- Paperback: 216 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; First Editiion edition (Oct 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0066621143
- ISBN-13: 978-0066621142
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.5 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 118,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Since taking over the business from his father in 1964, J. w. Marriott has moved from triumph to triumph, building an international chain that includes more than 1,000 hotels, and making Marriott one of the most recognized names in the hospitality industry.
Now, for the first time ever, Marriott explains the unique management philosophy that brought him this enormous success. Written in an informal first-person narrative that's both engaging and easy to read, The Spirit to Serve distills his years of hard-earned wisdom and experience into a practical blueprint that anyone wishing to emulate his achievements can follow. It includes tips on how to motivate employees, nurture in-house talent, and cultivate customer loyalty, as well as invaluable advice on handling growing pains, understanding the big picture, and knowing when to take risks. Packed with numerous real-life examples that illustrate his principles, The Spirit to Serve is vital reading for all CEOs, middle managers, and department supervisors. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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"The true test of civilization" declared American essavist Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1870, "is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops-no, but the kind of man the country turns out" Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"The true test of civilization" declared American essavist Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1870, "is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops-no, but the kind of man the country turns out" Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Spirit to Serve Marriott's Way" tells everything from day one up to the present about Marriott Hotel's chain. A family run business, they diversified into a plethora of other business areas, making mistakes as they went.
From hotels, to fast food outlets, right through to airline catering - and all the way back again - this sets out how they went about it, and where they went wrong.
For a book of this kind, you wouldn't normally use the word 'gripping' -- however, I had the pleasure of staying at a Marriott in July 2000, where they had placed a copy into every hotel room.
A recommended, if slightly unusual, read.
Format:Paperback
Highly entertaining and readable history of how the Marriot Hotel chain was conceived and developed. It also serves as a useful reference work for good business practice.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
17 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Excellent business advice
22 Jun 2001
Format:Paperback
I stayed at a Marriott in Denver last week and found a copy of this book in the nightstand. I expected it to be hogwash and instead found it to be the most useful business book I've ever read. It is a quick read (about 150 pages, not the 240 mentioned in the Amazon catalog). It is entertaining without being self-indulgent and informative without being preachy. The anecdotes revealed an appropriate level of introspection (my one quibble is that Mr. Marriott claims that his family and faith come before business and yet also describes himself as a workaholic). I'm not in the hospitality industry and yet I found dozens of parallels to my own business (computer software and book publishing). Most interesting were the frank assessments of Marriott's business mistakes. He truly used them as an opportunity to learn. The book is chock full of excellent and thought-provoking strategies and totally devoid of the cheesy buzzwords so prevalent in, say, the latest Tom Peters books. Although I have no association with Marriott, the book will cause me to examine the entire service industry in a new light.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Sound advice from an industry leader
17 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
In The Spirit To Serve, Bill Marriott offers advice on how to develop the type of management basics and solid core values that made his company an industry leader. These ideas are neither new nor radical. They are the simple lessons that Mr. Marriott has learned during his lifetime tenure at Marriott.
· Take a hands-on approach to your firm. Don't sit at your desk. Walk around your facility and interact with your employees. Make sure they know that you care about what they do.
· Managing well depends on listening well. Cultivate patience and keep an open mind when listening to ideas from employees and customers.
· Give your employees the tools they need to work. Make sure employees are properly trained for their jobs. After training, make sure there are support systems in place to assist employees.
· Offer exceptional employee incentives. Marriott has offered employees a toll-free consultation service, profit-sharing programs, promotion from within and several recognition programs.
· Encourage teamwork among workers. Create an environment in which the rewards of working together outweigh the rewards of individual interest.
· Don't take your partners for granted.
· Discover what works best and do it. Develop detailed standard operating procedures. The right way of doing things is worth making a habit.
· Balance who you are with where you are going. Maintain order within your organization while embracing change.
· Don't let growing pains destroy what you have built. Stay close to the daily grind of your business during periods of growth. Keep a close eye on quality control.
· Don't waffle over decision making. Stand by the decisions you make.
· Learn to recognize boom and bust signals. Pay attention to colleagues, reports and other indicators in your industry to get a realistic picture of what is happening. Don't be overconfident.
· Take a hands-on approach to your firm. Don't sit at your desk. Walk around your facility and interact with your employees. Make sure they know that you care about what they do.
· Managing well depends on listening well. Cultivate patience and keep an open mind when listening to ideas from employees and customers.
· Give your employees the tools they need to work. Make sure employees are properly trained for their jobs. After training, make sure there are support systems in place to assist employees.
· Offer exceptional employee incentives. Marriott has offered employees a toll-free consultation service, profit-sharing programs, promotion from within and several recognition programs.
· Encourage teamwork among workers. Create an environment in which the rewards of working together outweigh the rewards of individual interest.
· Don't take your partners for granted.
· Discover what works best and do it. Develop detailed standard operating procedures. The right way of doing things is worth making a habit.
· Balance who you are with where you are going. Maintain order within your organization while embracing change.
· Don't let growing pains destroy what you have built. Stay close to the daily grind of your business during periods of growth. Keep a close eye on quality control.
· Don't waffle over decision making. Stand by the decisions you make.
· Learn to recognize boom and bust signals. Pay attention to colleagues, reports and other indicators in your industry to get a realistic picture of what is happening. Don't be overconfident.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
An Excellent Book About Business Principles
21 Aug 2001
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed this book. I was vacationing at a Marriott Hotel and actually bought this book I wanted to read it so much (even though I thought it should just be given away to the guests). It did not disappoint me. As one of the other reviewers noted, it was a well-written, easy read.
Mr. Marriott inspired me with the business tips contained in the book. I especially enjoyed reading about the checklists that Marriott Hotels uses in its business. I really like checklists too. Why invent the wheel everytime you want to do something? Why try to remember all of the steps needed to complete a task, such as making up a room at a Marriott Hotel? Why not just find out what works and put it on paper?! In this way, a business can create a standardized process that can be taught to its employees, instead of relying upon each individual's whim. This idea is also discussed in Michael Gerber's excellent book, The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.
I also enjoyed reading J. W. Marriott, Jr's criticisms of his father's way of making decisions (I also thought it was interesting that he was so negative with regard to his father, in a published book). Jr. said that his father fretted too much about decisions and basically drove himself crazy. Jr. says in this book that one should not try to make a perfect business decision. That involves too much angst and is a waste of time. One should gather the necessary information to make an informed decision as best as one can, then actually make the decision. The price of pefection is prohibitive.
I hope you find this book as enjoyable and as inspiring as I did.
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