Thanks, Steve, for that wonderful introduction. Of all the introductions I've ever received... that was the most recent. Thanks also to Robert Steele, Joe McInerney, Rick Smith, and of course Jessica.
Robert... I am honored to follow you and want to thank you for your leadership and commitment to AH&LA.
Joe, I look forward to working with you side by side during the upcoming year.
Rick, I appreciate not only what you said tonight, but more importantly, everything you do as a great CEO of FelCor.
To Jessica, on behalf of the entire family I am so very proud to be your father and I am looking forward to celebrating with you and Dan at your wedding on December 31st.
And there's one final group I want to thank. The staff here at the Crowne Plaza Manhattan and in particular, Executive Sous Chief Robert Mirabelle and Director of Catering Adrianne "Ess-Ba-Barro" who re-created so faithfully some of my favorite recipes, including my mother's hash-browns. It may not be the most attractive dish you've ever eaten, but I bet it was one of the most delicious!
On august occasions like this one it is common to quote the classics. What comes to mind for me is the classic poem by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken." You know the one: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Or in the words of that great philosopher, Yogi Berra, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Which is another way of saying, "Think outside the box." Take risks. After all, a bird in the hand… is messy.
Don't settle for the status quo. The hotel industry is full of people who thought outside the box and changed the world as we know it, starting with Kemmons Wilson. Fifty-five years ago, he created a unique experience. Clean hotels that welcomed kids and promised consistency everywhere you went. The result was Holiday Inn.
Same thing with Hervie Feldman and Bob Woolley, who started the all-suite product. Bob was basically a plumber who ended up with a defaulted loan on an apartment building and decided to make it into a hotel. The result was Embassy Suites.
Then there was Jack DeBoer, who started Residence Inn and later Candlewood Suites. More recently, you have Barry Sternlicht, who took just a bed and made it into a sought-after feature.
The challenge is, what was "outside the box" thinking 55, or even ten years ago, is considered standard today. Guests expect it and are looking for the next big, "outside the box" thing. This means we all have to keep thinking that way.
The world is full of examples of people who continued to take risks even when others thought they should just pack it in, and give up. Like Fred Astaire. After his first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM casting director said: "Can't act; Slightly bald; Can dance a little."
A so-called expert said that Vince Lombardi "possessed minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation."
Beethoven's teacher called him hopeless as a composer.
Many people had Apple buried. Several times. But Steve Jobs came back and redefined both music technology AND telephone technology, and added new words to our vocabulary that didn't exist ten years ago.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas, and went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. So did Ray Kroc before he discovered a little restaurant chain called McDonald's. And Colonel Sanders was in his late 60's when he opened his first Kentucky Fried Chicken, after many failures. Today, he's a worldwide legend with 2,500 pictures of himself all over China alone.
All of these people could have given up. They didn't. They persevered, and continued to think outside the box. And it paid off. Big.
Just as it can pay off for us. So, "think outside the box" is one of my rules for success. I have a few others I'd like to share with you tonight. Like "walk the talk."
Leadership is very important to me. It's the art of getting other people to do what you want done. Leaders command respect, but respect has to be earned, no one can give it to you. And it's earned by doing what you say you're going to do.
For example, if you tell everybody that you have an open door policy, keep your door open! Sounds obvious enough, but I can't tell you how many people I have worked for in the '70s and early '80s who've said they believed in an open-door policy, and then kept the door closed all the time. I had a boss once who would rail, "you've got to be open, you've got to be accessible." And you had to go through two secretaries and two assistants just to talk to the guy.
If you tell people you're open, be open. Walk around the office, let people grab you and tell you what's on their minds. If you live behind an iron curtain and work behind an iron curtain with your door closed all the time, don't be surprised if you don't get much input, or insight, into what's really going on. Because you're telling everybody you don't want to be bothered.
Of course, there are those who need quiet time, but I have the answer for that, too: Get up at four o'clock in the morning. It's nice and quiet then.
My next rule is "Find a mentor, or several." I actually have been fortunate to have had many in my career. I had one who taught me to work hard. I had one I admired, so I wanted to do what he did.
I find my kids can be mentors to me today. And after hearing Jessica just now, I bet you can understand why. I look at youth today, and find their love of life and their view of the world an inspiration to me.
Next, "Never think you're smarter than the customer." I learned this lesson very early, when I was still in school. I worked at a car dealership, along with a big old guy named Jim. Big Jim had been there for ten years, and he'd sit there with his feet up on the counter, and as people would drive in, he'd look at them, and look at their car, and he'd decide right then and there if that guy was a buyer or not. And he'd say to me, "He's not a buyer, you take him."
Well, I figured why would they come to a car dealer if they didn't want to buy? And the first month I was there, I sold 40 cars because I treated everybody as a buyer. I wasn't to the point where I was so smart I could predict who was, and who wasn't.
Fast forward six years. I'm about to finish law school, and I'm still working at the car dealership. Big Jim's still there, by the way. And there's a new kid there, too. One day, a customer drives in and I made a decision, right then and there, that he wasn't a buyer. So I said to the new kid: "You take him. He's not a buyer."
You know what happened next? The guy bought a car. And I said to myself, "Self, you've become Big Jim." Right there, right then, I promised myself I would never, ever be so smart that I could predict what a customer would do. The only person I know who's that smart is my wife, Kathy.
Which brings me to my next rule: "Keep in balance." Those of you who know me well, you know that I talk a lot about the importance of balancing family, friends, work, politics, and commitments to the community through philanthropic efforts and associations like this one. And since I'm talking about balance, my wife says I never say anything nice about her in a speech, so honey, this is for you: We've been married for almost 36 years now, and there is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful they have been with you. You were the one who got me to go to back school, encouraged me along the way, supported my every endeavor, and, most importantly, raised the kids in those many, many days that I was away on a business trip.
My final rule, and this one is more of an observation really, is: "There's no people like hotel people." This was brought home to me, quite forcefully, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The federal government failed so miserably, but the hotel people got up, got their people out, rented buses, did whatever it took.
The entire U.S. government couldn't figure out what to do, but the hotel general managers in New Orleans figured out a way to get their customers out before people ever got rescued from the Convention Center. They had the guts to do what needed to be done. There was a GM who went out and got a gun, and stood by the front door, ready to shoot anyone who would hurt her guests or hotel.
Talk about thinking outside the box!
I bring all of these rules to my role as your new Chairman. And as Chairman, I am committed to supporting the American Hotel & Lodging Association's goals of building membership, expanding brand value, serving as a voice of the industry, and focusing on our multi-cultural initiatives. In fact, I believe we need to combine two of these goals: building membership and our multicultural focus. Because right now, our membership is full of what management guru Tom Peters calls IOWGS: Incredibly Old White Guys.
That is why the AH&LA's work with partner state associations expanding member discount programs and identifying best diversity practices are so important.
We also need to involve the next generation more into AH&LA. The Women in Lodging initiative is an important first step and has generated a tremendous response from young, female members. Building on that success, I am delighted that the AH&LA is about to launch an Under-30 Council. This will both attract young hoteliers to the association and position AH&LA as a stepping stone for career growth.
As hoteliers, we can be proud of our industry. It's not like we're used car salesmen, talking about being in "the automotive industry." We can proudly say we're in the hotel business.
And what does that really mean? It means we serve people, and we really like people. You can't be successful in this business if you don't. I tell people all the time, "if you're an introvert who doesn't like to talk to other people, don't get into the hotel business." Because the people who work in hotels have to keep up that spirit, that enthusiasm, no matter how they feel.
We've all had the experience of walking up to an airline counter, or into a store, and have the clerk look at you with that grumpy "what are you bothering me for" look. It just ruins your day. But when people SMILE at you, it's amazing how good you feel. How somebody else's enthusiasm and love of life can make you feel so much better, even if you're in a bad mood.
AH& LA is truly an industry leader in Washington, D.C., representing the interests of its members in everything from Immigration reform and H-2B visas, to card check neutrality, terrorism insurance, and promoting tourism in the United States. In an election year, this role as voice of the industry is more important than ever. We have the opportunity to make our opinions known at a time when elected officials are really listening.
In addition to these goals, I believe we also need to take a leadership role in going green. This is why AH&LA is creating a full-fledged green program for its members and positioning itself as a primary information resource on sustainability.
The InterContinental Hotel Group, like other hotel companies, is also pursuing environmental initiatives. Take for instance, the Chase the Extraordinary Mobile Tour, which ran from May thru October visiting 205 company managed hotels in 11 countries and 34 states. Although it consisted of several components, one part in particular that all properties participated in was the P3 initiative: People, Planet, and Profits.
P3 focused on implementing sustainable best practices in hotel operations ranging from developing recycling programs and energy management plans, to implementing employee wellness programs. All hotels also switched from incandescent lights bulbs to compact fluorescent light blubs in all guest rooms. This amounts to more than 250,000 light bulbs and will result in an annual reduction of almost 50 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, which, in addition to significant electrical usage savings, is the equivalent of removing more than 17,000 cars from American highways.
Clearly, this is an opportunity for the industry to get out in front of a movement that has legs. And now is precisely the right time. If we had talked about this five years ago, people would have thought we were nuts. And five years from now, it will be too late. We must be out in front.
We must be bold. Take risks. Think outside the box. Because that's what it takes to succeed.
Thank you.
Chairman's Inaugural Speech - 2008
Additional Resources