ATLANTA — It takes the right balance for an executive to get themselves into a mindset to be a leader, mitigate chaos and cultivate successful teams.
Speaking during the "Leadership Unveiled: Your Burning Questions Answered" panel at the recent Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, leaders of hospitality companies said much of this starts with having a motivational pick-me-up throughout the day.
Susan Santiago, Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s president for the U.S. and Canada, said when she has a tough conversation ahead of her in the day, she will go for a run in the morning.
"It gives me the clarity that I need to go into that conversation, and really play it out in my mind ahead of time," she said.
Then, right before she goes into the conversation, Santiago said she will tell herself: "You've got this."
Jay Shah, executive chairman, Hersha Hotels & Resorts, said he keeps in mind a quote that he saw as a child that reads, "Do right and fear no man."
He equates that quote to operating with a clear conscious, which requires the motivation to be correct, to have empathy and to do the work.
"I use that to allow me to turn the volume down on the voices in my head and the voices out there, and then I just kind of push autopilot," he added.
Julienne Smith, chief development officer of the Americas at IHG Hotels & Resorts, said there's five things she must do throughout each day to enter a good frame of mind. This includes meditation, movement, rest, nutrition and hydration.
"That's the recipe for me ... to be my best self and not succumb to that high level of reactivity," she said. "If I'm calm, cool and collected and I do those five things, then I'm less likely to be reactive."
"Reacting in a moment can really be detrimental, and that's hard because there's lots of stuff coming at us, there's pressure, there's stresses, she said.
Jin Lee, CEO of ARA US Hospitality Trust, relies on breath work and yoga.
The way these executives approach leadership is also key to seamless reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions.
Just a month ago, Hyatt implemented a new Americas organizational structure and appointed new senior leaders. Santiago was among the two newly appointed subregional presidents.
As she takes on this role, Santiago said first and foremost it's about listening.
"It's important as a leader to understand how you can be in service of your stakeholders, whether it's owners, colleagues, my own team members," she added. "Literally going on listening tours is what I have been doing, and really understanding how can we be better, how do we need to structure ourselves. Part of the reorganization, the benefit of it, is allowing for us to have more time [to be strategic with owners], smaller portfolios for our teams."
All great leaders are committed to learning, growing and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, she said.
Change can also be messy.
Hyatt acquired Dream Hotel Group in 2023, and the company's realistic mindset going into it was, "this is not going to be clean, it's not going to be easy and there's no one way to get there," Santiago said.
Setting up those expectations in the beginning helped to get the deal done.
As Smith grows in her career at IHG, she focuses on what's immediately in front of her in terms of the next step to take to achieve growth rather than having tunnel vision on the end result.
"As leaders, some can get a little bit overwhelmed with 'How are we going to get there?' You build the strategy and then every day, every hour [strategize] what's the next right thing to get towards that right strategy. That includes taking away some [responsibilities], delegating, transferring whatever it might be so that I can be myopically focused on that," she said. "That can't be done without the right teams. In the last year and a half, I've made some changes. I've hired some really great people to help execute on the plan and trust them to do it. I am their adviser, and they're my advisers. They've got experience, as well."
In 2023, Hersha and KSL Capital Partners closed on a $1.4 billion deal to take Hersha private.
Shah said closing a deal like that meant having to "line up 12 needles and thread them all at the same time."
What made it more seamless was having a counterpart that had the same vision for the outcome.
"Internally, leading that transition, it was big in both the volume of work required to get it done and big in the kind of thinking you had to do about the constituencies in our business," he said. "When you can be empathetic and thoughtful about those that you serve, then it makes the checklist on how to lead through something a little easier."
Ultimately, Lee said there's always going to be chaos and opposition when going through change.
He takes lessons learned from Bill Kimpton, the founder and chairman of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, who said to always remember the three constituencies in your business, which are investors, guests and associates.
It's not always easy to have the "right" answer for each stakeholder, Lee said.
"I'm very sensitive to the notion that the people who actually make the hotel business is our employees and associates because they determine the execution of how good your business is. If you don't have good execution on the ground, then your hotel will not be as successful," he said. "In terms of decision-making, it is really making sure we don't just think about one constituency."
Hiring the Right Team
Cultural fit matters, Smith said, and having people with a "we" instead of "me" outlook takes time to cultivate.
"It takes time to suss that out in the interview process. The last transition I had [in IHG], it was a yearlong conversation to make sure it was going to work out for all of us, and I think that's critical. Now, I don't recommend taking a year to hire somebody if you're trying to build a team quickly but taking that time, because how someone presents themselves might not be actually what they do," she said. "Make sure you're honest in, 'This person isn't right for this role. We need to restructure. We need to let go.'"
In the hiring process, Santiago said it's important to first understand your current team's strengths and where there are opportunities to grow. Then, when prospecting new talent, see if they bring the skill that the current team is lacking.
"If you go into it with that mindset, that you're hiring a teammate for the rest of your team and you know enough about your team to understand the strengths and weaknesses, then you know what you're looking for in the interview process. That's something that I've grown to learn," she said.
Lee admits that reading people isn't his strong suit and he often pulls in his trusted colleagues to help evaluate candidates. He's found that his female peers can better pick up on people's cues.
"I benefit most from having a woman's perspective in making decisions," he said.