother's home.
(28:14):
I said, wow, when we said what is this? Well,
in the mother's home, everything was done for them. And
here's the key. That happened when something went wrong and
they went to their mom and said, Mom, Mom, there's
something terrible, Mom, there's something. What did? Mom said? Come here, Mom?
Tell him in the arm and said I'm here for you,
(28:37):
and said that's what they want. So we had to
empower our employees to say I'm here for you. So
the situation, I have a guest left their computer and
called and was very distraught, but he said, but I
have to take my I have to take my plan
(28:57):
and I'm flying to Hawaii right away. I needed you
can you have to see that it gets as fast
as possible there. The main target went and flew Manay
at that time the security all that wasn't there went
to there, but got the next flight and brought on
the computer, messaged them there as a computer and took
the next flight back. By the way, didn't spend the
(29:17):
vccasion there. Now, I thought, gosh, what I'm going to
do now? This was too much? How do I tell them?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Now?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
I tell everybody whatever it takes, keep the customer. I'm
going to tell them. Now, that was going too far.
Well in the meantime, that was spread and created so
much PR. It was worth millions of dollars of PR
at the time. So I didn't say anything. But frankly
I really cringed when I heard that one, you know,
(29:45):
said Wow, maybe I went too far.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
But love your neighbor, Why don't you want to make
it is your customers, not your neighbor. Why not serve
them in a way where where you instill well being
in them, not just give them a product or whatever.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I like to read Two People in Hospitality, the letter
that Saint Benedict wrote to his monasteries as to how
to treat a customer a guesst that arrives. He wrote
that if a guest arrives, treat them as if it
was Jesus himself, and said by bow and bow down,
(30:25):
and maybe prosted in front of him, and petle to
all her attention, and join him for dinner. If if
he's by himself it was here at the time, mentor
traveled by himself of coause it was in year five
hundred and even the abbe should join for dinner. Even
if the Abbe is on a fast he should pray
(30:45):
it and be with that guest, because treat it as
Jesus himself. Now, how close do we come to that
type of service? It doesn't matter. It doesn't have to
be a hotel. It can be a shoe store. When
they walk in there, your customers, to your guests, Now,
how do you treat them? People? When I walked out
(31:05):
the day when I left Ritz Carlton, my wife picked
me up and children, we got the glass files. We
said good bye, and in the elevator, I said, ah,
I didn't cry. And as I walked down all the
employees from downtown to hotel, and here were lining my
way from the elevator and obviously all the way to
(31:27):
my car. And there I see people that started as
dishwashers who went out department heads. I see people that
were successful who were crying. And I was crying, and
and I saw, for example, I saw eb who came
(31:47):
in as a refugee from their roby working as a dishwasher,
and it was I saw them in orientation. But soon
later I walked by the dish washing air and I've
forgotten who that wasn't There was this one kid who said,
very friendly hello, good morning, sir, how are you today?
(32:07):
And remember, notice that he's very clean. It's a very
dirty chop leave me steam and dirty, but he looked very,
very clean. He worked behind the dishwasher. So I didn't
give it much other thought. But a couple of days later,
as I walk by again again, sir, good morning, how
are you today? And now look is this refugee He
(32:31):
was staying front dishwak could see even his shoes were shining.
After wait a minute, and I said to the to
the head of the department, this kid, is he working
at all? I mean, he's always clean. He is not
working right away my suspicion, I guess that's my German
cynicism that came through. He said, he's so clean, he
(32:52):
can't be working. He said, Miss Schulze, you're wrong. He's
the hardest work I have. But he's so proud. He
changes a couple of times a day. He's a proud
young man. He works unbelievably hard. Whoa yeah, pretty sooner,
come go through the air again and he's working room
service as a Veda. The rooms miniager asked for him
because he was exceptionally became a veder. A few months
(33:15):
later he worked as a captain in banquet and everybody
wanted him. And he is now by the way manager
in a marriote. Over here in the neighborhood was longtime
hotel manager in the Reds Colon downtown. See this man
create excellence in what he was doing and he gets
the reward. Everybody gets the reward. The reward is going
(33:37):
to come sooner or later. And here's this dishwasher who
became a hotel manager, a little refugee from their roby,
and he realized, I defined myself as excellent, and you
get the rewards. Rewards always come with that. Now this
(33:57):
is all decisions. I always tell him my speed. I'm
in love with my wife after forty one years. I
don't only love her, I'm in love with her. I
finally made that decision about twenty years ago to stay
in love and be in love. No, I have to
(34:21):
work on that isn't amazing. How hard to be worked
to make our our business is successful. We do everything
everything we do, how hard to we work? And the
most important thing in our life and the only union
and this earth that is God ordained, And we should
(34:44):
make the decision to work on that very hard and
make it exceptional too. It's a decision. And then I
have friends that say, we're getting divorced because we don't
feel like it anymore. You must be kidding me as
to who is in charge here, You and your decision
or some feeling that comes somehow enters the room out
(35:05):
of nowhere. You control your feeling. It's a decision. It's
truly up to you. I I don't think I I'm
in In fact, I know I. I wouldn't have had
that opportunity if it would have been Germany. In Germany,
they would have asked what college did you go to?
(35:28):
And y? And what who is your family? If you will.
Nobody asked that in America. They asked in America said
what are you producing? In America? That is That is
the create difference is it's truly up to you. That's
why it gets so annoyed when people blame other things.
(35:49):
In this country, it's up to you create excellence and
you will get the rewards. And that is not true
in other countries. And that's why this is the land
of opportunity, and it is so angering me when Americans
say we don't have everybody everybody has everybody, and we
(36:16):
still sometimes plame others. For middle maggot, there's only one
person to plan and that and I can introduce you
to him. Go in the wash from look in the
mirror and you will see him. Period. Of course there's
circumstances of illness and so on. Of course we know
at all, we know that those are the circumstances that happen.
(36:37):
But as a generality we always blame society. We blame
the presitive, we blame the mayor, we plame this, we plam.
Stop blaming is not it's not necessary. It's wrong in
this country because this country gives you the opportunity that
you want. Period.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to Horace Chelsey for
sharing his story.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
He's the co founder of the Ritz Carlton.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
His book Excellence Wins, a no nonsense guide to becoming
the best in a world of compromise and in the end,
it all gets down to excellence and a commitment to
keep the customer and serve the customer. And his Christian walk,
no doubt, well no doubt, helped him in that endeavor.
That great Saint Benedict Lyne, that horse quotes, if a
(37:31):
guest arrives, treat him as if Jesus himself arrived. And
then there was that story of that refugee from a
Nairobi who started as a dishwasher and ended up becoming
a hotel manager at the Ritz Carlton and then later
a local Marriott. And only he said, is that possible
in the United States, that kind of movement where family
(37:54):
ties don't matter, where wealth and class and education don't matter.
Were excellence matters and competency matters. The story of Horse Schultze,
the story of the rich Carlton in the end, the
story of the American dream. Here on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
And to search for the Our American Stories podcast, go
to the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts. A legend and leader in the hotel world,
(00:30):
Horse Schultze has reshaped house service and hospitality are defined
in business standards that have become world famous. Throughout the years,
he worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation
before becoming one of the founding members of the luxury
hotel chain The Rich Carlton in nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Here's Horst with his story.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I was born thirty nine when the war started in Germany,
small village, and my father soon afterwards was drafted and
was in the war. I my my mother, in fact,
was an extreme opposition to what was going on from
the beginning, from before Hitler came in. In fact, when
(01:17):
they tried to hit assassinate Hitler, the message came in
the radio that Hitler was dead, that Hitler was assassinated,
which was a signal for others to take over. For
the that was involved in the plot to take over
my mother happened to be in a crocery store, and
and the the owner Crosser's store, screamed, aw they they
just killed h Hitler. And and my mother said emotionally,
(01:43):
thank God finally, but the next DAYE was arrested before
that reason, and and and probably would have been a
serious ending if her uncle wasn't a committed Nazi who
helped to get out of it. So that was the
the life. Even in the village. The village is a
small village. There is no hotel. I want to emphasize
(02:06):
that in the village there was none. In fact, I
never was in a hotel. I never was in a
restaurant before. But when I was eleven years old, I
told my parents I would like to work in the
hotel business. And they said, well, okay, because it didn't
take it serious. But I was possessed with it for
some reason. We don't know why. Nobody knows why. I
(02:31):
must have read something. I mean, that's what we assume.
That was not a good thing to do at the time.
In a small village in Termany. You you went into
technical chops. If it would have been an engineer, now
that was the ultimate honor at the time. Or a
doctor or something like that, of course, but nearly equally
if you were a carpenter or anything that handwork, hand
(02:55):
craft work. And I said hotel business. Grandfather asked me,
don't tell anybody. It was embarrassed. It became it became
the discussion in the class what you're going to do?
So and it's just when you when you come close
to fourteen, that's a discussion in Germany because you go
(03:15):
done in two directions. Either you learn a trade and
go to that trade school at the same time, or
you go into higher education. And so they asked around
teachers of what are you gonna do that? And they said,
you know, I'm going to go trade? What are you
going to do? Hotel business?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
While I can work as a coconuvador? Now that was
funny to everybody. The class was screaming, laughing, And when
they went home told their parents obviously, why is it gone?
That was funny? And uh and I and that day gone,
I happen to play in the streets for him to
play soccer was a little bit late coming home. But
(03:54):
when the time came home, the neighbors already had a
run to my mother. But you know what he said
in school, something very terrible. So that was something really terrible,
you know. Slowly my parents started to inquire and found
there is a way to go to a boarding school
(04:15):
in about one hundred kilometers away, a hotel boarding school
and done you get placed into hotels from there, and
that's what they did and found done the best hotel
in the region. After that to work as an apprentice,
which meant busboy. And also it was one hundred kalambas
(04:37):
in the other directions. So I left when I home
when I was fourteen. The beginning, you wash dishes, you
cleaned the ash ashtix was the only thing you were
allowed to clean or do in the restaurant in the beginning,
in the very beginning, and done, and finally and wash dishes,
wash glasses and sort thing. I'll come in the morning
before the breakfast, cleaned, the room, cleaned after breakfast, clean
(05:01):
before lunch, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, it's nearly
all amount of cleaning all day long. And in fact,
it was kind of funny when in the very beginning,
the first few days there the madri d who was
an exception gentleman. His never was Kyl's Seidler Kyl was
(05:22):
an exceptional gentleman, truly exceptional young being that you running
run across once in a while. And he told us
there were others that started at the same time. And
we lived in a dorm in a dorm room in
the hotel, and he told us, now, from now on,
when you come to work, don't just come to work.
Come to work to be excellent in what you're doing. Excellent.
(05:47):
That went over my head, obviously at fourteen, excellent. And
what I'm doing excellent and cleaning ash trees and alan
washing dishes and glasses and cleaning floors and so on,
while yeare do it, that's excellent that I can I
didn't get the gist of what he's saying. In fact,
the funny thing is he used the word excellent, which
(06:08):
is really not a chrum word. He used that word
all the time. He used trumpbord stool, but used that
word excellence. And in fact, sometimes when he passed you,
he looked in ias excellence. He kept reminding you and
selling us on doing better. And that went over my head.
But slowly I grasped his thinking because not because of
(06:34):
what he said, because how he lived.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And you've been listening to Horace Chelsea tell a heck
of his story. When he was eleven years old, he
told his parents he wanted to work in the hotel business.
And that wasn't exactly a respectable idea in Germany at
the time. An engineer, a doctor, a carpenter, those were
respectable professions. Where did he figure out that he wanted
(06:58):
to be in the hotel business? He didn't know why,
but at the age of fourteen, hotel boarding school. Then
within a one hundred mile radius found work at a
fine hotel where all he did was clean. And then
came that Matrede carl who taught him a word that
would define his life, the word excellence. When we come back,
(07:20):
more of Horse Schultz's story and the story of the
rich Carlton here.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
On our American Stories.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Here at our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories from a
great and beautiful country that need to be told. But
we can't do it without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love our stories in America like we do, please
go to our American Stories dot com and click the
(07:51):
donate button, give a little, give a lot, help us
keep the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories
dot com. And we continue with our American stories. We
(08:12):
last left off with Horse Schultzi, founder of the Rich
Carlton Hotels, talking about a man named Carl who changed
his fourteen year old life forever. Carl was the matre
d at the luxury hotel. Young Horst was serving out
his apprenticeship with as a busboy. Carl kept using that
word excellence to define Horst's work ethic, an English word
(08:36):
that stood out considering they only spoke German.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Here again is Horst.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
What it did? He was a human being of excellent
everything he did, and he would have never ended a
restaurant without looking absolutely perfect and working in tails at
a time, totally perfect perfection and everything he did. So
you got a sense of what they meant with excellence.
(09:04):
And I got hit that night, very very It was
like a revelation. That night. I worked in the corner
and I felt the melody coming into the room. I
mean that you could feel it when he entered the room.
She just knew it. He had the presence penetrated. And
I turned around and he just approached the table and
(09:28):
I saw something that or recognized something that I had
seen before, but it didn't really recognize, it didn't really
feel it. The guests on the table that they approached
were proud that he came to them. Wow. And now
I look at that moment, the medody, those final agends gentlemen,
(09:50):
and they were we were the finest hotel close to bond,
which was at the time the capital of West Germany,
and all the diplomat and so I came in that hotel,
came to that hotel. This was an exceptional place. But
I saw that these people very proud that he came
to the table, and I suddenly realized. Everybody in the
(10:12):
room things that Carl Zeidler is the most important person
in the room. Everybody respects him. And for the first
time my life, I realized that I can define myself.
I'm not defined by my but my job. But the
name of the job is by what is I define
(10:33):
myself how I execute my life or including my job
and my job to a great extent, because that's why
I spent my life, my time. I got the point
of excellence. I got it very strongly, even when I
jumped forward for a moment, because I believe it or not,
(10:54):
I can see my methody in front of me right now,
and that's why I tell the next story. Years later,
I'm working in San Francisco in the Hilton as a
room service leader. I had come a few months before
to the US with the intent of going back to
Europe within the next eighteen months or so. But my
(11:15):
plan was seeing how room service worked in the Hilton
and San Francisco with several rooms of supervisors who got promoter,
and saw one promoter after only three months being there,
and at a wait a minute, if they get promoted,
I can get promoted to room service supervisor and then
(11:35):
got back to Europe and having learned the language better,
having worked in different culture, learned the culture, and and
having been promoted. That will be my kickoff for my
career in Europe. When I got back, well, sure enough
a few months laters, and by the way, I knew
I was the best leader in the house. I had
(11:55):
worked in the finest hotels in Europe in the meantime,
truly in the finest I was. I had knowledge about
my profession. I didn't just deliver food. I had knowledge,
and I had one more in my room. Service manager
was German also, so I got the inn I will
(12:16):
be promoted, and then I could see it. I knew it.
I built everything around it. And then a few months later,
sure enough, while the supervisors was promoted out and another
way that not, I was promoted into the supervisors shop.
That was devastating to me. It was my whole thinking
(12:36):
was around it. It was devastating, and of course what do
we think then as a young man, I think that
was stupidity by management, outrageous and so on. It taught
me several months too slowly, and and I suffered. I
truly suffered through that. I took a few months to
(12:58):
admit the guy that got the promotion deserved it more.
I was very young, partying in the evening, being laid
in the morning. I wasn't only tired. You could see
from one hundred feet that I was tired as I
come to work and sometimes five minutes late. When my
manager asked me to do something related to my work,
(13:21):
I said, why me? Why not the other guys? And
there was an attitude of looking down at the guests.
They don't even know how to handle silver. And I
developed my thinking the elegance. Yes, there was a lot
of elegance. It was truly an elegant. The restaurant this
elegance without warmth and caring is arrogance. Elegance without warmth
(13:48):
is arrogance looking down at the guests. And of course
the restaurant and survive. The food was exceptional. The service
delivery was I was repelling rather than attracting. You don't
go out to eat. You have eaten a food near refrigeratory,
(14:11):
go out to feel good, to experience something excellent, and
when you take that away in your service delivery, you
kill it all. The gentleman who got promoted never did that.
He was in time, he was in a good moon
in the morning he said, yes, I'm happy to When
he was out something I had done, went back to
(14:31):
my little room. I had a little furnished room and
the worst district in San Francisco. But I went to
my little room and talked to my Madre d who
had passed away in the meantime. But I had a
serious conversation with him and apologized. I went to work,
to work, not to be excellent I had. I had
(14:54):
drifted away in the situation on the situation and young
mustam it would never happen again. I absolutely made a
commitment there from now on, I will never go to
work for anything less but create excellence of what I'm doing.
I met that solemn commitment there and kept on working
(15:18):
and I got my promotion. I worked in a private
club and then joined Hilton again as a catering manager,
became assistant Food and Barassed director, became Food and Barashed
director over two hotels, always working having in mind excellence
(15:40):
of what I'm doing. Truly was committed. But ever I'm
doing and do it, will try and do it better
than anybody else, for myself, for my maj d. And
it was fulfilling. It's much more fulfilling than just going
to work. That was always there doing right and Dana
(16:03):
sjoined hired as a Food and Bears director in Chicago
in the Number one hotel. Was promoted two years later
to room's manager, and a year later was promoted channel
manager in Pittsburgh. As soon as I took the job,
people called me and said, oh my goodness, Pittsburgh, you
(16:25):
must be kidding me. It's the worst place to work
because there as a union that is truly you cannot
work with, so what I can work. I have a
thick skin. I can work with a union.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
And you've been listening to Horace Schultzy tell a heck
of a story about his own life and particularly the
impact that this one man, call this matre d had
on it. And that is the standard of excellence which
he was to try his best to carry through his life.
As he said, it's much more satisfying to go to
work when you're thinking about excellence. And there's also a
(17:01):
terrific story about being passed over, and he realized ultimately
that he was passed over for good reason. The person
chosen was more qualified than him, he was better than him.
Rather than lash out at management and quit, he looked
within and found out the source of the problem, which
was himself. And then back to that excellent standard which
(17:23):
again would drive his life.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
When we come back more of.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Horse Schultz's life story, the co founder of the Rich Carlton.
Here on our American stories, and we continue with our
(18:09):
American stories and with Horst Cholsey's story, and he's the
co founder of the Rich Carlton. Let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
There was the classical thing was the first day at work.
I was sitting in my office for the first time,
and general manager of a hotel, and I'm sitting on
my on my chair with the secretary. Comes wrong and
the union is coming, so let him come come in
(18:41):
and here to come with six people, five of them
sit in chairs facing me around one of them and
all that gentleman who incidentally had no hair, no hair, brows, nothing,
and talked like a character in a movie. Well yeah,
so so he turned it, put his back to me,
(19:05):
and he said to ask him him? Was me? Ask
him if he ever saw car blown up? That was
his introduction. And I said car blow up? No, And
he half turned around to me and said, I meant
with somebody in it. There was a warning to me.
(19:25):
That was the first introduction by a union to me,
absolutely unbelievable. I was stunned, of course, And he said
what does that all mean? And they left if they
after give me several warnings to treat our people properly,
(19:46):
treat our people properly, and I can't unsend them. My
people do. The hour says that treat and angry look
at me angry. Obviously it was clear they wanted to
intimidate me from their one and uh and this went
on and and by the way that union bossed the
baldy the c he called others that are had to
(20:09):
have baldy at none. So this kind of funny thing.
He showed up every day at one o'clock, every single day,
five days a week. He showed up in the office
in a pool of secretaries, and he screamed, way is
the and there's some bad words, which was me looking
for me every day. He knew where my office is,
(20:31):
but he came in the script that way is the
and he'd like to use the bad words and done.
He met with me and up separated me about anything
that happened potentially And at that lasted several months when
one day and became I and we started. I started
(20:52):
in June. It was in November that he didn't show up,
and so I I w what's happening? I wa did
always at one o'clock. I knew it would be there,
and I didn't want to have a bigger scene than
there was already. Every day he didn't show up, so
I ran to the union hall, which was eight blocks away.
I ran there and walked then and frankly, I said
(21:15):
the same thing that. They said where are they? And
I used the sand birds and he said you can't
go in there. I said, but where are they in
an executive conference? And I said, like heck, I can't
go in there. And I woke woke in the door
and said, where there are you? I was waiting for you.
(21:37):
We have a meeting and you don't show up. What's
the matter with you? You can't be in here? And said like, heck,
I can be. We have a meeting. You didn't show up.
You and I want to if we have our meeting.
This and this happened. They said we'll talk and finally
the said we'll talk about tomorrow. And I left and
(21:59):
a couple of years a little bit left. By that
time I got a naught and well one of the
people in there that was in the room said, when
you left, we said, the SB likes it because they
want me to be intimidated. Now they realized he is
enjoying it. We may we have to have a different approach,
(22:20):
and and the relationship became very good. Their starter respect.
We had became in the meantime a very busy hotel.
It was a terrible hotel before. We were very busy,
highly highly rated, the highest rated in Pittsburgh, highly respected.
The employees were happy, they made money. Suddenly we hired
more people. And it was leadership that created this environment.
(22:45):
If every employee understands the vision of the company, and
every understand employee understands the motive of that vision, and
every body everybody understands how their individual motives connects to
the mode of the organization with other us, the vision
is truly good for all concerned. And if you said
(23:08):
the vision has an organization, you have to organize. Is
this good for all concerns? Is it good for the investor?
Of course, If it's good for the customer, it has
to be. Is it good for the employee it must be?
And is it good for society as a whole? And
if the answer is here, done, asks yourself what God approve?
(23:29):
And if everything is yes, then you know you're doing
the right thing. In fact, from there on all your
decisions are easy. Only done. Can that vision be a
real vision for the organization? But then you have to
let everybody know. And if everybody knows and everybody knows
the expectation of the customer, now you have an aligned workforce.
(23:51):
Otherwise it's on your rhetoric. We're talking about empowerment, and
nobody's empowered. If you tell an employee here is what
is wrong, and I want to have some response to that.
They say, I call a manager and not empowered to
make a decision. We empowered our employees to make a
(24:12):
decision up to two thousand dollars any time, and I
would not question them. And of course when I introduced that,
it was like letting go a nuclear bomb. You mean
you want then passboy to give away two thousand dollars. No,
(24:33):
I want a passboy to keep the customer. And it
is of extreme importance because to understand, there are three
times of customers. There is the loyal customer, there is
the satisfied customer, and there's the dissatisfied customer. The loyal
(24:55):
customer is your ambassador. The dissatisfied is a terrorist against
your company. Now what am I willing to do to
change a terrorist to an ambassador. I cannot do that.
The employee who faces the customer can do that. And
(25:16):
if the customer has a complaint, we should move heaven
and earth to keep that customer anyway. And in the
case of a bass as an example, if the guest
comes in the morning for breakfast and the buss boy said,
good morning, sir. I hope you have a night stay
with us, and the guest said, no, I didn't, my
(25:37):
TV didn't work. In that moment, the boss per owns
the TV, and that moment the bassa should look at
I am said, I feel embarrassed. I'm so sorry. Please
forgive me. I feel so bad. I will buy a
breakfast this morning. Guess what you just created a loyal
guest in that guest is embarrassed. The even complaint the
(25:59):
bass boy is by wow, what kind of an organization
is this? I trust this organization, and loyalty is nothing
but trust. See you want to critiny brum, but it
guess trusts you. That's why they deal with you. After
they trust you, why should they deal with somebody else.
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And you've been listening to the co founder of the Fitz,
Carlton or Chelsea, tell a heck of a story about
vision and motive in an organization. Is the vision good
for the investor? Is it good for the customer.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
The employee, and society? And would God approve?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Horst asked if the answer to all of those questions
is a yes, you're on your way.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
And then it's all.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
About execution on the expectations of the customer. That idea
of giving two thousand dollars to employees to spend on
behalf of the customer, to keep that customer, to keep
that customer loyal, so powerful. And by the way, I
love what Horse said about customers kind. There's a loyal
customer who's an ambassador, the satisfied customer, and the dissatisfied
(27:06):
customer whom Horse called a terrorist against the company. The
story of Horse Chulzy, the story of the Rich Carlton,
and so much more here on our American stories. And
(27:37):
we continue with our American stories and the story of
Horse Chulzy and the story of the Rich Carlton. Let's
pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I actually had met the standing in a focus group
using a word on a list, and I want to
know what do they feel when they always say I
want to feel at home in the hotel. I don't
know what that means. And this analyst came back and said, Gee,
they don't want to feel at home. They want to
feel like in their subconscious memory they remember their mother's home.
(28:14):
I said, wow, when we said what is this? Well,
in the mother's home, everything was done for them. And
here's the key. That happened when something went wrong and
they went to their mom and said, Mom, Mom, there's
something terrible, Mom, there's something. What did? Mom said? Come here, Mom?
Tell him in the arm and said I'm here for you,
(28:37):
and said that's what they want. So we had to
empower our employees to say I'm here for you. So
the situation, I have a guest left their computer and
called and was very distraught, but he said, but I
have to take my I have to take my plan
(28:57):
and I'm flying to Hawaii right away. I needed you
can you have to see that it gets as fast
as possible there. The main target went and flew Manay
at that time the security all that wasn't there went
to there, but got the next flight and brought on
the computer, messaged them there as a computer and took
the next flight back. By the way, didn't spend the
(29:17):
vccasion there. Now, I thought, gosh, what I'm going to
do now? This was too much? How do I tell them?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Now?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
I tell everybody whatever it takes, keep the customer. I'm
going to tell them. Now, that was going too far.
Well in the meantime, that was spread and created so
much PR. It was worth millions of dollars of PR
at the time. So I didn't say anything. But frankly
I really cringed when I heard that one, you know,
(29:45):
said Wow, maybe I went too far.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
But love your neighbor, Why don't you want to make
it is your customers, not your neighbor. Why not serve
them in a way where where you instill well being
in them, not just give them a product or whatever.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I like to read Two People in Hospitality, the letter
that Saint Benedict wrote to his monasteries as to how
to treat a customer a guesst that arrives. He wrote
that if a guest arrives, treat them as if it
was Jesus himself, and said by bow and bow down,
(30:25):
and maybe prosted in front of him, and petle to
all her attention, and join him for dinner. If if
he's by himself it was here at the time, mentor
traveled by himself of coause it was in year five
hundred and even the abbe should join for dinner. Even
if the Abbe is on a fast he should pray
(30:45):
it and be with that guest, because treat it as
Jesus himself. Now, how close do we come to that
type of service? It doesn't matter. It doesn't have to
be a hotel. It can be a shoe store. When
they walk in there, your customers, to your guests, Now,
how do you treat them? People? When I walked out
(31:05):
the day when I left Ritz Carlton, my wife picked
me up and children, we got the glass files. We
said good bye, and in the elevator, I said, ah,
I didn't cry. And as I walked down all the
employees from downtown to hotel, and here were lining my
way from the elevator and obviously all the way to
(31:27):
my car. And there I see people that started as
dishwashers who went out department heads. I see people that
were successful who were crying. And I was crying, and
and I saw, for example, I saw eb who came
(31:47):
in as a refugee from their roby working as a dishwasher,
and it was I saw them in orientation. But soon
later I walked by the dish washing air and I've
forgotten who that wasn't There was this one kid who said,
very friendly hello, good morning, sir, how are you today?
(32:07):
And remember, notice that he's very clean. It's a very
dirty chop leave me steam and dirty, but he looked very,
very clean. He worked behind the dishwasher. So I didn't
give it much other thought. But a couple of days later,
as I walk by again again, sir, good morning, how
are you today? And now look is this refugee He
(32:31):
was staying front dishwak could see even his shoes were shining.
After wait a minute, and I said to the to
the head of the department, this kid, is he working
at all? I mean, he's always clean. He is not
working right away my suspicion, I guess that's my German
cynicism that came through. He said, he's so clean, he
(32:52):
can't be working. He said, Miss Schulze, you're wrong. He's
the hardest work I have. But he's so proud. He
changes a couple of times a day. He's a proud
young man. He works unbelievably hard. Whoa yeah, pretty sooner,
come go through the air again and he's working room
service as a Veda. The rooms miniager asked for him
because he was exceptionally became a veder. A few months
(33:15):
later he worked as a captain in banquet and everybody
wanted him. And he is now by the way manager
in a marriote. Over here in the neighborhood was longtime
hotel manager in the Reds Colon downtown. See this man
create excellence in what he was doing and he gets
the reward. Everybody gets the reward. The reward is going
(33:37):
to come sooner or later. And here's this dishwasher who
became a hotel manager, a little refugee from their roby,
and he realized, I defined myself as excellent, and you
get the rewards. Rewards always come with that. Now this
(33:57):
is all decisions. I always tell him my speed. I'm
in love with my wife after forty one years. I
don't only love her, I'm in love with her. I
finally made that decision about twenty years ago to stay
in love and be in love. No, I have to
(34:21):
work on that isn't amazing. How hard to be worked
to make our our business is successful. We do everything
everything we do, how hard to we work? And the
most important thing in our life and the only union
and this earth that is God ordained, And we should
(34:44):
make the decision to work on that very hard and
make it exceptional too. It's a decision. And then I
have friends that say, we're getting divorced because we don't
feel like it anymore. You must be kidding me as
to who is in charge here, You and your decision
or some feeling that comes somehow enters the room out
(35:05):
of nowhere. You control your feeling. It's a decision. It's
truly up to you. I I don't think I I'm
in In fact, I know I. I wouldn't have had
that opportunity if it would have been Germany. In Germany,
they would have asked what college did you go to?
(35:28):
And y? And what who is your family? If you will.
Nobody asked that in America. They asked in America said
what are you producing? In America? That is That is
the create difference is it's truly up to you. That's
why it gets so annoyed when people blame other things.
(35:49):
In this country, it's up to you create excellence and
you will get the rewards. And that is not true
in other countries. And that's why this is the land
of opportunity, and it is so angering me when Americans
say we don't have everybody everybody has everybody, and we
(36:16):
still sometimes plame others. For middle maggot, there's only one
person to plan and that and I can introduce you
to him. Go in the wash from look in the
mirror and you will see him. Period. Of course there's
circumstances of illness and so on. Of course we know
at all, we know that those are the circumstances that happen.
(36:37):
But as a generality we always blame society. We blame
the presitive, we blame the mayor, we plame this, we plam.
Stop blaming is not it's not necessary. It's wrong in
this country because this country gives you the opportunity that
you want. Period.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to Horace Chelsey for
sharing his story.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
He's the co founder of the Ritz Carlton.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
His book Excellence Wins, a no nonsense guide to becoming
the best in a world of compromise and in the end,
it all gets down to excellence and a commitment to
keep the customer and serve the customer. And his Christian walk,
no doubt, well no doubt, helped him in that endeavor.
That great Saint Benedict Lyne, that horse quotes, if a
(37:31):
guest arrives, treat him as if Jesus himself arrived. And
then there was that story of that refugee from a
Nairobi who started as a dishwasher and ended up becoming
a hotel manager at the Ritz Carlton and then later
a local Marriott. And only he said, is that possible
in the United States, that kind of movement where family
(37:54):
ties don't matter, where wealth and class and education don't matter.
Were excellence matters and competency matters. The story of Horse Schultze,
the story of the rich Carlton in the end, the
story of the American dream. Here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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