Category Archives: Career

Hilton Hotels

Career, Life

In 1919, Conrad Hilton when to Cisco Texas to buy a bank and ended up buying a little hotel named the Mobley hotel. He became a hotel man that day and went on to build one of the greatest hotel companies in the world.

What most people don’t know is that after Conrad bought that first little hotel in Cisco Texas, he began to build major high-rise Hiltons (one per year) all over Texas. By 1929 he owned around nine-ten major hotels when the stock market crashed in 1929. He ended up losing all the hotels to his lenders except for the newest Hilton hotel in El Paso Texas which opened in 1930. It took years after the great depression for banks to lend again but once they did, Conrad Hilton began to build back the company he lost by buying distressed hotels in California and New York and became the Hilton Hotel Company we know today.

During the great depression, 80 percent of all US hotels went bankrupt but somehow Conrad kept believing in the US economy and was determined to build a hotel company. He lost it all yet retained the will, perseverance and the drive to start over.

Looking at history, it is always easy to read stories like this and discount them because we weren’t there. We know how the story ends and it somehow lessens the impact and we don’t quite grasp the grit it took for many Americans to get through the great depression. We can’t relate to what it was like halfway through the depression when it seemed like everything was lost and no one had any answers.

Those people in the 1930’s did what many people today are doing, just move forward and keep trying. If you do that you will break through. History is full of great success stories and I have no doubt that 100 years from now, students will be leaning about the year 2020 and the struggles, failures, and successes. In 2120 if a blog is still a thing, someone will probably write a story about how we came through the pandemic of 2020. KT

Leading

Career, Life

If you are leading people and you turn around and no one is following, you’re just going for a walk.

People need to be inspired to follow. Sometimes they can be forced, but more times than not, they need someone they believe in and can trust. People watch a leader and whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, they do what the leader does. They emulate the leader. If he/she comes in late every day, guess what, the people will come in late every day. If the leader says one thing but doers another, people notice. If the leader says don’t do this or that and turns around and does this or that, he/she can’t be disappointed when the people they are trying to lead do what he/she does.

Think of people you respect and may even want to pattern your life after. The thing all of them probably have in common is the don’t just talk a good game, they lead by example. Leading by example is probably the most impactful way to influence other people. Make no mistake, the greatest leaders have influence. It is a gift that is very valuable and there have been many people that had great influence and then squandered it through bad choices. Once you lose it, it is almost impossible to get it back.

Andy Stanley talks about the story we will tell of our life. To hear him say it, we all will have a story to tell our grand children about our lives and it is good is there are not parts we must leave out because of bad decisions. We all know Hollywood actors, athletes, politicians and even religious leaders that had great influence and could have accomplished great things but made bad choices that cost them their influence. After that they are most known by their mistakes and not the message.

Choose well and if you are a leader and have some influence, be careful to protect it, shield it and insulate it from harm because it is a gift. KT

Distractions

Career, Family, Life

Distractions can often be well,,,,, distractions to your daily plan. They can come in many forms from small children to teenage children, phone calls, unwanted emails, your spouse doing something, noises, neighbors, package delivery and the list could go on and on.

Someone said to me recently, “there are so many distractions now but one day, I won’t have distractions and will wish I had them back.” What a profound statement for a young person to say. This person realized that while distractions are maybe a little irritating now, they are also the gift of life around them today. It lets them know they are alive.

There will come a time when there are limited or no distractions. It is called old age. No more deliveries, no one needing your opinion, the house is quiet, the phone isn’t ringing and there is no one wanting your time. When you are young and the distractions surround you, just be thankful (as hard as it may be) that you have them. KT

Fumbling around

Career

I have this friend who is young and just started a new sales job in commercial real estate. He has been at it for about a month now and for some reason (I don’t why,) he thinks of me as his mentor, so he copies me on much of what he is doing and how he is doing it.

He is making so many mistakes in his approach I have lost count. I have rewritten many emails for him and even helped him on a few zoom calls and he just fumble around and to the untrained eye, he looks like he will never make it.

That is to the untrained eye. To my eye, he is a breath of fresh air and tenacious enough that he will make it. Frankly, he reminds me of myself that first year selling hotels. I didn’t know anything about hotels other than they had beds and a bathroom. I didn’t understand any of the economic factors and didn’t even know how to talk intelligently to someone. What I did do right was, I didn’t wait until I had all the answers before I started. I guess you could say, I got a double PhD quickly in hotel real estate. See, that’s what happens when you just go for it. This young friend of mine is just going for it.

Over the years, I have worked with some of the brightest professionals that never could get out of their own way. They felt as though they had to know the answers before they would get started. Many of them never got started and went on to some other line of work.

I could be wrong, but I think people see someone really trying (even though they don’t know anything) and they subconsciously want to help him. It almost endears them to the person. That is what is happening with this friend of mine. I wouldn’t put it past him that he hasn’t already called Donald Trump. Ha. He is fearless and that is a quality that will help him throughout his whole career. He will call anyone that will answer the phone and you got love a kid that just fumbles around because he will quickly learn the business and all those clients, he called early, will remember him. Never forget that people hire and work with people they like and trust. Seeing this young broker fumble around and making calls and getting in front of people could be used as a quick start training program. Give them a business card and phone and let them figure it out. They will figure it out much faster that way than taking three years to learn the answers before they even start. KT

Repairing or Preparing

Career, Family, Life

Most people spent today either repairing the mistakes they made yesterday or preparing for what they will do tomorrow. The problem is they forget about what needs doing today. Today is a gift and its powerful because yesterday is a memory and tomorrow may not come. When you get down to it in life, today, is really all we have. Right now, is really all we have because we don’t even know for sure we will even be alive tonight.

I have these cards that I write my things-to-do list on and I have been using these cards since 1990. I order them along with a yearly planner pad that covers each week of the year. At home in my office I have 30 years of these planner pads and I could tell you with with some level of certainly where I was and possibly what I was doing on any give day since 1990.

On the daily cards, I write out all the things I want to do that day and then go back and number them in priority of importance. Many days I barely get half of the things accomplished and then move the unfinished items over to the next day. I really try to manage myself to stay on track and do what is the most important first and not just what is easiest to check off.

It is human nature to subconsciously want to save the harder things till tomorrow and do the easier things today. It takes real resolve to tackle the hard things today instead of putting them off till another day.

Today is a gift and tomorrow while hoped for, is not promised. Any leadership book you read will speak about the importance of today and being your best today and using your time today in the most efficient manner. Whatever you do (work, play, family) do it with all you have. Listen to your children and focus on their little faces while they talk to you. Let them know you are listening. When your spouse talks, listen and let them know you understand. When you work, do it so everyone around you respects you and when you go home at night, turn that cell phone off and be there in that moment even if it is just hanging out with your family. When the good lord calls you home, trust me when I tell you, it will be the moments with your family you will remember last. It won’t be that client dinner or that work proposal. No, it will be those moments when you are one on one with your child reading them a bedtime story or watching a movie with your spouse.

Use today for what it was meant for. Being there. KT