Quality Over Quantity, Especially as You Get Older

I recently went to Guam with the wife and kid to spend Christmas on the island. It was a wonderful one week. I will write about the actual vacation later on probably this week.

Left: No. Right: Yes!

When the vacation ended, on the flight back to Japan, on a US carrier that claims to be "a premium airlines"... I noticed that all the flight attendants were male and, well, unattractive... They were all older men, as a matter of fact. I'd guess our main cabin attendant was at least 55-years-old, had all white hair and a beard and was about 50 pounds overweight. It wasn't pleasant at all and, pardon my sexist tendencies, but I'd prefer to see a charming young lady or even a charming young man as our cabin attendant. (Caveat: I don't think seeing overweight older women attendants is pleasant either - we had those on the flight to Guam.)


I don't want to see a fat old man, especially several of them, servicing our flight. I know that idiotic US labor laws and unionization of the work place have made an environment whereby older people are "protected" but I actually think that, in many ways, this is bad for business. And when it's bad for business, it's bad for all employees, not just one. I wonder how making the user experience less satisfying helps with sales? Follow that train of thought with how decreasing sales can be good for anyone.

Like I said, these kinds of labor laws and unionization have greatly helped to hurt western businesses. Protecting people due to seniority is a very bad idea (Japan used to do this at the office place - bad enough. But when dealing with the public do you hire beautiful people or old and fat people?) When people feel protected by a group, rather than their own good efforts at being their best, then their work quality drops, and they become lazy. Do you need proof of this?  Just go to any US Postal Service office anywhere in America anytime of the day and you can see a prime example of this.


Image is everything in business today. There isn't a person alive who would prefer flying an airline that has old and overweight flight attendants over an airline that has young and beautiful people handing customer service. Because that's what flight attendants are: customer service. When union rules or protecting the rights of the individual take precedence over the total welfare of the company (read: all employees) then there is a definite problem.

This girl is a real stewardess for a China based carrier. 

Her name is Sun Qing.

That's what they're supposed to look like.

That, for example, Asian carriers do not have to deal with this sort of union rules and can hire pretty stewardesses or handsome stewards shows that they understand that image and perceptions are crucially important and that those perceptions of the customer and customer comfort comes first. That's one of the big reasons for the success of these airlines.

Some western airlines still "get it"

But I digress. This is not a post about idiotic labor rules in the west. It is a post about committing yourself to quality over quantity as you get older (that includes looks too if you are a flight attendant, stewardess, waitress, in customer relations at a private firm, on TV, etc. etc.)


I used to ride the very early morning train into Tokyo a few years back. There, everyday, I met an older German gentleman. His name was Karl, he was 65-years-old, and he was the head chef for all the Westin Hotels in all of Asia. He was in Japan at the time to help set up the in-house restaurants and catering for the new Westin Hotel just built near Ebisu station in Tokyo. Even though Karl was 65, he was an extremely friendly and energetic guy. Karl was running up the stairs full speed to catch the connecting train every morning until I showed him an easier way. I'm a nice guy like that!

Karl and I would ride the train together and he had many good stories to tell about his job. I love talking with people and by letting them talk, I get to learn many things. Karl was so enthusiastic about his job. Even though he was head chef, his area of true expertise was in making pastries. He'd often tell me about having to make several hundred pies, tarts or cakes... The part that always surprised me was how he would go into details about costs and time spent per unit of pie. I'd ask about making soups or roasting large birds, and Karl would always say the same thing,


"We have to carefully calculate the costs of gas and electricity for cooking and preparation time in order to judge if it is economical to create the dish for several hundred guests. Everything must be calculated down to the last penny to make sure that we don't run over costs."


Hell, that really surprised me. Whenever I roast a turkey at home, I just open a bottle of wine, start drinking and fire up the oven without a care in the world. Calculating the cost of the gas and electricity in order to roast the bird?! I wouldn't even know where to begin.


Karl had cooking down to a science.

Karl also had great advice for work as he mentioned to me that he was about to retire. He said, 


"Mike, as you get older, you must always be concerned with these costs, but you must mostly be concerned with having your name associated with quality. When we are young, there are many in our same field of work. But as we get older, the field of people doing our job narrows down to just a few..."


I asked him how many people in the world there were like him and he told me that there were only three like him who knew how to go into a country and set up a large hotel and organize the entire kitchen, room, service, restaurants, bars and train the staff and set up the accounting procedures for all food and drink related services. Wow! Think about that! Only three guys in the entire world and, of course, they all know each other...


Karl continued,


"That's is why, Mike, as you get older, you must concentrate on quality and delivering the best. If you decide to concentrate on quantity, you will lose. Because when it comes to a quantity issue, then you start dealing with lower quality... You will not be able to beat a younger competitor... You will not be able to beat a McDonald's."


I've always remembered what Karl told me. That's why I want to do quality work and not half-assed work.


Now, think about that. How does this relate to our 55-year-old flight attendant? Who is happy with that? I'm sure the customers aren't. And if the customers aren't, then I imagine that translates into a lower repeat and customer loyalty and return customer base... Hell, think about that poor guy too. Do you think he is happy being a flight attendant for 30 some years? I don't.


He should have moved up to management of flight attendants long ago. But he didn't... His just so-so service also gave me a hint as to why he didn't climb the ladder long ago. To give an example, I was wearing a headband made from the leaf of a palm tree given to me by a local and I was on a flight from Guam and the guy said to me,


"What's that? Is that headband some sort of religious item?" I smiled and  said, "no!" but thought, 


"Duh! What's it look like? We're on a flight from Guam. You know; Guam. It's a south seas tropical Pacific island. As in palm and banana trees, beaches, sand, sunsets, local people... This isn't rocket science. If we were returning from Hawaii would he ask me what the flowers around my neck were?"

Anyway, the point is clear: As we get older the thing that sets us apart from the rest is our experience gained. If we do not use this experience to better our game all the while doing as energetic a job as a youngster would do, then we are setting ourselves up for a bad situation.


Remember folks, when it comes to your personal branding: Quality beats quantity any day.

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EXTRA: Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man - Thanks to diego.a

Sometimes You Do Have to Put Your Foot Down? Maybe Not!

I've been re-reading Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friend's and Influence People" for the umpteenth time.  I must be a poor reader because I am guilty of doing what Carnegie says not to do:


Be an as*hole and jump on other people (who are acting like as*holes). Of course, Carnegie is a great writer so he doesn't say it as eloquently as I do.


I'd like to take this short post and use it to remind myself how criticizing people - especially in front of others - is one of the worst things you can do.


I run a talent agency. Of course there are a very many people, "Talent," who work there. "Talent" are often very insecure people. Of course they are... They are in a very insecure job in a very insecure business that could end at any time... Not only could it end at any time, but there are no guarantees; you could have a job today and be out of a job tomorrow.


It's kind of like being a professional sports athlete: You'd better have your act together or you are done real soon. Half-assed people need not apply.


I've also worked as a producer, general manager and company president and founder. I've even taken a company that lost $140 million dollars in ten years, turned it around and put it into profitability within 2 years. Of course I didn't do that alone, I had a great team and was smart enough to get great people around me.


I'm doing the same at my newest venture: I may not be an expert in the tech field or even a top quality salesman or expert in our field, but I am expert enough to get the best people around me who do know what they are doing. And I am smart enough to know how to motivate people to do and be their best.


The ideas in "How to Win Friend's and Influence People" have worked to help me over an over so many times that I can't count them all. At my new venture, I have one of the best technical engineers on my staff... Even so, I suspect that this gentleman isn't very happy with the direction things are going.


You see, as a technical engineer and creator, this gentleman is an artist. Often, in the course of business, we have to make decisions that accommodate business and profitability over creativity. This sometimes leads towards unhappiness amongst the creative staff. I have suspected that this person might be dis-satisfied and wanting to quit.


What to do?


Of course, appreciation and sincere compliments are in order. And, of course, these should be done in the presence of others. Before a meeting started this morning, I arose and said, 


"The other day, I was at Apple Japan. There, I met the director of marketing for all of Apple Asia. I showed him our new service and he was mightily impressed. He told me that our service was a winner and that we were sure to succeed... I told him that I believe that we can because we have the best staff and engineers in all of Japan."


And, this was a true story. I could have said to the Apple boss,


"Yes. Thank you." And not chosen to compliment my staff, but I saw the opportunity to be able to pass on praise where praise was past due. Relating this story in front of the engineer to the entire company staff made him blush with pride. That's what I wanted to do. It was honest and sincere praise spoken in a humble manner.


Do you think that made him proud? Do you think that motivated him to do more?


Of course it did. Praise is a powerful motivator and people - all people - desperately desire to be recognized and appreciated for their efforts. Nothing beats sincere praise, especially if it is delivered in front of other people...


I also overheard a story about how an executive belittled one of his staff in front of other people the other day. The person on the receiving end of this criticism told me she was so embarrassed and ashamed. She didn't feel good at all and she told me that she wanted to quit.


Nothing will earn your scorn more than criticizing your staff in front of others. It is a self-defeating process. Do you think that girl will work harder for this boss? If she, and every one else loses their motivation, how does that help this boss?


Nothing will earn you more respect and admiration from your staff, and getting more out of them, than praising them in public as much as possible and always thanking them for your success.

I believe, as my dear old dad used to say, "You can catch as many flies with sugar as you can with sh*t! So why give people sh*t?"

He's right. You can get great results with praise. You can never make yourself look better by criticizing others.  

You can motivate ordinary people to do great things by utilizing this basic understanding of the human psychology and human mind.  


I see this psychology at work in the sports and sports marketing business. I rarely see it in action in the music business. Perhaps because, sports are almost always a team effort. Music is often a dog eat dog competition between individuals. Sports is almost always a team effort. 


In the last month have had the experience of working with people inside a huge 20,000 person concert event and a 20,000 person sports event. I was behind the scenes of both events. I saw how people were treated and how the management structures were set up.


All I can really say is that I get the distinct impression that the people working in the sports marketing field are of much higher quality and much more intelligent and competent than the people working in music. It makes sense too, when you stop to think about it:


In high school, especially in Japan, a certain group of kids leaned towards music and a different group levitated towards sports. Of course not everyone, but it seems to me that the kids who studied the hardest and got the best grades moved to sports. Since they studied hard and did sports, they got good grades and went to good universities. There, after that, the got good jobs hat paid well.


Musicians and music people? Hmmm? Am I confused when I say that not too many musicians even go to college?


Anyway, I digress... The point is not a comparison of the quality of the average worker in the sports market versus the average worker in the music business. The point is that, after witnessing two very different world's: One through a sports event and one through a music event, I can say that motivating your people as a team - like a sports organization - is a much better way to increase your chances of success, whether your business is music, sports, fashion, whatever...


Winning teams are built on respect and pride... You won't get it criticizing people. Criticism is no way to motivate people. It your own worst enemy. Don't do it. Praise people and make them feel good. 


Praising your staff is just smart business!