對薇薇安來說意義在于與她的同事和客戶之間的情感交流。給予她鼓勵和內(nèi)涵的實際上是,她所照顧的那些身在異鄉(xiāng)的人們。因為她深知遠(yuǎn)離家鄉(xiāng)是怎樣的一種感覺。
That very human lesson, more than 20 years ago, served me well during the last economic downturn we had. In the wake of the dotcom crash and 9/11, San Francisco Bay Area hotelswent through the largest percentage revenue drop in the history of American hotels. We were the largest operator of hotels in the Bay Area, so we were particularly vulnerable. But also back then, remember we stopped eating French fries in this country. Well, not exactly, of course not. We started eating "freedom fries," and we started boycotting anything that was French. Well, my name of my company, Joie de Vivre -- so I started getting these letters from places like Alabama and Orange County saying to me that they were going to boycott my company because they thought we were a French company. And I'd write them back, and I'd say, "What a minute. We're not French. We're an American company. We're based in San Francisco." And I'd get a terse response: "Oh, that's worse."
這非常感人的一課,在超過二十年里,在這次經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)中,更是讓我受益良多。在從互聯(lián)網(wǎng)泡沫和911事件覺醒過來之后,三藩市海灣地區(qū)的酒店業(yè)經(jīng)歷了在美國酒店業(yè)歷史上最慘重的的收入暴跌。我們曾經(jīng)是海灣地區(qū)最大的酒店運(yùn)營商因此我們的損失尤其慘重。更糟糕的是,我們從那時起停止使用法國薯片.而,準(zhǔn)確說來,它不是法國的.。我們開始吃“自由薯片”我們開始抵制一切來自法國的東西而,我公司的名字,joiedevivre,所以我開始收到許多來自阿拉巴馬和橘郡的信件,通知我他們即將要抵制我的公司,原因在于他們以為我們是一家法國公司。然后我給他們回信說,“等等,我們不是法國公司。我們是美國公司,我們的公司總部在三藩市。“然后我接到一個精煉的回答:那更糟糕!
So one particular day when I was feeling a little depressed and not a lot of joie de vivre, I ended up in the local bookstore around the corner from our offices. And I initially ended up in the business section of the bookstore looking for a business solution. But given my befuddled state of mind, I ended up in the self-help section very quickly. That's where I got reacquainted with Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs."
在一個特別的日子,我感覺異常沮喪甚至找不到生活的樂趣時,我走進(jìn)了一間坐落在我們辦公室樓邊的本地書店。我先去看了和經(jīng)商有關(guān)的書籍,尋找一個商業(yè)解決方案??墒俏腋杏X到頭昏腦脹,我快速瀏覽了有關(guān)自助的書籍。在那兒,我重新認(rèn)識了亞伯拉罕.馬斯洛的人類需求等級的理論。