Wynn touts programs to bolster employees

David Strow

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

Erupting volcanoes, dancing water fountains and pirate battles might draw people into his properties, but only self-confident employees keep Mirage Resorts Inc.'s properties successful, Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn told a group of about 500 managers Wednesday.

"That stuff will get people in the door, but it won't make a business enterprise enduring. Money doesn't buy that," Wynn said. "(Customers) will stay only when they feel comfortable. When the magic happens here, it happens between the people who visit here and the people who work here.

"That's the secret of my business."

Wynn spoke at the lunch session of "Business Success and Leadership Coaching: Coaching Your Team to Excellence," a leadership seminar held by UNLV's department of continuing education. About 500 managers from across the world attended the seminar, hosted by former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula and motivational speaker Ken Blanchard.

Wynn said the flashy exteriors of resorts like Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio played a key role in marketing his properties, much as a barker draws people into a carnival attraction. He recounted with glee his first vision of the Treasure Island pirate battle on the Strip, when he envisioned "an English ship coming around the corner from Neiman Marcus." And he recalled suggesting to his executives that maybe Bellagio didn't need a sign on the Strip at all, given the opulent exterior and the dancing fountains.

"Four of the executives passed out in a dead faint," Wynn joked. "They wanted to kill me."

But only enthusiastic employees will keep the visitors drawn in by the flash in the properties, he said. The secret to keeping them enthusiastic is raising their self-confidence, Wynn said -- and that's something he believes is more important than a paycheck.

"If I could help any one of you raise your self-esteem, you would love me and respect me," Wynn said. "If you can do that as a manager, you can do everything else automatically. If I could take the staff at the Mirage, and go to any hotel on the Strip, no matter how humble, we'd be successful."

By raising their self-confidence, Wynn said he's made Mirage's employees comfortable enough to give him the feedback he needs to make his properties more successful. "Everything worth a damn about (Mirage's) hotels, I learned from someone who worked in them," Wynn said.

Wynn pointed toward several Mirage practices to help boost employee satisfaction, such as encouraging voter registration, offering GED courses to employees and giving full scholarships to the children of Mirage employees attending local community colleges or UNLV.

"At that point, you can forget all about stock options or 401(k) plans ... that puts us in a special place for that employee," Wynn said. "We do that because it's fun, but also because it's good business."

Wynn, however, took the opportunity to dispute media accounts that Mirage told employees how to vote through its voter registration programs.

"We are dedicated to the voting activity of employees ... because they feel good about themselves for participating in the democratic process," Wynn said. "But we don't tell people how to vote. The very minute we tell them how to vote, they will treat us with disdain and never respect us again."