After 30 + years in the hospitality industry with, Stouffer, Marriott, Renaissance, Hilton, Westin and IHG Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts I have developed expertise is in leadership , customer service and organizational culture .
I have a wonderful wife of 32 years who has supported me in the ups and downs of my career progression. We have one daughter, Alexandra, who graduated from the College of Charleston with a degree in Public Health and is about to finish her Master’s Degree.
I am the Author of Destination Charlotte the book a color photography book about why Charlotte North Carolina is a great place to work live and play. The book was published by Lorimer Press in 2009 and has sold over 8000 copies..
My career has allowed me to meet some very interesting people along the way including 3 US Presidents , Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Bush Senior and George W Bush Junior ,the Rolling Stones ,Willard and Bill Marriott., actor Robert Goulet and many professional athletes through my career.
One of my hobbies is studying American Revolutionary War History. I have ancestors who fought in the American Revolution and I am a member of the SAR - Sons of the American Revolution. Greenawalt is a German name and my ancestors arrived in America in on Sept 17, 1740 on a ship called The Lydia at Philadelphia Harbor. At that time William Penn was granted charter by the queen of England to establish a British Colony in the new world and many Europeans came to America for religious freedom. My ancestors settled in Lancaster PA in a town named Millersburg and fought in American Revolution in 1777-78 in the Lancaster Count Militia. When the family farm was sold in 1831 my ancestor married into the Mennonite religion and moved to Ashland Ohio and finally settled in Elkhart County Indiana where I am from. I was not raised in the Mennonite religion but if you go back to my 3rd Great Grandfather they were Elders in the Mennonite church.
First Impressions are very important in the service industry. If we like it or not it only takes 4 seconds for someone to evaluate you when you meet for the first time and their judgment of you is finalized within 30 seconds of the interaction they have with you. In this short time, the other person forms an opinion about you based on your appearance, your body language, your demeanor, your tone of voice, your mannerisms, and how you are dressed. 55 percent of that impression is based off of appearance, 7 percent is based on the words used and 38 percent is based on tone of voice.
The old adages “You only get one chance to make a first impression” is absolutely true. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and so the "picture" you first present says much about you to the person you are meeting. Is your appearance and behavior saying the right things to help create the right first impression? Some quick tips for creating a great first impression are …
Always make direct eye contact and smile
Trust is earned by your attitude body language and tone of voice
Be a great listener, never interrupt, seek first to understand, then to be understood
Whatever your job is dress professionally for and keep a clean cut well-groomed appearance