you can’t wait to get the building
finished you can have the cash flow I
can’t promise to be right all the time
oh my god Herbie I forgot the medicine
bag you know each one of these places
exists because of the things we learned
before forget all about the movies in
the Hollywood and the eye in the sky and
the security you got to be able to do it
up or down Wow I love that idea it’s fun
to build hotels make money be successful
get lucky but it has kept me a happy
happy person we’re in the top three
that’s a kid that’s a kicky thing to be
able to do he’s an American business
magnate he’s best known for his
involvement in the luxury Casino and
hotel industries in 2015 Forbes
estimated his net worth a 2.4 billion
dollars he’s Steve Wynn and here are his
top ten goals for success people that
build great things in any business
anywhere they all have one thing in
common they love the process if you
start a building or a company because
it’s money you can’t wait to get the
building finished you can have the cash
flow you’ll get the building finished
and you’ll probably have the cash flow
but if you love the idea of creating a
building you love the process of solving
the problems of digging into the details
of tearing up the paper and over and
over again revisiting a room a lobby a
restaurant to get it so that it really
feels good if you’ve got a passion for
process you’re the kind of a person if
you’re surrounded by good colleagues
then that’s a team that produces
superior projects and and all of us at
Wynn Resorts we share that passion for
the process of creating these places and
so although we’d love the idea that they
end up being profitable for our
shareholders and it’s given us all a
good life and I’m thankful for that I’m
really thankful for the idea that I’m
standing here today to walk you through
another project that were dying to build
in a fancy city like Boston
entrepreneurs have an appetite for
living uncomfortably that is a bit
unusual truly living uncomfortably
because when you get a close-up look at
running your own business
it’s scary however having said that I
will also say that entrepreneurs who
survive long enough to be interviewed by
you are entrepreneurs who are not guys
that fly without a net it’s one thing to
be able to sustain risk and to live with
a certain degree of uncertainty to rely
on your judgment it’s quite another
thing to be reckless when Michael
Jackson asked me in an interview he did
with me once when I introduced in the
Siegfried and Roy you want to do an
illusion for his thriller tour and I
introduced NASA NAR I had shown him a
tour of the Mirage just before it opened
right he was amazed he said you get
scared I said no but Huck with all that
that thing that your bill guys look
Michael before we broke ground we
developed a business plan we examined
re-examined re-examined again and again
our fundamentals I said we raise five
hundred twenty-five million with some of
the toughest people in the world because
our story was convincing by the time we
broke ground Michael we were so sure of
what we were doing that we did not think
we were flying without a net or being a
huge risk-taker and I said I think in
answer to your question right I think at
the end of the day you can live with the
discomfort but you’re also self-critical
and I speaking for myself and my
colleagues we never risked the farm
never risk the farm my responsibility of
my employees my stockholders is such
that I can’t promise to be right all the
time
no one can you make calls sometimes
they’re right sometimes they’re wrong
but capital structure allows you to
survive the inevitable cycles of
business I just go up and down as surely
as sunrise and sunset except we don’t
know the timing they allow you to
survive your own miscalculation capital
structure I learned at a young age
thanks to Mike Milken
tell me the story capital structure is
everything and I’ve always had a capital
structure that was bulletproof I know
that if something is instantly
gratifying it will be repeated all of us
as adolescents remember that to be true
anything that’s immediately gratifying
will be repeated and the strongest force
and the earth is something that affects
your self-esteem if you can make someone
feel good about themselves they will
love you for it they will be loyal to
you you talk about plugging into the
energy inner interpersonal dynamics you
you get to be responsible for another
person feeling better about themselves
and you’ve hit the jackpot
that’s a dead-on bullseye in human
relations so I said to myself those that
idea is clear and self-evident every one
of you in this room okay if I accept and
you accept the idea that anything that’s
instantly gratifying will be repeated I
say to myself in the context of this
building if I could get my employees
one at a time to reach out and talk and
engage guests on a very personal level
not a dealer talking to a blackjack
player but Annie talking to mr. Jones
how are you today mr. Jones nice to see
you again is there anything I could do
for you you feel like playing blackjack
this morning how’s your wife
all of a sudden forget the crystal
chandeliers and the hand-woven carpets
and the marble it means nothing all of a
sudden you’re engaged with someone who
cares about you if I could arrange for
my employees to find that gratifying and
rewarding and increasing of their self
esteem I would have plugged in to the
magic of business and I finally with the
help of some other people figured it out
four five six years ago and it changed
my business and changed my life it was a
subject that I’m going to explain to you
called storytelling
we took 900 supervisors a twin and put
him in school it took about three or
four hours of training with some people
from England and we explained to him
that we had a structure in the company
that was very convenient in every part
of the hotel which runs as you know 24
hours a day we have a pre-shift meeting
if it’s a restaurant just before the
restaurant opens the maitre d or the
manager meets with the waiters and has a
10-minute session the chef in the
kitchen meets with his cooking line and
has a session housekeepers on each floor
meet with the in Spectra TSA’s that are
the supervisors on each floor of the
hotel department by department public
area porters there are collections of 12
to 15 people or maybe as few as seven
with a line supervisor who gives them
whatever it is they need to learn that
day before they start their shift we had
a structure in place in the hotel that
was very convenient but instead of
giving them inane or ordinary or mundane
information we changed the program to
this the supervisor said to the group of
eight or ten or twelve people has
anybody got a story of something that
happened yesterday or in the past week
special with a guest and now I’m going
to give you a true example bellman says
that a Bell captain yeah yesterday I
checked in a man and his wife older
couple from California and the bags came
in and I asked them to check and see if
all the bags were there and the woman
let out a hoot oh my god Herbie I forgot
the medicine bag and that was a small
hand case in which his medicine he was a
diabetic and her medicine there were in
their 70s were contained oh my god
Herbie your insulin is in
bag I left it on the front hall table
when we got in the car oh my god what
are we going to do we’ll have to go back
I’ll call the airport
bellman tells him he’ll captain I told
him just a minute ma’am where do you
live
Pacific Palisades is there anybody at
home at your house
well our housekeepers there I have a
brother that lives in Encino izzle it’s
a Latino bellman my brother jefe lives
in Encino why don’t I give him a call he
can go over to your house and pick up
the bag and we’ll manage to get it here
for you when do you need the medicine it
was three o’clock in the afternoon she
says by 7:00 a.m. he says don’t you
worry if you can get that lady on the
phone tell her that a herve Mendez is
coming and we’ll get it here at seven
o’clock in the morning you can do that
yes ma’am
she calls he waits she calls tells the
housekeeper is the bag there yes you
left it on the front hall table Herve is
coming to get it let him have it within
the next hour okay bye you sure you can
do it please lady enjoy dinner have a
good time everything’s going to be fine
I promise
kit goes downstairs tells the bellman on
duty that is supervisor that he’s got to
go get the bag jumps into his car drives
five hours to his brother’s house picks
up the bag turns around and gets back to
Las Vegas at 4:00 in the morning takes
the bag to the bellman and says make
sure this gets to room ten oh whatever
it was by 7:00 a.m. it’s got the ladies
medicine
I’m not done with the story the
relevance of this story there’s a
thousand of those a month the
supervisors been trained everybody in
the room says wow that’s great
Mendez we have an internet loop special
Internet’s thing in the hotel for the
employees and we have a sign shop and we
make signs for the back of the house
immediately
a picture is taken of that bellman
Mendez his story is encapsulated in
large print we make paper signs and we
decorate the back of the house we
publish Mendez’s picture and story on
the internet and it’s all over the
employees staff dining room and
everybody is reading about this bellman
who’s now a local hero and his chest is
out to here and he’s taken a bow and he
feels great because of the recognition
he’s getting from his peer group now
everybody else in the room with that
bellman is looking for a story so they
can tell it the next day we found we
found a key we found a key to making a
single employee acting with a single
guest instantly gratifying and
increasing of their self esteem now
every employee in the hotel is looking
for a story the dealers are on their way
down the hall to take a break at the
staff dining room and they see a lady
and a man looking a little confused and
they walk over and break and say you
look like you’re looking for something
can I help you and lace is what we’re
looking for a meeting room called
Lafitte oh that’s our ballroom you’re
you’re standing here by the b-bar you
have to go down past the wing lay the
Chinese restaurant wait a minute come on
with me I’ll take you and the dealer
makes a detour for five minutes and
takes this couple and shows them the
Lafitte room you think that that hotel
is ever going to be the same again
to those two people or that lady and her
husband with
the insulin hell screw the chandeliers
and again woven fabrics in the Onyx and
the marble that means nothing they’re
going to tell their friends what an
incredible place my hotel is we’ve taken
storytelling 24 hours a day seven days a
week every day of the year to a great
discipline in our company giving people
recognition for doing the one thing that
creates a franchise that’s strong
stronger than anything I know about that
applies to your business you’ve got to
find those ideas that lift your staff
make them feel great about themselves in
the context of your business you do that
and I tell you that the results will
astound you first an idea and then a
program first an idea and then a
building it works every time you know
each one of these places exists because
of the things we’ve learned before you
could not have had a Bellagio without a
Mirage or a win without a Bellagio or an
encore without a win we we try new ideas
we creep along doing new things testing
them out you know when we didn’t put
everything around the casino at Wynn I
was a little nervous before opening
because it Bellagio everything was
around the casino and you walked out of
every restaurant into the slot machines
here and when we didn’t do that we let
people go discover the country club
discover Alex discover Okada well they
did and they appreciated the fact that
not everything was around the casino
that each place because of the mountain
had its own environment not disturbed by
the outside views here at encore we have
taken advantage of that very same
mentality and gone further in using
natural light and gardens and plants
every hotel I’ve ever built has been the
highest-grossing casino in any city
we’ve ever been
period the largest amount of money ever
won by a licensed casino in the state of
Nevada when I built it was Mirage that
record was broken when we built Bellagio
and then the current record is held by
Wynn Las Vegas seven hundred and seventy
million dollars in casino revenue last
year that was more than anybody else in
the history of the state 170 odd million
was slot machines 600 million was tables
of the 600 million in tables fifty-two
percent of it was from Asia 24 percent
was from Latin America
24 percent was in the United States
interesting huh
450 million out of 600 million was from
outside the United States why are people
from San Paulo Brazil Rio de Janeiro
Buenos Aires Bogota Colombia Monterrey
Mexico Mexico City these are where we
have offices Hong Kong Taiwan Seoul
Korea Tokyo and all over mainland China
why do they get on airplanes fly over
other casinos to come to Las Vegas
because of the atmosphere because of
wonderful service because of a great
hotel staff because it’s fun to be there
with the a gamble or you don’t and and
although we broke the record at 770
million for a casino revenue for any
licensee in the history of Nevada the
non casino revenue was 860 million over
half yup and it’s the 860 that made it
possible for the 770 I’m going through
all this with you all to explain to you
our attitude why we do what we do and
what really matters in our business and
it’s two words and everything else is
baloney forget all about the movies in
the Hollywood and the eye in the sky and
the security one thing one thing matters
to the state of Massachusetts if it
cares about revenue and jobs guest
experience
if people have a good time if they’re
well served if they’re in an atmosphere
that’s exciting and stimulating they
come back again they’re willing to pay
more money next year a little more than
they paid this year so that we can cover
the increasing cost of doing business
unions need increases people want to get
paid more money cost of living goes up
you get a franchise because people have
a good experience and when you give
people a good experience
they come from outside the region into
the region and if you want to get people
from over there to come over here you
better build something here that’s
better than there I don’t want to
minimize the impact of economic business
cycles on Las Vegas because there
certainly is an impact no question about
it
we’re like the rest of the United States
there’s a recession we feel it there’s a
boom we feel it but if you’re a business
executive and a manager like myself and
my colleagues are that’s not really our
issue our issue is to run the business
to lead the staff good times or bad
that’s what we get paid for and to a
certain extent you can look upon these
kinds of economic cycles as exercises
you got to be able to do it up or down
you know in the bright sunshine or a
little in the shade you got to be able
to do this the skills that we’ve
developed and and the our ambitions are
irrelevant to the economic conditions
outside we have to react perhaps you
know we’ll try you know when when it’s
really booming we we enjoy higher levels
of revenue we can maybe we’re a little
bit freer with the payroll then we would
be when times are tight but basically I
don’t really care
about short-term business cycles that
doesn’t mean that I’m insensitive to
them but that’s not my primary
responsibility it’s to my guests through
my staff so we’ll open the hotel exactly
the way we would if this was the World’s
Fair boom period exactly the same way
we’ve got to be consistent with our
staff and we got to be consistent with
the public what keeps you hustling
because I’m one of those rarely
fortunate really lucky people who’s
doing what he loves consequently I’ve
never worked a day in my life I love
what I’m doing I’m a student of creating
spaces where people go whoa ah Wow
I love that idea and and I’ve never been
able to do it perfectly excuse me I
always think I have to do one more hotel
because maybe just maybe I’ll get it
right the next time
and that quest to keep doing it being a
student of something that you love is
the most fun a guy can have and I’ve
been given the privilege of chasing this
star to my heart’s content you know it’s
fun to build hotels make money be
successful get lucky in life but but
let’s face it I have a friend the Dalai
Lama and he said to me he said to me it
was visiting and we were together and he
said you know Steve you’ll find not as a
moral imperative but as an observation
as you live long enough and learn that
the only true happiness in this life
will be the certainty that you have made
a better life for other people now I
don’t in in the Dalai Lama’s words in
his in his epistle mythology it’s not a
moral imperative like your your
brother’s keeper it’s an observation
after the fact the true happiness and
fulfillment comes only with the
certainty that you felt other people
lead a happy life my dad taught me that
what you want to do is stick to simple
ideas and I don’t know why Tony I don’t
where when but ever since I was a kid
the idea building something that would
make people go WOW has struck me it’s
just about the coolest thing in the
world to do now it’s not saving lives in
the real sense or doing something really
noteworthy but it has kept me a happy
happy person – newspaper hired an
outside consulting firm to find out who
the review-journal who was the best
employer in town and they did this BIG’s
interviews and they did a special Sunday
section and we won and they and I didn’t
know what’s going on until Mike Weaver
called me up and told me and read me
what the employee said ah with ecstasy
this is the greatest place to work
because they listen to you here if
you’ve got a good idea they’ll don’t
listen to you this is a great place to
work as they’re sensitive to your family
problems they work with when you have
those problems this is the best job I’ve
ever had in my life we’re the best this
is the coolest place there was this deep
pride at belonging to the team the
family here in other words it wasn’t
just the Onyx or the marble or the
hand-woven carpets or the fancy
chandeliers and reflected ceiling plans
that are so expensive it was the living
organism that is the family of staff and
if you get all those things going on one
time listen last thing I got to say by
definition on this planet from Asia to
Europe from Latin America to Canada
there has to be a best whole place in
the world to stay why can’t it be here
maybe we’re the best hotel in the world
maybe not for me to say but you know
what from what I understand from anybody
that’s ever taken and reviewed this
objectively if we’re not it we’re in the
top three that’s a that’s a kicky thing
to be able to do thank you so much for
watching I made this video because
Fernando Vern Whelan asked me to hope I
pronounced that properly so this is a
famous entrepreneur that you want me to
profile next leave it in the comments
below and I’ll see what I can do I’d
also love to know which of Steve wins
ten rules meant the most to you leave it
in the comments and I’ll join the
discussion thank you so much for
watching continue to believe and I’ll
see you soon
finished you can have the cash flow I
can’t promise to be right all the time
oh my god Herbie I forgot the medicine
bag you know each one of these places
exists because of the things we learned
before forget all about the movies in
the Hollywood and the eye in the sky and
the security you got to be able to do it
up or down Wow I love that idea it’s fun
to build hotels make money be successful
get lucky but it has kept me a happy
happy person we’re in the top three
that’s a kid that’s a kicky thing to be
able to do he’s an American business
magnate he’s best known for his
involvement in the luxury Casino and
hotel industries in 2015 Forbes
estimated his net worth a 2.4 billion
dollars he’s Steve Wynn and here are his
top ten goals for success people that
build great things in any business
anywhere they all have one thing in
common they love the process if you
start a building or a company because
it’s money you can’t wait to get the
building finished you can have the cash
flow you’ll get the building finished
and you’ll probably have the cash flow
but if you love the idea of creating a
building you love the process of solving
the problems of digging into the details
of tearing up the paper and over and
over again revisiting a room a lobby a
restaurant to get it so that it really
feels good if you’ve got a passion for
process you’re the kind of a person if
you’re surrounded by good colleagues
then that’s a team that produces
superior projects and and all of us at
Wynn Resorts we share that passion for
the process of creating these places and
so although we’d love the idea that they
end up being profitable for our
shareholders and it’s given us all a
good life and I’m thankful for that I’m
really thankful for the idea that I’m
standing here today to walk you through
another project that were dying to build
in a fancy city like Boston
entrepreneurs have an appetite for
living uncomfortably that is a bit
unusual truly living uncomfortably
because when you get a close-up look at
running your own business
it’s scary however having said that I
will also say that entrepreneurs who
survive long enough to be interviewed by
you are entrepreneurs who are not guys
that fly without a net it’s one thing to
be able to sustain risk and to live with
a certain degree of uncertainty to rely
on your judgment it’s quite another
thing to be reckless when Michael
Jackson asked me in an interview he did
with me once when I introduced in the
Siegfried and Roy you want to do an
illusion for his thriller tour and I
introduced NASA NAR I had shown him a
tour of the Mirage just before it opened
right he was amazed he said you get
scared I said no but Huck with all that
that thing that your bill guys look
Michael before we broke ground we
developed a business plan we examined
re-examined re-examined again and again
our fundamentals I said we raise five
hundred twenty-five million with some of
the toughest people in the world because
our story was convincing by the time we
broke ground Michael we were so sure of
what we were doing that we did not think
we were flying without a net or being a
huge risk-taker and I said I think in
answer to your question right I think at
the end of the day you can live with the
discomfort but you’re also self-critical
and I speaking for myself and my
colleagues we never risked the farm
never risk the farm my responsibility of
my employees my stockholders is such
that I can’t promise to be right all the
time
no one can you make calls sometimes
they’re right sometimes they’re wrong
but capital structure allows you to
survive the inevitable cycles of
business I just go up and down as surely
as sunrise and sunset except we don’t
know the timing they allow you to
survive your own miscalculation capital
structure I learned at a young age
thanks to Mike Milken
tell me the story capital structure is
everything and I’ve always had a capital
structure that was bulletproof I know
that if something is instantly
gratifying it will be repeated all of us
as adolescents remember that to be true
anything that’s immediately gratifying
will be repeated and the strongest force
and the earth is something that affects
your self-esteem if you can make someone
feel good about themselves they will
love you for it they will be loyal to
you you talk about plugging into the
energy inner interpersonal dynamics you
you get to be responsible for another
person feeling better about themselves
and you’ve hit the jackpot
that’s a dead-on bullseye in human
relations so I said to myself those that
idea is clear and self-evident every one
of you in this room okay if I accept and
you accept the idea that anything that’s
instantly gratifying will be repeated I
say to myself in the context of this
building if I could get my employees
one at a time to reach out and talk and
engage guests on a very personal level
not a dealer talking to a blackjack
player but Annie talking to mr. Jones
how are you today mr. Jones nice to see
you again is there anything I could do
for you you feel like playing blackjack
this morning how’s your wife
all of a sudden forget the crystal
chandeliers and the hand-woven carpets
and the marble it means nothing all of a
sudden you’re engaged with someone who
cares about you if I could arrange for
my employees to find that gratifying and
rewarding and increasing of their self
esteem I would have plugged in to the
magic of business and I finally with the
help of some other people figured it out
four five six years ago and it changed
my business and changed my life it was a
subject that I’m going to explain to you
called storytelling
we took 900 supervisors a twin and put
him in school it took about three or
four hours of training with some people
from England and we explained to him
that we had a structure in the company
that was very convenient in every part
of the hotel which runs as you know 24
hours a day we have a pre-shift meeting
if it’s a restaurant just before the
restaurant opens the maitre d or the
manager meets with the waiters and has a
10-minute session the chef in the
kitchen meets with his cooking line and
has a session housekeepers on each floor
meet with the in Spectra TSA’s that are
the supervisors on each floor of the
hotel department by department public
area porters there are collections of 12
to 15 people or maybe as few as seven
with a line supervisor who gives them
whatever it is they need to learn that
day before they start their shift we had
a structure in place in the hotel that
was very convenient but instead of
giving them inane or ordinary or mundane
information we changed the program to
this the supervisor said to the group of
eight or ten or twelve people has
anybody got a story of something that
happened yesterday or in the past week
special with a guest and now I’m going
to give you a true example bellman says
that a Bell captain yeah yesterday I
checked in a man and his wife older
couple from California and the bags came
in and I asked them to check and see if
all the bags were there and the woman
let out a hoot oh my god Herbie I forgot
the medicine bag and that was a small
hand case in which his medicine he was a
diabetic and her medicine there were in
their 70s were contained oh my god
Herbie your insulin is in
bag I left it on the front hall table
when we got in the car oh my god what
are we going to do we’ll have to go back
I’ll call the airport
bellman tells him he’ll captain I told
him just a minute ma’am where do you
live
Pacific Palisades is there anybody at
home at your house
well our housekeepers there I have a
brother that lives in Encino izzle it’s
a Latino bellman my brother jefe lives
in Encino why don’t I give him a call he
can go over to your house and pick up
the bag and we’ll manage to get it here
for you when do you need the medicine it
was three o’clock in the afternoon she
says by 7:00 a.m. he says don’t you
worry if you can get that lady on the
phone tell her that a herve Mendez is
coming and we’ll get it here at seven
o’clock in the morning you can do that
yes ma’am
she calls he waits she calls tells the
housekeeper is the bag there yes you
left it on the front hall table Herve is
coming to get it let him have it within
the next hour okay bye you sure you can
do it please lady enjoy dinner have a
good time everything’s going to be fine
I promise
kit goes downstairs tells the bellman on
duty that is supervisor that he’s got to
go get the bag jumps into his car drives
five hours to his brother’s house picks
up the bag turns around and gets back to
Las Vegas at 4:00 in the morning takes
the bag to the bellman and says make
sure this gets to room ten oh whatever
it was by 7:00 a.m. it’s got the ladies
medicine
I’m not done with the story the
relevance of this story there’s a
thousand of those a month the
supervisors been trained everybody in
the room says wow that’s great
Mendez we have an internet loop special
Internet’s thing in the hotel for the
employees and we have a sign shop and we
make signs for the back of the house
immediately
a picture is taken of that bellman
Mendez his story is encapsulated in
large print we make paper signs and we
decorate the back of the house we
publish Mendez’s picture and story on
the internet and it’s all over the
employees staff dining room and
everybody is reading about this bellman
who’s now a local hero and his chest is
out to here and he’s taken a bow and he
feels great because of the recognition
he’s getting from his peer group now
everybody else in the room with that
bellman is looking for a story so they
can tell it the next day we found we
found a key we found a key to making a
single employee acting with a single
guest instantly gratifying and
increasing of their self esteem now
every employee in the hotel is looking
for a story the dealers are on their way
down the hall to take a break at the
staff dining room and they see a lady
and a man looking a little confused and
they walk over and break and say you
look like you’re looking for something
can I help you and lace is what we’re
looking for a meeting room called
Lafitte oh that’s our ballroom you’re
you’re standing here by the b-bar you
have to go down past the wing lay the
Chinese restaurant wait a minute come on
with me I’ll take you and the dealer
makes a detour for five minutes and
takes this couple and shows them the
Lafitte room you think that that hotel
is ever going to be the same again
to those two people or that lady and her
husband with
the insulin hell screw the chandeliers
and again woven fabrics in the Onyx and
the marble that means nothing they’re
going to tell their friends what an
incredible place my hotel is we’ve taken
storytelling 24 hours a day seven days a
week every day of the year to a great
discipline in our company giving people
recognition for doing the one thing that
creates a franchise that’s strong
stronger than anything I know about that
applies to your business you’ve got to
find those ideas that lift your staff
make them feel great about themselves in
the context of your business you do that
and I tell you that the results will
astound you first an idea and then a
program first an idea and then a
building it works every time you know
each one of these places exists because
of the things we’ve learned before you
could not have had a Bellagio without a
Mirage or a win without a Bellagio or an
encore without a win we we try new ideas
we creep along doing new things testing
them out you know when we didn’t put
everything around the casino at Wynn I
was a little nervous before opening
because it Bellagio everything was
around the casino and you walked out of
every restaurant into the slot machines
here and when we didn’t do that we let
people go discover the country club
discover Alex discover Okada well they
did and they appreciated the fact that
not everything was around the casino
that each place because of the mountain
had its own environment not disturbed by
the outside views here at encore we have
taken advantage of that very same
mentality and gone further in using
natural light and gardens and plants
every hotel I’ve ever built has been the
highest-grossing casino in any city
we’ve ever been
period the largest amount of money ever
won by a licensed casino in the state of
Nevada when I built it was Mirage that
record was broken when we built Bellagio
and then the current record is held by
Wynn Las Vegas seven hundred and seventy
million dollars in casino revenue last
year that was more than anybody else in
the history of the state 170 odd million
was slot machines 600 million was tables
of the 600 million in tables fifty-two
percent of it was from Asia 24 percent
was from Latin America
24 percent was in the United States
interesting huh
450 million out of 600 million was from
outside the United States why are people
from San Paulo Brazil Rio de Janeiro
Buenos Aires Bogota Colombia Monterrey
Mexico Mexico City these are where we
have offices Hong Kong Taiwan Seoul
Korea Tokyo and all over mainland China
why do they get on airplanes fly over
other casinos to come to Las Vegas
because of the atmosphere because of
wonderful service because of a great
hotel staff because it’s fun to be there
with the a gamble or you don’t and and
although we broke the record at 770
million for a casino revenue for any
licensee in the history of Nevada the
non casino revenue was 860 million over
half yup and it’s the 860 that made it
possible for the 770 I’m going through
all this with you all to explain to you
our attitude why we do what we do and
what really matters in our business and
it’s two words and everything else is
baloney forget all about the movies in
the Hollywood and the eye in the sky and
the security one thing one thing matters
to the state of Massachusetts if it
cares about revenue and jobs guest
experience
if people have a good time if they’re
well served if they’re in an atmosphere
that’s exciting and stimulating they
come back again they’re willing to pay
more money next year a little more than
they paid this year so that we can cover
the increasing cost of doing business
unions need increases people want to get
paid more money cost of living goes up
you get a franchise because people have
a good experience and when you give
people a good experience
they come from outside the region into
the region and if you want to get people
from over there to come over here you
better build something here that’s
better than there I don’t want to
minimize the impact of economic business
cycles on Las Vegas because there
certainly is an impact no question about
it
we’re like the rest of the United States
there’s a recession we feel it there’s a
boom we feel it but if you’re a business
executive and a manager like myself and
my colleagues are that’s not really our
issue our issue is to run the business
to lead the staff good times or bad
that’s what we get paid for and to a
certain extent you can look upon these
kinds of economic cycles as exercises
you got to be able to do it up or down
you know in the bright sunshine or a
little in the shade you got to be able
to do this the skills that we’ve
developed and and the our ambitions are
irrelevant to the economic conditions
outside we have to react perhaps you
know we’ll try you know when when it’s
really booming we we enjoy higher levels
of revenue we can maybe we’re a little
bit freer with the payroll then we would
be when times are tight but basically I
don’t really care
about short-term business cycles that
doesn’t mean that I’m insensitive to
them but that’s not my primary
responsibility it’s to my guests through
my staff so we’ll open the hotel exactly
the way we would if this was the World’s
Fair boom period exactly the same way
we’ve got to be consistent with our
staff and we got to be consistent with
the public what keeps you hustling
because I’m one of those rarely
fortunate really lucky people who’s
doing what he loves consequently I’ve
never worked a day in my life I love
what I’m doing I’m a student of creating
spaces where people go whoa ah Wow
I love that idea and and I’ve never been
able to do it perfectly excuse me I
always think I have to do one more hotel
because maybe just maybe I’ll get it
right the next time
and that quest to keep doing it being a
student of something that you love is
the most fun a guy can have and I’ve
been given the privilege of chasing this
star to my heart’s content you know it’s
fun to build hotels make money be
successful get lucky in life but but
let’s face it I have a friend the Dalai
Lama and he said to me he said to me it
was visiting and we were together and he
said you know Steve you’ll find not as a
moral imperative but as an observation
as you live long enough and learn that
the only true happiness in this life
will be the certainty that you have made
a better life for other people now I
don’t in in the Dalai Lama’s words in
his in his epistle mythology it’s not a
moral imperative like your your
brother’s keeper it’s an observation
after the fact the true happiness and
fulfillment comes only with the
certainty that you felt other people
lead a happy life my dad taught me that
what you want to do is stick to simple
ideas and I don’t know why Tony I don’t
where when but ever since I was a kid
the idea building something that would
make people go WOW has struck me it’s
just about the coolest thing in the
world to do now it’s not saving lives in
the real sense or doing something really
noteworthy but it has kept me a happy
happy person – newspaper hired an
outside consulting firm to find out who
the review-journal who was the best
employer in town and they did this BIG’s
interviews and they did a special Sunday
section and we won and they and I didn’t
know what’s going on until Mike Weaver
called me up and told me and read me
what the employee said ah with ecstasy
this is the greatest place to work
because they listen to you here if
you’ve got a good idea they’ll don’t
listen to you this is a great place to
work as they’re sensitive to your family
problems they work with when you have
those problems this is the best job I’ve
ever had in my life we’re the best this
is the coolest place there was this deep
pride at belonging to the team the
family here in other words it wasn’t
just the Onyx or the marble or the
hand-woven carpets or the fancy
chandeliers and reflected ceiling plans
that are so expensive it was the living
organism that is the family of staff and
if you get all those things going on one
time listen last thing I got to say by
definition on this planet from Asia to
Europe from Latin America to Canada
there has to be a best whole place in
the world to stay why can’t it be here
maybe we’re the best hotel in the world
maybe not for me to say but you know
what from what I understand from anybody
that’s ever taken and reviewed this
objectively if we’re not it we’re in the
top three that’s a that’s a kicky thing
to be able to do thank you so much for
watching I made this video because
Fernando Vern Whelan asked me to hope I
pronounced that properly so this is a
famous entrepreneur that you want me to
profile next leave it in the comments
below and I’ll see what I can do I’d
also love to know which of Steve wins
ten rules meant the most to you leave it
in the comments and I’ll join the
discussion thank you so much for
watching continue to believe and I’ll
see you soon
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