Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

statement for the hotel chain.
After reading it, I acknowledged, “That's an impressive statement. But I
know many companies that have impressive mission statements.”
“Do you want to see the one for this hotel?” he asked.
“Do you mean you developed one just for this hotel?”
“Yes.”
“Different from the one for the hotel chain?”
“Yes. It's in harmony with that statement, but this one pertains to our
situation, our environment, our time.” He handed me another paper.
“Who developed this mission statement?” I asked.
“Everybody,” he replied.
“Everybody? Really, everybody?”
“Yes.”
“Housekeepers?”
“Yes.”
“Waitresses?”
“Yes.”
“Desk clerks?”
“Yes. Do you want to see the mission statement written by the people who
greeted you last night?” He pulled out a mission statement that they, themselves,
had written that was interwoven with all the other mission statements. Everyone,
at every level, was involved.
The mission statement for that hotel was the hub of a great wheel. It spawned
the thoughtful, more specialized mission statements of particular groups of
employees. It was used as the criterion for every decision that was made. It
clarified what those people stood for -- how they related to the customer, how
they related to each other. It affected the style of the managers and the leaders. It
affected the compensation system. It affected the kind of people they recruited
and how they trained and developed them. Every aspect of that organization,
essentially, was a function of that hub, that mission statement.
I later visited another hotel in the same chain, and the first thing I did when I
checked in was to ask to see their mission statement, which they promptly gave
me. At this hotel, I came to understand the motto “Uncompromising
personalized service” a little more.
For a three-day period, I watched every conceivable situation where service
was called for. I always found that service was delivered in a very impressive,
excellent way. But it was always also very personalized. For instance, in the
swimming area I asked the attendant where the drinking fountain was. He
walked me to it.