Leadership In Hospitality Industry

When I challenged one of our Managers, to join me on my weekly run, I did not know that we were about to embark on a journey that would lead to overcoming a personal difficulty of his, as well as and gaining his absolute commitment to my vision.   A few months ago my Manager confided in me that he felt a little bit stressed and tense with his body and that he had experienced some periodic chest pains. He went to the doctor who asserted that his heart is fine; however he had to start taking better care of himself. And yet, he found it difficult to take the first step and begin. Ever since, I decided to keep an eye on him. One evening I approached him and I asked him if he wanted to join me for a walk after work and do a 3 km route. He looked very surprised that I am offered him to join me, but he agreed. During our walk, I shared with him my passion for running and how much positive energy it gives to body and mind, especially after a hard day’s work....

Do you provide the right environment to awaken your team's creative intelligence? We leaders have to embrace our employees’ new ideas and initiatives and guide them throughout implementation. However, the right environment is the most essential component to awaken and challenge the creativity of our people. <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5477253968443429" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> Creating the right environment at work is exactly like the “space” that a painter or a photographer needs in his studio to be inspired and create. If you take away this space, creativity will be less empowered. In the hospitality sector, by not creating the right environment at work our employees will be less motivated to influence others by establishing a trend of routine.Providing the right space is to recognise the employee’s ability to create and to invent ideas that he or she can tr...

My father taught me to use my camera to convey my feelings and pride. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” a captivating truth, although I believe a picture worth a thousand feelings. All of these are tailored in a unique pattern to match the viewer’s point of view. It is as though you can feel it catching on to your unconscious, speaking that you with a visual language that cannot be spoken, but rather imprints itself on your photographic memory. I have been passionate about photography from a very young age. My father, my first inspiration, always shared his vision with me whenever we looked through our photographic lens. This is how we inspired ourselves, and looked to motivate others. When I was a child I studied my father, as he was shooting with his old Pentax camera, asking us kids to run, to play, and to make nice smiley faces for his shots. He would use different lenses and filters to create effects, and special themed pictures. I remember thousands of pictures that...

During a recent executive meeting, where our team had the chance to step back and focus on the bigger picture, I shared my thoughts on the significance of leadership and empowerment within the workplace. By exploring examples from the Olympic Games, I aimed to connect these ideas to our own industry. At the time of my presentation, the Rio Olympics were a trending topic, and one name stood out above all others: Michael Phelps. His incredible achievements in the pool had culminated in Rio, where he earned an impressive total of 28 medals throughout his career. From his early days, it was clear that Phelps was destined for greatness. He attributes his unwavering motivation to his idol, Michael Jordan. In an interview with USA Today, Phelps spoke highly of Jordan's accomplishments, stating, "What he did to the sport of basketball is what I’ve always wanted to do in the sport of swimming. No.23 is a special number and will always be a certain number. It always has been, and n...

T he right timing and the right decision is a magical merger, when executed rightfully, leads to success and recognition. It leads us to ponder on the now or the later, and on this way or the other. Us hoteliers would argue this can only be taught by the right experience, or by the that gut feeling of intuition. But at rare times, this combination of timing and decision is imposed by forces outside of one's own ability, and may come at a high cost, albeit with a high return in the future. Other times, there is a third factor involved; the principle of doing the right thing, even though it is difficult to face. The story I will share with you is about a golden watch that came to my hands due to this magical merger of timing and decisions, even though it was before my time and not my decision. This watch survived the tragedy of the holocaust and crossed across country borders, to eventually end up on my wrist. It is the story that belongs to the childhood of my wife Rachel,...