Fairness builds base for witness in business

DALLAS—A Christian can succeed in business and still remain true to biblical values and principles, Jack vanHartesvelt, for decades a national leader in the hotel industry, told a gathering of business leaders and attorneys.

“You don’t have to say, ‘I did something I’m not proud of’ to succeed in business,” insisted vanHartesvelt, president of Hartland Hotel Company and former vice president of Westin Hotels and Wyndham Worldwide.

Bakke Graduate University, whose board vanHartesvelt chairs, and the Gaston Christian Center sponsored the event for Dallas-area Christian businesspeople April 14.

VanHartesvelt, who built and operated hundreds of hotels and negotiates business deals valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, talked about the importance of taking Christian values to work.

“In negotiations, sometimes you can take advantage of people,” he acknowledged. “But just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

Look out for both sides

That idea led to a crucial moment in his career more than 20 years ago, he recalled. At the time, he lived in Dallas and negotiated huge business contracts for a living.

Those deals were “based on a lie,” he said. He might tell a client he absolutely must receive a 4 percent fee, when he wanted a 3 percent fee. Then, when the client agreed to 3 percent, the other side felt they “won,” but he got what he really wanted.

Such negotiations could enable him to gain advantage over the other party, but they contrasted with his beliefs about Christian living, and he didn’t like doing business that way, he said. “I felt worried for the other guy; I didn’t want to take advantage.”

So, he told attorneys for his company he intended to change negotiating tactics. “I wanted to create a negotiating plan that was fair, that looked out for both parties,” he said. The attorneys reminded him he had a fiduciary duty to get the best deal for the company, and they wouldn’t help him unless he took the new strategy to the board of directors.

VanHartesvelt laid out his plan to that board—which included such Dallas real estate legends as Trammell Crow and Don Williams—and they agreed.

“‘Those are our values, too,’ they said,” he recalled, noting their affirmation set in motion years of doing business transparently.

“He changed the way we do business.”

In New Orleans, he negotiated a hotel development with two partners. At several points, he highlighted sections of the proposal that benefited him and not them. Incredulous, they asked: “Who are you? What do you want?”

He told them, “I just want a fair deal.”

Years later, one of the partners, who didn’t seem to “get” the concept, received a major honor from the city of New Orleans for his extensive philanthropic efforts. He asked vanHartesvelt to attend the ceremony and stand beside him as he made his acceptance speech.

The partner introduced vanHartesvelt and said: “You should give this award to him. He changed the way we do business.”

“You think it’s always about you and always about right now,” vanHartesvelt told the Dallas group. “It’s not. You do the right thing, and people notice. It may take a while, but it makes a difference.”

Good business

In Washington, D.C., vanHartesvelt changed terms of a hotel renovation project that would have put the contractor in extreme financial risk.

“I’m not going to bankrupt you over this; I’m not going to let you put your family at risk,” vanHartesvelt told him.

The man wept as he realized how close he had come to almost-certain financial ruin. As the project unfolded, the two of them worked closely and well, even through the strains of an endeavor that large.

“Reaching out and creating a fair deal creates trust. Trust is fundamental,” vanHartesvelt stressed.

Of course, one party in a business deal can push for an advantage. But advantage never is permanent, he said, and the other party can turn the tables when the opportunity arises.

“It’s not just philanthropy. It’s good business,” he said. “Is it stupid? I don’t think so.”

As important as money

In downtown Los Angeles, he negotiated to buy a hotel with the general manager, who worked there 38 years for a family who had owned the hotel 90 years. The hotel’s 47 employees had an average tenure of 15 years, and some had worked there 30 years.

“I knew this (the fate of the employees) was as important to them as the money,” vanHartesvelt reported. “I said, ‘I will hire all your employees.’”

After the deal closed, vanHartesvelt gave all the employees raises and provided healthcare. He learned all their names and intentionally over-tipped when he ate in the hotel restaurant. When in Los Angeles, he lived in a small mechanical room on the roof rather than take a guestroom.

Even before renovation, the aging hotel maintained a 90 percent occupancy rate and more than held its own against sleek, modern hotels in the area. In online surveys, the hotel got “dinged” on its old facilities, “but never on its employees,” he said.

Worth it

VanHartesvelt acknowledged fairness and ethical treatment of people doesn’t ward off all calamity, but it’s still worth it.

“You do the right thing, and it doesn’t save you from bad judgment, or hurricanes, or (a disaster such as) 9/11,” he said. “But you wind up doing better than you would otherwise.”

Also, being fair enables Christian business people to represent Jesus well in the marketplace, he maintained.

“Many people I work with are not Christians,” he said. “They don’t want you to talk about Jesus. They want you to show them who you are.”

A colleague of vanHartesvelt’s once asked Mother Teresa, a Christian surrounded by millions of Hindus, “How do you evangelize?”

“I don’t,” she replied. “I do the Lord’s work. And if they ask me, I tell them.”

“I thought that was perfect,” vanHartesvelt said. “You’re you. You’re always there.”