Vol. 4, No. 3, March 2008
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Mark Osterhaus
VP and Assistant GM, Harrah’s and Horseshoe, Council Bluffs, Iowa
The image indicates his drive. The vice president and assistant general manager of Harrah’s and Horseshoe, Council Bluffs, Iowa, has never been afraid of change. Osterhaus was already an executive, the vice president of hotel operations for Harrah’s in Las Vegas, when the picture was snapped. It signified that despite working a full-time job, he was going back to school—twice.
Gaming was one version. Osterhaus began dealing to understand the world outside hotel operations. Classwork was the other, but not the normal stint at a nearby university.
Osterhaus survived a grueling 20-month quest for a master’s in business administration on opposite coasts of the U.S. He took classes in California and New York, shuttling between both locations every week. He juggled a job, a family, two education outlets and a frequent-flyer account.
“You realize that you can never let time leak away from you,” Osterhaus says. “You learn to manage your time.” And perhaps that’s been Osterhaus’ most endearing quality to co-workers. During his Vegas run, both at the Rio and Harrah’s from 2000 to 2007, he identified with team members by working alongside them.
“There was a sense that I would be promoted at some point, but I didn’t believe I could just go in and be in charge of a casino,” Osterhaus says. “I wanted to learn more. The team members thought it was a great idea to walk a mile in their shoes and not just be their boss.”
So did Osterhaus’ classmates. Many were heads of companies. They saw his hotel-ops-gaming trainee photo as a person willing to both be at the top and start at the bottom.
“That picture got circulated among my classmates, who thought it was pretty darn funny,” Osterhaus recalls. “It’s a good reference point, though. I could never know what our dealers go through without doing it on a daily basis. You can never know about the sore feet, the sore back, customer drinks spilling on your cards, people being unhappy when they lose, or anything else, unless you’ve been there. I always felt good about the fact that I lived it.”
His diligence was rewarded. Harrah’s tabbed him for the Midwest last summer, escorting him to the gaming hierarchy. Osterhaus helps direct an important expansion along with the challenge of luring, cultivating and keeping customers.
“Las Vegas helped develop that for me,” Osterhaus adds. “It’s the mecca of the hotel business, it’s the mecca of the food business, and it’s the mecca of gaming. No matter what you do, you are much better, in my view, if you have done it in Las Vegas. Nowhere can touch it.”
“How do you apply that? Put yourself in the mindset of the customer. When I play blackjack, I want someone to celebrate when I win. When I win, I want to let other people feel like they are winning too.
“So, as casino workers, let’s not be mechanical about this. Let’s really enjoy what’s happening with the guest. I put my team members in the right frame of mind. There is no such thing as having too much fun with the customers.”
In fact, it’s a magic that can reverberate throughout the building.
“When you are watching an employee and a customer having a great time, the feeling is so cool, it’s one that says you have connected to the player and that’s what this is all about,” Osterhaus says. “If some customer is kicking our teeth in roulette, tell him he has a great streak and that you hope he keeps it. Be genuine. If the guy has a fantastic time, he’ll be back.”
Osterhaus has tapped both Las Vegas and classroom knowledge. Casinos forced him to study customers, use common sense and instinct. Osterhaus learned a different element of problem solving while pursing his master’s.
“I had the financiers from Wall Street, the guys from Microsoft, E-Bay and Yahoo all in classes,” Osterhaus adds. “You see the CEO of one company, the president of another one, you listen to them and see how they go about framing situations.
“Mostly, it’s about resolving the big issue. It’s not that I win, it’s that everybody wins. You’re not looking at things as a zero sum game. So, how do you find a solution? How do we let other people win and still plan our events to be profitable? It’s a pretty passionate thing.”
Passion is an area of expertise for Osterhaus. It’s one thing he did not have to learn.
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