SPECIAL REPORT
there is one specific objective and instead focusing on a direction and then building a skill set , which would allow me to take advantage of different opportunities .
H : If you were to pick one or two attributes that have really led you to this place and your success , what would they be ?
Rachel Higbie : The leaders I ’ ve worked for ; the mentoring opportunities that I ’ ve had have been incredible . There are several general managers I ’ ve gotten to know well who ’ ve taught me a lot and I ’ ve learned so much from them . Bigger companies need to give associates the opportunity to try different things . Taking a slight deviation from this narrow path that you may think you ’ re on , you can learn so much and grow so much .
H : What are you looking for today to evolve from a leadership position and drive forward your organizations ?
Jay Gauer : It ’ s maybe a constant search to improving who we are . We consider ourselves a learning organization . So we accept taking risks , making mistakes . As a result , my priority is always trying to be the first at doing things – not always the best , but the first . Sometimes execution , of course , is absent , but this is one of my priorities .
Simply speaking , we want to be able to complement as much as we can our
“
IF THE OLDER GENERATION IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND MILLENNIALS AND THE YOUNGER GENERATION , THE LENS IS
HYPER-CONNECTIVITY .
”
– JAMES MABEY
leaders , yet be able to keep on pushing the envelope , not sitting in our chair reviewing our great successes . It ’ s making a leap of faith and believing we can change for the better .
H : What processes do you have in place to mentor potential leaders ?
Hugo Germain : We have an ambassador program where staff can become part of an opening team and therefore more valuable after the experience . It also allows us to identify very good talent and potential GMs you typically wouldn ’ t see if they were climbing the normal ladder . We end up having GMs that are 27 , 28 years old with the right attitude and approach to the service culture .
H : How big a role does technology need to play with next-gen leaders ?
Mabey : If the older generation is trying to understand millennials and the younger generation , the lens is hyper-connectivity . And maybe slightly more to that point , 34 % of the workforce are millennials , the biggest percentage of the people in the workforce . It will be 75 % by 2025 , so we ’ re fast approaching that point where millennials are in control .
Juan Corvinos : The underlying factor that people are forgetting is that we ’ re dealing with a debt-threatened generation . This workforce is incorporated to
ROUNDTABLE ATTENDEES :
ANDREA CHAPUR CO-OWNER UNICO 20 º 87 º HOTEL RIVIERA MAYA , MEXICO
JUAN CORVINOS VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT , LATIN AMERICA HILTON , MCLEAN , VIRGINIA
SHEILA FARAHPOUR VICE PRESIDENT , GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT , EDITION AND W BRANDS MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL , BETHESDA , MARYLAND
JAY GAUER GENERAL MANAGER HÔTEL DES TROIS COURONNES & DESTINATION SPA , VEVEY , SWITZERLAND
22 hotelsmag . com May 2018