Constant Innovation

Constant Innovation

When I began my job as a waiter for the Pappas Restaurant Company at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, I was given a training manual that I would be tested on at each and every training shift. It was thick, and it required that I work hard and study it if I was going to succeed as a waiter. I still remember the three touchstones of the Pappas Restaurant Company: (1) superior product, (2) superior service, and (3) constant innovation.

I was reminded of this third touchstone, constant innovation, when I stayed at the Hilton Palacio del Rio on the San Antonio River Walk. This hotel’s construction was completed in only 202 days in preparation for the “HemisFair,” the Texas World’s Exposition of 1968. The H. B. Zachry Company pioneered the modular construction, with already fully furnished rooms put in place with an elaborate crane system.

A plaque in the hotel lobby gives tribute to H. B. “Pat” Zachry by quoting his philosophy, which begins with, “I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon if I can. I seek opportunity—not security.” It continues with words that speak of having a zeal for life and work, and for being a person who makes something of his life. I was inspired as I read it, thinking, Here is a man, made in the image of God, who lived his life ruling, reigning, and exerting dominion. That is a life well lived.

You, too, were made to rule, reign, and exert dominion. Genesis 1:26 states, “God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.’”

It is a liberating day when we learn that God created us to rule, reign, and exert dominion. God, who rules, reigns, and exerts dominion, has given us the same privilege. But the key is to do it God’s way.

God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

Genesis 1:26