Icon of Icons

In today’s egocentric lexicon the word “icon” is a sought after designation by wannabees of all stripes, its overuse begetting misuse. We hear the word so often that its significance has melted into a puddle of sameness and mediocrity. I mean, how many musical groups, buildings or brands of toothpaste can really be icons?

There is word now that on June 2nd the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration will bestow its inaugural “Icon of the Industry” award. The honoree: J. Willard Marriott, Jr.

The thing about true icons is that our memory of them never fades. Though I’ve spoken with Mr. Marriott only 3-4 times over a forty-year period, he is one of a handful of people who shaped my belief about positive employee relations.

When I was fifteen years old, toiling away at my first summer job, on a grill line at a Marriott Hot Shoppes snack bar on the New York State Thruway, one particularly hot day placed me at the intersection of two important events: the first, a major rush of business, brought about by the arrival at our tiny snack bar of a dozen busloads of hungry tourists headed for Montreal’s Expo’ 67; the second, an announced visit to our outpost by the new president of Marriott Corporation.

Fate intervened. As I was retrieving a soggy cardboard case of J. R. Simplot French fries from a temperamental under-counter freezer stuck on defrost, the door to the grill line swung open and Bill Marriott, accompanied by our manager, strode in. “Meet Mr. Marriott”, I remember our boss saying, just as the French fry box’s weight shifted and the contents of six, five-pound boxes of fries cascaded from the sagging bottom of the case, landing on Bill Marriott’s beautifully polished black shoes. Completely unfazed by this unplanned adornment Mr. Marriott stuck his hand in my direction, uttering the words that many other Marriott associates have heard: “Hi, I’m Bill Marriott”.

Fifteen years later, long after completing my education and while I was well into a labor relations job with Host International, the airport feeder, Marriott bought Host. During a visit to Marriott’s Bethesda, Maryland headquarters I found myself once again mano a mano with the chief executive. He had just stepped from an elevator as our paths crossed. I was wearing my nametag -- a rule for those of us from “the field” visiting Bethesda -- yet Mr. Marriott seemed not to notice. Instead he smiled, looking squarely at me. “Hi, Chuck. How have you been?” Was his legendary memory at work here? I didn’t care; I just felt honored to see him again.

At that moment I also felt the need to confess. I’d been the one who, many years earlier, had messed up his shoes. Did he remember? Laughing, Bill Marriott said, “Oh yes, but we didn’t hold it against you, did we?”

Of course, icons are not without controversy. Some feel that Marriott is just too big to be “real"; detractors portray its pro-employee stance as mere publicity to mask an anti-union animus. Nevertheless Marriott’s vaunted reputation as an employer of choice – it ranked #72 on Fortune’s 2008 100 Best Companies to Work For – remains a potent non-union weapon.

Self-effacing to his core Bill Marriott no doubt fails to give himself credit for the enormous impact his vision and values have had on others. I predict that, as he begins his remarks at the “Icon of the Industry” event, he will first thank his dad, J. Willard Marriott, Sr. and mom, Alice. He will no doubt say, as I heard him recite at company gatherings, that they deserve the credit we want to send his way; it was they, after all, who taught him the value of hard work and decency. His father also taught him attention to detail; I recall Bill saying that his dad had once interrupted an important phone call to complain to his son, the CEO, about a piece of litter he’d spotted in a hotel’s entryway.

There was yet another potent lesson a young Bill Marriott learned from his dad: always strive to improve performance. “Those who rest on their laurels,” the elder Marriott told his son, “are in danger of moving backward.”

Congratulations, Mr. Marriott. The word “icon” seems a natural synonym for your name.

Be honest and be well.

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