Remember that your employees are the experts. I also listen to my people. I know that I don’t have all the answers, and they are specialists in their own area. So I listen to them, and if their strategiessound right to me, then I say, ‘Let’s go.’
I ask questions of my nine direct reports, but they know my styleand that’s to let them do their thing but to keep me informed.
It goes back to letting them do what they do in their specialtyarea. A lot of people try to dot somebody’s I’s and cross their T’s, Idon’t do that. We work together, and it works out. When they seethat I come to them for the answers in their area, that builds upchemistry and allows them to do their job without fear.
Fix the message, not the messenger. I don’t shoot the messenger. Youhave to take any news, good or bad, and listen to it. When I heargood news, I don’t jump up and down and wave the flag — samewith the bad news. If something could go bad, it’s better to hearabout it early and maybe cut it off, and that means you have toknow what’s going on. So if we have potential of stopping it, let’sstop it. Come talk to me, and I’ll listen to the problem, and we’ll gofrom there.
Maintain the company’s chemistry when hiring people. Basically, my philosophy on hiring is to bring in the best people I can while keepingchemistry. I interview them, but I have other people interviewthem as well because chemistry is very, very important.
We’ve had situations in the past where the person did not getalong with the other direct reports that I have, and they have to allget along or it doesn’t work right. It doesn’t matter if you are hiringa leasing person or a construction person, they have to get alongwith other people because they’ll all have to work together.
Understand your niche. First, you have to understand your product.At PIER 39, we’re dealing with the public. If you are in manufacturing, it’s a different audience, but we’re dealing with customers,so we need to know our product. I have to understand my directreports and their responsibility, and I have to understand the customer.
We take surveys twice a year basically asking the same questionsso we can compare ourselves this year to the year before and theyear before that. One of the questions asks if they are satisfied withPIER 39. We can use that to reinforce that what we’re doing for ourcustomers is right. We don’t go out and celebrate that, but it’s aconfirmation of our success. We have to focus on our customer.From marketing to leasing, we want to get tenants in here that ourcustomers really like, and we have to understand them to do that.
HOW TO REACH: PIER 39, (415) 705-5500 or www.pier39.com