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Lesson #2: “Great companies are built by people who never stop thinking about ways to improve the business.”

Article Overview: Marriott was born into a household poor enough to know that success is never final. No matter how hard he worked, or how much he wanted something to work, the only thing Marriott could be assured of was that change was going to come. To that end, Marriott learned early on how to use that change to his advantage. He did it by focusing on innovation.

Lesson #2: “Great companies are built by people who never stop thinking about ways to improve the business.”

Marriott was born into a household poor enough to know that success is never final. No matter how hard he worked, or how much he wanted something to work, the only thing Marriott could be assured of was that change was going to come. To that end, Marriott learned early on how to use that change to his advantage. He did it by focusing on innovation.

Just as his father had taught him as a young boy herding sheep that it was up to him to figure out how to get done what he needed to, Marriott understood that if he was going to achieve success, it would mean relying on his own judgment and initiative. That is where he spent the next forty years directing his energy.

No matter how bad a situation seemed, Marriott tried as hard as he could to find the opportunity that he knew was there. Even during the Great Depression, when many restaurants were failing, Marriott believed that a low-cost restaurant could succeed against the odds. And, it did.

Even during WWII, when Marriott’s businesses were floundering just like the rest of the worlds’, Marriott turned his efforts to using his skills in whatever shape or form demand took. With experience in the food management industry, Marriott simply shifted his operations and began managing the food in war-production plant cafeterias until the bad times had passed over.

“Change is what puts life in your business and in your life,” said Marriott. “The customer needs change constantly, and your business and you have to change to meet those needs.”

That was the lesson Marriott learned all too well during the winter months with his root beer stand business. His one product, ice-cold root beer, sold great from May through September. “October rolled around and it got cold and rainy in Washington D.C.,” he recalled. “Nobody wanted ice-cold root beer.”

Instead of throwing in the towel, Marriott began to focus on what people did want. What could he sell that would not be affected by the slush and snow on the streets? Food, he decided. Marriott moved indoors and began whipping up Mexican specialties, thanks to his proximity to the Mexican embassy. Marriott’s Hot Shoppes began cooking and selling hot tamales, and chilli, and, of course, root beer. In the end, it proved to be a recipe that worked. “It was a very explosive menu,” said Marriott, “but it worked, and provided the foundation for one of the largest restaurant chains in the eastern United States.”

Marriott’s business had been forced indoors because of the weather, but it was there that it found an even greater niche. And, it was all because Marriott never stopped looking for ways to grow.

From there, Marriott only continued to expand. From restaurants, to airlines, to hotels, to theme parks, to even cruise ships, Marriott was on a never-ending quest for innovation, growth, and expansion.

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Article Tags: beer stand, cafeterias, food management, forty years, great depression, household, initiative, innovation, judgment, management industry, marriott, odds, restaurants, root beer, shape, sheep, throwing in the towel, war production, washington d c, wwii



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