We had our 21st annual Global Youth Leadership Academy this past July in southern Italy, with forty-three amazing high school students and seven volunteer staff from around the country. After GYLA, Jill and two of our kids decided to visit Capri, an island off the Amalfi Coast, to rest for a few days. It was there that we met a young man named Valentino that became the highlight of our trip.
Valentino was not the General Manager of our hotel, but he certainly acted like it. He was not the manager of the hotel restaurant, but he surely acted like it. And he was not the head concierge, but he most definitely acted like it as well.
Valentino was the pool boy. Yes, the pool boy. I’m quite certain that if you read his job description, it would say: pass out towels, be polite to guests and fetch drinks by the pool. Valentino did all three of those tasks with a smile on his face, but to say he was the highlight of our trip is an understatement. Valentino had this authenic and genuine energy that made us all want to cancel our island excursions, and just to lay by the pool… simply to be around this guy.
I brought one of my leadership books down to the pool and gave it to him. I also gave him a “Be Kind, Live Well, Be YOU” t-shirt, because he lived those words better than anyone I know. That very same night Valentino read my book cover to cover.
The following morning when I saw Valentino, he was touched that I did not tell him that I was the author of the book I gave him. Then he shared with me a story that I will never forget.
A couple weeks before we arrived in Capri, Valentino was doing what he does best – loving and serving all the guests at the Capri Tiberio Palace Hotel. One morning one of the guests came down to the pool wearing cool Boston Celtics pool slippers. Valentino shared with the guest how much he liked them. And before Valentino could finish his sentence, the guest removed the flip flops off his feet and handed them to him. Valentino refused to accept the gift, but the guest insisted.
The next day, after the guest checked out of the hotel, Valentino learned that the guest was not just a fan of the Boston Celtics, but the owner of the team.
I am a New Yorker. Born and raised. One of the fundamental rights New Yorkers have is to hate any team that plays in Boston. Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics are all considered bad words in my house!
However, now I am a huge Boston Celtics fan for this simple reason.
The world is full of self-promoters, full of arrogance, full of selfishness. I love the fact that this hotel guest just casually gave the shoes off his feet to a kind pool boy. And moreover, he had the humility and grace not to reveal to Valentino that he owned the team.
Now we are all not owners of an NBA basketball team, but we have the opportunity every day to display humility. We can be generous. And we have the opportunity not to share with the world “what we do”, but “how we do” life by loving and serving others.
Humility is the most important and powerful quality in leadership. So powerful, it can convert a New Yorker to love the Boston Celtics.