A few months ago, I stayed at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas.

It is a wonderful hotel.

And the reason it's a wonderful hotel is not because of the fancy beds.

Any hotel can go and buy a fancy bed.

The reason it's a wonderful hotel is because of the people who work there.

If you walk past somebody at the Four Seasons and they say hello to you, you get the feeling that they actually wanted to say hello to you.

It's not that somebody told them that you have to say hello to all the customers, say hello to all the guests.

You actually feel that they care.

Now in their lobby, they have a coffee stand.

And one afternoon, I went to buy a cup of coffee, and there was a barista by the name of Noah who was serving me.

Noah was fantastic.

He was friendly and fun, and he was engaging with me, and I had so much fun buying a cup of coffee, I actually think I gave 100% tip.

He was wonderful.

So as is my nature, I asked Noah, do you like your job?

And without skipping a beat, Noah says, I love my job.

And so I followed up.

I said, what is it that the Four Seasons is doing that would make you say to me, I love my job?

And without skipping a beat, Noah said, throughout the day, managers will walk past me and ask me how I'm doing, if there's anything that I need to do my job better.

He said, not just my manager, any manager.

And then he said something magical.

He says, I also work at Caesar's Palace.

And at Caesar's Palace, the managers are trying to make sure we're doing everything right.

They catch us when we do things wrong.

He says, when I go to work there, I like to keep my head under the radar and just get through the day so I can get my paycheck.

He says, here at the Four Seasons, I feel I can be myself.

Same person, entirely different experience from the customer who will engage with Noah.

If we create the right environment, we will get people like Noah at the Four Seasons.

If we create the wrong environment, we will get people like Noah at Caesar's Palace.

Do you know the quickest way to destroy trust and destroy cooperation in a business, literally in one day?

Lay people off and everyone gets scared.

And forget about the people who lost their job.

Think about the people who kept their jobs.

Because every single decision a company makes is a piece of communication.

And the company has just communicated to everybody else, this is not a meritocracy.

We don't care how hard you work or how long you've worked here.

If we miss our numbers and you happen to fall on the wrong side of the spreadsheet, I'm sorry, we cannot guarantee employment.

In other words, we come to work every day afraid.

And we're asking our youngest generation to work in environments where how would any of us ever stand up and admit, I made a mistake?

We're constantly being told, you have to be vulnerable, leaders are vulnerable.

What does that even mean?

It doesn't mean you walk around crying, I'm vulnerable, right?

No, what vulnerability means is you create an environment in which someone feels safe enough to raise their hand and said, I don't know what I'm doing.

You've given me a job and I haven't been trained to do it.

I need help.

I made a mistake, I screwed something up.

I'm scared, I'm worried.

All of these things no one would ever admit inside a company, because it puts a target on your head in case there's another round, as we keep it to ourselves.

And how can a company ever do well, if nobody's ever willing to admit they made a mistake that scared, or they don't know what they're doing.

And so we've literally created cultures in which every single day, everybody comes to work and lies, hides and fakes.

And we're asking our youngest generation to work and succeed and find themselves and build their confidence and overcome their addiction to technology and build strong relationships at work.

We're asking them to do this.

And these are the environments we've created.

We keep saying to them, you're the future leaders.

We're the leaders now.

We're in control.

What are we doing?

This is what empathy means.

It means if there's an entire generation struggling, maybe it's not them.

It's like, you know, the only thing that I, the common factor in all my failed relationships?

Me.

Same thing.

Well, we just can't get the right, you know, the right performance out of our people.

Maybe it's you, right?

It's not a generation.

It's not them.

They're not difficult or hard to understand.

They're human beings like the rest of us trying to find their way, trying to work in a place where they feel that someone cares about them as a human being.

By the way, that's what we all want.

In other words, it's not even generational.

It's all of us.

This is the practice of empathy.

That if we're struggling to communicate to someone, if we're struggling to help someone be at their natural best, I'm tired of people saying to me, how do I get the best out of my people?

Really?

That's what you want?

They're like a towel.

You just wring them.

How can I get the most out of them?

No.

How do I help my people be at their natural best?

Here's the lack of empathy.

This is normal in our business world.

You walk into someone's office, someone walks into our office and says, your numbers have been down for the third quarter in a row.

You have to pick up your numbers, otherwise I can't guarantee what the future will look like.

How inspired do you think that person is to come to work the next day?

Here's what empathy looks like.

You walk into someone's office, someone walks into your office and says, your numbers are down for the third quarter in a row.

Are you okay?

I'm worried about you.

What's going on?

We all have performance issues.

Maybe someone's kid is sick.

Maybe they're having problems in their marriage.

Maybe one of their parents is dying.

We don't know what's going on in their lives.

And of course it will affect performance at work.

Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.

We have to start by practicing empathy and relate to what they may be going through.

And it will profoundly change the decisions we make.

It will profoundly change the way we see the world.

It will profoundly change the way we see the world.