Podcasts about ritz carlton hotel company

Host Jeremy C. Park talks with Dr. Joseph A. Michelli, an internationally sought-after speaker, bestselling author, and organizational consultant who highlights his new book, "All Business Is Personal: One Medical's Human-Centered, Technology-Powered Approach to Customer Engagement." The book currently is available for pre-purchase with a release date of May 13, 2025 by BenBella Books.Dr. Michelli is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. Some of his other books include "Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on ThrivingDuring the Toughest Challenges," "The Airbnb Way: 5 Leadership Lessons for Igniting Growth through Loyalty, Community, and Belonging," "Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way," "Leading The Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customer, Your Products, and Your People," and "The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company." During the interview, Dr. Michelli shares his background as a consultant, focusing on delivering greater experiences for team members and customers, and how his work with One Medical led to the book. He discusses the evolution of healthcare technology, highlighting the role of Dr. Tom Lee, founder of One Medical, in developing a technology that enabled same-day appointments and improved patient experience. He emphasizes the importance of balancing technology with human interaction to enhance customer experience and drive efficiencies, and shares some examples from the book that have broad applications for all businesses and industries. Joseph emphasizes the need for technology to empower humans and not replace them, and carries that into some of the key takeaways for readers. He concludes by stressing the importance of safeguarding the soul of a brand amidst technological advancements.Visit https://www.josephmichelli.com to follow Dr. Joseph Michelli and order "All Business Is Personal: One Medical's Human-Centered, Technology-Powered Approach to Customer Engagement" on Amazon or your preferred online or local bookstore.

The Suite Spot travels to the heart of Orlando, Florida, to visit the luxurious and one-of-a-kind property, Conrad Orlando!  This hotel and resort is unlike any other with its sensational amenities, lavish suites, breath taking beaches, and centralized lagoon right in the middle of the resort. General Manager at the property, Sean McCarron, joins the podcast to discuss the stellar guest experience offered to travelers, the Conrad brand, social media, and why this hotel is a must visit the next time you are in Orlando.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree and I hope you are watching us today on our YouTube channel because as you can tell, we are not in the Suite Spot podcast studio. We are instead at the beautiful Conrad Orlando here with me, Sean McCarron, general manager of the Conrad Orlando.Thank you so much for being with me today. Sean McCarron: It's a pleasure to be here and thank you for coming and seeing us today. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Thank you for hosting us at this incredible property. We're gonna talk all about it today. This is our Suite Spot Spotlight series showcasing some of the most unique hotels. This one certainly fits the bill. But before we get talking about the property, what I love talking about, this is your first time on the podcast, hospitality people come from all different places. Sometimes they're born into the industry, sometimes they're jumping from brands. Tell us about a little bit about your journey behind the scenes. Sean McCarron: Well, I've been in the business for over 30 years, believe it or not and all in luxury. So I went to hotel school out in Switzerland, and once I graduated from hotel school, I came out and went back to the States and started with the Ritz Carlton. So I was with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in various different areas and opening hotels for about six years. And then went to Four Seasons and spent about 16 years with the Four Seasons hotel company, opening other hotels and again, you know, variety of different locations. And then started with Hilton Luxury at the Waldorf Astoria here in Orlando about nine years ago, and been on this project for the last three here at the Conrad Orlando. Ryan Embree: Incredible. And that taste of luxury from different brands, I'm sure that certainly gave you a unique perspective as your journey led you here at the Conrad Orlando. Sean McCarron: Oh, it certainly did. You get different viewpoints from every location that you, that one works in from urban environment to a resort environment to, you know, Las Vegas I spent some time in as well. Opening hotels, all of it kind of lends to a broader experience in order to open this beautiful property. Ryan Embree: Let's talk about the Conrad brand, right. It's unique, known for its design and how it's built. For those that may not be familiar with the Conrad brand, what's the flavor? What makes it unique? Why do travelers love this brand? Sean McCarron: Their main pillars for the Conrad as a brand itself, one of them is bold design, as you had, as indicated. Experiences are also a big part of what we do from a Conrad brand perspective. This hotel is no different than any of our others. I think it's quite unique in the fact that a lot of the design element is based upon water. So lots of blues and refractive lighting, very contemporary feel throughout the resort. Lots of natural light, floor to ceiling windows from a design element. From an experiences element, I mean, you walked around this resort, there's a stunning lagoon right down the middle of it with beaches surrounding it and a lot of activations and a lot of activities from a resort perspective here in Orlando that make it very, very unique. Ryan Embree:

In this episode, Dr. Joseph Michelli discusses the art of service recovery, drawing from his insights in "The New Gold Standard" and the exemplary practices of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. He explains how effective recovery strategies can transform customer mishaps into opportunities for building loyalty and trust. Key tactics include swift acknowledgment and apology, empowering employees to act, maintaining transparency, and going beyond simple compensation to genuinely address customer needs. Michelli emphasizes service recovery is about turning each challenge into a chance to demonstrate the company's commitment to exceptional service. Listeners can obtain a detailed infographic based on this podcast from Joseph's website. Additionally, those wanting to speak to Joseph are encouraged to contact him directly. If you find value in this podcast, please like, rate, comment, share, or subscribe!

In this episode, Dr. Joseph Michelli discusses the principles of sustainable growth, drawing on his experiences with leading companies like The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Zappos. He emphasizes the importance of scaling wisely—not just quickly—by staying grounded in core values, investing in people, and meticulously planning for scalability. Dr. Michelli highlights how sustainable exceptional customer experiences drive growth and involve balancing expanding revenues and nurturing relationships. Listeners can obtain a detailed infographic based on this podcast from Joseph's website. Also, those wanting to speak to Joseph are encouraged to contact him directly. If you find value in this podcast, please like, rate, comment, share, or subscribe!

Jeannette is joined by Don Welsh, the CEO and President of Destinations International. They explore the evolution of the travel and tourism industry, discussing how Destinations International has expanded from a U.S.-centric organisation to serving over 760 destination organisations in 31 countries. Don shares insights into the challenges of cultural diversity in global business, the importance of collaboration within the tourism ecosystem, and the pressing issues of over-tourism and sustainability. He also reflects on his own career journey, emphasising the value of authenticity, the importance of aligning personal values with professional opportunities, and the necessity of embracing failure as a part of growth. KEY TAKEAWAYS The transition from a U.S.-centric organisation to one that operates in over 31 countries highlights the importance of understanding and adapting to diverse cultural needs and business practices. Building strong relationships within the industry is crucial. Collaborating with other organisations, such as the World Travel and Tourism Council, enhances the ability to address common challenges and share best practices. The need for alignment between destination organisations, local communities, and political leaders is essential for sustainable tourism. Engaging stakeholders in discussions about responsible tourism can help mitigate issues like over-tourism. The journey through various roles in the travel and hospitality industry emphasises the importance of being open to learning and adapting to new challenges, which can lead to personal and professional growth. BEST MOMENTS "The complexity of these jobs have never been greater... how you're going to convene a group of people to deal with maybe over tourism or responsible or sustainable tourism." "I think when you work with different cultures, you have a much higher sense of emotional intelligence because if you want to succeed in different parts of the world, you cannot go in and expect to do business in the way that we do in the U.S." "We believe in the point of collaboration... at the end of the day, our focus is 100% on how the destination can do the best in serving, whether it's a leisure guest, a meeting attendee, or whatever it may be." "It's OK to question yourself. It's OK to say, how did I come across in that meeting? How did I deal with a colleague?" "Let's not reinvent the wheel. Let's learn from each other and grow together." This is the perfect time to get focused on what YOU want to really achieve in your business, career, and life. It’s never too late to be BRAVE and BOLD and unlock your inner BRILLIANT. Visit our new website https://brave-bold-brilliant.com/ - there you'll find a library of FREE resources and downloadable guides and e-books to help you along your journey. If you’d like to jump on a free mentoring session just DM Jeannette at info@brave-bold-brilliant.com. VALUABLE RESOURCES Brave Bold Brilliant - https://brave-bold-brilliant.com/ Brave, Bold, Brilliant podcast series - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brave-bold-brilliant-podcast/id1524278970 ABOUT THE GUEST A seasoned tourism executive with more than 40 years of experience in the industry, Don Welsh has held positions with almost every sector within the travel and tourism industry. He currently serves as the President and CEO of Destinations International, the global trade association for convention and visitors bureaus and tourism boards. Prior to joining Destinations International, Welsh served as the President and CEO of Choose Chicago. Welsh also held the CEO position at the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association and the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau. Prior to joining the destination marketing industry, Welsh served as senior vice president for Westin Hotels at its corporate headquarters and has also held senior marketing and sales positions in the corporate offices for Westin Hotels and Resorts and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and also with the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. Welsh has served on various boards and committees during his career. He currently serves on the Event Industry Council Board of Directors. ABOUT THE HOST Jeannette Linfoot is a highly regarded senior executive, property investor, board advisor, and business mentor with over 30 years of global professional business experience across the travel, leisure, hospitality, and property sectors. Having bought, ran, and sold businesses all over the world, Jeannette now has a portfolio of her own businesses and also advises and mentors other business leaders to drive forward their strategies as well as their own personal development. Jeannette is a down-to-earth leader, a passionate champion for diversity & inclusion, and a huge advocate of nurturing talent so every person can unleash their full potential and live their dreams. CONTACT THE HOST Jeannette’s linktree - https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot https://www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com/ YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/@braveboldbrilliant LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeannettelinfoot Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jeannette.linfoot/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jeannette.linfoot/ Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brave.bold.brilliant Podcast Description Jeannette Linfoot talks to incredible people about their experiences of being Brave, Bold & Brilliant, which have allowed them to unleash their full potential in business, their careers, and life in general. From the boardroom tables of ‘big’ international businesses to the dining room tables of entrepreneurial start-ups, how to overcome challenges, embrace opportunities and take risks, whilst staying ‘true’ to yourself is the order of the day.Travel, Bold, Brilliant, business, growth, scale, marketing, investment, investing, entrepreneurship, coach, consultant, mindset, six figures, seven figures, travel, industry, ROI, B2B, inspirational: https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot

This week on the Sales Genius Podcast, Joe Ingram is thrilled to welcome Joseph Michelli, Ph.D., a world-renowned customer experience expert, New York Times #1 bestselling author, and Customer Experience Hall of Fame inductee. Joseph's work has shaped the service standards of some of the most admired brands in the world, including The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Mercedes-Benz, Starbucks, Zappos, and Airbnb. As a certified customer experience professional and a professor of service excellence, Joseph has dedicated his career to helping leaders and frontline teams elevate the experiences they deliver to both colleagues and customers. In this episode, titled "Mastering Customer Experience," Joseph will share his insights on creating memorable, loyalty-building interactions that can drive long-term business success. Whether you're a business owner, leader, or customer service professional, Joseph's expertise in leadership and human experience design will provide you with the tools you need to set a new standard of excellence. Explore Joseph Michelli's books on customer experience for more insights: https://amzn.to/3O5sCqh Connect with Joseph on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephmichelli/ #SalesGeniusPodcast #JoeIngram #JosephMichelli #CustomerExperience #ServiceExcellence #CustomerLoyalty #Leadership #HumanExperienceDesign #CXStrategy #BestsellingAuthor

Welcome to the Arete Coach Podcast, hosted by Severin Sorensen. In this episode, recorded via Zoom on October 22nd, 2024, we are joined by Becky Tolnay, a Vistage Chair and Professional Facilitator based in Tallahassee, Florida. This episode is titled, "From Five-Star Service to Executive Excellence: A Vistage Chair's Quality-Driven Leadership Journey." With over 30 years of experience in performance improvement, primarily from her distinguished career at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Becky Tolnay brings deep insights into fostering customer-centric culture and driving continuous improvement within teams. As a certified professional facilitator through the International Association of Facilitators, she has mastered core facilitation competencies that enhance her ability to guide and develop business leaders. Throughout the conversation, Tolnay shares her remarkable journey from starting as an accounts receivable clerk at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead to becoming an Area Director of Performance Improvement and Quality. Her career trajectory was shaped by a pivotal moment when she accepted a role as Director of Quality in 1994, despite initial hesitations about public speaking. This "happy accident," as she calls it, led to a transformative career in quality management and facilitation. After 25 years with Ritz Carlton, Tolnay established Tolnay Team Solutions and became a Vistage Chair, where she creates confident environments for business leaders to gain diverse perspectives and accelerate their growth. Her unique approach to group facilitation, influenced by her extensive background in quality management at Ritz Carlton, demonstrates how excellence in hospitality principles can enhance executive coaching and peer advisory group management. The episode reveals powerful insights about the intersection of quality management and executive coaching. Tolnay's approach to group facilitation, shaped by her Ritz Carlton experience, emphasizes the importance of creating intentional cultures through clearly defined values and consistent reinforcement. Her implementation of core values - integrity, communication, commitment, growth mindset, courage, creativity, effectiveness, and relationships - provides a framework for building high-performing peer advisory groups. A significant takeaway is Tolnay's emphasis on observation and diagnosis before action. Drawing from her father's veterinary practice and her quality management background, she demonstrates how careful observation and thoughtful questioning lead to better problem-solving outcomes. This approach challenges the common tendency among executives to jump to conclusions based on past experiences, instead encouraging deeper exploration and understanding. The episode also highlights the importance of creating systematic approaches to excellence while maintaining flexibility and authenticity. Tolnay's implementation of the "Best B" recognition system and her method of anchoring group values at the beginning and end of meetings shows how simple yet consistent practices can reinforce desired behaviors and create lasting cultural change. This systematic approach to group dynamics, combined with genuine care for individual growth, exemplifies the balance between structure and humanity in effective executive coaching. The Arete Coach Podcast seeks to explore the art and science of executive coaching. You can find out more about this podcast at aretecoach.io. This episode was recorded via Zoom on October 22nd, 2024. Copyright © 2024 by Arete Coach™ LLC. All rights reserved.

Hospitality is one of the most powerful differentiators that an organization possesses, but it can be challenging to create and sustain it across an entire culture. In this episode, cofounder and former president of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Horst Schulze, shares hospitality insights from a legendary career with GLN President and CEO, David Ashcraft. If you're a leader who is interested in creating a culture of excellence and customer-focused hospitality, we invite you listen in to this rich conversation!   

This is part of our series with Horst Schulze - listen to our other episodes here. In this episode, Horst Schulze, co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, shares his insights on the changing face of luxury, the critical importance of individualization, and why the art of welcoming guests is more crucial than ever in our world today.Listeners will learn:How luxury has changed (01:05)How guest expectations have changed (02:32)What constitutes a good welcome (03:34)The true meaning of hospitality (04:45)New to Hospitality Daily? Start here. Want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day? Subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

In this episode, Horst Schulze, co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, shares the story behind the iconic phrase "Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen" and how it can transform your approach to hiring, training, and creating a purposeful work environment.Listeners will learn:How Horst developed the concept of "Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen" at just 16 years old (01:00)Why the phrase resonates so deeply in the hospitality industry and the importance of respecting and honoring people (02:58)The significance of defining oneself as a professional in the profession of service, rather than a servant (04:36)The importance of selecting the right people and treating them as human beings with feelings and thoughts, inviting them to join a common purpose (06:39)The difference between a mission statement and a true purpose, and why organizations should focus on the latter (08:04)This is part of our series with Horst Schulze - listen to our other episodes here. New to Hospitality Daily? Start here. Want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day? Subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

In this episode, Horst Schulze, the legendary co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Capella Hotels and Resorts, shares his wisdom about excellence in hospitality, leadership, and life.Listeners will learn:The importance of starting with intent, vision, and purpose (01:03)How actions follow intent and the consequences of being purposeless (01:24)The necessity for leaders to question if their intent is of value for all concerned (02:39)The process of creating a compelling vision that people want to join (03:14)The role of dreaming in defining excellence and ultimate aspirations (04:38)How personal decisions and actions define oneself (05:41) New to Hospitality Daily? Start here. Want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day? Subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

In this episode, I share what it was like meeting Horst Schulze, the co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Capella Hotels and Resorts - both of which reached #1 in the world. New to Hospitality Daily? Start here. Want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day? Subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

In this episode, Micah Solomon, a customer service expert and author, shares his insights on creating memorable customer experiences and elevating businesses to the highest level of customer service.Listeners will learn:The three levels of customer service and why businesses should aim for the top level (01:01)How Micah conducts idiosyncratic mystery shopping to assess a company's customer service (02:15)The importance of using appropriate language, greeting customers promptly, and handling complaints without getting defensive (03:07)Micah's background in running a successful manufacturing company and co-authoring a book with a Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company representative (03:57)How Micah's childhood experiences and attention to detail led him to his current profession (05:02)The applicability of customer service principles across various industries, as they are rooted in understanding human nature (06:31)New to Hospitality Daily? Start here. Want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day? Subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.Music by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Ritz Carlton is not just a brand.   It's a brand that sets the bar for customer experience. It was an incredible honor to host one of the icons in customer experience, Horst Schulze, the co-founder and former president of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. We talk about his new book, Excellence Wins, and he shares insights that transcend the hospitality industry.

#165: Horst Schulze is the Co-Founder of the Ritz Carlton & Founder of the Capella Hotel Group. He is also author of the book "Excellence Wins",  a no nonsense guide to becoming the best in a world of compromise. He is a legend and leader in the hotel world and his teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries.During his tenure at The Ritz Carlton, Mr. Schulze served as President and COO responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award — twice.Today he actively speaks and consults across all industries. His leadership content can be purchased and viewed at NeedToLead.com where the content can be licensed for a larger audience. In the show we get to hear his story of growing up in German, getting into the hotel industry, hard work, excellence is a result of high intent, success, purpose, vision, service, marriage, faith, and much more!Enjoy the show!Ways to engage with Horst Schulze:Website: HorstSchulze.comAll social media platformsBook: Excellence Winshttps://www.amazon.com/Excellence-Wins-No-Nonsense-Becoming-Compromise/dp/0310352096Leadership content: NeedToLead.com

Today, on the Lead with Heart podcast, we are discussing authentic leadership with my guest Joshua Berry, author of "Dare to Be Naive: How to Find Your True Self in a Noisy World." In this episode, Joshua shares his journey from international business to entrepreneurship, offering insights gained from working with organizations like the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and Mercedes Benz. Discover how Joshua's experiences shaped his understanding of leadership and culture, and learn practical strategies for nurturing a values-driven workplace. Whether you're a seasoned leader or an aspiring entrepreneur, this conversation is packed with actionable tips to unlock your true leadership potential and lead with authenticity. In this episode:[01:06] Joshua's background and what led him to co-found his company, Econic[05:00] Buy-in and belonging of your company's core values[12:11] The “Six Thinking Hats” Approach to inclusive and thoughtful meetings[17:48] Overcoming limiting beliefs and building confidence in leadership[23:06] Intentional leadership and rediscovering one's true self[38:26] Heart-centered and generous leadership mindsetRESOURCESTake the leap into successful fundraising with the Savvy Fundraiser Fundamentals Course. The ultimate guide designed for nonprofits that have been around for a while, but haven't delved into the world of fundraising yet. This course covers everything from crafting compelling campaigns to collaborating effectively with your team, ensuring you have all the tools you need to elevate your fundraising efforts.CONNECT WITH JOSHUA BERRYJoshua Berry is an entrepreneur, seasoned leadership expert, and the co-founder of Econic. Joshua is also the author of "Dare to Be Naive: How to Find Your True Self in a Noisy World," a book that empowers readers to discover their authentic leadership potential. Through his innovative work and insightful writings, Joshua inspires individuals and organizations to embrace vulnerability, authenticity, and purpose-driven leadership.Facebook: The EmC Masterclass by Dr. Lola Gershfeld is for everyone looking to enhance their communication skills to raise more revenue for their mission. This groundbreaking Emotional Connection process has been integrated into top universities' curriculum and recognised by international organisations. Use code LEADWITHHEART to enjoy a -10%.CONNECT WITH HALEY Haley is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), Certified Stress Management Coach, and Certified EmC train the trainer. She is the Founder of The Savvy Fundraiser, a nonprofit consulting and coaching business. She has worked in both small and large nonprofit teams in the human services, homelessness, and youth sectors; and she specializes in the EmC process, nonprofit leadership, board development, and fundraising. Haley is a passionate, impact-driven, experienced nonprofit professional whose mission is to empower, elevate and engage nonprofit leaders to build healthy, thriving organizations.Instagram: @thesavvyfundraiser LinkedIn: Haley Cooper, CFREWebsite: thesavvyfundraiser.com

TalkLP Host Amber Bradley is STOKED to be joined by Adonis Jacovides, a Chief of Loss Prevention at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company straight from Cyprus! Adonis talks about the Ritz Carlton iconic brand and how important the empowerment is among its Ladies and Gentlemen. From a prison officer to a chief of loss prevention, Adonis explains how the breadth of experience has helped him navigate such varying cultures.  He also discusses how tricky it sometimes becomes executing some loss prevention strategies in such an unique environment.  Adonis also explains their approach in explaining the policies and ultimately treating everyone with respect - no matter the circumstance. Listen to his approach and how it may apply to your own environment...?

Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise" by Horst Schulze is a compelling and insightful read that provides valuable lessons on achieving excellence in both business and leadership. Horst, with his extensive experience as a co-founder and former president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, offers a wealth of practical wisdom and visionary principles.What sets this book apart is Horst's no-nonsense approach. He cuts through the noise and delivers clear, actionable advice that can be applied in various professional settings. His emphasis on creating a culture of service excellence is particularly noteworthy, as it underscores the pivotal role of exceptional customer service in building successful organisations.Schulze's book serves as an indispensable blueprint for individuals and businesses aiming to rise above mediocrity and compromise. It not only inspires readers but also equips them with the tools and mindset necessary to pursue excellence relentlessly.In a world where compromise often seems the norm, "Excellence Wins" is a refreshing and motivating guide that reminds us that excellence is not only attainable but also a key driver of success. Whether you're an aspiring leader, an entrepreneur, or someone looking to enhance their professional skills, this book offers invaluable insights that can help you strive for greatness.I distilled his advice into 5 key principles for becoming an inspiring leader:1. Set Clear Expectations: Horst emphasises the importance of defining and communicating clear expectations for your team. Inspiring leaders are precise in their vision and ensure that their team members understand their roles and responsibilities.2. Lead by Example: Horst believes that leaders should set the standard for excellence through their own actions and behaviours. Being a role model for dedication, commitment, and exceptional service inspires others to follow suit.3. Empower and Trust Your Team: Inspiring leaders empower their team members by giving them autonomy and trust. Horst advocates for giving employees the freedom to make decisions and take ownership of their work, which fosters a sense of responsibility and accountability.4. Prioritise Exceptional Customer Service: Horst places a strong emphasis on the importance of providing outstanding customer service. He believes that exceptional service should be at the core of any business, and leaders should install this belief in their teams.5. Cultivate a Culture of Excellence: Creating a culture of excellence is a recurring theme in Horst's teachings. Inspiring leaders work tirelessly to establish and maintain a culture that values and strives for excellence in every aspect of the organisation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To be the best — and to hold that position — you must always be looking for ways to excel. Not only does this benefit you, but it inspires those you lead to do the same. Horst Schulze worked his way up from humble beginnings as a server's assistant through both the Hilton and Hyatt Hotels before helping to found The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in 1983. In this episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Horst sits down with Crisp Founder & CEO Michael Mogill to answer questions like: Why should every business have a clearly defined vision? How can empowering your employees benefit your clients and you? What are the four cornerstones of a great company? How should you orient new staff to promote your values and vision? Links & Resources Episode Show Notes Excellence Wins by Horst Schulze Ritz-Carlton  Cancun, Mexico Buckhead, Atlanta, GA  Capella Hotel Company  Aristotle  Coca-Cola

In today's leadership spark, I chat with Horst Schulze, Former CEO of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. We delved into his journey in the hotel industry, from a 14-year-old busboy to a pivotal figure at Ritz Carlton. Schulze reflects on the industry's evolution, transitioning from intuition-driven decisions to a structured approach. He critiques the modern overdependence on technology in hiring, suggesting it often overlooks the best candidates.  Emphasizing leadership over mere management, Horst underscores the need for genuine human connection, purpose, and clear communication in businesses. He touches on corporate social responsibility, noting that while it's more vocalized today, its essence isn't new. Our conversation highlights the scarcity of true leaders in today's corporate landscape. __________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email: ⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Tune in on Monday, 10/16/23, for a new episode of The Doctor Whisperer Show featuring featuring one of my personal heroes in business—the King of Hospitality, CoFounder of The Ritz Carlton, and Author, Horst Schulze. Buy his book here: https://a.co/d/6V0nbFE ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ A︎BOUT OUR GUEST: A legend and leader in the hotel world, Horst Schulze's teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries. Mr. Schulze's professional life began more than 65 years ago as a server's assistant in a German resort town. Throughout the years he worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in 1983. There Mr. Schulze created the operating and service standards that have become world famous. During his tenure at The Ritz Carlton, Mr. Schulze served as President and COO responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award — twice. In 1991, Mr. Schulze was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS magazine. In 1995, he was awarded the Ishikawa Medal for his personal contributions to the quality movement. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University gave him an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. Most recently, Mr. Schulze has been honored as a “Leader in Luxury” by Travel Agent magazine and its sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor. After leaving The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Mr. Schulze went on to found The Capella Hotel Group. This luxury hotel company managed some of the most elite properties worldwide, and gave Mr. Schulze the opportunity to further define the luxury hotel industry, receiving countless awards and recognitions. Today, Mr. Schulze serves on various boards and acts as a consultant across industries. He recently completed his seminal book on creating excellence. horstschulze.com ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ Thank you to our sponsor, SRA 831b Admin, for supporting the show! Click here to learn more: ⁠http://831b.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thedoctorwhisperer/message

In this episode, we delve into the remarkable life and wisdom of Horst Schulze, a true luminary in the hospitality industry and a founding member of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Horst Schulze's profound insights have not only shaped the luxury hospitality landscape but have also empowered individuals and organizations to strive for excellence in every endeavor. Join us as we uncover the essence of excellence through the lens of a visionary leader.Episode Highlights: The Early Spark: Ever wondered where Horst's passion for the hotel industry originated? Discover the childhood inspiration that fueled his lifelong dedication. The Two Sentences that Changed His Life: Explore the pivotal moment when a Maitre d' imparted invaluable wisdom, leading Horst Schulze on the path to excellence. The Origin of The Ritz-Carlton: Unearth the fascinating story behind the birth of The Ritz-Carlton and how it revolutionized the world of luxury hospitality. Mindset Mastery:Learn how shifting his mindset and striving for excellence played a pivotal role in Horst's remarkable career growth. The Power of Emotional Events: Understand why significant emotional events are catalysts for behavioral change and personal growth. The Maitre d' as a Role Model: Discover why the Maitre d' became an enduring source of inspiration and guidance in Horst Schulze's life. The Ritz-Carlton's Golden Standards: Explore the secret behind The Ritz-Carlton's success – laminated cards defining their Vision, Mission, Credo, and 20 gold standards. Making Tough Choices: Delve into the difficult decision Horst made when he had to part ways with his best friend in the pursuit of unwavering standards. Creating a Sense of Belonging: Learn why Horst believes in not just hiring employees but selecting them, fostering a culture of belonging within an organization. The Power of Empowerment: Understand how empowering employees is the cornerstone of building trust and delivering exceptional customer service. Letters of Gratitude: Hear the heartwarming story of how Horst still receives weekly letters from employees, a testament to the lasting impact of his leadership. Striving for Personal Excellence: Get inspired by Horst's advice to all customer service representatives and individuals seeking excellence. Join us as we journey through the life and insights of Horst Schulze, a true advocate for excellence, and discover how his wisdom can shape your path to personal and professional greatness. Excellence is not an accident; it's a choice we make every day.ABOUT NICK GLIMSDAHLSubscribe to my monthly newsletterFind Press 1 For Nick on YouTubeFind me on TwitterFind me on LinkedInLISTENER SUPPORTPurchase Nick's books: Reasons NOT to Focus on Employee Experience: A Comprehensive GuideApparel: https://www.teepublic.com/user/press-1-for-nick Support this show through Buy Me A CoffeeBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:Learn about all the guests' book recommendations here: https://press1fornick.com/books/ BROUGHT TO YOU BY:VDS: They are a client-first consulting firm focused on strategy, business outcomes, and technology. They provide holistic consulting services to optimize your customer contact center, inspiring and designing transformational change to modernize and prepare your business for the future. Learn more: https://www.govds.com/ This podcast is under the umbrella of CX of M Radio: https://cxofm.org/Podcast-Shows/ SPONSORING OPPORTUNITIES:Interested in partnering with the Press 1 For Nick podcast? Click here: https://press1fornick.com/lets-talk/ 

Today's podcast guest is James McBride, PARTNER & CEO, NIHI Hotels. We discuss: -fundamentals, discipline, and standards -his mother's mantra of "manners make it" -how rejection can be your best friend -embracing simplicity as the core to life -celebrating local traditions and helping cultures thrive He is recognized as “One to Watch” by Bloomberg Businessweek's Bloomberg 50 and awarded Independent Hotelier of the World by Hotels magazine, James McBride is a global hotelier who has led some of the world's leading hotels during his twenty-five-year professional career. Known for his limitless creativity, clever marketing techniques, and exceptional hotel experiences, James has raised the bar in the hospitality industry, paving the way for inventive ideas and competitive spirit.   James McBride started his journey globally at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, where he remained for fourteen years. James McBride was then selected to run two of the most preeminent properties in quick succession: In 2002, James became General Manager of The Grosvenor House of London's Park Lane, and in 2003 he was appointed by Rosewood Hotels as Managing Director of The Carlyle in New York. James McBride transitioned to hotel entrepreneur in 2012 when he partnered with long-time friend and investor Christopher Burch on the acquisition of the Nihiwatu, a small surf destination on the Indonesian island of Sumba, later on was voted the #1 Hotel in the World for Travel + Leisure magazine's World's Best Awards. James and Chris are enthusiastically planning an expansion of the brand to realize further opportunities grounded in its doctrine, “The Edge Of Wildness™” Soon, the expansion of NIHI Hotels will include the current model of a luxury resort that emphasizes ultimate services and endless experiences with the addition of NIHI Santo Tomas Costa Rica, a 1000-hectare property in Guanacaste characterized by a sense of tranquil seclusion and just a 2,5-hour flight from Miami, NIHI® Santo Tomás features two private beaches and the closest proximity to Costa Rica's world-famous cult wave Witch's Rock and NIHI Rote, a stunning escape on a secluded corner of Rote Island in West Timor Indonesia, with 24 thatched pool villas and highly sought-after world-class surfing waves in front of Bo'a beach.  

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Horst Schulze, a visionary leader in the hotel industry. He shared his insights on the importance of purpose and belonging in the workplace, the role of leadership, and how his faith has influenced his approach to business and relationships.Key TakeawaysThe importance of purpose and belonging in the workplace: Mr. Schulze emphasizes that companies should hire people not just to fulfill a function, but to be part of a purpose and offer them a sense of belonging. He cites a large worker survey that found the number one thing employees value in their job is a sense of belonging.The role of leadership: Leaders need to have a strong sense of purpose themselves and be able to transfer that to their team. If leaders lack clarity or conviction, they cannot effectively inspire their team to strive for excellence.The power of service and relationships: Mr. Schulze argues that customer loyalty is built on trust, which is primarily established through relationships, not products. He believes that companies should focus on serving their customers well and building strong relationships with them.The vision of a leader: When Mr. Schulze started Ritz Carlton, his vision was to create the finest hotel company in the world. He carefully considered whether this purpose was good for all stakeholders - investors, employees, customers, society, and his community - and whether it was something that would be approved by God.Continuous improvement: Mr. Schulze believes in the importance of continuously striving for excellence, both in business and in personal life. This involves regularly asking yourself how you can do better in your work, relationships, and moral and ethical conduct.The influence of faith: Mr. Schulze's faith has greatly influenced his approach to business and relationships. He believes in loving and respecting all people, and sees his employees and customers as his neighbors. His faith has also given him a sense of purpose and conviction in his work.ResourcesExcellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise by Horst SchulzeThe New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company by Joseph MichelliArch and Tower PlusCapella Hotel GroupConnect with Horst SchulzeLinkedInTwitterConnect with Devin LinkedIn Twitter: @devinwsmith Subscribe and Review If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss an episode. We'd also appreciate if you could leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Your reviews help us reach more people and create a bigger impact.

Today's podcast guest for EPISODE #100 is Brian Gullbrants. As a leader, every day his mission is to MAKE IT (the experience) BETTER FOR EVERYONE (employees, guests, stakeholders). This is truly a noble approach but one that Brian executes daily. We discuss his contributions to his family's restaurant business growing up. His dad convinced him that sweeping up the parking lot was a game called "Disneyland" - similar to the cast members that would use a pan and a broom to keep Disney's streets clean. We also discuss: -Remembering his initial learning about the culture of Ritz-Carlton and being called a gentleman for the first time -His foray into management, working twice as hard for less pay, and loving it -With his team at Wynn, they are "breaking records and winning awards." For the past 15+ years, Brian has been writing messages to every employee every day to ensure everyone is walking the talk and living and breathing their values. He suggests that problems need to be corrected and then "shaken off like an etch-a-sketch" to be fully erased to be able to move on. More about Brian Gullbrants: He is the Chief Operating Officer - North America for Wynn Resorts, a position he was promoted to at the start of 2023, after serving as the President of Wynn and Encore Las Vegas. In his current role, Brian is responsible for all operations in both Las Vegas and Boston, while supporting all future developments in North America. Prior to his return to Las Vegas, Mr. Gullbrants was the President of Encore Boston Harbor where he played an integral role in leading the final construction, grand opening, and stabilization of Wynn's first integrated regional resort on the East Coast. Before moving to Boston, Mr. Gullbrants served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, which he opened for the Company in 2008; his role expanded to oversight of both Wynn Las Vegas and Encore hotels in May 2011 as Executive Vice President and General Manager. He led the effort to establish Wynn hotels and spas as the first in Las Vegas to earn Five Star awards from Forbes Travel Guide. From 1988 to 2008, Mr. Gullbrants held significant leadership positions in operations, general management and corporate management at Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. As Vice President of Operations, Mr. Gullbrants was responsible for overseeing all operational disciplines for The Ritz-Carlton Company worldwide. THIS 100TH EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: Team Baarman at ConferenceDirect Are you responsible for planning meetings and events for your organization? Are you struggling with the overwhelming tasks that come with ensuring a successful event, especially with limited time, resources, and staff? Team Baarman at ConferenceDirect understands your challenges and has the perfect solution! They specialize in creating inspiring experiences that drive measurable results. Here's how they can help: •Save time and effort with our personalized event planning services. •Optimize your resources to ensure the best possible outcomes. •Achieve tangible and measurable results for your events. Ready to make your events unforgettable? Connect with them through the following link: https://doug-baarman.go-conferencedirect.com/services/ I encourage you to have a simple discovery call to help them understand your needs and provide you with a tailored plan that they'll manage for you. It's that easy! Doug.Baarman@ConferenceDirect.com 240-994-8599

In this episode of Experience Leader, Devin talks with legendary hotelier, co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and founder of Capella Hotel Group, Horst Schulze. They talk about his remarkable story and how he creates the best hotels in the world. This is the first part of a two-part series that will get you fired up to pursue excellence in your life and work.Enjoy the conversation.Join other industry leaders by signing up for the Experience Leader Newsletter.A production of Experience Leader LLC.LinksLearn more about Horst SchulzeLearn more about host Devin SmithLearn more about the Experience Leader Podcast

Josh Berry is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Econic, an innovation, transformation, and strategy consulting company and Certified B Corporation. Along with his team, Joshua has partnered with US Bank, John Deere, Procter & Gamble, Nelnet, Farm Credit Services of America, and Blue Cross Blue Shield, among others. He is dedicated to practicing unlearning, identifying limiting beliefs, and shifting business practices. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, Dare to Be Naive: Thinking Bigger to Create Business Success and Joy. Prior to starting Econic, Joshua worked in global talent management consulting for clients like The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, H&R Block, Stanford Medical Center and Mercedes-Benz USA, as well as mentoring and leading workshops for early stage startups at seed-stage accelerators on topics like Lean Startup, Design Thinking, Change Management, Innovation Accounting and Business Model innovation. He was the previous co-host of the nationally recognized “Inside/Outside Innovation” Podcast. As the challenges we face in business become increasingly more complex, the transformative power of doing good in business creates a flywheel effect that impacts both Return on Investment (ROI) and Ripples of Impact (ROI). Joshua challenges business leaders to think bigger and more intentionally to discover the expansive value of using business for good.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showRebel HR is a podcast for HR professionals and leaders of people who are ready to make some disruption in the world of work. Please connect to continue the conversation! https://twitter.com/rebelhrguyhttps://www.facebook.com/rebelhrpodcasthttp://www.kyleroed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-roed/

Hospital food has a reputation for being bland and inedible — something that's no longer true at Northwell's 21 hospitals. Over the last seven years, our guests — Sven Gierlinger and Chef Bruno Tison — have transformed hospital meals by ditching frozen food and sugary drinks for fresh meats, fruits and vegetables. They've ensured that hospital kitchens prioritize fresh ingredients and cater to the patient population, and now chefs are able to deliver meals that look, smell and taste better — and the food is much healthier, as well.   On this episode, Gierlinger and Tison explain how: They transformed hospital food from "inedible" to gourmet A higher caliber of cuisine can help patients They are helping other hospitals and health systems adopt this model Meet the experts Bruno Tison is the vice president of food services and corporate executive chef. Previously he spent 14 years as executive chef for the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Tison earned Michelin star recognition for three consecutive years as the executive chef at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa in California. Sven Gierlinger is Northwell's Chief Experience Officer. He started his career in the luxury hotel business, holding a series of leadership positions with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.   

Dr. Joseph Michelli breaks down the most impactful ways to optimize the customer experience in your business.WANT THE FULL EPISODE? Check out yesterday's episode, Ep.92 I Dr. Joseph Michelli I Deciding to Optimize Customer Experience, or download it using this link. KEY TOPICS Building resources as you make bold decisions.Becoming genuinely interested in your customers.Why personalization isn't the single solution for improving client experience.What you want your business to be known for.Empowering your employees.What your customers are seeking from you. CONNECT WITH USwww.decidedlypodcast.com Join us on Instagram: @decidedlypodcast Join us on FacebookShawn's Instagram: @shawn_d_smith Sanger's Instagram: @sangersmith MAKING A FINANCIAL DECISION?At Decidedly Wealth Management, we focus on decision-making as the foundational element of success, in our effort to empower families to purposefully apply their wealth to fulfill their values and build a thriving legacy. LEARN MOREwww.decidedlywealth.comSUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY DECISION-MAKING TIP EMAIL Join us every Wednesday for more strategies to DEFEAT bad decision-making - one episode at a time! CONNECT WITH DR. JOSEPH MICHELLIWebsite: https://www.josephmichelli.com/ Books: https://www.josephmichelli.com/bestsellers/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2H8Rz1uCMu9giW70vYMERo Blog: https://www.josephmichelli.com/blog/ Instagram: @josephmichelli Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMichelliExperience Twitter: @josephmichelli LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephmichelli/ Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., C.S.P., is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organizational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on customer experience. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives. Dr. Michelli is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. His latest book is Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on Thriving During the Toughest Challenges. Joseph's other titles include The Airbnb Way: 5 Leadership Lessons for Igniting Growth through Loyalty, Community, and Belonging, Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way, Leading The Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customer, Your Products, and Your People, The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire Engage and WOW, Prescription for Excellence: Leadership Lessons for Creating a World-Class Customer Experience from UCLA Health System, The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary, The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace which was co-authored with the owner of the "World-Famous" Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. Joseph holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA). He is a member of the Authors Guild, an editorial board member for the Beryl Institute's Patient Experience Journal (PXJ) and is on the founders' council of CustomerExperienceOne. Other achievements include winning the Asian Brand Excellence Award and being named one of the Top 10 thought leaders in Customer Service by Global Gurus. He received his master's and doctorate from the University of Southern California. Having journeyed with a close family member through a six-year battle with breast cancer, Dr. Michelli is committed to social causes associated with curing cancer and abating world hunger.

Dr. Joseph Michelli breaks down the most impactful ways to optimize the customer experience in your business. KEY TOPICS Building resources as you make bold decisions.Becoming genuinely interested in your customers.Why personalization isn't the single solution for improving client experience.What you want your business to be known for.Empowering your employees.What your customers are seeking from you.DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THE FULL EPISODE? Check out the 6-minute highlight clip, Ep.92 HIGHLIGHT I Providing your team freedom within boundaries. You can download it directly using this link. CONNECT WITH USwww.decidedlypodcast.com Join us on Instagram: @decidedlypodcast Join us on FacebookShawn's Instagram: @shawn_d_smith Sanger's Instagram: @sangersmith MAKING A FINANCIAL DECISION?At Decidedly Wealth Management, we focus on decision-making as the foundational element of success, in our effort to empower families to purposefully apply their wealth to fulfill their values and build a thriving legacy. LEARN MOREwww.decidedlywealth.comSUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY DECISION-MAKING TIP EMAIL Join us every Wednesday for more strategies to DEFEAT bad decision-making - one episode at a time! CONNECT WITH DR. JOSEPH MICHELLIWebsite: https://www.josephmichelli.com/ Books: https://www.josephmichelli.com/bestsellers/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2H8Rz1uCMu9giW70vYMERo Blog: https://www.josephmichelli.com/blog/ Instagram: @josephmichelli Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMichelliExperience Twitter: @josephmichelli LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephmichelli/ Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., C.S.P., is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organizational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on customer experience. His insights encourage leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives. Dr. Michelli is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author. His latest book is Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons on Thriving During the Toughest Challenges. Joseph's other titles include The Airbnb Way: 5 Leadership Lessons for Igniting Growth through Loyalty, Community, and Belonging, Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way, Leading The Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customer, Your Products, and Your People, The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire Engage and WOW, Prescription for Excellence: Leadership Lessons for Creating a World-Class Customer Experience from UCLA Health System, The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary, The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace which was co-authored with the owner of the "World-Famous" Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. Joseph holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA). He is a member of the Authors Guild, an editorial board member for the Beryl Institute's Patient Experience Journal (PXJ) and is on the founders' council of CustomerExperienceOne. Other achievements include winning the Asian Brand Excellence Award and being named one of the Top 10 thought leaders in Customer Service by Global Gurus. He received his master's and doctorate from the University of Southern California. Having journeyed with a close family member through a six-year battle with breast cancer, Dr. Michelli is committed to social causes associated with curing cancer and abating world hunger.

Chris McChesney is the co-author of the best-selling book in the world on strategy execution. He is the Global Practice Leader of Execution for FranklinCovey Co. and one of the primary developers of The 4 Disciplines of Execution. For 15 years, he has led FranklinCovey's ongoing design and development of these principles, as well as the consulting organization that has achieved extraordinary growth in many countries around the globe and impacted hundreds of organizations. Chris has personally led many of the most noted implementations of the 4 Disciplines, including Marriott® International, Shaw Industries, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company® , The Kroger® Co., The Coca-Cola Co.® , Comcast, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Gaylord Entertainment. Also, Chris has worked with Yum Brands, Chick-Fil-A, Neighborly Brands, Loan Market, Hard Rock Cafe, Bridgestone, and Tailored Brands. This practical experience has enabled him to test and refine the principles contained in The 4 Disciplines of Execution from the boardroom to the front line of these and many other organizations. Chris's career with FranklinCovey began by working directly with Dr. Stephen R. Covey and has continued for more than two decades to include roles as a con-sultant, managing director, and general manager within the organization. Chris launched the first 4 Disciplines of Execution Practice in FranklinCovey's Southeast Region, and today has seen it expand around the globe. Throughout this period of significant growth and expansion, Chris has maintained a single focus: to help organizations get results through improved execution. Chris and his wife Constance are the proud parents of five daughters and two sons. His love of family is combined with his passion for boating, water sports, coaching, and trying to keep up with his children. Known for his high energy and engaging message, Chris has become a highly sought-after speaker and advisor on strategy execution. Chris has presented at the largest leadership conferences in the world, including Global Leadership Summit and World Business Forum. The 4 Disciplines of Execution message is something that fits into every theme. Every leader has a goal that they want to achieve, but how do you focus and leverage organizational behavior to accomplish your wildly important goals despite a whirlwind of competing priorities?Link to claim CME credit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3DXCFW3CME credit is available for up to 3 years after the stated release dateContact CEOD@bmhcc.org if you have any questions about claiming credit.

Horst Schulze is one of the founding members of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. He created the operating and service standards that have become world-famous. While at The Ritz Carlton, Horst served as President and COO responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award — twice. This episode is a masterclass on how service leads to excellence. In this conversation, you'll learn:

As a legend and leader in the hotel world, Horst Schulze created operating and service standards that have become world famous throughout the hospitality industry and beyond. Horst is a founding member of both the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and The Capella Hotel Group, and is the author of "Excellence Wins:  A No Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise."

Ep. 124: We're back for part 2 with the leader behind the phrase “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”   Download our free BONUS RESOURCE for reflection questions that will empower your team and listen for lessons in: 5:30 The difference between mission and vision 7:00 How to hire for purpose, not function. 8:00 How to frame a common objective in a way that unifies people. 9:00 Horst Schulze's definition of a team. 12:00 What you gain by “selecting” people to work with you rather than “hiring” them. 13:30 The one thing that must be in every employee orientation. Special thanks to Haley Rose and Samantha Clark for making this episode possible.

Ep. 123: Become the best in a world of compromise in the first of our two-part series with longtime COO and President of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Download our free BONUS RESOURCE for reflection questions that will empower your team and listen for lessons in: 7:00 How to next-level your organization's purpose statement. 10:30 The difference between management and leadership. 13:45 Three things every customer expects. 15:00 The fastest way to develop customer loyalty. 18:00 The non-negotiables that form the backbone of Ritz-Carlton's culture. Special thanks to Haley Rose and Samantha Clark for making this episode possible.

“We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”  Becoming the best in the world at something, being truly excellent at it takes discipline and an uncompromising way of doing things.   For Horst Schulze, the former president and co-founder of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, his message for over 5 decades to all businesses and business leaders is clear and uncomplicated.   The idea of treating others with kindness, greeting them with a smile, maintaining eye contact and saying ‘My Pleasure' is not all that complicated but it is the cornerstone of the greatest hotel company in the world.  Horst created a culture of servant leadership that made his 55 Ritz Carlton hotels the very best in the world at serving their guests. Find out in this incredible conversation what it takes to overcome mediocrity with excellence.    “If I'm doing excellent in what I'm doing, even if I wash dishes, I can still define myself as a fine gentleman. It's not up to anybody else. It's only me. It's not my job, name of job, the society, the country, the neighborhood. It is nothing but me who defines himself.” –Horst Schulze    Time Stamps   00:58 – Welcome to the 'Strong By Design' podcast  04:05 – Meet today's special guest, Horst Schulze, co-founder and former president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company  09:01 – Horst recounts his start in the hotel industry at the age of 14  12:30 – What is excellence and what does it mean to be a person of excellence?  20:50 – Discover how Horst navigated through the early part of his career, and what led him to the Ritz-Carlton  27:03 – The power of going to work to create excellence  30:47 – Discover the secret to a successful business  40:36 – Horst on building a winning culture in your team  46:39 – Horst on why excellent customer service always wins  53:10 – The power of being intentional  1:02:31 – Where you can go to connect with Horst Schulze + learn more about the ‘Excellence Wins' book    Resources:  HorstSchulze.com    Connect w/ Horst:  Instagram  Facebook    Connect w/ CriticalBench:   Youtube  Facebook  Instagram  CriticalBench.com  StrongByDesignPodcast.com 

Episode Summary: In this episode of the L3 Leadership podcast, Doug talks to Ritz-Carlton founder Horst Schulze about excellence, what it means to build a great organization, and why as a leader you give up the right to make excuses.About Horst: A legend and leader in the hotel world, Horst Schulze's teachings, and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries.Mr. Schulze's professional life began more than 65 years ago as a server's assistant in a German resort town. Throughout the years he worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in 1983. There Mr. Schulze created the operating and service standards that have become world-famous.During his tenure at The Ritz-Carlton, Mr. Schulze served as President and COO, responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award — twice.In 1991, Mr. Schulze was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS magazine. In 1995, he was awarded the Ishikawa Medal for his personal contributions to the quality movement. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University gave him an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. Most recently, Mr. Schulze was honored with the “Legacy of Innovation and Inspiration Award” by Historic Hotels of America.After leaving The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Mr. Schulze went on to found The Capella Hotel Group. This luxury hotel company managed some of the most elite properties worldwide and gave Mr. Schulze the opportunity to further define the luxury hotel industry, receiving countless awards and recognitions.Today, Mr. Schulze serves as Expert in Residence at Arch + Tower, a boutique, organizational strategy consulting firm. He also recently completed his first book, titled “Excellence Wins.”4 Key Takeaways:1. He discusses the importance of vision in starting a company. 2. Horst shares his views on the state of work and leadership today.3. He talks about what he believes excellence is. 4. He gives advice to people who are looking for their purpose in life. Quotes From the Episode:“You should invite people to join your dream, your vision.” “Create excellence in what you're doing.”“Be a leader of yourself.”“Keep always in mind your fellow human being.”Resources Mentioned:Excellence Wins by Horst SchulzeRitz-CarltonConnect with Horst:Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook 

Horst Schulze is a founding member of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and has established a new standard of excellence in the hospitality industry. Under his leadership, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award – twice. Later in his career, Mr. Schulze founded The Capella Hotel Group. Now, he energizes organizations to reconnect with their service commitment. He recently also completed his first book titled “Excellence Wins."What is one thing people might not know about you? It says in the book that by age 11 you wanted to be in the hotel business. Where did that hotel spark come from? The Maitre d' Changed my Life in Two Sentences - Create Excellence in what you're doing. Excellence is never an accident. It's a result of high intent.We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. Serving is our professionEnjoyed his vision for the future in businessPromise me you will never go to workHow Horst Failed the Maitre d', and how it changed his lifeThe origin story of the Ritz CarltonHow changing his mindset helped his career growth. Go to work for excellence. You define yourself.You only change your behaviors when there is a significant emotional event. Maitre d' is his role modelRitz Carlton Laminated Cards helped them become the finest in the world: Vision, Mission, Credo, and 20 gold standardsHe fired his best friend to keep his standard. Keeping him would have compromised our objectiveI am a very important person (and so are you). Don't hire people. Select them! We gave them belongingGive Employees a Sense of Belonging (Day 1) - 3 Million Workers SurveyedWho do you want to be in 6 months' time? We want to be the best!Employees spend most of their time interacting with guests in the cafe. Show your guests you care.Empowering Employees Builds TrustHorst Still Receives Weekly Letters from Employees Thanking Him (Impact Others). You define yourself by your job (good or bad)If you could leave a note to all customer service representatives, what would it say? Question Yourself: How could I do this better? Morally and Ethically, could I be better? How to reach a level of excellence (Question Yourself)***ABOUT NICK GLIMSDAHLSubscribe to my monthly newsletterFind Press 1 For Nick on YouTubeFind me on TwitterFind me on LinkedIn***LISTENER SUPPORTPurchase Nick's books: Reasons NOT to Focus on Employee Experience: A Comprehensive GuideApparel: https://www.teepublic.com/user/press-1-for-nick Support this show through Buy Me A Coffee***BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:Learn about all the guests' book recommendations here: https://press1fornick.com/books/  BROUGHT TO YOU BY:VDS: They are a client-first consulting firm focused on strategy, business outcomes, and technology. They provide holistic consulting services to optimize your customer contact center, inspiring and designing transformational change to modernize and prepare your business for the future. Learn more: https://www.govds.com/ This podcast is under the umbrella of CX of M Radio: https://cxofm.org/Podcast-Shows/ SPONSORING OPPORTUNITIES:Interested in partnering with the Press 1 For Nick podcast? Click here: https://press1fornick.com/lets-talk/ 

Sue is the EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer at HVMG, a hospitality management company based in Atlanta. You could make a strong argument that the common thread through which many of today's challenges in hospitality are connected are through Human Resources. That's definitely not saying that HR is the cause, but rather HR being the bridge to many of the solutions. We've done some episodes in the past about how hotels are dealing with challenges around retention, recruiting, culture, benefits or development, but I wanted to have Sue on the show to share how a large hotel company is thinking about these at a more global level.  It's relatively easy to innovate on a one-off hotel basis, but it's another thing entirely to find and implement non-traditional solutions at scale, and that's what we're discussing on this episode. I really enjoyed hearing about some of the ideas that HVMG is bringing to life and my hope, as it is with every episode, is that you find something here that can help you and your business. About SueAs EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, Sue oversees all Human Resources functions, including talent acquisition, talent development, associate retention and engagement strategies, human resources services, associate relations and benefits. Prior to joining HVMG, Sue worked as a management consultant supporting leading organizations to improve their enterprise performance management processes for clients including the The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Marriott International and the American Red Cross.  Prior to working as a management consultant, Sue worked in the hospitality industry for 18 years. She worked for Starwood Hotels and Resorts as Global Director, Six Sigma Training and Deployment and prior to that as Director of Organizational Development for St. Regis Hotels. From 1996 - 2000 Sue worked for Lodgian, Inc. (formerly Impac Hotel Group) as Director of Training and Development; from 1991 - 1996 she worked for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as Corporate Quality Advisor and The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead in hotel operations and human resources. Her hospitality industry experience also includes a five-year adjunct faculty appointment at New York University's Robert Preston Tisch Center for Hospitality Travel and Tourism.  Sue serves on the Metro Atlanta Board of Directors for the American Red Cross, the Hospitality Board of Directors for Georgia State University and is a special advisor to the Castell Project, promoting diversity in the hospitality industry. She holds MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School. Sue has a BS in Marketing from The Florida State University. LinksWebsite: https://www.hvmg.com --- Thank you to SiteMinder for sponsoring this episode. They are the world's leading hotel commerce platform that provides hoteliers like you with the tools you need to sell, market, manage and grow your hotel business, all from a single dashboard.  To see how SiteMinder can help you and your hotel, AND get 6 months free with a 12 month contract, visit https://www.siteminder.com/principles (siteminder.com/principles). --- Do you know someone looking for a vacation rental management company? If so, Recreation Vacation Rentals has got a referral program that you might be interested in! You can earn $1,000 for every referral you make to Recreation Vacation Rentals. Contact us to learn more: https://recreationstays.com/refer-a-friend/?fbclid=IwAR2l0Oq7ATz_-_AiZ91zEbX0CIlgMdwntjPiDyJaIGxSucjAZvxjnuschv0 (https://recreationstays.com/refer-a-friend/) --- For past episodes, show notes or if you've got a story that might make a great episode, head over to https://www.theprovenprinciplespodcast.com/ (theprovenprinciplespodcast.com). We'd love to hear from you. You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts, even on YouTube... and if you haven't already, don't forget to leave us a rating and a review. 

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.   This week I have the wonderful pleasure of speaking with Horst Schulze. Horst is a legend and leader in the hotel world and his teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries. His professional life began over 65 years ago as a server's assistant in a German resort town. He's worked for both Hilton Hotels and the Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in 1983. During his tenure at The Ritz Carlton, he served as President and COO and under his leadership The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company was awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award-twice-making it the first and only hotel company to ever win even one! In 1991, Horst was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS Magazine, and in 1995, he was awarded the Ishikawa Medal for his personal contributions to the quality movement. After leaving The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Horst went on to found The Capella Hotel Group, a luxury hotel company managing some of the most elite properties worldwide. Today, Horst serves on various boards and acts as a consultant across industries. He is currently completing his seminal book on creating excellence. I am absolutely thrilled to be speaking with Horst Schulze on the What's Next! Podcast.   THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone looking to be inspired and motivated to generate excellence and work with purpose!   TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE… It is imperative to be driven by purpose. When you are focused on your purpose and providing the best service or product, when you are employee first and customer-centric, and when you strive for excellence above all else, the financial reward will follow.   WHAT  I  LOVE  MOST… Horst's message: excellence wins! I also love his attention to making sure his employees also feel and are driven by purpose.     Running time: 33:50 Subscribe on iTunes     Find Tiffani on social: Facebook: https://facebook.com/tiffaniBova/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tiffani_Bova LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tiffanibova Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffanibova/   Horst's Book: Excellence Wins!

A legend and leader in the hotel world, Horst Schulze's teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries. Horst's professional life began more than 65 years ago as a server's assistant in a German resort town. He has worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in 1983, where he created the operating and service standards that have become world famous. Horst served as President and COO, responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award—twice. In 1991, Horst was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS magazine. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University gave him an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. Most recently, Horst was honored with the “Legacy of Innovation and Inspiration Award” by Historic Hotels of America. Horst went on to found The Capella Hotel Group. This luxury hotel company managed some of the most elite properties worldwide, and gave Horst the opportunity to further define the luxury hotel industry, receiving countless awards and recognitions. Today, Horst serves as Expert in Residence at Arch + Tower, a boutique, organizational strategy consulting firm, and recently completed his first book, titled Excellence Wins. In this podcast, he shares: How he built the culture behind the top rated luxury hotel chain in the world, Ritz-Carlton, and later Capellaseveral immediately actionable practices you can put in place to directly shape and manage your organization's cultureWhy he believes you can transform culture within just a year and the first steps to take along that path__________________________________________________________________________________________"An overwhelming issue for me, relative to leaders of companies, is to accept your role." Accept that [your employees are] human beings that you deal with to be fulfilled in life. Human beings need to belong and need to have purpose. Why wouldn't we give them purpose that the vision or why wouldn't we do this as organization?"-Horst Schulze__________________________________________________________________________________________Episode Timeline:00:00—Introducing Horst + The topic of today's episode2:53—If you really know me, you know that...3:26—What is your definition of strategy?6:25—How do you know if the purpose or "why" of your company is authentic?7:39—How do you define customer-centricity?11:12—How do you help every employee understand the company's intent when it comes to customers?14:03—Could you explain your meeting structures and mechanisms in which you share messages with your team?17:14—How long does it take to have a lasting culture change?18:20—Is there anything we missed you'd like to share?20:22—Where can people follow you and your work?__________________________________________________________________________________________Additional Resources: Personal page: https://horstschulze.com/Recent bookTwitter: https://twitter.com/horstschulzeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehorstschulze/

In this episode, Chris Bryant, the Chief Experience Officer of Bryant Group Experience, talks about sprucing up fan engagement through a game-based learning and service-centric culture. He is also an award-winning expert, master trainer, and speaker in elevating the customer, client, and fan experience.Chris brings years of experience working with legendary brands like Nordstrom and the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. He works with professional sports franchises that are seeking to spruce up their fan engagement. He deploys game-based learning and programs and promotes a service-centric culture to help them not only engage their fans but keep them coming back. Whether you're in a corporation or sports franchise, if you realize the need to spruce up fan engagement, you should consider reaching out to Chris Bryant by visiting his website at http://bryantgroup.co/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/MrChrisBryant.Mitchell Levy is the Global Credibility Expert at AHAthat, the first AHA leadership (Thought Leadership) platform on the market for thought leaders, experts and companies to unleash their genius to the world. His passion is helping entrepreneurs, business owners and C-Suite Executives get known as thought leaders & become best-selling authors with the AHA platform. He is an accomplished entrepreneur who has created 20 businesses in Silicon Valley including four publishing companies that have published over 800 books. Mitchell is an international best-selling author with 60 business books, has provided strategic consulting to over 100 companies, has advised over 500 CEOs on critical business issues, and has been chairman of the board of a NASDAQ-listed company.Visit https://www.credibilitynation.com to learn more about the Credibility Nation community.Visit https://www.ahathat.com/author to learn how you can become an Amazon best-selling author in 4 months.

In this episode, we revisit David's interview with Horst Schulze, Founding Member and Former President and COO of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Founder of The Capella Hotel Group, Expert in Residence at Arch + Tower, and author, where they discuss how to deal with a customer complaint. Show Notes: http://trustedleadershow.com Buy David's NEWEST Book "Trusted Leader": https://amzn.to/3luyqf1

The pandemic hasn't really been fun for anyone. We've seen cities shut down, businesses go under, and economic instability abound. But it has given us some lessons that will help keep businesses strong moving forward. Adam Schroeder and Naresh Vissa talk with Dr. Joseph Michelli about what exactly those things are and how you can implement them in your business. Dr. Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., C.S.P., is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organizational consultant. Dr. Michelli is the author of numerous national bestsellers, including The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary, The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, the New York Times #1 bestseller Prescription for Excellence: Leadership Lessons for Creating a World Class Customer Experience from UCLA Health System, and the new book STRONGER THROUGH ADVERSITY: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-tested Lessons On Thriving During The Toughest Challenges. He was named as one of the Top 10 thought leaders in Customer Service by Global Gurus. His new book is The Airbnb Way: 5 Leadership Lessons for Igniting Growth through Loyalty, Community, and Belonging. Dr. Michelli is an opinion columnist for the CEOWORLD magazine. Website: www.Patreon.com/WorkFromHomeShow www.AirbnbWay.com www.JosephMichelli.com www.WorkFromHomeShow.com

Sarah Saadatjoo (pronounced suh-DOT-jew) has built her career on creating memorable customer experiences. She holds a Master's Degree in strategy execution and leadership from The Georgia Institute of Technology and was recognized as a 40 Under 40 recipient from Georgia State University, where she received her Bachelor's degree in business administration. She currently serves as a Customer Care Optimization Manager at Meta, and she has also worked with companies such as WhatsApp, Wix, Mailchimp, and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. In her spare time, she loves sharing career tips, life updates, and funny skits on TikTok. Sarah has also helped hundreds of people through her digital products and courses that help people improve their interview skills and land their dream jobs. Sarah is an Atlanta native, but she's currently living in Dublin, Ireland. She and her partner Jack are expecting their first baby in August, and Sarah's very excited about her upcoming promotion to Mom. How to reach Sarah: TikTok - @sarahsaadatjoo Instagram - @sarahsaadatjooInterview prep courses:https://jobtips.teachable.com/p/perfect-candidate-bundle --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode, Horst Schulze, founder and former COO of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, discusses how a strong vision for the entire stakeholder ecosystem, not just shareholders, leads to excellence. He shares his views on talent management, strategy execution, leadership, customer service and employee engagement.   *This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

Excellence wins: an interview with Horst Schultze is a conversation you truly can't afford to miss. We'll unpack how and why excellence wins. Listen as both a business owner and a skilled coach explains how it's not about tasks but tapping into your being and purpose. You'll uncover valuable principles that will enable you to help raise up a powerful culture and absolutely change the world.   Cash in: Learn how to define yourself as a person of excellence so you can receive the respect you deserve and serve people well. Understand how your essence, being, and personhood are more important than your doing, so you can rise above the noise of your tasks. Bolster the culture of your business or organization so you can refuel your working environment and create unshakable alignment.   About Horst Schulze A legend and leader in the hotel world, Horst Schulze's teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries.   Mr. Schulze's professional life began more than 65 years ago as a server's assistant in a German resort town. Throughout the years he worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in 1983. There Mr. Schulze created the operating and service standards that have become world-famous.   During his tenure at The Ritz Carlton, Mr. Schulze served as President and COO responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company was awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award- twice- making it the first and only hotel company to ever win even one.   In 1991, Mr. Schulze was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS Magazine. In 1995, he was awarded the Ishikawa Medal for his personal contributions to the quality movement. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University gave him an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. Most recently, Mr. Schulze has been honored as a “Leader in Luxury” by Travel Agent Magazine and its sister publication, Luxury Travel Advisor.   After leaving The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Mr. Schulze went on to found The Capella Hotel Group. This luxury hotel company managed some of the most elite properties worldwide and gave Mr. Schulze the opportunity to further define the luxury hotel industry, receiving countless awards and recognitions.   Today, Mr. Schulze serves on various boards and acts as a consultant across industries. He is currently completing his seminal book on creating excellence.

#50: Horst Schulze is the Co-Founder of the Ritz Carlton & Founder of the Capella Hotel Group. He is also author of the book "Excellence Wins",  a no nonsense guide to becoming the best in a world of compromise. He is a legend and leader in the hotel world and his teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries.During his tenure at The Ritz Carlton, Mr. Schulze served as President and COO responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award — twice.Today he actively speaks and consults across all industries. His leadership content can be purchased and viewed at NeedToLead.com where the content can be licensed for a larger audience. In the show we get to hear his story of growing up in German, getting into the hotel industry, hard work, excellence is a result of high intent, success, purpose, vision, service, marriage, faith, and much more!Enjoy the show!Ways to engage with Horst Schulze:Website: HorstSchulze.comAll social media platformsBook: Excellence Winshttps://www.amazon.com/Excellence-Wins-No-Nonsense-Becoming-Compromise/dp/0310352096Leadership content: NeedToLead.com

Neal Amrhein is the founder and CEO and Matt Erickson is the CTO of My Goat. My Goat is a subscription mowing service for commercial properties. They use robotic mowers and elegant software tools to make turf care easy, convenient, and affordable. Follow Neal on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-amrhein-9398969/). Follow Erik on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-erickson-153fish/). My Goat (https://mygoat.co/) Follow MyGoat on Twitter (https://twitter.com/MyGoatCo), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MyGoatCo), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-goat-inc), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjV3ITbDvfqhQGIImFL5T7g/featured), or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mygoatco/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is a couple of people from a company with actual robots. It's Neal Amrhein, the founder and CEO, and Matt Erickson, the CTO of My Goat. Gentlemen, thanks for joining me. So tell me more about this idea that you are robot-agnostic? Are you helping people choose the solution that's right for them? Or do you have go-to vendors? NEIL: We do. So my philosophy, having spent a number of years in technology selling hardware and even software solutions, is that one thing that my experience has held is that hardware gets better, faster, and cheaper. And for us to invest in a hardware platform or have customers invest in a hardware platform, I liken it to my early adoption of high-definition televisions where in 2003, I was one of those guys that spent $2,400 on a 42-inch Sony Wega TV. And now you can get a 70-inch with a lot more technology and so forth for about $300 at Costco. So my feeling about hardware is it gets better, faster, cheaper. It's really the software that makes the difference in terms of how you leverage it. So we engage about 6 to 12 different hardware manufacturers that make autonomous robots from robots that are 27 to 35 pounds up to 1,200 pounds and all different variations in between. And then, we extract the communication tools so that we can help our users who are formerly the groundskeepers become technology groundskeepers. And they are now interfacing with the concept of autonomous robots that are mowing commercial properties 24/7, which we would actually call maintaining versus mowing. So we use nighttime, you know, day, night, rain or shine. So that's why we're robot-agnostic and welcome the latest and greatest designers and developers of hardware. We've got some folks that are just totally focused on designing, and developing, and building awesome autonomous robotic mowers with solar panels or great things that are going out there. And we're the software platform that brings it all together. CHAD: I totally get what you're saying about the progress of hardware and wanting to be in the business of creating value on top of that. How do you make sure that you don't take on the business risk of one of the manufacturers just providing the solution that you're providing? NEIL: Chad, we don't look at a business risk if there's a manufacturer that's going and selling autonomous robotic mowers. We welcome that, in fact, because that helps us with the adoption process. The idea of having, you know, Roomba is the de facto vacuum cleaner that goes randomly in your house. But there are half a dozen other hardware devices and opportunities, and they're all selling it. It's really how are you managing that Roomba? Which is also the subscription component of the Netflix part of our business, which is that Roomba may be a shark next year. It may be something else the following year. For our customers, we select the best hardware for their particular property, whether it's a golf course. They may have an autonomous robot that's manufactured by XYZ for the tee box and another one for the fairway, and another one for the greens. They just pay a monthly subscription for access to the software to manage those particular hardware pieces and optimize that hardware. And that's something that Matt will talk a little bit about. But we really have taken the approach that robots are just like cars. They'll sit in your garage 20 hours out of the week, but they're actually effectively useful 168 hours a week. So how do we maximize that and utilize the hardware itself? And that's what our software does. And of course, with that, we share that information with our customers and our users to continue to make it more efficient. CHAD: Thanks, Neil. Matt, what does the software stack actually look like that you're all putting together? MATT: So we got to talk about the technology so Laravel, PHP, MySQL. We host in DigitalOcean. And we have a WordPress front end, but the back end is all Laravel PHP. CHAD: And so it's in the cloud for all the customers? MATT: Yes. CHAD: And then how do you communicate with the fleet? MATT: So we connect through APIs. The hardware generally has an API that can give us status updates at various intervals. So we aggregate that information back. And then, we present a web-based solution dashboard that includes different views. We can get into the different users and how we've tried to meet their needs and drive workflow for them. But at a high level, we've got some graphical dashboards. And we also have some very tactical workflows for the guys. We call them shepherds taking care of our goats on the ground. CHAD: I know that you said it's autonomous, but how do you communicate with the robots when you need to? Is it radio frequency locally, or is it cell phones? MATT: So the robots actually come with…they have both GPS and cellular connectivity. So we have pretty good real-time connectivity with the robots. So we can remotely control them. We can park them, or we can send them back to their charging stations, different features like that. You can adjust cutting height, things like that, remotely. We also use just text messaging, SMS for communicating with shepherds. It's kind of real-time feedback. So yeah, let me dig in a little bit, the autonomous idea of the robot. Yeah, we want them to be autonomous. And we work with our shepherds, groundskeepers so that each of the goats works in a pen, an area defined by that in the ground kind of like an invisible fence dog wire type thing. But basically, we work with the shepherds, and we have this training certification process. But basically, they can get that pen to an area where really what we shoot for about 72 hours of the robot should be able to operate autonomously within that pen for about three and a half days. And then shepherds will be instructed to move that robot to another pen for about three and a half days. Usually, one robot is taking care of…it ends up being about two and a half days. And that's kind of the way the software solution is driving that efficiency of people time as well as robot time. The robots can mow 24/7. They take care of the grass. They maintain it, as Neil mentioned earlier. So it's not throw the robot out once a week kind of thing. You have to change your thinking. A lot of what we deal with when we go to a robot solution over that traditional status quo mowing we really have to help people through that thought process of this is not how it used to be. It works differently. But yep, that's kind of the solution. CHAD: I feel like I need to ask, even though it's going to be a little bit of a tangent. MATT: [laughs] CHAD: How did you arrive at the name of My Goat and take the leap on a quirky name like that? NEIL: Yeah, it's a great question. [laughs] First of all, I think that I first saw one of these robots through a YouTube video about three and a half or four years ago. And you may or may not know this, Chad, but there are about 3 million of these things that have been sold since 1995. So this is not bleeding edge technology in any way, shape, or form. When I saw it on a YouTube video, it just kind of hit me that wow, these things are out there doing their thing day or night, rain or shine. And interestingly enough, the market, I guess the landscape market, the residential side, was somewhere in the neighborhood of $65 to $80 billion that we were targeting and looking at. And as far as the goats, I had talked to some early folks who were marketing folks, and we just settled on Goat. And then we put my on the front end of it. And before we knew it, we had My Goat. And as we've evolved from just a cool robot-centric organization that's using software, we've evolved into an organization that's really teaching shepherds how to become interactive with the goats. And it's taken a life of its own. The blades are called teeth. CHAD: [laughs] NEIL: And those are some of our…of course, the goats need to be brushed. They don't get washed, or they don't get sprayed down with water, but they get brushed. And there's the whole the operating system is the heart and all kinds of stuff that's been going on. CHAD: Well, I feel like with a name like My Goat, if you're not going to commit and carry that branding through to everything, what's the point? [laughter] NEIL: Right. Yes, it has taken a life of its own. And it's interesting. I don't know that it's the most catchy name for a software technology company. But it's certainly gotten some folks' attention, and it's helped. Let's put it this way: our marketing team really enjoys everything about what they can do with it. CHAD: Well, and there's something to having a brand and carrying that through in the naming that causes ideas to resonate with people and makes them special. At the end of the day, you're mowing lawns. And so making it special and communicating that you have something special, I think, is something that people can do regardless of what their product is thinking of ways of doing that. NEIL: Yeah. And I would add that I think the only pushback we've received on the name is probably from some of our high-end golf course users and prospects who don't want to turn their golf course into a goat track, so to speak. CHAD: [laughs] NEIL: But that's probably the extent of it. But overall, it's been well received without a doubt. And as we're focused on the software component of interacting with autonomous robots, our software development mentality and our vision is that it may be the same thing applied to 500 Roombas inside of a million square feet at a fulfillment center for Under Armour. And instead of having 50 people cleaning the floors, you may have five people managing 500. And how do they do that effectively and efficiently? So there's really a business-focused component of the vision that I've had for the business. And that's helped me, along with many others, to get us to where we are. MATT: I'm just going to jump in. You're right; the name sticks and people really adopt to the shepherd mentality. We get a lot of requests for shepherd crooks. [laughs] They all want a shepherd staff. CHAD: So along those lines, when people are considering working with you, what are some of the questions or concerns that they have about a solution? NEIL: Sure. So it's disruptive, Chad. I think I could probably start by saying the traditional way of maintaining or mowing commercial properties is that you have a big guy and a big machine, and how fast does it go? How much noise does it make? How many grass clippings get blown all over the place? You get in, and you get out. And then you start over. So in the state of Tennessee, where we are here, it's about 34 to 36 weeks of mowing a year. In Michigan, it's 17 to 22 weeks, depending on where you are. In South Florida, believe it or not, I know there are only 52 weeks, but they're mowing 56 to 58 times a year. So it's the frequency of going and mowing and blowing, right? CHAD: Mm-hmm. NEIL: We're changing that by saying, why be worried about the weather? Why would you be worried about darkness? Why would you be worried about noise regulations when you can have the grass maintained all the time? So that mentality of maintaining essentially two football fields a week up to three football fields a week with less than 35 minutes of labor. There is nothing in comparison. There's nothing you can compare with the traditional what we call the status quo to make that happen. So the labor efficiency and improvement in labor productivity is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the cost savings and the financial payback. So because we are so disruptive, a lot of what we do, and a lot of the time we spend, and one of our core values is being educators. So back to your question about manufacturers selling their own proprietary hardware; absolutely, the more the merrier. We welcome. To me, the sign of success and progress is not the small city block that has one gas station but has four gas stations on the corner. It just now means there are cars that are driving around. And so, I embrace that level of competition. I believe iron sharpens iron. And folks who are traditionally in the landscape space who have made trimmers and blowers and chainsaws are now finding a little bit of competition with folks who are now solely focused on making unbelievably efficient autonomous robotic mowers, or cleaners, or robots in general, which is, again, we're not crashing giant robots although that's the name of your podcast. [laughter] We're not trying to crash them or break them. But it is certainly the foundation for where we are. MATT: Hey, Neil, you've got a good analogy. I think analogies help explain concepts. So you want to run through your airport analogy with the runways and the different airlines? NEIL: Yeah, I could share that with you. Thanks for reminding me. So my philosophy about…we sell subscriptions that are based upon a geography, Chad. CHAD: Size of geography, you mean? NEIL: Yeah, the size of the geography. So it's about a football field, give or take. Based upon some limitations with technology, we put invisible dog fences in the ground, and we charge our users, our subscribers by the particular pen or the number of pens, and then there's a ratio. So much like in an airport, we're not selling flights; we're selling runways. And those runways are accessible by all kinds of…you may have 30 terminals at the gates, and you may have five different airlines. And each of those airlines has a different brand and name, but they're using multiple hardware components. Those jets are maybe McDonnell Douglas, or maybe they're a Boeing or whatever it may be. All of that is fine by us. What we do is we have the software that runs the gates, the terminals. So you have Southwest in terminal two and Delta in terminal 32. And they're using our software to figure out how to get the baggage on the planes and get those planes off the ground so they can make money for their businesses. So we look at it that way. And that's kind of where our IP rests is in that spot in that place. And, again, there'll be other airlines, whether it's Allegiant or whomever buying more Boeing planes. But ultimately, they'll all need a runway, and the software that manages the process and the workflow is what we're focused on. CHAD: So, is the total cost of ownership of autonomous solution typically lower than what they are doing today? NEIL: It is, specifically, the labor improvement is generally about 3x in terms of improving the efficiency of the labor. So if you talk about an average groundskeeper who may be responsible for mowing, if it's a perfect day outside mowing nine acres a day and they are out there five days a week, they may have efficiencies of maybe up to 40 or 45 acres a week. With our solution, that is increased to about 135 to 145 acres a week where they can maintain about 70 mowers, 70 autonomous robotic mowers, or 70 goats as we call them. They'll herd 70 goats with the same full-time employee. So that's one aspect. With that, the immediate reaction is, well, you're eliminating jobs. We're actually redeploying jobs. I'm a builder. I'm a job creator. I've had 4,800 folks work for me in my home care business over the last 12 years. And so, I'm a big believer in improving and deploying folks in areas that we don't have robots. So, for example, there's no robot right now that's pruning trees or making up a sand trap, robots that are planting flowers or putting mulch in a flower bed. So those kinds of jobs are still out there. We're just making the traditional idea of throwing somebody on a mower in the middle of a cemetery or golf course or open space and having them manage that through our software platform sitting in their F150 pushing start and stop or pause and doing other things. CHAD: Instead of riding on the mower. NEIL: You got it. MATT: A lot of our potential customers come to us because (we kind of touched on that) there's a labor shortage. It's hard for folks to find people that want to ride zero-turns. So to Neil's point, we're not about deploying robots, kind of one for one replacing jobs. It's basically we're taking the labor force that we can get, that we have, and we're retraining them to be more efficient through these robots. Pretty age-old story when you're talking about industrialization. But the idea is we haven't displaced workers. They're not hiring fewer people. They're taking everybody they can get. And they're doing all of that value add. The groundskeepers now have time to go out and do the mulching and the landscaping, trimming, improving the property. A lot of these groundskeepers have a lot of pride in their property. And they would rather be doing the items that to them are a value add and beautification projects rather than just riding a Back 40 or a zero-turn. We had one shepherd say, hey, it's really helped his back. Riding a lawnmower is kind of rough. And walking around every now and then helping out a robot is a whole lot easier of a physical life for you. Mid-roll Ad I wanted to tell you all about something I've been working on quietly for the past year or so, and that's AgencyU. AgencyU is a membership-based program where I work one-on-one with a small group of agency founders and leaders toward their business goals. We do one-on-one coaching sessions and also monthly group meetings. We start with goal setting, advice, and problem-solving based on my experiences over the last 18 years of running thoughtbot. As we progress as a group, we all get to know each other more. And many of the AgencyU members are now working on client projects together and even referring work to each other. Whether you're struggling to grow an agency, taking it to the next level and having growing pains, or a solo founder who just needs someone to talk to, in my 18 years of leading and growing thoughtbot, I've seen and learned from a lot of different situations, and I'd be happy to work with you. Learn more and sign up today at thoughtbot.com/agencyu. That's A-G-E-N-C-Y, the letter U. CHAD: So I saw on the website because of the kind of solution and the scale that it's at, it seems like you have a few different key customer bases. You want to talk about that and whether you knew that going in, or did you find them along the way? NEIL: Yeah, that's a great question. So we came out of the gate initially with early investors. We were focused on what we considered was the low-hanging fruit in the residential space. So we had designed and developed the operational and financial template to actually have shepherds who were employees of My Goat. And we would have the Goats sold in a subscription model to residential customers. And then we'd have the goat stay on a property and then get moved, et cetera. But we learned very quickly that business to consumer and residential customers it's not that impossible; it just was not as low-hanging fruit as we had thought initially because folks leave rakes in the yard. And anytime a goat comes upon a rake, it's going to get trapped, and therefore it needs to be rescued. And you have to send a shepherd out, et cetera. Or somebody decides to put a new vegetable garden, and they break the wire that's in the ground. They're just a bunch of…, or there's a dog chasing the robot or a little kid out there, or somebody stops it. So those required a lot of…it didn't make the robot autonomous. So we pivoted in late 2019, early 2020 into the commercial space. We expired all of our subscriptions to residential customers and went completely into the commercial space. And we had had some success with some golf courses and some cemeteries. And we've gained a lot more momentum now with cities and counties, regional airports. But large open areas that are a minimum of five acres, typically we would run a pilot or a preview with at least 12 to 14 acres. But the biggest restriction, of course, when you get into those large open areas is electricity because they've been traditionally maintained or mowed by gas-powered machines. So back to your other question about where the savings is and the payback period, and how we have an immediate impact. There's an operational savings that is pretty quick in terms of the return because we flatten out a lot of the ups and downs that a traditional landscaper has. So let's take a golf course, for example. The average golf course spends about $80,000 per hole per year and depending on the course, 45% to 60% of that is spent on mowing, mowing machines, and people involved. And we're able to take that, and they're hiring temporary people in March here in the south, and they have them here until October. So they're having to go through that cycle every single year. So if they can flatten that operational expense out by redesigning the golf course and having…and maybe it's not 100%. Much like a Roomba, you still have to get the corners and the edges, maybe with a broom if it doesn't get into every nook and cranny. So it's not a 100% solution. It's not for every application. But as we moved into the commercial space, we found a greater payback period not only on the cost of the gasoline is...you know, take a zero-turn mower. And again, I say that's probably our greatest competitor is institutionalized thinking to say, this year we're going to buy a big green, big red, or big orange machine for $16,000 or $18,000, Kubota, Toro, or John Deere. And we're going to do the same thing we did last year. We're going to find a guy who can operate it. We're going to put gas in it, and we're going to run it around. Well, you put hours in those things, and they're very costly to maintain if you hit a root. So you've got to make sure that you can't run a 1,800-pound mower when it's been raining for three days. So what do you do with a fairway when it's soggy or any other commercial area that could be…or a hill that could be dangerous. So we've found a lot of application and then, of course, the environmental part of it, Chad. So the average zero-turn emits the equivalent of a carbon footprint every hour it's running about 300 miles of a Toyota Camry running. So they haven't become more efficient. And then you've got noise regulations and so forth in a lot of communities. And even in California, they're moving in the direction of I think it's 2024 where gas-powered and oil-powered landscaping blowers and tremors, et cetera, are not going to be allowed, or you'll be fined for using them. So that's the third component of where My Goat has seen some opportunities in the commercial space. CHAD: You mentioned that they can run at night. So they must be quiet. They must be. NEIL: Yes, they are. And it's not the traditional…you're not making as much of a mess. Some of our cemetery customers have mentioned that the fact that their trimming has been reduced by up to 50% because they're going up and over markers because they only weigh 27 pounds. They're mostly plastic and rubber. They're not doing any damage to vases. So they're having a cost reduction in that regard but also with the uprights. Folks have their family members in a particular private estate area where they may have an upright, and if you have a zero-turn mower out there throwing and splashing grass clippings, you're likely having to go out there again with more labor and take a blower and clean up the mess that the mower made. So these little small operational components along with the experience. Again, back to the cemetery, you're asking about why we're there. We know that industry very well. And we know that the experience that loved ones want to have when they're out there celebrating life and grieving across a 40 or 50-acre property. They don't want to hear a zero-turn. So you're turning those things off three or four times a day for those services, and you're having that individual parked a quarter-mile away. No longer is that an operational challenge or a concern because all of these robots are being controlled, start, stopped, and programmed through our software. CHAD: That's really cool. So you mentioned investors and the early pivot away from residential to commercial. What does your funding story look like? And what phase did you get to when you took on investment? And let's start there. How did you find your initial investors? And what phase were you at when you did that? NEIL: Yeah, that's a great question. So we went through the traditional friends and family and moved into an angel round, but really I started my first company…bootstrapped it. And so, I wasn't really proficient in raising money in the traditional sense. I had an idea, put a business plan together. And I talked to a couple of folks and just told the story. To be honest with you, Chad, I wasn't really asking for money. I was more or less asking for advice. And then a number of folks were like, "Are you taking money? I'd like to take an equity position." And so, we structured the business and the shares on a pre-revenue valuation. And then, within 14 months, we were able to double that valuation. And we're now opening a new round here and a Series A with a valuation that's nearly five times our initial valuation. So we're making a lot of progress because we have, again, it's an annual recurring revenue stream. It's a subscription model. And what we did with our investors in the early rounds is many of them came on, and they just wanted to be silent. They were not interested in having an opinion. They wanted me and my team to run it. So that's been very helpful. So that's where we are in 2022. We'll be opening and closing a Series A. And I certainly can get more specific with others about that if your listeners or audience are interested. CHAD: So when you think about a Series A, what will you be using that for? What are your next scaling goals? NEIL: My commitment to my investors in the previous two rounds has been to sales and technology, so sales, business development, and technology enhancement to the software, so hiring more developers, scaling that team. Matt's leading the vision, and we've got a number of other folks who are involved in the user experience. But again, because we're a software company, it starts with a demonstration that's usually 15 or 20 minutes that can be scheduled through our website at mygoat.co. And it goes from there. On the sales side and business development is telling the story. In those verticals, we're interested in building out potentially even reseller markets with other industries that are aligned with us. We've had some very high-level conversations with folks that sell electricity for a living. The Tennessee Valley Authority we became an early preferred partner with them and because they have carbon credit that they can offer and sell to their customers, their local power companies. And they're in the business of selling power. And we're in the business of providing subscriptions that require power. CHAD: What are some barriers to continuing to scale? Do you have geographic barriers? NEIL: I have self-imposed geographic barriers, [laughter] So it's a Neil Amrhein barrier. But overall, our barriers, our challenges really are; I've never heard of these things before. Do they actually mow? So we get through those conversations fairly quickly. But depending on who we're talking to, it also becomes a fear. People fear change and especially things that are disruptive. So our barriers, once we get through the fear, is we don't have any electricity here on this golf course, or this city park, or this regional airport that there is unlimited electricity. So we can pull whatever electricity is necessary there. So it is really the barriers of education, just like anything that's truly disruptive in an industry that's been doing the same thing for 45 or 50 years. CHAD: So you already talked about how you view potential competition from manufacturers, but how do you view competition in general? Is there other competition out there? NEIL: The biggest competition we have is institutionalized thinking, which is doing the same thing we did last year. So that's a battle that we have every day. I like competition because I think it makes the end product, and the customer is the one who benefits the most from having lots of people in the market no matter what their angle is. We like our position because, again, we're not the hardware manufacturer. We're able to work with others. We're the financial advisor that gets to work with the insurance guy and everybody else, where all your money is with your college buddy who's managing it, et cetera. We're agnostic. We're putting it all together. So it benefits everybody. And those who make and manufacture these robots get the benefit as well because it's part of the subscription process as far as that's concerned. But the more, the merrier. A lot of people come to me and say, "Well, I saw an autonomous robotic mower out on this lawn or in the neighborhood here." And that's good for us. CHAD: Matt, I assume that being robot-agnostic means that you need to integrate with the different systems. Does that have challenges? MATT: You know, not really. Robots are, as far as the autonomous robotic lawn mowers, they're pretty much telling us the same thing. There are status updates; there are battery updates; there are GPS coordinates. It does tend to be a pretty common data set that we're seeing. So it's been a lot easier than I thought. When you think about…data integrations are always the top challenge you have. It's worked out a lot better than we thought initially. CHAD: Well, that's great. Has there been anything surprising the other way which was something you thought was going to be easy turned out to be a lot harder? MATT: Yeah. We've had a manufacturer that actually had a tiered concept in their data availability. They weren't giving us all of the data that they had. They were saving it because they were running their own kind of hey, you can use home automation techniques to integrate with your residential autonomous robotic lawnmower. Hey, if it's raining at your house, we could park your robot. So they were kind of hiding some of the API from us. We were able to work through that. But I think that goes to one of your questions about concern around competition from the manufacturers. They're really not looking at this from that niche that we're hitting, that commercial perspective. Maintaining one Roomba in your house is the analogy I use. You kind of know where he gets stuck, and you go find him. And that's okay. You don't need a lot of software for that. But that analogy Neil mentioned, if you have 500 of these guys running around a warehouse, or for us, we have property with 50 robots on. How do you know which one right now -- CHAD: And the space that that takes up. MATT: Right. Right. CHAD: You can't see them all necessarily even. MATT: [laughs] Exactly. You can't. You can't just walk around and see everyone and visually check. You need that software to be efficient to know; oh, there are three things I need to do today with the robots. Let me plan that out, and let me take care of it. So I think, like Neil said, the manufacturers out there they're making lawn equipment. They're making lots of different hardware. And to them, fleet management is really where is my hardware right now? [laughs] That's the extent of it. And they can't think about a property that needs maybe two or three different manufacturers of hardware because properties are not one homogeneous set of type of grass. There are always different needs, different features on that property. So there's always that idea that we're going to need a couple of different manufacturers, maybe. So, yeah, it's really interesting. For me, I think it's we're really hitting a home run in an area that there really aren't any other competitors exactly in our niche. And if there are, I think the industry for us what we do is at a place where we need more adoption out there in the world. [crosstalk 34:03] CHAD: Do you ever hear from early adopters? People who say they've either already bought autonomous mowers and they're struggling to manage them, or they really want to, and they're coming to you to do it? NEIL: That's a great point. I have a couple of thoughts here because you guys are going in a lot of different directions here. MATT: [laughs] NEIL: Chad, the short answer is when people buy anything early on, they're going to have the proverbial challenges of who supports it when it breaks? Who do I call? What happens next? It just goes on and on and on, whether it's a hardware platform, and that's mostly the case, or it's something else. It's what does that support look like? So the early adopters when we talk about their experiences, and this is one of the things I would say is probably our biggest challenge is that we have created a learning management software platform, a video library of how do you work with robots? We know that they're going to get trapped. There is no doubt that a 27-pound autonomous goat if there is a lightning strike like there was here in Nashville last night, they're going to be tree limbs that are down. And there'll be goats that are trapped. And it's going to take a human being, a shepherd, to be notified via SMS alert to proactively go to that spot on that property across 50 or 100 acres and rescue that goat. And it's just a matter of these kinds of things happen environmentally. So we talk about, when we talk to customers, about their utilization of the goat. And we talk about optimizing their property. It's not really that the goat doesn't graze or the robot doesn't work. It's what are the restrictions and the environmental challenges that are in front of it? If there are erosion issues around a marker or in a large open field, and if it's a really well-groomed practice field or intramural field, it's likely going to be aerated. It's going to be very flat, et cetera. But most commercial properties are not that way. So the goats actually have a tendency to go out, and they're going to find all those environmental challenges. And it requires a human being to go out there and fix them. Because if the environmental challenge is that there's a hole and on a horse farm, it's going to be there until somebody throws some dirt in it. It's just the reality. And that goat is going to find that environmental challenge every single time. So there is a learning curve that goes with it. There's a level of patience. And I think you mentioned what's our challenge? Our challenge is letting folks know that it's an evolution, not a revolution, as far as what your property is going to look like. I spent a number of years at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, and we talk about property health as is it a two-star property, a three-star property, four-star property, five-star property? We recognize that a lot of commercial properties are going to just be a two-star. But potentially, they could be a three-star property. Or if it's a cemetery and you've got a goat that's maybe found environmental challenges on a cemetery, it also becomes a liability or risk for family members who go visit their loved ones. So now we're using the robot proactively to improve the status of the property as opposed to saying, well, it just gets trapped every time it finds a hole or every time there's a situation that goes on. So it does require an active level of engagement and maintenance. And the philosophy has to be changed so that groundskeepers are now checking their phones or being alerted at 7:15 in the morning. And they may go rescue Billy, the goat, because a lot of folks name their robots. [laughter] They're going out there, and they're in pen 34,27, 31. And then at lunchtime, they may have another two or three of the same goats that were trapped, need to be rescued, and then again at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon. So it's a maintenance mentality as opposed to a mow and go mentality. So that is philosophically a big change in terms of their mindset. CHAD: So what's next for My Goat then? You mentioned the Series A. Is there anything in particular on your radar that you're either worried about or are looking forward to? NEIL: Looking forward to more folks like your audience and listeners hearing our story. I'm in the business of telling our story. And I welcome, again, the competition because that means there's validation for what's going on. I don't think we're going to stuff this genie back in the bottle, so to speak. It's going to be hard for me to believe that five, six years from now, folks are going to be out there firing up a push mower that they just bought at Lowe's when they can buy something at Lowe's that's $250 for a residential robot that they get to use. Same thing on the commercial space. I don't know what it ultimately looks like from a vision perspective. But I think our challenge is continuing the messaging, the adoption, enhancing the payback period. It is really just like any good technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, et cetera. I mean, that combination. I hold the position, Chad, that I don't really think any technology is being developed or new per se since the invention of the internet. It's the application of the technology. It's what are people doing that they weren't doing before? We have the communication tools with 5G or what have you that we didn't have five or six years ago that we can now ping our goats every 15 minutes and find out what their status is. And then we can report that back to the user and say, "Hey, your optimization or utilization on your hardware and your subscription is X, Y, and Z. And your return on investment is six months to 16 months." That's where I think it elevates the conversation of efficiency and changes the game. So our next steps are continuing to get the message out, embrace not only users but industries we haven't thought about. I mentioned horse farms that just came on my radar screen not too long ago. We've had some success with cities and counties. You can imagine…everything one of our core values is green is good, and time is a number. So you just drive down the interstate, and you can see so much green everywhere as far as opportunities ahead. And there's plenty of room for lots of people to play in this space. We welcome more and more of probably the designers and developers that you got on this podcast to come up with the latest and greatest hardware and make those APIs available for Matt and his team to integrate and continue to grow. CHAD: That's great. If folks want to reach out to you to either learn more or see if you can work together, where are the best places for them to do that? NEIL: Sure. Let me first direct them to www.mygoat.co. And there are a series of areas there where it's either click on a demo now or information. Our phone number is listed there as well. I'll also give you my email address, which is Neil, N-E-I-L neil@mygoat.co, so neil@mygoat.co. And Matt's is just matt@mygoat.co as well. And those are probably the fastest way to connect with us. And if they put in a quick subject line your name and your podcast, it'll bubble everybody to the top a little faster. CHAD: Wonderful. Thank you both for joining me. I really appreciate it. MATT: Absolutely. Thank you, Chad. NEIL: Thank you for having us. CHAD: And I wish you all the best. You can subscribe to the show and find notes for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on Twitter @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening and see you next time. Announcer: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guests: Matthew Erickson and Neal Amrhein.