IN THE SPA
INDUSTRY,
WHO IS YOUR
IDEA OF A
GREAT
LEADER?
“Ruth Stricker is a leader in the industry
and a mentor for up-and-coming industry leaders.”
BRANDON CLAYPOOL
SASANQUA/THE KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB
KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA
“There are so many who have provided
inspired leadership in so many different
areas: Deborah Szekely and Sheila Cluff
for their ongoing contributions to estab-
JANE IREDALE
Founder and President, Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, Ltd.
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
lishing and shaping the modern spa
industry; Mary Tabacchi for providing
the academic credibility so desperately
necessary to industry growth; Susie Ellis
for her ability to grasp the industry’s
trend to wellness and her diligent work
in helping it to actually come about and
Lynne Walker McNees for making ISPA
the definitive voice of the spa industry.”
KATHRYN STOLLE
TOTAL SPA CONCEPTS
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
“Ilana Alberico of Innovative Spa
Management is someone who I feel
shares the same motives and passion as
myself. She is constantly working to
move the industry and her company
forward by implementing new ideas for
her own business and solutions for hotel
and spa operators. I also admire Horst
Schulze, former president of the RitzCarlton. He was someone who [worked
his way up through the ranks], took an
idea of excellence and implemented it
What is the best leadership lesson you’ve learned?
Be clear in giving directions. Too often, I’m rushed and I
assume that people know what I want. They don’t. This
results in time being wasted as we retrace our steps. Being
clear doesn’t mean being dictatorial. It means listening to
all arguments and then being straight forward in the action
plan. This sets people up for success.
If you can read only one book about leadership,
what would it be? Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson
Mandela.
If you can ask one great leader a question, who
would it be and what would you ask? Winston
Churchill. I’d ask him how, with the devastation and deprivation that Britons faced in World War II, was he able to
find the words that inspired and gave them courage. They
faced something much worse than we’re facing now, the
possibility of losing everything including their lives, and
yet when my mother speaks of those times she remembers
a sense of camaraderie, a sense of one-for-all which she
directly attributes to listening to Churchill on the “wireless.” That’s leadership.
with precision.”
SCOTT VAZINSKI
THE SPA AT YELLOW CREEK
AKRON, OHIO
36 PULSE
■
May 2012
How do you spot a natural leader? Give them a project
that requires working with others and watch how they
interact. If they are a leader they won’t be able to help
themselves; they will have to lead. They might sit quietly
and observe in the beginning but soon they’ll be organizing and inspiring. It never fails.