Can Do!

You don’t have to live in Fargo or near flood waters to be a victim of disaster. I have learned a lot about disaster and about people in this last week.

One kind of people I had the privilege of working with this last week are those with a “can do” attitude. If three million sandbags need to be filled, they “can do.” If twenty five miles of dikes need to be constructed, they “can do.” If we need to add another two feet to the base and foot to the top of every dike, they “can do.” If their cell phones ring at 3:00AM with an emergency call to action, they “can do.”

Unfortunately, although a small minority, there is a group of people that are comfortable with “somebody will do it.” When the call goes out for action, they don’t really worry because “somebody will do it.” When the radio announces that 30 people are needed to shore up levees at the end of their own block, they don’t worry because “somebody will do it.” When engineers and officials announce that levees and dikes look good, they are relieved that “somebody did it.”

I think that we all work with both of these kinds of people. Hopefully the “can do” people are in the great majority as well. When our disaster is the financial markets and declining hotel demand, we go into action. If desk shifts need to be worked to reduce hourly labor, we “can do.” If every call coming into the hotel needs to be converted to a sale, we “can do.” If every room needs to be cleaned a bit faster with the same high standards to reduce spending, we “can do.” If maintenance tasks normally hired out need to be handled internally to save money, we “can do.” If all of these things and more need to happen to ensure the survival of our company, we “can do.”

Imagine if everyone in our company was a “can do” person. What if every person you and I work with considered it their personal responsibility to do whatever it takes to meet the demands of the guests, our teams and our company? Those are the kinds of people we should choose to work with. Those are the kinds of people that make us better.

I hope that when we all look at ourselves we know that either we “have done” or we “will do” because we are “can do” people.

Please view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcMZ_0guIgE


*********************************************************************************