THE LEGEND
POWER OF FAMILY The role of CEO for the world ’ s biggest hotel company also requires balance , and for that Sorenson says he makes time to read every day and make time for himself — even if just for a few minutes .
“ Most people would say I ’ m an extrovert . I ’ m probably a bit of a hybrid ,” Sorenson says . “ I love being with people . But I like getting grounded and having a chance just to catch a breath . I ’ m also decidedly not a four-hours-of-sleep-a-night person . A lot of people say they get by on four or five hours of sleep , and I think often that ’ s extraordinarily exaggerated . I ’ m a proud sleeper .”
Sorenson is also a proud husband of nearly 40 years and father of four adult children . “ They ’ re all partners in my life , and they will give me input sometimes that I don ’ t even ask for . In many respects , they keep my feet on the ground and provide a tremendous base . If you feel good on your base , it allows you to take a little bit more risk in other places .”
Looking ahead , Sorenson wants to create more jobs , grow into more countries and generally have better-performing hotels . “ But creating opportunity for people is the thing that is probably the most powerful in that , and we get to do that every day . And I can ’ t imagine ever getting tired of that ,” he says .
When asked to make a prediction about the hotel business , Sorenson says for companies like Marriott it ’ s becoming more and more important to compete as platforms . “ And we marry an excellence of service , design and cleanliness with
FIGHTING CANCER
Arne Sorenson was diagnosed with stage two pancreatic cancer nearly a year ago . HOTELS asked him how he is managing through the ongoing treatment :
“ It ’ s still a little early to give you a complete answer to that question . I was out for a run with my daughter the weekend after I was first diagnosed and I hadn ’ t started any treatments yet . So the irony is I felt good and didn ’ t feel like I had cancer . It was still kind of this diagnosis coming in from Mars . It felt like a real jolt to our lives — but still very much surreal .
“ I said to her , ‘ How are you doing ?’ She says , ‘ I ’ m angry .’ And I said , ‘ Don ’ t be angry .’ She said , ‘ Well , it ’ s just not fair .’ And I said , ‘ Well , it ’ s not fair to anybody .’
“ I mean , the notion that it ’ s not fair to me implies somehow that a diagnosis like this would be fair to somebody else , and it ’ s not fair to anybody . It just is . And don ’ t burn emotion on something that is not going to make any difference at the end of the day . It actually may hurt you in a way . But I said , ‘ We ’ ll learn from this . And it might take us a while to learn .’
“ I , in fact , said to not just my family , but to many of my closest friends , ‘ We ’ re going to fight the battle . We ’ re going to work together to do everything we can to get through it .’
“ And there will be lessons that come from it . But those lessons probably don ’ t come until ... not that there ’ s ever a final resolution . I ’ m not actually sure you can ever say , ‘ You ’ re cured of cancer .’ But there will come a moment to reflect at a transition time . And while we ’ re making great progress , we ’ re not at that transition yet .
“ Now , in the meantime , there are lots of other things I ’ ve learned . I ’ ve learned that the team at Marriott is extraordinary . And the way that they ’ ve stepped up to help me has , in many respects , proven my irrelevance . Because they lead without missing a beat — absolutely without missing a beat ... And I ’ ve learned that I can say no to things , some things that I would have said yes to before , and it makes zero difference … These are small lessons , but it does help you start to say , ‘ OK . What ’ s really important that I do , either for work or personally ?’”
20 hotelsmag . com April 2020