How I Thrived at a Company That Didn't Want to Hire me
How I Thrived at a Company That Didn't Want to Hire me
And why headquarters might be the least important part of a hotel company
How it started
Having left university with an unfinished Master’s Degree in Psychology, I was working as a ticket taker in a movie theatre in Norway when an ad in a newspaper caught my eye in 1987: "Security Guard - Five Star Hotel". I knew nothing about hotels or security, but the hotel was owned by an airline and I wanted to work in travel.
On the day of the interview, it dawned on me that I had never been in a luxury hotel.
A large, intimidating doorman, top hat adding to his height, white gloves, and a long flowing cape lined with gold trim was guarding the entrance to keep riff-raff like me out. Through the windows into the lobby, I could see impeccably dressed businessmen, (it was businessMEN in those days), a plush red carpet, and enough shiny brass to outfit the Ohio State Marching Band with new instruments.
It wasn’t my world.
It was a world that almost forced me to drop to my knees and yell, “You’re not worthy!”. I couldn’t force my feet to walk through the door and walked right past it.
Fortunately, there was a shopping arcade attached to the hotel. I went in, made my way to the front desk and announced my arrival for a job interview. Shortly thereafter, I was introduced to the Security Manager.
He was exactly like hotel security managers in the movies. Ex-cop, thinning grey hair, and a lit cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth. You could smoke indoors in those days.
“You’re too old and too educated”, he said, looking not at me but at my CV.
I was clueless about both hotels and security but nonetheless made a feeble attempt to convince him to hire me. His response?
“You have too many opinions!”
Let me admit that more than career planning, more than working hard, and more than tooting my own horn, luck played a key role in my corporate career.
My first stroke of luck arrived a week or so after the interview when the Security Manager phoned me.
“I don’t want to hire you”, he said, “but there was only one other applicant for the job. He can’t find an apartment in Oslo, so he’s withdrawn his application. We’re stuck with you.”
The security guard job was the only one I ever applied for during my thirty-year career at the company.
A few curious contradictions guided me along my three decades of service. I've chosen some quotes to help illustrate them.
SAY YES TO EVERYTHING...
“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later” – Sir Richard Branson
I was hired as a security guard and, as my career advanced, I always had safety and security as my core function. Security wasn't always viewed as "important enough" to be a full-time job at the corporate level. In the early years, I combined it with work in operations as well as with managing loyalty programmes, travel agent commission payment programmes, and the company’s database marketing programme. Taking on these additional roles, taught me how the company operated. It helped me understand how security was impacted by different areas of operation. It made me better at all of the roles I was tasked to fill.
Most importantly, saying yes to many roles, taught me although security was my job, hotels and hospitality were my business.
... BUT SAY NO TO THE BOSS
“You don’t need permission to do the right thing. No one can give you permission to do the wrong thing.” – “Jeb the Bootlegger” to Brooke Allen
On one of my first days on the job at the hotel, when I was still the least senior security guard on the roster, a manager asked me to take some crayons and paper from the hotel store room so he could take them home for his children. I said no.
Within a year or two, a competitor that offered much higher salaries seduced my boss and a number of my colleagues. The boss, who had changed his mind about whether I was a useful employee, wanted me to join them. I said no again.
Stealing is always wrong, and money is never a good motivator.
Maintaining personal integrity increases your chance of sustainable success.
FLEXIBLE yet STUBBORN
“The art of advocacy is to lead you to my conclusion on your terms.” – Adam Grant in Give and Take
A senior leader in the company once said to me “What I like best about you is that you have no ego, you’re completely flexible.” He meant it as a compliment…
I tried to have a positive approach to work and to others’ ideas, but I wasn’t a simple Yes-man. My positive responses were almost always, “Yes, but…” or “Yes, and…”
I have both an ego and a spine. I was born, raised, and now live again in a country that stereotypes say is populated with people that are very polite, tolerant, and are always saying sorry. That's not the whole truth though. It is also a country where dropping gloves and swinging fists is part of our national game.
Instead of physically fighting for my ideas, I was a strong advocate of the Carlson Credo when they owned the brands the hotel company operated around the world.
Saying no to the inevitable will get you nowhere, giving up is a poor option, but flexibility can help you find a door in the wall you are banging your head against if you are willing to step back and take a broader look at things.
A SQUEAKY INTROVERT
“Don't think of introversion as something that needs to be cured.” – Susan Cain in Quiet
“Paul, you should know by now, that no matter what, the squeaky wheel will always get the most grease.” Leading HR people have told me that.
You can’t just change your personality in the hope your alter ego will help advance your career. As an introvert that isn’t a supporter of “public squeaking”, I found other ways to be heard.
For example, I once wrote a memo to our senior management group on staying true to our core ethical values. The headline was “What if we’re the bad guys?” The CEO was in my office very early the next morning. Did he give me a pink slip and a boot out the door? No, he stuck out his hand, shook mine and said, “You’re the only guy that could ever write something like that. We need it. Thank you!”
In the corporate world, it can sometimes feel like you should keep your head down, keep your boss happy, and clap and smile like a North Korean parliamentarian when announcements are made by company leaders. In my experience, the slow and steady route, supporting those that led to our company’s success was a better way to go.
PROMOTION DOESN’T MAKE YOU MORE IMPORTANT
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
I told my corporate colleagues that we were the least important part of our business.
In some ways, it was true.
People think “headquarters” is the most important part of a company. It’s not. It’s a link in the chain. Every link has to be strong.
My role as head of security wasn’t to protect others.
It was to support others so they could take care of themselves and help us all to become stronger links in the chain.
While I was a hotel Security Manager in the early ‘90s a refugee was hired as a cleaner. His life experience caused him to fear security people. When he came to my office to empty the wastepaper bin, he was nervous, apologetic and shaking as he crept in and out as quickly as he could. Over time, he learned that I was simply his colleague and I learned that we shared a liking for country music. Years later, on a brief visit to that hotel, he was vacuuming near the lobby when I walked in. He dropped the vacuum, ran over, and gave me a huge hug.
“Look at you! Still headed for the stars! And look at me! I am still alive!”. Two colleagues, two links in a chain. That encounter remains one of my fondest career memories.
How it went
“Problems aren’t solved by heads stuck in sand,
We need to engage and reach out a hand
If luck helped get my career underway, caring passionately about the family that backed me up, the people I worked with, and the guests and employees we worked to support was what kept me going.
26 years after my hospitality career started, I was awarded the company’s highest individual honour. A Carlson Fellow.
Each award winner was introduced with a famous quote. Each award winner except me. Carlson Chair Diana Nelson introduced me with the rhyming lines above, extracted from an annual greeting I had sent to friends, family, colleagues and counterparts a few years prior.
The company that didn’t want to hire me in 1987 had just given me their highest individual achievement award.
Stay safe, Always Care
Thanks for reading 87 Stories - Lessons from the University of Life!
I’m Paul. Written with the clarity of hindsight, the accuracy of a faded memory, and countless creative liberties, 87 Stories is a journal of life lessons learned and how my “gap year” made me an emigrant, an immigrant, and gave me a life I’d never dreamed of.
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