The minute you do any layoffs, you might as well lay off the whole joint because everybody forgets about the customer and worries about their job security.
Interpretation
Layoffs can disrupt a company's focus on customer service, as employees become preoccupied with job security.
In this quote, Steve Wynn emphasizes the negative impact layoffs have on a company's culture and operations. He suggests that once layoffs are initiated, employees become fearful and distracted, leading them to prioritize their own job security over the needs of the customer, which ultimately undermines the business's success. This highlights the importance of maintaining a stable workforce for ensuring customer satisfaction and operational continuity.
In practice
In a staff meeting to discuss company strategies, you might reference this quote to highlight the importance of employee well-being.
I say don't overreact; cool your jets. Focus on things that you can control: your business, your employees' welfare, your guests, and the quality of the product that you dish up. Do that, keep your chin down, pay attention to business, and the sun will come up tomorrow. That's the way I figure it.
Other people's successes are good news - for them and for you. Good for you because they show you a way to go.
Begin with praise and honest appreciation. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. Make the fault easy to correct. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.
Too often, when you are close to people in power, you're trying to make them happy; you're trying to tell them what they want to hear. But I find that really good leaders don't want that. They want the truth. And you do them a service, and yourself a service, by just being honest and straightforward.
You know, I think when people are in important positions in big organizations, they often get tied up with the minutia of managing money, managing things. They often forget that people deserve to be led.
We need to move from the leader as hero, to the leader as host.
Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication
If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the Ikea employees.
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