Excuse Designers

By Ivan Luna, General Manager, Best Western Plus Addis Ababa.

As Hotel General Managers in today’s dynamic and transforming world, we do not have time for crap. The crap and the excuses are the raw material for the mediocracy. Same as the consistency and modesty are the raw materials for wisdom.

In our job, we can give results or excuses, but we only prosper by giving results. It is much better to get specialized to give results rather than give excuses. 

Despite this, there are people who have a recurring desire for the excuse. His art consists of aligning the lack of results with more or less credible stories.

There is always an excuse for not closing a sale, for a delay in the production or delivery, for a quality that squeaks, for an innovation that creates an occurrence, or for unpunctuality that leads to structural delays. There is always an alibi to reject the effort. Excuse builders always try to reason with indolence.

Talented people deliver above-average results. Untalented people offer above-average excuses. Things move forward when we achieve results when we decide to take a risk and try it. And if one day we don’t give results, we won’t have to look for excuses to get up. In adversity, excuses sound sweeter, but they are equally fruitless. The poetry of failure cannot be more than an ephemeral shelter. Self-demand is the driving force behind results. Indolence is the engine of excuses.

Talented people give above-average results. People of no talent give above-average excuses.

Among the excuse-makers, those who place blame on others stand out. The commercial departments that blame the logistics department or the marketing team, the logistics departments that vent their excuses in the kitchen, these at the same time point out that the problem is in purchasing, the purchasing departments blame the finance departments… excuses are wrapped in daggers that fly like paper airplanes. There are companies that try to make every point of contact between departments an opportunity for improvement. But there are companies where each point of contact between departments becomes a point of friction and an opportunity to excuse themselves for the shortcomings of the other. Company managers must practice managerial solidarity and stop these dynamics that are devastating when the day arrives and impact guests.

We need corporate cultures where excuses are expensive and frowned upon. It must be tattooed on the skin of managers and middle managers that in a company no one wins the war on their side. That the excuses of some are the failure of all.

We need leaders ready to take risks. Leaders who have the capacity to identify areas for improvement and do not look somewhere else.  Bold leaders are ready to take new approaches to tackle the problem and have the intention to solve or improve the situation/issue.

In adversity, excuses sound sweeter, but they are equally fruitless.