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Not Just For the Ritz

Leadership

Horst Schulze left home at fourteen to work in hotels. Not because he was forced to, because he chose to. He knew that’s what he wanted to do and chose to put in the work to do it with excellence. Decades later, he co-founded The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company — one of the most recognized symbols of excellence in the world. But it didn't happen in a boardroom. It happened in a thousand ordinary moments over fifty years of choosing to do the work right when no one required him to. Decision by decision. Day by day. Long before anyone was watching.

 

His philosophy was simple but uncommon: excellence isn't a moment, It's a commitment. And you can't truly serve someone and give them less than your best. The two don't go together. Mediocre effort dressed up as service is still mediocre — and deep down, the person on the receiving end knows it.

 

"Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people." (Proverbs 22:29) 

This proverb doesn't celebrate the lucky. It celebrates the skilled. Skill isn't given — it's earned. Refined through thousands of small decisions to do the work right when tired, when no one's watching, when cutting a corner would be easier. Those are the moments that form you or expose you. Are you serving kings or being ordinary?

 

Schulze identified keys that separated people who talked about excellence from people who actually lived it:

 

• Know your vision and own it. Excellence without direction is just effort. Know why you show up and let that drive every decision.

• Commit to it daily. Schulze started every meeting by reading the company vision aloud — not because the words were magic, but because the commitment needed to be renewed every single day.

• Empower the people around you. At Ritz-Carlton, every employee was trusted to act in the guest's best interest without waiting for permission. Excellence scales when people are trusted to carry it.

• Energize — don't just manage. Leaders who chase excellence inspire their teams daily. They don't just measure results; they fuel the people producing them.

• Fix the root, not just the symptom. When something goes wrong, dig deeper. Surface fixes produce surface results. Excellence demands you find the real problem.

• No excuses. This one is exactly what it sounds like.

 

Excellence in your work is ultimately a form of worship. When you serve the person in front of you with your full skill and full heart, you're not just doing a good job, you are honoring the God who gave you the ability to do it. The king in this proverb isn't the point. The competent worker is, because their excellence put them in the room.

 

Horst Schulze understood that at fourteen — standing in a hotel kitchen, far from home, with everything still ahead of him. He made a decision. Not a one-time decision. A daily one.

 

You have the same choice today. Remember that every person you serve today is made in the image of God and deserves my best. See your work as an act of worship and your skill as a gift to be given, not hoarded. Refuse to be ordinary, serve the King.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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