DBU REPORT 20 DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY HOSTS HORST SCHULZE, FOUNDER OF RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL “We confuse happiness with pleasure. That’s a big mistake we make. Feeling good is not happiness. Happiness is finding fulfillment in Christ and creating excellence in our lives.” Horst Schulze is the founder, chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the Capella Hotel Group and the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Schulze is the author of “Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise” and is a renowned corporate hotelier and speaker. On April 17, DBU had the honor of hosting Horst Schulze on campus for the DFW Leadership Series. Throughout his day at DBU, Schulze spoke to leaders in DBU’s Physical Operations Department, Student Affairs Department, and Athletics Department, had lunch off campus with local business and church leaders hosted by DBU, spent two hours with table sponsors in a VIP Q&A, and spoke with DBU’s Ford Village Pedersen and Gunn Hall Program students. “I grew up in Germany in a small town during the war years,” said Schulze to the members of Ford Village. “Luxury didn’t exist during the war.” After the war ended, a then 11-yearold Schulze told his parents that he wanted to one day work in the hotel business. When he was 14, Schulze left his village and moved to work at the best hotel in the area as a busboy. On his first day of work, his manager pulled him aside to talk. “Don’t just come to work,” he said. “Come here to create excellence in whatever you’re doing.” “That changed my life,” Schulze shared. “I went to work, I went to school, and I slowly learned what excellence is. I met people who just go through the functions of life but have no high intent in life. Excellence doesn’t happen by accident. Excellence is always the result of high intent.” By working his hardest to pursue excellence in all he did, Schulze rose in the ranks through a number of prominent hotels until he finally created and founded his own, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Under his leadership, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company was awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice. He later went on to create the Capella Hotel Group. “In Colossians 3:23-24, we learn that we should pursue excellence. You should have higher intent than anyone! If you truly are a Christian group, let me challenge you,” Schulze said. “Every single one of you should be an example. Be the light! Do your very best functionally, relationally, ethically, and spiritually. Then ask yourself how you could do better and improve.” “Leaders such as Mr. Schulze give us a great opportunity to engage alumni and outside constituents to be a part of what God is doing on University Hill,” said Chris Holloway, Director of Global Village, and host of Mr. Schulze. “Having leaders like this come speak at DBU helps our students and staff develop their leadership skills by interacting and hearing from individuals who display godly excellence, as Mr. Schulze has and continues to do.”
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