Effective Timing & Decision Making Leads to Success and Recognition. A true story that shows us a life changing meaning of timing & decision making.

The right timing and the right decision is a magical merger, when executed rightfully, leads to success and recognition. It leads us to ponder on the now or the later, and on this way or the other. Us hoteliers would argue this can only be taught by the right experience, or by the that gut feeling of intuition.

But at rare times, this combination of timing and decision is imposed by forces outside of one's own ability, and may come at a high cost, albeit with a high return in the future. Other times, there is a third factor involved; the principle of doing the right thing, even though it is difficult to face.

The story I will share with you is about a golden watch that came to my hands due to this magical merger of timing and decisions, even though it was before my time and not my decision. This watch survived the tragedy of the holocaust and crossed across country borders, to eventually end up on my wrist. It is the story that belongs to the childhood of my wife Rachel, and one which will always symbolise the perfect timing of a decision that would change the life of man.

When Rachel was only a child, her grandfather lived with her family, as was the custom then, and would return from work each day for lunch. Every day, her mother would prepare a simple home cooked meal, and like clockwork, she would set the table for him at lunchtime. If Grandfather was late, her mother would lovingly cover his meal with a white porcelain plate, further covered with a simple cotton cloth, to keep it warm. It was the time that Rachel, then a 12 year old child, would wait for him to open the door and to watch him hang his hat on the hanger from the end of the corridor. She would run and hug him hard, putting her little arms almost around him, feeling his heaviness and his tiredness from age. He was 83 years old, but much in love with his granddaughter.

As her grandfather was the owner of little kiosks in the neighbourhood, almost every day his hands were filled with an abundance of chocolates and candies for Rachel. She would feel so close, so connected to him, as he would tell her many stories from his life, some of which must have been sad and difficult to understand. How would a little girl understand how the mind of a holocaust survivor thinks?

In 1939,Grandfather saved both the life of his son and his own, by taking a hard decision at the right time, even it was hard and painful to do. When the German invasion took place in Poland, he had wanted to save his whole family and run away to Russia. His wife, who had absolute faith the German's wouldn't hurt them, refused to follow him. She was certain both father and son would soon return, to find her in the same spot as they would leave her. Unfortunately, destiny showed them another way. Rachel's grandfather used to say, “life is too hard to make the wrong decision, if you feel that now is the right moment take your decision, take it, and if not, let it go”.

He would make a cup of tea each for both of them, and they would sit in his little room and would talk for many hours, about life, destiny and how him and his son had to run away from Poland to survive the war. Steady as his voice during his stories, Grandfather always wore his golden watch on his left wrist. As Rachel says 'Since the war, that watch has been on him.'

Just like Rachel, this watch had listened to all the funny and scary stories, in that little room. This watch was on his hands, glinting in the light as Rachel would reach over to get to her candies and chocolate. The hands that held Rachel, many times keeping her far away from the upset mother when she was naughty. Every time that Rachel would look at the watch, she could see him eating his meal, or laying on his bed telling her stories from his never ending supply.  

In Russia the people say that a watch of a man stops right after his soul leaves him. Well somehow this is true, as no one will own it to take care of it.

Rachel was holding the old watch, now no longer shiny and with foggy, broken glass. She would gently hold it whilst talking about her grandfather, telling me how much she loved him. He was for her, a cushion of pure warm feelings, of memories that she could easily slip into.

One day she came in to my room, open a little brown box and told me “if someone should have my grandfather watch, it is only you”. When I asked, why, why should I be the one to have it now, she told me that with me she feels safe, honoured and well taken care of, feelings she has previously associated with her grandfather.

Within my company, many hotel GMs are request assistance from their sister hotels, for holding special events or openings. Often, I was chosen as part of the task force team in these missions and due to that, I have had the joy of visiting Switzerland several times to assist our company’s operation in the World economic forum in Davos.

However, in 2016 the visit to Switzerland would have also an additional mission of a personal nature. I took the watch with me on my travels. When I had accomplished my work in Davos, I took a train to Zurich to complete my second mission, to fully restore the old watch of Rachel’s grandfather. I wanted to make the watch alive again , to give it back its shine and the sound of its life.

I wanted to see Rachel’s eyes sparkle while she would see it again, in its full beauty, yet on my hand. I wanted to offer her the respect of the values and ethic that I have for life, and the love that I feel for her.

When I entered the branded watch shop the watchmaker came out of his laboratory for his first inspection. He put on his white cotton gloves, and carefully took the watch from my hands, in the way one would handle a wounded animal. He explained the watch was a 1938-model with a 6-digit serial number, made of 18 karat gold. It was a very rare piece, as it was part of the very first productions of the company. It had been manufactured in a village near Zurich, and was sold to a person in Poland.

Standing in that little shop, listening to the watch's history, I felt the stories unwinding in my mind, revealing pictures and playing to my imagination. I felt so special, and so unique as I was the one now, on my turn, to experience these grand feelings. Indeed, it must have been the same emotional feelings for Rachel, only 3 months later, when she saw the watch after 3 months on my hand, alive as it had been on her grandfather's wrist.

The story comes full circle, like the hands of a watch, as it is again due to the right timing and the right decision of mine that the watch came alive again, in full appreciation of Rachel's emotional attachment to it. It is a watch that is now a piece of my family's history, one that one day will pass to my son's wrist, showing him once again the magic of the right time combined with the right decision.