Afterword

Previous pages aside, leadership is not something you accomplish by reading a book or sitting in your office. It's something you learn and hone by doing—though I hope that the experiences I've shared here, and the lessons I've learned from those experiences, will set you on a more productive course.

Learning is or should be a lifelong endeavor. I was fortunate to begin my education in the art of leadership and relationship building under the tutelage of memorable teachers like Sergeant James at the Prudential Center in Boston and my Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers at Boston University. Then, when I began my active military duty, I learned from the best teachers the U.S. Army had to offer. In the inimitable military style, they made sure we remembered what we were taught—because a lapse of memory on the battlefield was all too often a soldier's last.

I have come to see trust as a major ingredient of a personal relationship. Take my friend Buck Laird. Buck and I have been friends for almost 40 years. On two occasions Buck has called and asked, "Do you trust me?" What Buck had in mind were investments that I saw for the first time when I flew to Hawaii to sign the contracts. The initial 30-acre deal occurred in the 1970s. At some point, you need to rely on trust to cement your relationships. Such connections can be profitable—and my ventures were.

Partly because of my military background, Marriott decided to take a chance on me. I was hired as a management trainee in ...

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