TDM 401 - Blog #3

The Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale

 

            I had an amazing opportunity to stay at the Phoenician over the summer of 2008 with my mother and friend. It was the most relaxing and best resort experience I have had to experience yet!

            The Phoenician is located in Scottsdale right off the Camelback Road on 250 acres of land. It is home to a boutique hotel, ten restaurants and lounges, spa, championship golf course, nine pools, tennis courts, retail shops, meeting space as well as a $25 million art collection.

            The moment I drove up to the Phoenician for my “stay-cation” I could tell that this location was well-managed tourism dependant facility. The landscaping and lawns were well manicured and the signed was appropriately displayed. The valet and bellmen were very professional when assisting my party with parking our car and brining our luggage up to our room. The front desk staff was very courteous and well spoken and the whole check-in process was flawless. To my surprise, the front desk agent mentioned that they had an upgraded room available and could place us into the room at no additional cost. We excitedly accepted the offer and made the trip to our room over looking the valley and the bright city lights. I was very impressed by the graciousness of the front desk agent and no that she took the opportunity into her own hands to create a memorable experience.

            That afternoon down at the pool was another great example of a well-managed staff. The pool attendants were absolutely amazing in the way they treated guests. One gentleman that assisted my party help us find a location of lounge chairs that were all together, constantly moved the umbrella every time my mom was in the sun and brought us fresh water whenever he noticed all the ice in the pitcher had melted. This showed me that the Phoenician had either the ability to train their employees on attention to detail or great interview/hiring skills by current employees to have the ability to find such great staff.

            Our dinner later that night at Il Terrazzo was wonderful; our server obviously valued his job and treated us as if we were his first customers. He was very good at carrying on conversations and was also very knowledgeable of menu. He made my party and I feel like we were truly in a special place and not to mention the food was very delicious, especially the crème brule. Next I am planning on trying J&G Steakhouse and their famous Caesar salad.

            Overall the Phoenician had an atmosphere about it that read “good management” all over it. The staff was superb, the accommodations were clean, the pool was relaxing and the whole stay is definitely one I would like to experience again. Trip Advisor contributor, TreverNYC1111, would agree, he wrote “....top notch stay and not a complaint in mind. The grounds are impeccably kept and the rooms are fantastic. This is a very unique and special place!”

Source:

TrevorNYC1111. (September 2009) Never disappointed – the Phoenician is the tops. Retrieved from: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g31350-d74199-r40476647- The_Phoenician_Scottsdale-Scottsdale_Arizona.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT 

Blog #4 - PRM 380

Troon Neighborhood wants gate…

Conservation is the use of natural resources for the benefit of people, but to use the resources wisely for “the greatest good to the greatest number, for the longest time”, as stated by Gifford Pinchot. Where preservation is the idea of protecting natural resources in a natural unaltered state.

A current topic that has been in the news recently is the debate of the gate at Troon Highlands Estates. Residents of the this neighborhood live near the McDowell Sonoran Preserve a frequent outdoor recreational site for outdoor enthusiast. Residents of the Troon neighborhood have been requesting to make the street that leads up to the north end of the preserve private therefore allowing the neighborhood to add a gate. This gate will help with elevating people from illegally dumping and partying in the desert. Visitors of the preserve think that not only will the gate limit access to the northern part of the preserve but also “send the wrong message about who owns the taxpayer-funded public amenity” (Bui, azcentral.com). At this time Scottsdale’s preservation department plans to place a gate at Paraiso Drive no matter if the Troon neighborhood becomes a gated community or not, the city wants hikers to access the north end by taking Ranch Gate or Happy Valley roads. To read more about this topic and read the article reader’s comments visit, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/20/20091020gate1020.html.

Source:

Bui, Lynh. (Oct. 20, 2009). Troon neighborhood wants gate to deter trash, parties.             Retrieved (October, 2009) from             http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/20/20091020gate1020.html

Blog #2 - TDM 401 (Management Book Review)

Fierce Leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst “Best” Practices of Today by Susan Scott (the same author of Fierce Conversations) is a management book written to educate readers on becoming great (or fierce) leaders in the workforce. This is done while breaking the habits of the old “best” practices and leaving them behind with suffering businesses. In the beginning of the book Scott introduces the term “squid eye” and uses the term as the idea of being able to identify key issues of “bad” business practices. Squid eye is used through out the book in each different chapter, which are labeled as Fierce Practices. Each Fierce Practice touches on different situations that a leader does or would face in the business realm (or even at home). Some of these Fierce Practices include: Fierce Practices #1: From 360-Degree Anonymous Feedback to “365” Face-to-Face Feedback, Fierce Practices #3: From Holding People Accountable to Modeling Accountability and Holding People Able and Fierce Practices #4: From Employee Engagement Programs to Actually Engaging Employees.

The above Fierce Practices were just few of my favorites and easy to relate towards my current managers. However there are many more great practices in the book that educate the reader to be able to pick-out the “tells” of a bad leader (AKA the Squid Eye) and ways to improve through action plans. The interesting and useful qualities about this book are the sections where Scott provides the reader areas to practice improvements as she teaches different leadership topics. For example from Fierce Practices #1 on page 48, Scott provides the reader a work page to prepare a 60 second opening statement in preparation for a face-to-face conversation with an employee who has had a problem arise about them. This preparation area is provided to the leader as a practice template so they do not get sucked into many common errors. Errors such as beginning the difficult conversation with “So, how’s it going?” when we know how it’s going or that the leader places too many “pillows” in the conversation, otherwise softening the blow by placing cushions around the real topic. These work pages can be found in each Fierce Practice section in the book, it is a great resource and helps the leader practice the topics currently being discussed.

A great resource for leaders preparing to interview and hire for their company is Fierce Practices #2: From Hiring for Smarts to Hiring for Smart + Heart. The idea of this section is hiring to gain emotional capital and not only hire for the GPA or IQ scores. Scott mentions “each of us accumulates or loses emotional capital – building relationships we enjoy or endure with colleagues, bosses, customers and other partners – one conversation at a time” and that we are “engaged in emotional enterprises”. What she recommends to the leader is that sometimes smarts are not the only thing to hire for, she leave a section in the book to write down attributes that are essential to the success of the company in the job they are seeking to fill. Also being able to recognize hiring traps that include personal biases, personal insecurities, resume “puppy love” and many more errors that can lead a leader into hiring the wrong person and losing the emotional capital in the company.

Susan Scott has provided many real life situations in her book, situations from large unnamed companies who are failing to gain customers, to the successful practices of Google as well as her very own company’s confessions. Having these examples in the story not only made the topic more clear but also increased the creditability of Fierce Practices. How are these practices helping the suffering multi-billion dollar companies? How are these practices keeping successful companies successful and are these practices so effective that even the author has to remind herself to use them within her company?

Although sometimes I did feel that Susan Scott rambled on and on without any point during some portions of the book, however the rambling did eventually turn around into a point that was very useful and worth practicing as a leader. The book is an easy read, full of humor and very well organized. In the preface Scott mentions that the book is setup as being able to read cover to cover or being able to look in the table of contents and jump around from one Fierce Practice to another making it a great resource to keep by your side. A review from Amazon.com on Fierce Leadership by Matt G. Sharrers reads, “Fierce Leadership is an absolute must read. As a reader of leadership books by the dozen, this one truly stands out. Why? Because it has a point of view, supported by tangible examples and forces the leader in each of us to truly analyze how we "lead".”

I would recommend reading this book if you are a CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation, a student at a university, an entrepreneur or even a leader in the household. The information will make you analyze yourself and your practices and test your leadership skills and ability to create and maintain lasting professional and personal relationship in and out of the office. 

Sources:

Scott, S. (2009). Fierce leadership: A bold alternative to the worst "best" practices. New York: Broadway Business.

Sharrers, M. G. (2009). Challenge your mental model. Retrieved October 13, 2009, from Amazon website: http://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Leadership-Alternative-Practices- Business/product-reviews/0385529007/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_5? ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addFiveStar 

Blog #3 - PRM 380 (John Muir)

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

- John Muir

From this quote I read that John Muir is very much a transcendentalist and shares his spiritual thoughts with readers to motivate them to love nature and protect it. He is truly happy and at peace when he is in nature and feels as though it is where people can heal themselves and give strength to their bodies and souls. His passion to preserve the wildernesses and attempt to maintain the aesthetic for all to see and witness is the main message that I receive from this quote.

Things that I have learned about Muir that I did not before was that he has a variety of places and items named after him in his honor such as the John Muir Trail, Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Glacier and the Muir Beach. I learned that Muir accompanied President Roosevelt on a camping trip through Yosemite; I thought this was amazing that this man had so much love and passion for nature that he could influence a man with such power and influence over the people of the United States.

John Muir’s philosophy is very much relatable in the need to protect nature for all to experience its beauty. I am especially moved by his passion, a person with such great passion can change the world and that is exactly what he did.  

Quote from: BrainyQuote.com 

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_muir.html