Ep. 14 The Stern Truth: Business & Life Lessons From a Lifeguard

I share one of the most transformational moments in my leadership journey in this episode of “The Stern Truth”. I had a powerful encounter with a hotel lifeguard named José who completely changed my thoughts on leadership. We often focus heavily on marketing and attracting new customers in business, but fail to deliver consistent excellence throughout the customer experience.

This young lifeguard José went far beyond his job description, helping my anxious daughter, picking up after others, and creating an exceptional customer experience that kept my family returning for years. This powerful story shows how leadership is more than the title you have and lies in the actions you take when nobody's watching.

For entrepreneurs struggling with employee management and customer retention, I explain how finding and nurturing this "Jose mindset" can transform your company culture and create growth. This mindset serves as a business lesson to demonstrate why customers return to businesses - simply put, they feel valued and cared for.

Here’s a challenge for fellow small business owners: instead of focusing on marketing, create memorable EXPERIENCES for customers. This is how you develop a leadership mindset and build the kind of business that customers can't wait to return. 

Tune in to this episode to learn how to master your own "Jose mindset", no matter what title you have. Exceptional leadership starts, and ends, with an exceptional customer experience.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] So before we get into this very special episode, I want to give you a very special invitation. If you're not quite where you want to be in your business, I invite you to come as my guest and check out our next Momentum Mentorship Accountability Group. All you need to do is send me an email to marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:00:23] That's marshall@marshallstern.net, and we'll get you signed up for our next group session. Now sit back and enjoy this special episode on business and life lessons from a lifeguard. Enjoy.

[00:00:45] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows I've been there, and I get it.

[00:01:06] This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:28] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:01:31] Alright, welcome back to another episode of The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And today I want to share with you probably, the single most transformational moment in my life when it came to leadership and how it changed my view on what being a leader was. I'm going to tell you a story.

[00:01:54] Before I get into the story. I want you to really listen to the story, whether you're a small business owner who has employees, or you're thinking about having employees, and you're just a solopreneur right now. You are going to find not just value from this episode, but I think there's going to be some really strong, juicy golden nuggets that you can take and apply in your business right now, even just for yourself, if you have employees, even more so for them.

[00:02:26] So grab a piece of paper and a pen and really listen to the story, because I find too many business owners, like we talked about in episode two, why marketing can fail you, too many business owners spend all this money on sales and marketing activities to attract their clients, and then they lose them at some point through the process once they've attracted them because they through.

[00:02:53] Clients or the prospects are trying to open the door, whether it's an online shop or a, a website or a physical bricks and mortar business and the door's not opening, or the people who open the door aren't friendly and they're not serving properly. They're in a bad mood or the maybe the front end, the customer service people are doing their job.

[00:03:13] But the product fulfill when people aren't, or maybe they're even doing their job, but then on the end, the shipping people, they're just throwing the packages or whatever it is onto your doorstep or on your at to your business or not wrapping things properly. And the service, at some point it breaks down and you're not getting a really good service or a really good product.

[00:03:35] And what happened about, I think it was about 13 years ago, again, changed everything for me. We used to take my kids down to California for holidays. This one year I get, like I said, about 13 years ago, we decided to go and stay for the first time at, the hotel’s called the Grand Champions in Indian Wells, California, just outside of Palm Desert, which is just outside of Palm Springs and we get there at night.

[00:04:08] We sign them up, we find out there's a camp I found out beforehand and I had told the kids about it. My daughter probably was eight at the time or seven, and my son was five or six. They said they would do it. My daughter though, was a little bit nervous. She had a little bit of separation anxiety, but I said we're only going to try it for a few hours.

[00:04:27] Because they had a half day and a full day option. So I said, we'll just go and you'll go for from nine to 12 and you're going to have fun. There's movies, there's games, there's the slide, the pool, all that kind of stuff. Lots of activities keep you busy and arts and crafts and all this stuff, which she liked. So I take her, her and my son down the first morning and she's already very nervous.

[00:04:48] And we walk into the room, uh, where this camp was, and there's the one instructor she was, looks like she, she had her hands full. She was signing like she had to put eight or nine kids around her young kids. They're all like below stages of nine or, or 10 or 11 or something like that. She's busy signing them all in.

[00:05:07] She really didn't even, couldn't make eye contact with us because she was just so busy and my daughter in that moment really got nervous and just squeezed my hand and wouldn't let me go. And I said to her, I said, you, your brother's fine. You're with him. Everything will be okay. We're going to sign you in.

[00:05:24] And then, you know, mom and I are going to go hang out by the pool. We're going to go do this, but we're going to be, we're not leaving the property. We're right here and we'll come get you in a few hours. She got very, very nervous. And the main, the instructor, it was just the one instructor really didn't notice this because she was so, so busy.

[00:05:42] So that wasn't a really good start at the time, but it was all happening so quick. That if it ended there, that would've probably altered our view of the vacation. The front staff, the front desk staff was fine. You know, checking in all that kind of stuff. So far so good. The rooms were nice so far, everything was good, but in that moment, something could have not happened.

[00:06:04] That did happen. But if it did this first thing that I'm about to tell you, if it didn't happen, our entire trip would've probably changed. What happened was, there was another employee from the hotel who was wearing, like a Royal blue, same as the camp counselor. Same shirt, like a golf shirt, Royal blue golf shirt, and his name was José.

[00:06:26] So he had the pin and said, hi Grand Champions. José comes up to us, sees that my daughter is struggling, and he comes up to her and, and he asks her what her name is and she tells him and he kneels down by her. Okay. because she's small. And he says, hi, nice to meet you. My name is José and we're going to have so much fun today.

[00:06:48] And then he says to her, do you, what do you like to do for fun? And she was talking like arts and crafts or whatever. And he shows her, he goes, oh my gosh, you're going to love it here. Look what we have here. Look what we have here. And he said, in order for you to have so much all this fun and then we can see a movie and whatever and go to the pool.

[00:07:05] We can go by the pool. You have to let your daddy go up to the room so that you can have the fun. because the fun doesn't start until the parents leave, but he'll come get you in just a couple hours, in a few hours. And she's still very nervous and he keeps talking to her and he asks her what other, her other hobbies are, what she likes to do.

[00:07:26] And he's like literally kneeling down with her. So he's at her level, meeting her at her level, and I was witnessing all this. And he could see she was calming down. She was warming up and she was smiling and she was talking to him and she gives me a look and he nods and he goes like. It's time to go.

[00:07:49] Not a big deal. I get up, I go, he continues to talk with her. They're coloring, they're doing all these arts and crafts. My son's off playing. It didn't really matter. And I thought, wow, this guy's really a good camp counselor. Like, thank God he's in the camp, because this wouldn't have happened and it could've ended there and that would've been amazing.

[00:08:08] That's the experience I'm talking about. He walked in to this room and he knew, he saw, he felt. That there was a challenge with my daughter letting go of me. Oh yes. A camp counselor should be trained like that and they, this is what their job is and they're supposed to get the kids comfortable so the parents can go and have fun and the kids can have fun.

[00:08:29] All that kind of stuff. Right. So I go back up to the room, we get ready, we go, my wife and I go down. We have breakfast. I think we went first for a massage or something on the, on the property. We definitely didn't leave the property this first time. Didn't leave the property. And then I think we just hung by the pool.

[00:08:44] Pick up the kids at 12. They had a blast. We go by the pool after lunch and again, and I see José, the one who helped my daughter get settled on the lifeguard stand. And I walk over to him and I said, you're the guy who helped my daughter. Thank you very much. And I was like, puzzled. And I said, I thought you worked for the camp.

[00:09:08] I thought you were like one of the camp counselors. And he goes, no, I'm the lifeguard. And I said, oh, well why were you helping us? And he said, because I walked in the room to get something and I noticed that you and your daughter were having a challenge separating that she wasn't comfortable, that she was nervous and I wanted to help.

[00:09:31] And I said, is that part of your job? He goes, no, I'm the lifeguard. And I went, Hmm. I said, well, that's above and beyond. I said, I want to thank you. because my kids had a really good time, my daughter had a really good time, and they want to come back tomorrow for the full day. And he is like, glad I could help.

[00:09:49] They're good kids, they're really good kids, and we're going to have fun even this afternoon because he was the lifeguard. Next gig, next day happens and. She's fine. She goes to the camp and in the afternoon I see him picking up all these, like later in the day, walking around the pool, picking up towels, picking up bottles or glasses and food trays or whatever.

[00:10:11] And I go up to him and I said, this is part of your job? And he goes, no, but I don't like to see a mess around here. I want to just do my part, help out wherever I can. And I said, so here, let me get this straight. You are the lifeguard. And he, at this point, I mean there was no one in the pool where, where he was lifeguard.

[00:10:33] So it's not like he was taking his eye off of that. He was alert of every, everything. I said, you're the lifeguard. Your job is to manage. Manage the pool, make sure everyone's safe. Yet here you are. While you're doing that, you're also helping pick up. Towels and bottles and stuff around here because someone else failed to do their job.

[00:10:56] So you're helping out. And before the pool even had opened, you're helping me and my daughter get settled because you wanted to, because you saw something. You saw that we were having a challenge and you didn't need to do any of this. And he goes, no, but it's just the way I am. I want to help out. So here's the thing.

[00:11:19] He was a lifeguard. A lifeguard. Not the camp counselor, not the pool boy. He didn't have to do any of this. Okay? So at the end of our trip, I'm going to wrap this up. At the end of our trip, I went up to him. I said, José, thank you so much. I want to thank you so much because you have made this trip so enjoyable for all of us.

[00:11:46] And I said, I just really have a question because I've managed people. I have a business. I've had a business for a long time, and at this point I had just started coaching and mentoring small business owners, and I had just gone through some leadership coaching programs and I said, I just don't understand why you're so different than everyone else.

[00:12:06] You're like, what, 18, 19, or something like that? Why do you care so much and you're a lifeguard? Why do you care about everything? Helping here? Helping there where you don't have to? And he said, because I love this place. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be employed by this company. They treat me well and I want to be there for the guests wherever I can.

[00:12:31] These people are here to have a good time, and I want to help them because I grew up not having this type of life. I grew up wanting this. I want to help people have it. I am grateful I never had jobs like this before. I'm grateful for this opportunity and it makes me happy that my friends is leadership.

[00:12:56] We went back to this hotel for the next several years because of José. Now, yes, they had the camp and he really wasn't part of the camp. He was a lifeguard, but every year we went back, the first thing we would do is run up and see José, who was still there for a couple years until he had, he had moved on and we were excited to see him.

[00:13:18] My kids were excited to see him. My friends, you can hire employees who are really good at their job. They're really skillful of whatever your business is. If they don't have the José in them, that's what they will be. They'll just do their job. If they have any contact with the customer or with even coworkers.

[00:13:44] This is leadership. If we can all just build a business centered around the mentality, the mindset that José had, I always say my definition of leadership. My family always says, I don't understand what you mean by it. My definition of leadership are the things you are doing when you don't think anyone's watching.

[00:14:05] That was José. He taught me that he didn't have big boss Hyatt watching him pick up the towels necessarily. He didn't have his big manager watching him help me and my daughter in the camp. This came from him. They didn't train him like that, but we as business owners have an opportunity to train our people to be like, José, these are business and life lessons that we can all take and move forward and be better for, whether it's in your business, whether it's in your own family or in your community.

[00:14:42] Help out go the extra mile. Bring people on your team who will do the same, show them the way forward. Talk to them about the José story because that's what's going to get people to come back time and time again. We can spend all the money on marketing. We can redo or relaunch our brand. We can go to networking events.

[00:15:05] We can do all the stuff to attract more clients. If we're not treating them like José treated us, the next time we could have gone somewhere else, we probably would not have gone back to the Hyatt. We would've gone somewhere else. I. Just because it was, there was nothing keeping us there. We were wowed by the experience, by José, by one person, by lifeguard.

[00:15:35] So what can you do in your business today to implement strategies? What can you do to today to change the mindset of yourself and everyone else in your company or as you grow your company, to be able to give that José experience and to be the leaders of ourselves and of our position? Leadership isn't a title.

[00:15:57] Leadership is a way of being connect with your people, with whether they're your staff, your employees, or your customers. Treat them like you want to be treated. Wow them. Give them a, give them an experience. Give them a reason to come back. That's how we build long-term sustainable businesses. I would love to hear your thoughts below.

[00:16:19] Please share. And comment. We'll see you again next week. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Momentum Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:16:45] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.