SPECIAL REPORT
What MATTERS
HOTELS asked 11 additional rising star hoteliers not present at the roundtable to comment on what they care about , what keeps them up at night , the impact they want to make on their sector – and how the industry should be shifting to meet this new generation of leaders .
HOTELS : How do company cultures need to shift to attract younger professionals ? Antonia Korosec : It ’ s all about communication and growth . If you ’ re hiring a young manager who ’ s smart , they want to grow with you … We involve the younger managers , getting their opinion . They might be wrong , or they might say , I don ’ t know . But we involve them .
Calvin Anderson : At Red Lion , I bang the drum that we need to behave like a startup . That means if you see the problem , you ’ re part of solving it .
Jai Govindani : Nowadays , people want to be happy at their job and make an impact . If they have an idea they think is worth doing , they expect it to propagate up through the organization and that people will listen because it ’ s a good idea .
Danny Ho : We need to give younger people a lot of chances and a way to build their confidence … When we train the students , they have a lot of questions : Why do we do things this way — can we change ? They have their own mindset .
H : What are the needs and priorities of next-gen leaders ?
Govindani : They value happiness and work-life balance … Everyone thinks they are entitled and pampered , but one thing they get is happiness , that there is more to life than being at a job every day .
Amruda Nair : The most important thing for me is a need to give back to the community , so we are doing a lot of things at the property level to get that kind of engagement going .
H : Describe things you try to do every day .
Govindani : I watch world news . That ’ s all about perspective . It ’ s easy to live with our offices , salaries , jobs , mortgages — these are all very First World problems , and there ’ s a whole other world out there . And I run , because I have an addictive personality .
Korosec : I try to make sure that I have a personal connection with one of my team members every day . It doesn ’ t matter which level . I try to ask how they ’ re doing , their personal life , how is the job … so they know we care about the individual and not just the job they ’ re fulfilling .
Michael Innocentin : At the end of every week I block an hour or two to plan out the following week . I also try to take 10 to 15 minutes to reflect on the events of the day to determine if there are areas where I can improve or situations that I can handle differently in the future .
H : What about the business keeps you up at night ?
Anderson : There ’ s a fight to redefine
11 MORE RISING STARS
CALVIN ANDERSON SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT , CHIEF OF REVENUE OPTIMIZATION RLH CORP ., DENVER
MEGAN CARLSON NATIONAL EVENTS PLANNING MANAGER , AMERICAS HYATT HOTELS , DENVER
CATHERINE DRISCOLL VICE PRESIDENT , ASSET MANAGEMENT APPLE HOSPITALITY REIT , RICHMOND , VIRGINIA
MICHAEL FUERSTMAN CO-FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR PENDRY HOTELS , IRVINE , CALIFORNIA
28 hotelsmag . com May 2018