hospitalitytoday.com | 31
Leadership
Steve Cockram, MD, GiANT Impact,
talked about leadership. He said
essentials are:
• Communicating in a visual culture
“smart” information
• Managing
is no longer enough
and retention
• Recruitment
will be the battleground
a “healthy culture”
• Building
will matter more and more
Hotelier of the Year:
Mark Lewis, Editor, Caterer &
Hotelkeeper presented the “Hotelier of
the Year” award to Stuart Bowery, GM of
the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane.
Gala Dinner
At the gala dinner, the special guest
speaker Prue Leith CBE wowed the
delegates with a barnstorming and
very funny speech looking back at her
own modest beginnings in catering. In
preparation for an event for Princess
Margaret, Leith started killing lobsters
following the instructions in a book,
only for the butler to point out that
they were already cooked. After
such shaky beginnings, and with the
guidance of Albert Roux,
she eventually built a
catering and restaurant
empire before selling
up a few years ago. She
thought her ignorance
about the industry was
an advantage, in that it
forced her to create her
first restaurant around
what she would want as
a diner – and her formula
worked.
Day Two
Peter Hancock (left), Chief Executive,
Pride of Britain Hotels, Chaired Day Two
and introduced Lesley Everett, Founder
of Walking TALL, who spoke about
“Brand Me: The effect of people
behaviour on your brand investment”.
We all have a personal brand: it is what
other people say about you behind your
back. Branding is not all marketing and
advertising: a key part comes from your
people. You must know your personal
brand values, and communicate them
to your people.
Reframing Disability
Paralympian Lord Chris Holmes MBE gave
a moving speech about disability, asking
us not to view the disabled as different
people – “there isn’t a separate world of
disability, with separate people: there are
people like you, and people like me”.
He had woken up one morning when
he was 14, to find he had lost his sight
– but had not let this affect his love of
swimming, and had gone on to win nine
gold medals, file silver medals and one
bronze at the Paralympic Games. He was
Director of Paralympic Integration for
the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics,
with a budget of £224 million.