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Interesting people, insightful points of view and incredible stories on what’s popping and not popping in marketing, tech, and culture you can use to win immediately. Brands, Beats and Bytes boldly stands at the intersection of brand, tech and culture. DC and Larry are fascinated with stories and people behind some of the best marketing in the business. No matter how dope your product, if your marketing sucks your company may suck too. #dontsuck
DC: Brand Nerds! Back at you. Brands Beats and Bytes podcast and Brand nerds and Larry. Um, today I consider to be a very special day. And I consider it to be a very special day because we attempt to bring guests forward, Larry, that have myriad experience, plethora, different types of experiences, but we don't always come straight at you Brand Nerds with like the stereotypical marketing or brand person.
We often come from an angle. Where someone has a thought and expertise that is related to branding and marketing, but that is beyond just branding and marketing. And you know, Brand Nerds and our world, we think branding touches everything. And today, Larry, we have such a guest. We have such a guest. The second thing Brand Nerds and LT.
We talk about in our business at Brand Positioning Doctors, we have three levels of clients. At the lowest level are the people who hire us. So someone brings us in, Larry, you know this, and they say, you're going to do this scope of work and we're going to pay you X amount of dollars. That's the lowest level.
One level up from that, our client is the brand and business. And there are times when our desire to serve the brand and business is at conflict with the person that hired us. And we're okay with that in our world, Larry, you know this.
LT: And we have no trouble talking truth to power.
DC: Nope, nope. None whatsoever. One might say that's required broadly right now, but I digress. And which goes to the third client, uh, for us in the highest level, it's humanity. Humanity. And Br Brand Nerds, say that humanity is our client because when we are at our best, the work that we do on our own brands and businesses and those that we work on with clients.
In some way positively impacts humanity and Brand Nerds and LT, we have a person in the building today who is all about that higher level of serving humanity. And I cannot wait for you guys to hear how this brother chops this up. Larry. Who do we have in the building on this glorious day?
LT: Oh, D as you know, I've been looking forward to this one, actually for years. We have Rick Hayduk in the house today. Welcome Rick.
Rick Hayduk: Good to be here, gentlemen.
LT: We're loving this Rick. So listen, uh, the Brand Nerds, Rick have to get the full scope of who we have in the building. So we love to share many different career paths to the Brand Nerds. And Richard has a very unique. And great career arc with his foundation, starting from the ground up in hospitality.
That's what DC was sort of referring to. And he is currently founder and CEO of Good Shepherd Hospitality. Where marketing is central to what he is doing and we will delve much deeper during our conversation today about that. So also full transparency richard and I go way back growing up together attending elementary middle and high school and wonderful Ardsley, New York. D You noticed I said Richard, did you notice that?
DC: I noticed you said Richard, and I can't believe the two of you gentlemen survived the mean streets of Ardsley I cannot believe you survived that.
LT: Yeah, nothing like the mean streets of Detroit, but yes, we survived. Yeah. So Rick is actually Richard Hayduk Jr., RIP to both Rick's parents, Richard Sr., who went by Dick and Jo.
Do you know when you were a kid that first day of school where the teacher does the roll call for all the kids names and that first day Rick is called Richard and I am called Lawrence at some point We started jokingly calling each other by our given name and it has always been a fun thing between us I can honestly say he is the only person to ever call me Lawrence more than once, including my parents who never called me by that name.
Clearly you can see we go way back And he truly is like a brother to me. So D, Richard is going to get mad at me for this, but I am just stating facts here.
DC: Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh. Okay, let's hear it.
LT: When we were growing up, Rick is the guy who is the president of the student body in middle school. The president of our class every year in high school until senior year when he is president of the student council for the entire school.
He is also captain and QB and DB on the varsity football team, captain of four year varsity swim team, and same with the golf team. Those are all facts. In my opinion, he is, he manages to do this where everyone has great respect for him, and honestly, the few people who may not like him are just simply jealous and player haters.
He goes on to Old Dominion University in Virginia where he is varsity swimmer and earns a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Labor Relations. After graduating ODU, he follows in his dad's footsteps and goes into hospitality with his first job at the famous Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, starting as a club management trainee where he does everything including picking up towels and you name it.
So Rick being Rick shines at the Breakers, earning promotions, and then he really gets a, a wonderful opportunity to go global. Rick gets an opportunity to be a hotel manager in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the Hotel d'Angleterre. Our seventh grade French teacher, Madame Peruzzi would approve, right, Rick? What do you think?
Rick Hayduk: I, that's, that's an evil thought when I think of Madame Peruzzi. I, I almost feel dirty and I need to go wash myself. So yeah, let's just leave her out of this. Let's just leave her out. That is a memory etched.
LT: Yeah, we both, we both, we both can pronounce that name, though. And then he moves over to be the acting managing director at the Grand Hotel in Munich.
So Brand Nerds, when one is a young person and gets to work and live in another country, it is an amazing opportunity. Like Rick, Our advice is seize it. So then Rick comes back stateside to the back to The Breakers and continues to climb the ladder, eventually working his way up VP of operations.
Rick then leaves the breakers to continuous climb up the ladder with more responsibility each juncture, joining a few more well known properties and hospitality, including 8050 Mammoth, the Cliffs Communities and LXR Luxury Resorts, where he starts as managing director for the Captiva Resort. and is eventually promoted to regional managing director, which includes Captiva and Sanibel.
A few years later, the Boca Raton Resort and Club recruits Rick over to be their president, which he does very successfully for three years. Okay, D, as you can see, Rick has steadily moved up the chain in luxury hospitality and professionally through his hard work. All is wonderful. All is great. But brand nerds, Before we tell you about his next move, let's give you some background.
In 2015, Blackstone Capital, the very successful Wall Street asset manager, buys ownership of something called Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village, which is a residential housing complex in New York City on the east side of Manhattan, from 14th to 23rd Street east of 1st Avenue and get this, everyone, encompassing 56 buildings with more than 11, 000 apartments and more than 30, 000 residents.
Yes, it is bigger than most towns. All New Yorkers know it and simply call it Stytown. At the time of Blackstone's purchase, Stytown was in a certain state of disrepair and resident satisfaction was low. Blackstone needs someone to lead Stytown who they can trust and really turn things around both functionally and perhaps more importantly, emotionally.
Well, Blackstone taps Rick on the shoulder to come back home to New York and be their CEO GM. Rick does this for five years where he and his team completely turned the complex around, executing a multi million dollar facelift, modernization of spaces, and new amenities. And this time, resident satisfaction doubles.
I went to visit Rick a couple of times there and had the great opportunity to walk around StyTown with him, and man was he in his element. Yes, you could see the physical space was clearly nicer and more modern than before, but the coolest thing was the feeling you had walking around. It had this nice friendly neighborhood vibe.
While still feeling like NYC, with a real mosaic of New Yorkers as the foundation to it all. As we were walking around, Rick knows everyone, and everyone knows him. From maintenance people, to residents, young, old, Black, white, etc. It struck me that, in essence, he was the mayor of StyTown. And everything he had done to that point, from growing up in New York, with all his leadership roles as a kid, up through his very successful hospitality career, led him right where he was at that moment.
Really cool for me to see and so proud of him. But guess what, D, you would think that with a great career, that would be a great career capstone, but not even close for Rick while running StyTown was super cool and something to be really proud of is nothing compared to Rick's next move, something truly personal and focused on helping others, Rick becomes founder and CEO of Good Shepherd Hospitality.
In 2021, they opened The Shepherd Hotel in Clemson, South Carolina. I am simply going to read. from the shepherdhotels. com website regarding the purpose and the name. So here's the purpose. Inspired by his daughter Jameson, who has Down Syndrome, Rick Hayduk, a seasoned hotel leader, had long aspired to operate a hotel and employ individuals with disabilities, which, by the way, is currently 30 percent of their hotel staff.
In 2011, Clemson's head football coach, Dabo Sweeney, Introduce Rick to Rich Davies, a third generation real estate developer and involved Clemson alum. The three have come together with the goal of positively impacting the lives of others, creating Shepard Hotels in collaboration with a part of Clemson community, Clemson University called Clemson Life.
For the Shepard name, the website says, quote, a good Shepard positively impacts the flock by caring for them, loving them, and tending to their every need, our staff will care for guests of the Shepherd Hotel in this way. Brand Nerds, you should also know one of the employees at the Hotel, Tanner, was featured on the Netflix show, Love On The Spectrum, and he was such a big hit.
The Kelly Clarkson Show had Tanner and Rick as. To where Tanner talks more about working at the hotel. The YouTube link for this will be in our show notes. And oh, by the way, the success of the hotel in Clemson has Rick and his team opening another hotel soon to come in Columbia, South Carolina.
With all the professional success, is actually just a great humble family guy, driving a Subaru to work and trying to help the world be a better place than what he knows best. Lastly, Rick is all about family, and a special shout out goes to his awesome wife, Carol, and their four great kids, Vaughn, Jordan, Jameson, and Abe.
I also feel the need to shout out Rick's siblings, who I grew up and love, Maureen and Cole, and hopefully they each get a smile listening to this. Looking forward to this one, Brand Nerds, welcome to Brands, Beats, and Bytes, Rick Hayduk
Rick Hayduk: I don't know what to say. I'll just say B. F. D. I'm allowed to say that, right?
DC: Yeah, you can say it. Yes. Yeah, B. F. D. And you can say it, the actual words, you don't have to say the acronym.
LT: Yeah. He gave up that words for Lent one time, Rick. Remember that?
Rick Hayduk: Yeah, and I never turned, yeah, that was hard too, man. That was very hard.
LT: And, and, and, if I may say so, you said at the time, That sounded like a good idea, but I wasn't me anymore. So it says a lot about him because he knows the essence of who he is.
DC: I love Larry. When he does this kind of thing, Rick watching people on the screen, it's a joy to see people get their flowers while they are still here while they're still here. Cause oftentimes we, we hear these. Eloquent descriptions of people and Rick, they're gone. They're gone is when we hear it. Larry, once again, well done, brother. Rick, that was all you. So, your flowers, brother. Your flowers.
Rick Hayduk: Well, I appreciate that. You guys are way too kind. And I'm sure you enjoyed watching me swarm.
LT: I knew this was going to happen.
DC: I did a bit, Rick. I have to say, I did. Rick, we're going to move now to the Get Comfy section. So ask a question just to kick this thing off.
And I had the pleasure of visiting you in StyTown and so I had the pleasure of what Larry knows this cause he organized it of walking around with Rick, seeing Rick, in his element, and I'd never seen anything like that in my life. I grew up in Detroit, major metropolitan area, uh, not thriving as it once was, but in its heyday, Detroit was like, really, really, uh, uh, a thriving city.
And so to go to, to your, uh, neck of the woods, your and Larry's neck of the woods, and walk through this area, I was like, Wow, that, that took great vision for someone to even conceive. Now, we know that it was in a slight state, or maybe more than a slight state of disrepair when they tapped you on the shoulder, Rick, but someone had to think about what this could be.
Someone had to think, 30, 000! Someone had to think that up. Which leads me to a quote from one of the folks that I worked with at Coca Cola, and he had these three things that he would say relative to opportunity. He would say, think big, Start small, scale fast. In that order. Think big, start small, scale fast.
Rick, this Shepherd Hotel, that's a big idea. Big idea. That is now expanding to Columbia. So my question is, brother, when did you conceive of the idea? Then take us through what you actually had to do to get from the idea to opening the doors day one. Boom, we're open. What was that like for you?
Rick Hayduk: So, I would say that, you know, the, the starting point was clearly the birth of my third daughter, Jamison.
And you're in the delivery room and the doctor says, you know, you know, Mr, you know, my wife just delivers and your daughter has down syndrome. Now, we had a suspicion during the pregnancy period. So, but we weren't really thinking about much, you know, we're just making sure she's healthy and mom's healthy.
So she's born. Doctor says you have a child with down syndrome and I think most parents with special needs kids run through the same cycle. One. Are they healthy? Right? Yeah, literally in the in the delivery room. Are they healthy? Two is and you kind of race to these thoughts. Two, what type of life is she going to have?
and three, what's going to happen when I'm gone? So I mean, literally within five, 10, 15 minutes, these, these thoughts are running through your mind. So it's not long before I'm thinking like, my gosh, and I have to answer these questions, right? Medical. She's good. Born with a hole in her heart as so many of the down syndrome kids are, it healed, no surgery.
We got lucky. We got really, really lucky with so many parents that are not as fortunate. You know, what type of life is she going to lead? You have no idea. Like, is she high functioning, low functioning, medium functioning? What type of early intervention is she going to get? You can only control that so much, but hospitality is an industry that has a predominance of, let's call it, lower skilled workers, house cleaners, housekeepers, um, handymen, pool attendants, valet car parkers, housekeepers.
So, you know, as I'm trying to solve question number two and number three as, as a parent, I'm thinking, my gosh, my line of work is great. So oddly enough, Lawrence made reference that I worked at the Breakers and the Breakers is a very, very forward thinking organization, along with being a world class resort.
And we started working with Goodwill Industries. And what we did is we contracted the service of our, you know, we had 2000 team members Started con, we contracted that out to Goodwill Industries. So, you know, that was even before Jameson was born. Mm-Hmm. . So that kind of solidified my thought, not we're we're onto something here.
The question is, you get into the how to, you know, I mean, ideas have to be executed. Yep.
So when she was born, I was
DC: Rick, just, just, just quickly is that, can you tell the Brand Nerds what is Goodwill Industries? What is that?
Rick Hayduk: Oh, Goodwill. So, Goodwill Industries is an a, a phenomenal nonprofit. I know geographically they're in the southeast.
I don't know how far their reach is, but what they do is they take
LT: They're here too, Rick. They're in the west coast too.
Rick Hayduk: So they take donated, let's just use the word, clothing, household items that you donate to them, you get your tax write off, and then they have retail stores. So you can Oh, Goodwill. Got it.
Okay. Right.
DC: Yeah. Okay.
Rick Hayduk: So, and, and again, pretty much all of the team members are individuals with disabilities. So, so I got my first exposure there and then Jameson was born. I was working in Southwest Florida at a, at a large resort. And I started in Lee County, Florida, started working with individuals with disabilities.
And I began to start understanding what works and what doesn't work. It was very informal. It was just like spaghetti on the wall. And then I got moved to, um, so and, and Lawrence referenced Blackstone. Blackstone owned those hotels in Southwest Florida. I was there for five years and they moved me to the East Coast, to Boca Raton, Florida, where, um, a little bit more metropolitan in the sense of just north of Fort Lauderdale.
So we started working with another nonprofit called Project Search. Now, the way it works with kids with disabilities is I would say nine out of 10 cases that you're not getting a high school degree a you get a certificate of completion like my daughter, my daughter received a not a GED, not a degree. A certificate of completion.
Um, by depending upon I think it's state. I don't know if it's federal estate, but you're pretty much kicked out of 21 or 22. You got to go. It's like, it's been great having it, but you got to go. So, um, Goodwill. Pardon me. Project Search is a nonprofit that starts. vocational training while they're in high school.
So when they do finish, whatever that is, age out or, you know, you can leave at 18, but you can stay until you're 21, 22, Project Search partners with industries in teaching them vocational skills, retail, fast food. So we had about 30 of the Project Search students in this hotel in Boca Raton. Um, and I, you know, secondarily started learning, okay, what works.
Some failed, some succeeded, some stayed, some graduated, you know, and it was a rotational basis. So then I get moved to New York City, same thing, Blackstone. And I've sought out one of the local schools that had individuals with disabilities. And I talked to our union into embracing same thing that Project Search does in teaching those, those again, high schoolers, um, How to work in a, an environmental engineers, we call it, or, you know, maintenance housekeeping.
And I got the union to embrace that. So that was just like totally awesome. All the while, I was thinking, how do you do this again? As you had said, you know, um, think big, start small, scale fast. How do you, how do you do something like this? Now, like down in Florida, we had 30, um, Project Search students, but we had 2000 employees.
So they just blended, right? It was, you would see one once in a blue moon. I'm thinking like, how do you take this concept and like 30, 40 percent of your staff? Yeah. Our individuals with disabilities. So my oldest daughter graduated Clemson University 2013. And at that time, a program in the College of Vacation was started called Clemson Life acronym for learning is for everyone.
And long story short, they're kids like mine, who would never go to college. It's just not in the cards. Get to go to Clemson. The College of Education has like a, um, a living laboratory of how individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities learn, live independently, you know, think. So they've got their kind of academic piece of it, and then these kids get to go to college.
Go to, you know, live in dorms. Um, and learn independent living. So to sum this all up quickly, I began to think, like, how do you, how can I maybe partner with Clemson Life and teach them hospitality as they're learning independent living while attending Clemson University in a, in a boutique hotel environment?
And, you know, here we are. So to answer the second part of the question, um, any brand nerds that know Dabo Sweeney or football fans, when I was working in Southwest Florida. Yeah. Dabo Sweeney rolled into our marina one day, and we became good friends. He introduces me to another, uh, friend of his, um, that I, and it became my partner, um, actually kicked field goals for Clemson in the 1980s.
Great, great guy, developer out of Charlotte, deep, deep roots into the Clemson community. Two sons went here, two daughter in laws went here, he married his wife from here, so what I mean here, Clemson, they bleed orange. And I, uh, I pitched him an idea like over time. I'm like, you know, what might be a good time to do it.
I'm working up in New York City. And I'm like, Hey, man, I know you're a developer. I know you don't build hotels, but I got this crazy idea and I pitched it to him. He actually had bought a bank 3 years prior in downtown Clemson and said, that's where the hotel is going to go. And I'm like, well, what are you talking about, man?
I said, you know, what bank building? He said, the way Clemson University, the demographic of Clemson University is dramatically changing. State funding is decreasing out of out of state. Students are increasing. Um, Clemson is getting, you know, the Dabo effect with the university's success. We're getting a higher demographic, economic demographic of, of student.
There is no nice hotel. I bought that bank three years ago with the intention of building a hotel. He goes, Rick, I build Jiffy lubes. I don't know how to build a hotel and you show up.
DC: Wow.
Rick Hayduk: Boom.
DC: Wow.
Rick Hayduk: And then, and then we built during COVID, and I gotta tell you, if, you know, maybe to put an umbrella on the answer, DC, without divine intervention, we wouldn't be here.
Persistence, um, a great idea. And by the way, when you start, like from a branding perspective, when you start with a purpose, and in some cases it's a product, right? But in our case, it was a purpose and we, we rallied around that. The way we design the hotel, you know, who's our customer base, how is it going to be used?
By starting from scratch, we were able to put all that together, but understanding, and again, I got to tell you, in this, you know, DEI world that we live in right now, where you have to be very, very conscious and sensitive and compassionate in your words, and even in the imagery, we were like, I am not going to parade and lead the fact that this hotel employs people with disabilities.
I'm going to bury that. Because I don't want to come under scrutiny saying, you know, anybody to poorly of us. So we built a beautiful four star hotel. It's a phenomenal location because we're within walking distance of the campus. Um, the design is, is phenomenal. Oh, and by the way, we have a really, interesting labor model and service delivery system.
We opened up in August of '22 and been sprinting like Usain Bolt ever since.
LT: I wanted, I'm really glad Rick shared all that because I am too. I didn't even know some of the nuances of that, but it's amazing. The germination, Rick, I never knew. The part where you were saying that that uh, you were talking about even in earlier parts of your career that you had Um worked with folks In the same way.
So I, that all makes sense because that's all building blocks. If you think about it.
Rick Hayduk: Well, it was, it was like R and D because you know, we had Goodwill Industries when I was at the breakers and I didn't know Jameson wasn't born. I wasn't married. I was 20 something, but you know, Jameson's been around for 20 years or 19 and you know, all of this was R and D and I, I can tell you a formula.
And that's why I think the hotel is successful as to why, you know, if, right. If you guys wanted to hire someone with, you know, autism or down system in your organization, there is a secret sauce to making that happen. And it's not a checklist or a, you know, it's, it's all, you know, DC started talking about humanity, man, when I was in Southwest Florida and we had individuals with disabilities working with us, you know, what worked best?
The most compassionate departmental leader, not the most efficient, productive. She was the most compassionate and patient and tolerant. Boom, check. That's a criteria for success. So then when I went to the Boca resort, and you know, I got to tell you, we had such an amazing staff. They're huge hearts. And we had over 30 individuals there and it was like a party every day.
These kids love coming to work, but they did do our team. The formula was beginning to, you know, uh, you know, it was more than marinating in my mind at the time. And then when I came here, I'm like, okay, let's take the good stuff. Get rid of the bad stuff. Let's give it a shot. Who am I going to hire? You know, I, I got, we have two assistant general managers of the Shepherd one, I hired him at 23 years of age and had limited working in a hotel.
This kid's heart was like, like the Grinch, you know, when it breaks the picture frame. And then the other one is a 50. It was an older woman who was in medical for 30 years. Wow. She was mentoring people, adults with down syndrome. She came to me and said, Rick, I don't know what I could do for you. I worked for Marriott when I was, uh, you know, 30 years ago.
I don't know if that counts, but I want to work in this hotel. Two assistant general managers. I hired him for the heart. Patience, compassion, you know, love for humanity. And I'm I'll teach you the rest of the crap,
LT: Right?
Rick Hayduk: And that permeates the organization. And that's, that's, that's kind of the secret sauce.
Cause like I get people call me all the time, like, how do you do it? And they're like, can you send me a book? I'm like, no, I can't send you a book. I mean, yeah, any book, but it all boils down to people
LT: love this.
DC: Wow.
LT: Should we move it along?
DC: Let's do that. Uh, Larry, we're now going to the next section and we call it five questions. And here's the way it goes down. I ask a question. Larry asks a question. We go back and forth until we arrive at the answer. So take yourself back, Rick. Think about an experience you had with a brand.
Either you were watching the brand or maybe you had your hands on the brand. You could be listening to the brand or just experiencing the brand. And this brand was the first experience you had where. It really lit your soul afire. You could not get enough of this brand, Rick. You, you couldn't talk about it enough.
You couldn't stop. You couldn't think about it enough. You couldn't spend enough time with it. You thought, Hey, I'm just spending 15 minutes with this brand. You look up, it's been three hours. What, like what, what the, what? Almost like a first love. What was that brand or brand experience for you, Rick?
Rick Hayduk: J E T S Jets Jets Jets.
DC: Um, I'm sorry, Larry. Um, I'm having some zoom issues now. The audio I didn't. I did not hear what Rick said. His lips were moving, but I did not hear the words.
Rick Hayduk: Hang on a minute. You can rub it in our face all you want right now. But back. Well, I'll never forget. I mean, 10 years old,
LT: Rick, don't let him get away with that.
He's a lions fan.
Rick Hayduk: I said, I can't, he's like, he's like five up on with, with, you know, six holes to play right now. That's right. That's right. We were Jets are just horrible. So DC, to answer the question, I was 10 years old. My dad took me to a jets game. He, he, I don't know what he did. I mean, he was a hotel guy.
So I ended up going in a box and I had to wear a jacket and tie. And I got to eat in the Jets dining room and they had like, everything was branded. I mean, everything was the green and white. I mean, the napkins, the plates. So we sat there, then we go to the box. I got my little football. That's his happy birthday, Rick sold like, this was Joe Willie Namath. Um, you know, Emerson Boozer. I could probably name all the players. And but again, it's, it's, it's, And you think about a brand that that like, forget the commanders, right? I mean, they don't know who the hell they are. They don't. But those NFL traditional teams, you know, the Bears, Lions, Steelers, Giants, Jets, standing the test of time, the green and white, how people rally around that.
I mean, that is just burned into the soul. And like, when I, when I see how bad they are nowadays, it like hurts. Like, what is, what do I have to do? I haven't been in New York. Yeah. What do I have to do that? No, it burns my soul that they can't get out of their own darn way anymore. But it's J E T S Jets, Jets, Jets.
Logos, I mean, I still at my age, I got a Jets when we were living out in California, I bought one of those, you know, headpieces. It's got the Jets logo on the side. People are probably like, who is this guy? Doesn't matter.
LT: Isn't that great?
DC: So that is great.
LT: Yeah. So D, you know, our generation growing up in New York, everything Rick alluded to, but I cannot impress to the Brand Nerds. How cool and how amazing joe namath was that dude every Every guy wanted to be like him and every girl wanted to be with him And and it's so funny rick. We had a meeting before if you have to say you're cool. You're not
Rick Hayduk: yeah
LT: He was the ultimate never had to say he just was he just was and everyone knew it and it permeated like Because I grew up in a household, my parents had season tickets for the Giants.
It's New York football Giants, as they would say, because going back to the baseball Giants, my mom was pregnant with me in the bleachers at the 1962 NFL Championship Game. So I grew up with total like giants and I became a Jets fan because of Joe Namath. That's how strong that was, right, Rick?
Rick Hayduk: Let me add to that.
So. Lawrence's mother's pregnant with him and, you know, sitting probably on a steel bench in the dead of winter. It was, the bleachers. Yep. So I, you know, Lawrence made reference, I played high school football. But by the way, to put a chink in whatever Lawrence said, we were 0 10. Okay, I was a quarterback of an 0 10.
I wore white cleats. I had to wear white cleats because Joe Namath wore white shoes. Um, so you talk about that, you know, the power and emotional bond to a brand, you know, the NFL does it so, so well, but then you get, then you drill down into your home team. And I mean, I've lived all over the place, J E T S jets, jets, jets.
DC: Yeah, and in our work, Rick, we have 10 commandments of, uh, building great brands. And one of the commandments is thou shalt have many icons. So we talk about Coca Cola and the contour bottle. That's an icon. The Spencerian script. That's an icon. The sunbloom Santa, the polar bears. All of these are. icons, visual cues, if you will, that people immediately map back to.
Not only the brand of Coca Cola, but the emotional experiences thereof. And a Detroit kid I never saw, uh, got close to a J E T S Jets, Jets, Jets game. I never, I never got close to that. But I understood somehow that there were some icons happening with Joe Willie Neyman. Right. Today, the kids call it swag.
Yep. But when you show up on a sideline of an NFL game with a mink coat on, Rick and LT, that's swag!
Rick Hayduk: That's right. Not only is it swag, he delivered. That's right. He delivered. We are going to win. Johnny, you, you're going down.
DC: Right. Yes. Mickey. Yes. Yeah, that, that would be just, just a boys and girls, uh, Brand Nerds.
So, you know, not exactly the same, but not necessarily that far off that would be like someone early who hadn't won anything yet telling Tom Brady, you're going down. That's Johnny Unitas was like that guy. So the audacity of, uh, uh, Joe Willie, name it. The white, the white cleats and all of that. This wonderful, wonderful answer around brand. Wonderful answer, Rick.
LT: Awesome answer. All right, D, I'm going to the next question. So, Rick, who has had or is having the most influence on your career?
Rick Hayduk: So, uh, somewhat of a bifurcated answer. So, obviously, you know, when you're young, my dad helped me get my first job. He, you know, gave me great advice, you know, as a New Yorker.
Um, for those Brand Nerds that don't understand what it's like growing up in New York, man, you are raised to go take the world. You own it. It's yours. Go take it. So my dad gave me great advice. I got out of, uh, as Lawrence said, a, uh, you know, a good school, mediocre school in Virginia with decent grades, not great grades, no job offers.
My dad said, look, I'll get you a job in New York City, but you can always come back home. Go out and see something else. So my dad gave me great advice. was always there for me, but it was 20 years ago when my daughter was born 19 years ago when she was born that like totally changed my perspective. I think like so many, if someone's listening to this podcast, they want to learn, they want to advance their ambitious, they want to do better for their clients, you know, that whole piece of it.
So this audience, is someone who probably like, you know, Lawrence, you, I, DC, you were when we were younger, like linear. I want, you know, to grow my sphere of influence. I want to have, you know, a title. I'd like to make, you know, considerable money, all that type of stuff. So, my daughter was born 19, you know, 20 years ago, and man, does your life change.
Like, the lens that I look through life became the lens of a father with a kid with Down Syndrome. And the best way to surmise it is, you know, I was doing, I was actually working in the Bahamas when she was born. So I was commuting back and forth. That's a whole nother story. So in the airport, Miami airport was a family, family of five.
And one of the three boys had down syndrome. So I think Jameson was like two months old, three months old. So I walk over to him. I came in, just had a daughter with down syndrome. Can you tell me, they helped me out here. And they started laughing at me. I'm like, what's so funny. I don't think it's a loaded question.
They said, treat her normal. Look, you got to get her something better than that. I mean, your kid looks like he's good. He's having fun. The brother's a good family. He goes, no, no, no. Treat her normal. So I started looking through life from her eyes. And they, for the most part, live in the moment, right? I'm a guy thinking one year out, five years out, ten years out, there's this linear path that I'm supposed to take.
I don't know what it is, but I'm on it. And the best story that I could tell was she was about four or five, right? And in this resort on southwest Florida, We, uh, had a restaurant. I, I hired this boogie woogie piano player from Arkansas and at the time she loved Barney, you know, so she bonded with the piano player and I, and Lawrence will probably verify this.
I had to stick up my ass little on the tight side, can't dance, didn't like it. Self conscious. You know, I'm not doing, I'm not singing. I don't sing in church because I don't want anybody to hear. I don't want to hear myself. She comes up to me, she goes to the piano player, as a four or five, she says, play Barney.
So he starts rocking out the theme song to Barney and she comes over to me and says, let's dance. What do you think? I danced. It's like all of your, you know, inhibitions and tight ass ness is gone because your daughter wants to dance. And she wanted, you know, she's in the moment. This is her moment. And I needed, I wanted to be there as a dad.
So I got to tell you, it was almost like this cleansing moment of God, what an ass I am. And then I started looking that lens of like my job. So one of the Blackstone guys came up to me, like, I don't know, four years into this job, we'd done a really good job in the resort, turned it around with losing money, now making money.
And this guy from Blackstone comes to me and he says, Hey, Rick. What are you thinking about tomorrow? I'm like, I'm not. He says, what? I'm like, I'm not. I said, I am in the here and now. I love what I'm doing. I love the team that I put together. You know, we've, we're doing some great things. The guests are happy.
I said, now, I'm not telling you to put me on ice. If you think you've got something bigger and better for me, that's your call. But I want you to know, I'm not one of those guys that's raising my hand saying, okay, what next? I fixed this problem. Give me another one. I said, I'm not doing that. And it was because of Jameson.
And you know what's so funny? And you guys, like, you read it in books. You hear it, you hear it. When you start kind of like being in the moment, and by the way, I suck at it, right? I really do. My wife will tell you, tell you that all the time. But when you start kind of like, I want to be grateful for where I am, I want to take in and we had, we were on the island of Captiva, one of the prettiest places in maybe all of West Florida.
And I started noticing things because of her. So professionally, personally, and you know, what's amazing, it was like a within six months, they said, Rick, we need you to go to the Boca Raton Resort and Club, which was one of the crown jewels of resorts in this country.
DC: Yes. Three years later. If not the world.
If not the world.
Rick Hayduk: And, uh, and then three years later, they, they're like, we need you to go to New York City. So, and it's like, I never, I stopped saying what's next, what's next, what's next. I wanted to be in the moment and be grateful for where I am, spend time with the family, which again, I'm not very good at, but so, but it's just the mindset.
So to answer the question, maybe put a bow around it, D. I would say Jameson has had one of the biggest influences on me personally and professionally.
LT: I love that story.
Love it.
DC: Wow.
LT: Next question, D?
DC: Anymore, Larry? Yes. I almost don't want to ask this question, Larry, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. I'm gonna ask it anyway, Rick. You have been, I now understand, the kind of person who is in the moment, in the now. And your daughter, Jameson, has helped you, my words, not yours, open your aperture.
Mm hmm. Life. So, no doubt when you were like this, sort of narrowly focused, that was part of the secret to your success. You're in the moment. So you're focused on what things need to happen now to be better. You, your team, the organization, the, the building infrastructure, all of that, what needs to happen to make these things better, these humans and these assets better, and that's why you succeeded.
But this next question, Rick has nothing to do with your successes. This one has to do with your failures and specifically, we'd like you to share with the Brand Nerds, your biggest F up biggest F up, and perhaps more importantly, what you learned from it.
Rick Hayduk: One, I want to highlight that I am a poster child for F ups. Okay. Right. So now I will also say this. is those f ups got me here in front of you guys today.
DC: Yeah.
Rick Hayduk: If I had maybe one less f up or five less f ups, I may not be here. The one that really sticks out for me was when my moral compass was spinning.
So working at a very large resort in South Florida and you guys, I don't know, as much as you all travel, um, it may have happened to you, you get bumped from a flight, you walk into a hotel and they're like, I'm sorry. There's no room for you, right? Hotels will overbook. So we had overbooked and everybody showed up.
So in the hotel industry, it's called walking guests. You're a walking people. Okay. I told the staff to tell the guests that we were walking and I was part of this like little triage unit of like, you know, um, Mr. Taman would walk in and like, we would take Mr. Taman over to the side so that, you know, he wouldn't, cause he might make a big fuss.
Yeah. And start screaming. And so me, not me, I told them, yeah, yeah. I told them, I said, tell 'em that we had a water leak. Okay. I, and you could see the stress that it caused, like you're asking me to lie.
DC: Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Rick Hayduk: And I'm like, yeah, we got to solve this problem and, you know, tell them we'll pay for their transportation.
We'll pay for the hotel room. And I'm thinking, you know, without thinking it all the way through about and I did, I did know, you know, Pete, you're, you're, you're traveling from New York. You're traveling from DC. You're traveling from Chicago. You're going to Palm Beach. You, you want to stay in a hotel. And, and I, I asked the team to, to, to fib.
And to this day, it kind of like comes back and it's like, man, that's not cool. Rick, you shouldn't have done it. Yeah. The lesson learned there is, and it's not, it's not as simple as don't lie. I mean, that's what it is. It was be authentic. So I, from that point on it, it kind of ate at me. I apologized to the team and I said to them, we do need to maximize our room revenue, but if we are going to overbook and we have to walk some, we're going to tell them we screwed up.
Our fault. And here's what I'm going to do for you. And you, in essence, negotiate or buy your way, which is interesting because at the time, you know, airlines were doing it all the time. Hotels were doing it all the time. And now it's like, who would like 300 to be applied to a future flight if you want to go, it's almost like at that point in hospitality time, air car hotel, like, you know, you can't keep doing this anymore.
Right. So the bigger takeaway of don't lie is authenticity is just, you know, most people will understand. I dealt with like very aggressive, wealthy New Yorkers. So, you know, I would get my ass kicked. And again, I had to wear the hat, you know, you've got your, you got your ownership, you got your finances, you got your guests, because what happens when you know, you're sitting on, you know, you got 600 rooms to sell and 15 people don't show up and, you know, 300 bucks a night.
I mean, it's material, it's material, but it's a balance. And, and I think hotels have kind of learned from that. We don't do it, you know, most of the time you don't do it anymore, but it was the authenticity takeaway that translates to today, what voice you're using, how are you responding to problems? How are you answering people online?
It's. Be authentic and tell, you know, be upfront.
LT: That's a great story. And, and I think I, I know you, you know, you talk about your moral compass, Rick. Um, that was, I bet you, even in the moment, there was a part of you that's going, what am I doing?
Rick Hayduk: But when I was, when I was talking to the guests that I was talking to, I just wanted to like, all right, I'm screwed.
I'm sorry. I messed up. I didn't mean what I just said. I messed up. Let me do this. I, I, you know, it's like you had that like animal house, the angel and the devil on your shoulder. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. Tell the truth. No. F them. You're going to pay for his room someplace else. Tell the truth. No. F them.
LT: So, right. So
Rick Hayduk: yeah. So big, big takeaway.
LT: But Brand Nerds, and this is the key before we go to the next question. What I love what Rick, and this is the way he's led his life is his entire life. You know, we all eff up, we all do it, and the key is what are you learning from it, and how are you getting up off the canvas?
That's the key. And what I love is that not only, Rick, did you realize with some thought afterwards that that isn't authentic like you said, but then you sput it into how does this make us better? Um, to take it from where you're not going to fib, but actually no, it's not just about fibbing, but how can we make sure that we're authentic and that'll be better for everyone?
So that's the key Brand Nerds is what are you learning from it? And how are you getting off the canvas to then make things better going forward? So that's my bow around it. Uh, D, anything else before we go to the next question?
DC: Two things, two words for each of the categories. Okay. The first set of two words that I take away from your wonderful story here, Rick, is when you F up, own it.
Yes. Own it. And then the second set of two words is, work it. You own it first, truly own it, and then you work it. Okay, what do I now need to do now that I'm owning it? How do I need to work this thing because I messed up? That's it. Wow, that's good. That's good, Rick. Thank you.
LT: Yep. All right. Next question, Rick.
So regarding technology and marketing, can you tell us where you think marketers should lean in or best leverage tech or areas that you think that they should be leery or simply avoid or some combination thereof? What say you?
Rick Hayduk: That's a great transitionary question, to be honest with you, because if you go back to, you know, I use the word authentic, right?
I, I didn't handle it well. I asked others to not handle it well. When we set out with The Shepherd Hotel. I focused in on a voice, a voice of authenticity. Now, how many times have you maybe gotten a follow up note from a customer service organization where something didn't go right? Dear Mr. Smith, We are so sorry. We didn't meet your expectations and they go into this some diatribe of garbage, right? It's just some, you know, that it's whoever's you don't even know if a person is writing it. And it's like, we will, we were, we are pleased to offer you on your next visit, you know, or send you a gift card. The technology piece today.
Especially as we're getting into like, you know, I've got staff here that are, you know, sending me stuff from Chat GPT. And I, and, and by the way, it's getting better and better and better. It's pretty good. But when you're trying to create a voice, whether it's website, online guest reviews, emails to guests, uh, printed material in a hotel, you have an opportunity.
Like what'd you say? DC own it. You have an opportunity to do something particular. So I wrote everything from the start because I wanted a very particular voice. Like I don't write, Dear Mr. Taman. I write, Hey, Larry. Now I can get away with it because I'm a 60 year old guy, right? So the 24 year old kid out at the desk, but we use the word, Hey, H E Y in our salutation because I want it to be casual, but the grammar has got to be perfect.
I don't want anything that is structured in the sense of it could have been used for the car dealership because they, it took them an hour and 15 to change your oil. So the technology piece has to be leveraged. Now, by the way, if you look at how we have to market a 67 room hotel in Clemson, South Carolina, It's omnichannel.
I mean, you guys know it better than anybody else. In the old days, you know, TV, print, those stuff. It's all gone. It's all digital. And then at the same time, you know, how am I spending my very, very limited marketing dollars? So when we do, at first of all, everything has to be uniform. So for example, if I'm spending money with Google, when somebody searches hotels in Clemson, the ad that pops up, I don't want it to be some crap generic, stay three nights and get, you know, stay two nights and get the third night free or whatever the heck.
There's gotta be an authenticity in the voice, using that technological channel. So, you know, and, and I look at everything, you know, you've got to embrace the technology. For example, when guests book the day before they arrive here, We use technology. I know it's sound and everybody's doing it. Now we send a, um, a dm the night before.
Hey, Lawrence, really excited to see you tomorrow. Um, or again, welcome back. We do the homework. We can see, you know, and then it becomes, you know, it's a, it's a digital relationship. Oh, by the way, you know, Hey, Lawrence, you know, you have an E. T. A. And what car are you driving? Of course, that means when you show up at four o'clock in your black Yukon, we're going to open the door.
And say, Hey, Mr. Taman, and good to see you again, or a Mr. Taman, so it's those personal touches that stem from the use of technology.
DC: That's good.
Rick Hayduk: I would say, you know, look there and we, we have to, you know, we can't focus on one channel because the users today are coming in through, uh, into funnel is like huge, right? Are they coming in through Google search? Are they coming in through, you know, typing in Shepard Hotels? Are they coming in through, you know, love on the spectrum? Because so many people are now knowledgeable of the Shepard Hotel because of our rock star Tanner Smith or the Kelly Clarkson show or through our, you know, all of these, but you don't have the resources to like dedicate so much time to each one of these channels.
So the uniformity of the voice. Is like I'm coming in through Google. I'm coming in through Expedia. I'm coming in through a direct search. I'm coming in through as a repeat guest. I'm clicking on this ad. It's got to be frictionless and authentic. So it's combination of using this technology in the most cost effective manner.
I don't have a lot of money. I, it's a 67 flipping room hotel in a market where I'm not getting a 500 a night average rate. Right. So, you know, it's, it's not, it's not rocket science. So how do I leverage those tech channels? Better than the comp competitors. And again, I do harp on the voice. And then once we get them, like, wow, this is not what I would have expected from a luxury hotel.
But once you get them, that's when you kind of, you know, make sure that your pieces are in place to, to, you know, I don't want to say close the deal, but You get them the book, and then you start the digital relationship with them to get them excited before they ever show up at the door.
LT: D, you know what I'm struck with?
What's that? Is Rick, and Brand Nerds, this is some Rick knows every single element of the that he talked about the funnel from the time we create awareness. Through the end of the stay and then setting up the next day every single element and what he's really saying is that technology if looked at in the way he's looking at it can only help us in terms of knowledge and understanding who are consumer is and so embrace it and optimize it.
That's really what I'm seeing. Right, Rick.
Rick Hayduk: I would let me let me jump on optimize. So Great book that just came out, Unreasonable Hospitality, the guy who was a general manager of Eleven Madison Park, incredible restaurant, and he said service is black and white, or actually he gave credit to someone who he interviewed, didn't hire her. She said service is black and white, hospitality is in color.
DC: Ah, that's good.
Rick Hayduk: So when you look at.
Okay. Tech makes the black and white easier and more efficient. I can send an e blast out to 3000 past guests. You know, give them an offer and hopefully they book call to action button. They book the way it's written the imagery that's used in that tech channel is color.
So you want, and again, one of the things that we have in our brand deck, like, you know, I kind of looked at, you know, the Maslow hierarchy of needs, you know, down on the bottom, you know, food, water, shelter, and then up on top self actualization on the top of our brand deck is we want guests to to feel something that bar is really high when most hotels are like, I just want you to check in.
I want you to, I want everything to go well, the wifi to work. I want you to get to your room easily. I want the room to be clean. I want to be, you know, you get your free breakfast and out the door. That sucks. And then get out of here.
DC: Right. And then I say, and then get out of here.
Rick Hayduk: Oh, and by the way, give me my loyalty points.
And all I'm going to do is track you as a loyalty member from a, from a business standpoint. So, you know, I keep saying, how do you take those tech channels? And make it color. And, you know, right now it's a combination of imagery and authenticity in the voice.
DC: Wow. Wow. Rick, any more Larry, before we close this out. What, what are you most proud of?
Rick Hayduk: Oh, um, I hate that type of question cause I'm proud of nothing. Um, that means you take a minute and look and say, Hey, I've done good. Well, there's still a lot of work to be done. I think I'm most proud of, um, Carol and I, 31 years of marriage.
When we started off together, she was a tennis pro at the resort. I was a. By that time, the club manager and we said that we were going to not make it work or family. I was very fortunate to work with organizations that permitted work and family. So, for example, you know, Lawrence knows my oldest daughter.
When I was working at the great Breakers, The Breakers in Palm Beach. I, every, every, I don't know, Tuesday, Thursday afternoon from four to six, we would do a reception for our guests that would stay in the hotel two, four, three months, you know, whatever it was. And Vaughn would come with me, literally like Eloise at The Breakers.
So we did everything that we could in this crazy, I mean, I'm, you know, you guys may or may not, hospitality people, we're, we're not very bright in the sense of six days a week, 10 hour days, dinner. I mean, you think about how many industries don't close, right? Yeah. We don't close. And by the way, I serve food out here every day and it's subjective.
LT: Right.
DC: Yeah.
Rick Hayduk: Could be James Beard Foundation, which we're not, but could be James Beard food. And they're like, nah, I didn't get a good meal today. So we made the decision early on that it was going to be work and family. So I've got Jameson and, and I didn't mention that number four, we adopted a boy with Down syndrome four years ago.
So every Saturday morning, usually it's my sixth day, the three of us get in the car. We come to work and Jameson works in the restaurant and Abe sometimes he wears a jacket and tie and puts my name tag on or sometimes he works in the kitchen. It's a family thing and maybe that's one of the reasons why, you know, 31 years, uh, wife and I are still going strong and kids are, kids are pretty good.
Life's all right. So that's what I would say I'm most proud of that I've been able to strike a balance. And by the way, I'll turn around and tell you that balance is we're at a balance every day. But when you look at it as a 31 year journey, I think we've we've Done pretty well.
LT: Hey, listen, you know, this is someone D that, um, Rick and I in ninth grade were in the same biology class, Mr. Miles and lab partners. I mean, we go back like, you know, and Mr. Miles was one of those great teachers. May he rest in peace. He was just a wonderful guy. And Rick, everything he is now is what he was back then.
And to see him flourish and manifest the best of who he is. To be that person. It just makes my heart smile, man. It's it's a really good He doesn't like the compliments, but he he's earned it. You know what I mean?
Rick Hayduk: Let me let me pick up on something that you just said. So, um, I I don't know about you Lawrence You're you're smarter than I was.
I didn't do well in biology and Mr. Miles and I played football for him. He was one of the football coaches At the end of the semester, he pulls me in and he said, Rick, this is your grade. I don't C, he goes, I'm giving you a B. He said, because what you do on the football field, what you do in the classroom, I'm not going to let one grade define.
Your high school transcript and Lawrence. I remember that. I remember the conversation. I remember how we, what part of the room we were sitting in and you talk about influential people, influential moments, and here you are highlighting this guy. And I don't even know if I ever told you that story. He, he, he, he said, I'm doing this.
LT: So, uh, I reason why I brought it up was I was hoping you would tell the story. I actually heard it.
Rick Hayduk: Okay.
LT: Okay. And so that's why I wanted to bring that up because he was a wonderful guy and there's the Mr. Miles is the world today would are few and far between. And what he did was an incredible thing because he gave you a grade, not just for biology, but for the person you are.
Rick Hayduk: Yeah. And that's what he said. Um, and, and I remember it, like, I don't know, I can't, who was our English teacher? That's a whole nother story. Clancy. No. Um, yeah, I remember that, but that is also, I've handled situations like Mr. Miles. Like how, you know what I'm saying? You have those, you know, those mentors in your life and, and they don't have to be like mentor like Jameson impacting 20 years of my life.
It could be Mr. Miles impacting me for, you A moment that I remember.
LT: And that's where the heart and compassion come in. D that's where this comes from, right? It all circles back really cool stuff. So D should we go, uh, next segment?
DC: Let's do it right.
LT: What's popping D what's popping.
DC: What's popping.
LT: So this is our chance to shout out, shout down, or simply air something happening in around marketing today.
We think is good fodder for discussion. And I think Rick's got a juicy one. So I'm going to throw it to him.
Rick Hayduk: In this world that we live in of DEI, um, where so many are weaponizing it, some of them are marketing it. Um, one group that is that, you know, I live in this world right now is individuals with disabilities and they have a very, very soft voice.
Now, I was living in New York City during BLM. Man, did I learn a lot. Um, our staff at StyTown, as Lawrence alluded to earlier, was predominantly minority, union. And boy, did I get a great education. I mean, these guys taught me so much as I was trying to get my head around. How do I understand this from, you know, my perspective when we were looking for An insurer for our hotel.
Um, I called my Blackstone people, information technology, um, professional employment organizations. I'm like, Hey, I got this little 67 room hotel. You know, can you help me out? Well, we went to, I went to the, the insurer of StyTown. And as I think Lawrence mentioned, it was, we, we bought it for, or Blackstone bought it for 5. 4 billion, right? So I'm calling the guy, our insurer for this entire 80 acres of Manhattan. I'm like, Hey man, I don't know if you do anything this small. But I got this little hotel and I explained it to him. He goes, Oh my gosh, he goes, let me see what I could do. He then calls me back like a week and a half later.
It goes, Rick, we went, I went to the DEI committee of this global multinational global company. And he said, they looked at each other and said, we do things for gender, race, sexual orient. He goes, we do nothing for people with disability. He said, you and your little 67 room hotel in Clemson, South Carolina just woke up a fortune hunter.
Wow. I think, you know, and, and again, you've got like, you know, pride. They're phenomenal marketers. They are. You see a rainbow. It's branded now, man. It's like everybody understands that, you know, so the, the disability community has a soft voice and the people who advocate are typically not like us. They're people with huge hearts, whether it be social workers or therapists or teachers.
And they don't know the system like we do. So I would say, you know, what's popping is if, if anyone is out in Brand Nerd world that is considering or has an, has the ability to influence a look in to the segment of the population, then, then, then do so. Because it's a, it's a quiet, quiet voice. And I'm not talking about the one kid who's bagging groceries.
How do we scale this? How can we, you know, look at everybody? And when we're looking at, you know, I says at race, gender, sexual orientation, include those with disabilities. And by the way, I mean, with this, with this. Explosion or maybe we like Lawrence and I talked about this. I mean, we re we went through like our, our, our class and like bang, bang, bang, bang.
We bet you they were autistic. They were just acting differently at the time.
LT: They just weren't named that then.
Rick Hayduk: Yeah, it was, it was, there was no label. There was no name. There was no intervention. There was nothing. So I guess what I'm saying is, is we look at an inclusive world. Look at this segment of the population who don't have the marketing or the power or the branding.
Um, and there's two ways to look at it. There's one is it's the freaking right thing to do. You know, when we talk about humanity. Like no one should be left out. I mean, I'll tell you one thing, DC, you probably know this having worked with Lawrence for so long. Lawrence was always one that would almost take like the kid who was quietest eating alone and bring him in. Lawrence knew everybody in our school.
Everybody loved Lawrence because there was, you know, we, we had guys that were, you know, urinating on the floor and Lawrence Newman would, you know, So there's just to do the right thing for humanity. But then there's also, for example, one of the reasons I think our hotel is successful is people will come in here and feel freaking good.
It's like, wow. And we call it the butterfly effect, the butterfly effect. So say some, you know, so some hardware store owner from Atlanta comes up here, drops her kid off at college and comes into our hotel and sees this whole bunch of kids with autism and down syndrome working away. He goes back to Atlanta.
He's like, I'm gonna find somebody and put him in my store. So that that I think is what's popping. I mean, I think there's an opportunity here, especially with the unemployment rate, for God's sakes. You can't find people.
LT: Yes.
Rick Hayduk: And, and, and, you know, the formula is relatively easy. Love, compassion, patience, tolerance, you know, look to the guy to your left and to your right. How can I help you? Cause these people, these individuals, this segment of the population just needs a little more help than normal.
LT: Wow, Rick, that's so well said. And I love how you you talk about authentic that's you've always been that and you came to this authentically even before you had Jameson and now with Jameson and then adopting Abe as well. And as you said, they, this community doesn't really have a voice. And it's, and, and I will tell you this, um, there's a lot of unseen folks with disabilities.
You mentioned, mentioned the autism spectrum. That is something that is very wide and there's a whole lot of people that you're rubbing shoulders with, Brand Nerds, that, that may or may not be on the spectrum and you know it or don't. Um, and so at the end of the day though, there's a lot of folks that are really earnest that just need the shot. And they need the shot in the right situation, in the right place, where they're working with people who have heart and compassion.
Rick Hayduk: And that was like, when I started on the west coast of Florida, we had this woman who was so incredible with the team and they loved her. I mean, it wasn't a reporting relationship.
There's an emotional relationship. And, and she got them, but by the way, how is that any different in the workforce? Right. You never leave a, you never leave a boss, you leave a, you know, you don't leave a company, you leave a boss. So if your boss is a jerk, or if they're not leading you, they're not inspiring you, well then, you're not happy at work.
So, it's also a great leadership example. Where it could be transferred to, you know, able bodied, able minded individuals, too.
LT: Totally.
Wow, D. You seem speechless, man. That doesn't happen too often.
DC: Yeah, it's because I am. There have been a few times, Rick, in our chat today where I've almost cried listening to you. Um, there are days where I am concerned about Our species, like Fishman introduced that word to us in one of our podcasts, Roger Fishman, but the species.
And sometimes I'm concerned about our species, right? When I hear you talk today, the things that you have done in our doing, I start to feel better about our species.
Rick Hayduk: And you know what, let me, let me amplify that because being in the world that I live in, occupational therapists, special education, teachers, um, bus drivers, Right there.
These are the people who just go out and do the Lord's work every day, but they do not look like a buddy of mine. Really, really close friend of mine. He said relationships. He goes, what should relationships be? I'm like, well, 50 50 years. No. What do you mean? No. He said, a hundred, a
DC: hundred, and again, this
Rick Hayduk: is not a defensive behavioral mechanism.
If you give a hundred percent and not look for anything in return, life is pretty darn good. And it's not, again, I don't want to make it sound like it's defensive. Like, well, I don't want to, I don't want to be, uh, I don't want to setbacks. I don't want any, you know, I don't want to like feel bad, so I'm not going to look for anything in return.
No, in your heart of hearts. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. And you know what? Have faith in humanity that good things are going to happen. Now guess what? Poop happens and it will. But you know what? Wake up the next morning. One of you guys just said it. Get off the mat and retain your optimism because you know what?
You may have a bad run, but it's a run. It's a run and it will come to an end. And by the way, how do you want to live your life? You want to live like, oh, this sucks? Thanks. Or do you like you know what I mean? That's what I love about Tebow. I mean, Tebow, man, tried to play baseball. No one, no one, no one would, you know, take him on as a quarterback.
And Tebow's like, that's okay. That's not what I'm here for.
You know, life's good. I'm speaking, you know, I'm, I'm influencing people. I mean, he runs that, that charity, uh, that allows kids like mine to have a prom. My daughter, my daughter, probably not getting invited to a prom. Tebow's event, all these kids get, and people donate hair and makeup and clothing so they can have their prom.
All this is going on in the world because no one is grandstanding. So DC have faith. They are out there. I'm not saying in the underbelly because we are the belly just doing the Lord's work, not looking for anything in return.
LT: There you go.
DC: I don't know that there's anything more to say on that.
LT: I don't think so. That's awesome. I'm right. We're going to spin us into the learnings. D. Um, I'm going to start off, man, this is really hard because, uh, I got a ton. So I'm going to try and keep it as concise. So bear with me, excuse me. So like Rick, number one, like Rick, What can you do in the world, brand nerds, that you know best, like what's in your world, like Rick did in hospitality, that you can service humanity with, to elevate to that highest level that DC talked about at the beginning.
That's number one. So like they did, number two, like they did at Shepherd, uh, at their doing at the Shepherd Hotel, if you start with a purpose, it takes you a really long way. Number three, you may want to learn from Rick's successful secret sauce. Hire people first for heart and compassion. You can teach them.
The rest can't teach them that number four like jameson live in the moment carry that through every facet of your life live in the moment number five for you as a person and for managing a brand know your brand and be authentic to it number six after you know the details every single consumer or customer facing element That you have needs to elevate your brand and be in your brand voice.
Okay, number seven. Notice Rick talked about guests wanting to feel something that is emotional connection, and that is what great brands like the Shepherd Hotel do. They also have to plan for it and strive for it, and then they ultimately do it. Number eight services in black and white. Hospitality is in color.
Rick, I don't remember who that is attributed to, but we have to restate that. Number nine. Lastly, how can all of us elevate people with disabilities and lastly, like the mayor in the movie, just do the right thing. Those are mine.
DC: Do the right thing. Do the right thing. Rick, if you've heard any of our podcasts, you may be familiar with an attempt I make at the end of the podcast.
And that attempt is to, through my own eyes, my ears and my heart, determine what is it that this human before me needs to do. It's bringing to the universe. It's bringing to our world that is unique to them. They can bring it. If they don't bring it, we don't get it. I attempt to do that, and I'm going to attempt to do that with you now, Rick.
I'm going to use an analog. John Lewis. Rest in power, the iconic John Lewis of the civil rights movement. Uh, John Lewis was a friend, colleague, and confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. And the crew that they hung with, uh, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Ralph David Abernathy. John Lewis was 23 years old in 1963 when they did the march on Washington.
He was 23. And he had a saying. The saying was around the word trouble. So the word was trouble, but it could have, he put a qualifier on it, Rick, that you know, and Larry, I know, you know, the qualifier was good trouble. And he was speaking to the civil rights movement and he said, yes, we were there causing trouble sitting in restaurants, walking down streets, demanding rights.
But he said it was good trouble though. Trouble but good trouble. That framework. I think has a connection to you, Rick. So let's go through it. At Breakers, you didn't know that Breakers was going to be having some connection to Goodwill Industries. You didn't know that, but when you discovered that, it was a surprise.
It was a surprise. While you were at Breaker's, you didn't know that Dabo Sweeney was gonna roll up into one of the marinas. You had no idea. You guys became fast friends. So Dabo Sweeney pulling up into a marina and you all becoming friends? It's a bit of a surprise, Rick. Bit of a surprise. You didn't know that the gentleman that was the kicker at Clemson and is the developer, you didn't know that he bought a bank three years hence and thought to himself, you know, I really, I wanted to do a hotel, but I build jiffy lubes, bro.
I don't do hotels. And you show up, Rick. That was a surprise for you and for him. And it wasn't just in those three things, the breakers and Goodwill Industries and dabble Sweeney in the Marina and the, uh, the kicker. What's the kicker's name? I want to be respectful to this gentleman.
Rick Hayduk: Rich Davies.
DC: Rich Davies, Rich Davies, buying a bank to develop it as a hotel.
All of these were surprises. They were good surprises. It was a qualifier. Good surprises. The birth of your daughter, Jameson. The doctor says, your child has down syndrome. You are thinking these three questions. Is she, is she healthy? She's going to be healthy. Mom too. How's her life going to be? And then when we're gone, she's going to be okay.
These are big questions, Rick, to be asking yourself like bang, bang, bang. And so, dare I say that, uh, Jamison was a surprise. That Down syndrome was surprised, but she is the ultimate good surprise. And so is your son, Abe, ultimate good surprise. So I've got a question and then I'm going to put a point on this.
Why did you name the company Good Shepherd? What, why'd you do that?
Rick Hayduk: It's pretty much what one might guess is The shepherd is the one who tends to the flock. Now, there's a great book that's out. It's called The Way of the Shepherd. And, you know, in 30 seconds, kid was graduating MBA from UT Austin and got hired by General Dynamics and was going to lead five people.
He goes to his professor and he says, I've never led people in my life. I don't know what the hell to do. The professor says, you give me the next five, six weekends and I'll show you about leadership. He takes him out to a sheep farm. And he says, what does this have to do about leadership? And really summarizing it, Shepherd's crook, one side is to pull somebody back.
The other side is to nurture them along. Consensually, we view the shepherds are these individuals that are tending to us, tending to our emotions and inspiring us that, you know, the world is a good place. I'm working. I'm taking care of, I'm taking care of you. I got Down Syndrome, but guess what? I'm serving you food.
Yeah. I'm, you know, we have, we have a young gentleman who's at our front door. You know, you show up, he's got one arm and his leg is, is, is, is, is one of his legs in a brace. This guy's the happiest, happiest dude you're ever going to meet. He loves his job, loves interacting with people. A shepherd is the one who tends to the flock where we want to flip the script. Is we're not tending to them, they're tending to us.
LT: Oof, love that.
Okay,
DC: I'm concluding now. And I did not know you were gonna say that. I had no idea. So Brandner, just be clear, I've never heard Rick say this before. What you did say earlier is that when you built this four star hotel, you and Dabo and the other gentlemen, you did not lead with down syndrome or other disabilities you're leading with this is a wonderful four star hotel with heart.
When you come yeah that that that that's what you said So here is what I believe is uniquely you Rick. This is the brand of Rick good surprises the good Shepherd serving up good surprises. You are a shepherd. You have been a shepherd just like John Lewis has made trouble, but the qualifier in front of the trouble is good trouble. That's what I believe you are, brother.
Rick Hayduk: Well, you know what, you know how the, uh, the interview question, what do you want on your, your tombstone? Um, if, if I live my life the way I hope and pray, I will, um, the tombstone should read here lies a good shepherd.
That's it. Wow. Maybe I won't even put my name on it.
DC: Yeah.
Rick Hayduk: That's it.
DC: Yeah. That's amazing.
LT: Wow. Are you complete?
DC: I am brother. I, I, I am.
LT: Rick, anything you want to share with our wonderful Brand Nerds that you've taken from our amazing conversation today?
Rick Hayduk: Yeah, I know that we kind of went off on the, you know, the emotional side, um, and the story side, which, you know, is, is, I understand it's quite powerful, but from, you know, the audience, from the Brand Nerds, we went about this in a methodical, intentional manner with brand first.
Yep. No colors, PMS colors, imagery, how we design the hotel, um, uniforms. I have to say that, you know, after 40 years of, in a particular industry, you know, like when Marina would say the, I see the field much differently than I did. 10 years ago, everything slowed down. I know where everybody's supposed to be.
I know where the D backs are, know where the corners are, know where to throw the ball. When we made this hotel, I was able to incorporate. Like, I don't want to say marketing 101, but maybe branding, marketing 401 or 601 in all of the decisions that we made. And then of course, like I talk about the authenticity of voice, the imagery, the website, the way we text guests.
You start with a purpose, but then the brand component was like the insulation around the purpose. Because it helps amplify it. So the objective was one plus one is three. And I think, you know, listen, time will tell if we've achieved that, but I want everybody to know that that's listening to you guys who listen, you know, podcast after podcast that, you know, this is a, yeah, this is a great story.
So the content might be, might be pretty cool, but there is an intentionality, an academic approach that we used. On, you know, like marketing principles and taking some risks and, you know, walk in the middle of the fairway on some other things. But it was crazy intentional on how do we amplify this to make, you know, one plus one equals three while not leading with that story.
So, you know, as you all said that you've got guys, you know, men and women who are studying marketing and studying branding and entrepreneurs and the like. Um, this was intentional.
LT: I'm so glad you emphasize that. And again, just just so you know, full disclosure, Brand Nerds, we just because Rick and I are friends, we would he would come to us with a few.
Hey, I'm thinking this or I'm thinking that. Um, so we were involved in conversing. We take 0, 0 credit. For anything that he did zero. Yes, we're here to help him bounce some ideas off. And I can tell you straight up that every point that he mentioned was intentional and continues to be intentional going forward.
So I'm really glad that you emphasize that point. It's really cool.
I think we're at the end here, guys. This is I can't tell you how much fun I've had. This has been having, uh, my boy Richard on, you know, has been incredible, D. Um, and I think it's been, uh, a great ride for the Brand Nerds. So this is awesome, but we're going to have to say goodbye now.
So, uh, Brand Nerds, thank you for listening to brands, beats and bites. The executive producers are Jeff Shirley, Darryl "DC" Cobbin, Larry Taman and Hailey Cobbin, Jade Tate and Tom diOro.
And that is he. And if you do like this podcast, please subscribe and share it for those on Apple podcasts. If you are so inclined, we love those excellent reviews.
We hope you enjoyed this podcast and we look forward to next time where we will have more insightful and enlightening talk about marketing.