SPECIAL REPORT
businesses going and I always say , ‘ It ’ s three ways to generate value , but it ’ s always three ways to get smoked if you don ’ t know what you ’ re doing .’ There ’ s no upside that doesn ’ t come without a risk .”
JACK OF ALL TRADES Having achieved so much financial success , what inspires Shah today most is growing his team . “ I ask more questions than I give mandates ,” he says . “ You bring people along to get to the same answer by asking questions ... Then , you ’ ve helped them figure it out on their own .”
“ Jay ’ s management style with his direct reports is always respectful , always listening and trying to drive for what is best for Hersha ,” says Jackson Hsieh , who sits on the Hersha board of director and years earlier led a re-IPO when he was Hersha ’ s banker at UBS . “ The other thing most notable about Jay is that he is very calm in the heat of the moment .”
Shah is able to lead with empathy because he has worked every aspect of operations , including a stint with a drunk breakfast line cook at one of the original motels . “ With a styrofoam cup full of rum and Coke at 5 a . m .,” Shah recalls with a grin . “ But he taught me how to flip an over-easy egg without using a spatula because you don ’ t have time for a spatula . OK , you break a couple when you ’ re doing that , and then he would yell . But I can do that .”
“ Jay ’ s greatest strength is his ability to thinks as a hotelier , developer and an owner at various times in the same day or even a single meeting ,” says brother Neil . “ And it ’ s not transitory , thousand-foot level observations – but the insights from years of being a desk agent , bartender , sales director , practicing attorney representing entrepreneurs raising capital , tax and real estate consultant , building a management company from scratch , developing hotels from the ground up in big cities , leading
Jay Shah ’ s management style is “ always respectful , always listening and trying to drive for what is best for Hersha ,” says Jackson Hsieh , a Hersha board member .
our family and partners to an IPO , and then building a US $ 3 billion hotel portfolio . That ’ s a wide range of deep work across four cycles and cultivated his greatest strength in business .”
Shah also learned how to work well with his brother . “ My working relationship with Neil is one of the secrets to our success as we really approach things as partners ,” he says . “ But having two different points of view is a really good thing . Otherwise , you ’ re making a lot of these decisions and trying to balance things in your head .”
FINDING SHANTI Having turned 50 this year , Shah says he has found a new sense of shanti ( Hindu for calm ) that has him considering what else he wants to accomplish beyond guiding Hersha with a steady hand . Along with his wife of 24 years , Susie , they have named and branded a concept called “ One-Room Schoolhouse ” with plans to go into underserved communities in Africa and India to develop one-room schoolhouses . Students would gain the skills to get a job even at the semi-skilled level , and the building would also serve as the center of village government and as a community center . “ We actually want to help build these ourselves . It ’ s a way for us to see the world and meet people ,” he says .
With his twins off to college , Shah ’ s other dream is authorship of a great novel . He has gone to a few writers ’ workshops and would love to commit the time to it and put out “ something amazing .” “ I ’ m thinking through a lot of things , to be quite honest with you ,” he says . No doubt , with much rigor .
36 hotelsmag . com November 2018