JAPAN and the WORLD Magazine APRIL ISSUE 2016 #Issue 15 | Seite 84

THE PENINSULA TOKYO
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
INTERVIEW
FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP
A SUCCESSFUL STORY OF
FEMALE
LEADERSHIP
女性リーダーのサクセスストーリー
MS. SONJA VODUSEK
GENERAL MANAGER OF THE PENINSULA TOKYO
INTRODUCTION
Inter Media Japan sat down with
Ms. Sonja Vodusek to discuss her
position and goals as the new General
Manager of The Peninsula Tokyo.
インターメディアジャパンはザ・ペニンシ
ュラ東京の新総支配人のソーニャ・ボドゥ
セック氏にインタビューし、
自身の立場と
目標について話を伺った。
You have 16 years of experience in
hotel and business management in
the luxury hospitality sector. Why
did you choose this career path?
I come from a family that has always ran a
business. My parents were really involved in
community programs and I was their social
coordinator. So, I had to do a lot of event
planning and I really enjoyed doing that. So
then, I decided that I wanted to make this my
career. I looked for a course and what I found
was an event-planning program at a Swiss
hotel management school in Sydney. So, I left
the family business.
When I was growing up, I took every
opportunity that presented itself to me and
it did not matter where it sent me. After I got
older, I began to be more selective in where
I went. So I stayed with Four Seasons for 13
years because it was such a great training
ground and I traveled the world with them.
Afterwards, I moved on to The Peninsula
Hotels, which resonates strongly with my
values and ethics. Our employees, in The
Peninsula, feel as though they are a part of
the family, and so, in a sense, it feels like
being in a family business again.
As a result, I have been with the company for
6 years. They gave me the opportunity to be a
hotel manager when I was in New York, and
then I moved to Manila as General Manager
and now Tokyo.
83 // APRIL 2016
Ms. Sonja Vodusek
General Manager of The Peninsula Tokyo.
What is it that keeps your work
efficient, given the diversity of
people, cultures, and places in
your work environment?
It is the way you treat people. Treat people
the way you would like to be treated, it does
not matter in which part of the world you
are in. You discipline in private and praise
in public and you never take credit for other
people’s success.
Furthermore, I have never had to adjust the
management style, no matter where I go.
You just have to know the pace at which the
hotel operations run at, and understand the
people. For example, one of the things I do,
no matter where I go, I always meet with the
senior leadership first and talk about what their
expectations are, then I go to next level. So,
communication is very important. It is especially
important that you tell people your opinions. I
am very much a collaborative manager, not a
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