In recent years, James Mastronardi had largely stepped away from leadership of his indoor tanning business with more than 80 East Coast locations. With established management that had been with the company for many years, the business ran itself without him. But, it took an eye-opening experience for him to realize that ULTRATAN wasn\u2019t headed in the right direction and would need to undergo significant change to get back into position to flourish well into the future.<\/p>\n
One day, Mastronardi walked into an ULTRATAN location, which he rarely did at the time, and began talking to a frontline worker who had no idea who he was. The 19-year-old girl started telling him about all the problems with the operations of the location.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was so on top of things, and I was so impressed. I finally told her who I was, and she gasped and then kept telling me more and more,\u201d Mastronardi says.<\/p>\n
He left the store, but turned around, realizing he should show the girl additional gratitude for her commitment to the company. When he returned, he found her crying, and was told that the location\u2019s district manager had caught wind of the conversation and \u201cchewed out\u201d the girl for telling Mastronardi what was going on in the store.<\/p>\n
It was a revelation on two levels: He caught a glimpse of the potential of the younger generation of employees, and also realized that his management team was \u201ccreating barriers and firewalls\u201d that shunned the talents and perspectives of the junior staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really touched me,\u201d Mastronardi says. \u201cI realized I had a bigger purpose. I realized there\u2019s something there with this new generation. I realized, unlike I\u2019ve heard, the younger generations wants opportunities. She loved Ultra Tan so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this, Mastronardi found the motivation he had been lacking to make major changes to push the business back in the right direction.<\/p>\n