CarusoBlog

This Extreme Hotel Has Serious Silos

Composed in Akron, Ohio--

I've got a new, long-term consulting client in Ohio.  They originally hired me to teach their executive team to be better speakers.  In addition, they now have me teaching their directors and sales people to give better presentations. 

Congrats to the company's COO, who quickly caught himself siloing areas of his organizational chart.  To his credit, he quickly realized there was no good reason to deny anyone valuable training on how to be a better speaker.

"Siloing" is a business term to describe what happens when companies use departmental distinctions to isolate groups of people.  It's generally viewed as an unhealthy, unsanctioned practice, yet it's common and hard to stop.  My hotel tonight has given new meaning to the term "siloing."

My Akron client has put me up in what might be the most unique hotel I've ever stayed in.

The Crowne Plaza at Quaker Square bills itself as the most unique hotel in America.  It's constructed from the old Quaker Oats manufacturing silos and every room of the hotel is round! There are 36 silos, which are 120 feet tall and 24 feet in diameter.

The history of the Quaker Oats company is fascinating.  Founded by Ferdinand Schumacher, the company provided oats to Civil War troops.  Henry Parsons Crowell was the company's marketing genius.  Quaker was the the first significant food label and the first American company to use packaging as a sales lure. 

It was the first nationally advertised food product and the first cereal to have a registered trademark (1877).  The Quaker man became the company's face and image.  Quaker Oats were sold worldwide by 1910.

The University of Akron has bought this landmark hotel and plans to convert it into a dormitory.  They are stuck with the silo format.  It's not easy to get rid of siloing at this hotel or in other businesses.

Speakers Go To the Best Places -- Palm Springs Is An Oasis

Composed in Palm Springs, California--

Speakers get to go to all the best places because people always meet in beautiful resorts.  Recently, I was asked to speak in Palm Springs, California.

If Hawaii is paradise, then Palm Springs is an oasis.  The desert city is a great getaway for tourists from all over the world and it offers two unique types of self-guided tours:  one in the city and one in the mountains.

Palm Springs is associated with dead celebrities such as Dean Martin, Howard Hughes, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.  All had homes here.  Sonny Bono was the Mayor of Palm Springs before he won a congressional seat for California.  The downtown sidewalks feature celebrity stars such as Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller.

Visitors can buy a map to the stars' homes to take a self-guided tour of houses formerly owned by famous people.  Tons of homes are featured on the tour, including former homes of Sammy Davis Jr., Zsa Zsa Gabor, Alan Ladd, Kirk Douglas, Clark Gable and Bing Crosby.

Nearby, the city of Palm Desert features the famous Frank Sinatra compound, distinguished only by a pink brick wall that  encloses a five square block  plot of land.  I don't know what one has to do in order to have a  street named after himself, but Gerald Ford, Bob Hope and Dinah Shore have done it.

The main tourist attraction is a fantastic aerial tramway conceived by business man Francis Crocker.  A tramway car can transport up to 80 people to the top of San Jacinto (elevation 8,400 feet), where there is a restaurant and 54 miles of self-guided hiking trails. 

The tramway is the largest in the world and the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

Crocker conceived the project in  1935, but didn't finish building it until 1963.  It's referred to as a "double-reversible" tramway because the floor rotates 360 degrees two times during the ten-minute ride.