Ritz-Carlton’s ‘Credo’ Secret to Life

There are some amazing advise to life from a renowned 5-star hotel chain.

All employees carry a copy of the hotel’s credo. You can also ask for a personal copy.

We all know that the Ritz-Carlton is a renowned 5-star hotel chain — known for its absolutely caring services and first-class facilities. Personally, I have stayed there only once. Yes, I felt great. The level of comfort was unsurpassed. I felt like I was the only guest in the hotel, given its staff’s level of care for my wellbeing.

As I read The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary a book by Joseph Michellia, I learned about how this, not just a hotel chain but an, ‘institution’ has gotten its reputation. I recommend this book, even to those who are not interested in business or hotel management. It’s an entertaining biography of an institution. In a few words, what makes this institution great comes down to what they call “the Credo” (“believe” in Latin), which is a physical piece of paper that all “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ritz-Carlton” (how the staff are called) carry and hold dearest.

It looks like this. And the next time you’re at any Ritz-Carlton you can ask from anyone (from the bellboy to the general manager; I tried) to see it, or ask for a free copy of it.

Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton’s Osaka Website.

What exactly does the credo says and why is it so important to the becoming an institution of the Ritz-Carlton?

The Ritz-Carlton is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.

We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience.

The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

As someone who likes straight-to-the-point and the art of brevity, I think these 3 credos summarize “the meaning of work” from which not only staff of a top hotel chain but everyone could learn.

Just this morning that my mother asked me to watch the 4-minute summary of a great TED talk by Emily Esfehani Smith “There’s More To Life Than Being Happy.” I felt moved by her argument, that we should refocus our life, sharing from “happiness hedonism” to, what she calls, “four pillars” of a meaningful life:

1. Sense of belonging;
2. Higher purpose;
3. Transcendence (or “flow”), and
4. Story by which we narrate our lived experience.

Read the Credo above once again.

The Ritz-Carlton is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.

If you can do this in whatever things in life, you automatically have both the sense of belonging and the higher purpose. The Ritz-Carlton “is a place” phrase is nothing short of giving you the true and ardent sense of belonging, home, and homeliness. You belong here.

We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience.

Here you have sense of belonging (by way of pledging to belong) and the purpose together with a keen touch of curious transcendence. Make no mistake: there can be nothing less than the transcendence to describe the “finest service.” You have to be in the zone to provide this.

The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

All four pillars are together here. And this line speaks about two highly valued guides in design thinking: The idea of creating the ‘experience’ rather than an object, and knowing what your customers want even before they tell you.

If you can engage in anything that you do in life as if you are “Ladies and Gentlemen of Ritz-Carlton,” you are both in the zone, and in the now.

This Credo is like a ‘circular beam’ that connect all of these four pillars together, preventing them from falling sideways or apart from each other.

So, in whatever you do, think of it in terms of this Credo:

1. Ask yourself where do you feel belong, whether that be an organization, an institution, or simply a group;
2. Make the purpose of such organization, institution, or group your mission;
3. Pledge to provide the best of your service; and,
4. Be ‘in the zone,’ to see the need beyond that which is addressable.