Learning from others

We were on Oahu this week to celebrate the wedding of our oldest daughter to a great guy from Finland—which is on the other side of the world from us. They were known on the university campus as the “international couple.” It was a delight to meet the family of the groom and spend time with them, and share customs and to learn some new things from each other.

Being open to learn from others is an important attribute to have. One of the wealthiest individuals in the world was always looking for a better way to improve his business. Sam Walton, who started Wal-Mart, would usually visit the competition when he made his regular store visits. He would take a notepad and write down what he liked, and then find ways to implement the new ideas into his stores.

He even learned new things when he visited his own stores. At one location, he was surprised to see an individual at the entrance greeting people and giving them a shopping cart. Soon this practice became standard at all stores, and now you see many competitors who also have greeters.

Sam Walton did not become wealthy and successful because he knew more than any other retailer; he achieved success by realizing that he could always learn something from others—even from his own store employees.

There are many things we can learn from other places and other people if we are humble enough to realize that our way may not be the only way or even the best way. Here are a few of our observations that we wrote on a notepad while visiting Hawaii. First, before we even landed, we were welcomed on the plane with a prerecorded message from the governor wishing us a wonderful stay. The “aloha spirit” was communicated through Hawaiian music at the airport and many businesses.

We were greeted by our daughter and her fiancé with leis and then taken to a popular restaurant in Honolulu. The Cheesecake Factory is usually busy, so when we arrived we were told that it would take 15 minutes before we could be seated. We were then given a pager that allowed us to walk around and visit until a table was available.

The waiter welcomed us and then asked if it was our first time to the restaurant, and then he gave a brief introduction of the place and shared the special for the evening. We were later asked if it was our first visit to Hawaii by the car rental shuttle bus driver. He also gave a brief presentation and offered a free map. If you have tourists as customers, do you ask if it is their first visit to the islands or to your business? Even better, does your staff give a brief presentation to welcome the person and share some valuable information that could make their experience more enjoyable?

We also noticed that there is a constant use of “aloha” and “mahalo” [thank you] wherever you go. We hear “hafa adai” at some places, but it does not seem to be a common greeting with most establishments.

To be fair, we also noticed that there are some things that Hawaii could learn from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Even though employees in heavy tourist locations are friendly, we feel that the people in the CNMI are generally and genuinely friendlier. People seem to be more relaxed and take life a little slower.

In addition, we were told to lock our car doors wherever we went. We know that there is occasional theft and not everyone can be trusted, but we feel safer on Saipan and we rarely lock our car doors.

Another thing we noticed is that tourists get nickel and dimed for many things on Hawaii. At some places there is a fee to just park so you can patronize some downtown stores, and some tourist spots have a parking fee and sometimes an admission fee to do something like go to the beach. The folks who came up with parking meters in Garapan and a possible fee to visit the Grotto probably got the idea after their visit to Hawaii. Even though it can add extra revenue, it could subtract from an overall great experience.

We feel that Saipan has a huge untapped potential to expand as a tourist destination. It would only take observing and implementing some creative ideas from other successful destinations to make the overall tourist experience better. These ideas are abundantly available, if we only open our ears and eyes.

Once we stop learning, we stop growing, and we start decaying and eventually die. Learning from other destinations, organizations, or even people is a way to constantly keep good ideas flowing and keep things interesting for others. This is good advice for everyone—even newly-wedded couples like Chantelle and Jari Voutilainen: To keep your relationship or business growing, constantly learn from each other, and appreciate what each person has to share.

(Rik is a business instructor at Northern Marianas College and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com)