“Tools of a Leader: Consider a Sacrifice Bunt”

I want to share some thoughts on Hotel Equities’ Value Statement #5, “The greatest leaders are the greatest servants.”

It’s no secret that I’m a huge baseball fan. I’ve loved the game for as long as I can remember. Like many kids, I played Little League and started collecting baseball cards while growing up in Boston.  I also played organized baseball in the Babe Ruth League, in high school and for two years on a semi-pro baseball team. Now, I am blessed by getting to enjoy following my grandson Eli White’s career as the current shortstop for the nationally ranked Clemson Tigers. Baseball is in my blood.

Like many of you who have had the opportunity to play organized sports, I’ve learned a lot about leadership from the game.  Consider the sacrifice bunt.  Knowing that he will likely be thrown out and, knowing that his batting average may be negatively impacted should he not succeed in putting down a near perfect bunt, the batter must put the ball in play in order to advance the base runner and allow him to be in a better position to score a run for the good of the team.

As leaders, we are often called on to sacrifice our time and efforts to do things that put our team in a better place. The next time you are faced with a leadership decision, consider a sacrifice bunt.

Hospitably,

Fred Cerrone

Chairman & CEO

Tools of a Leader: Inspect What You Expect

Before starting Hotel Equities, I was fortunate enough to work for some of the top firms in the industry. I started with the Sheraton Management Training Program, the best in the business at the time.  I learned the basics of hotel management and also had the opportunity to observe my instructors and mentors and learn about leadership and their styles of leadership.
I don’t believe anyone begins a new job with the intention of doing poorly. Good leadership comes into play the very first day on the job and often dictates the level of success of the new team member. To get any job done well, you have to set clear expectations. Then comes the follow up, as expressed in Hotel Equities’ Value Statement #4: “Inspect what you expect.”
At Hotel Equities, the leadership team for training recently instituted an onboarding process that brings new general managers and corporate leaders to the corporate office to meet face-to-face with key corporate personnel who serve as coaches.  Over a two-day period, they review culture, policy and procedures in a series of meetings but, more importantly, they also begin building relationships with those team members who they will work with in the future.  Expectations are defined. Plans for follow-up [inspections] are laid.
Multiple team members will monitor, check in, make calls and generally inspect those expectations set during hiring and onboarding.  Follow-up happens, even when things appear to be going well.
For all associates, from housekeepers to vice presidents, we set expectations and inspections for every position and every task in an intentional effort to produce, ‘Excellence in Hospitality’.


Hospitably,
Fred Cerrone
Chairman & CEO
Hotel Equities

Tools of a Leader: Teach Them the Business

One of my favorite leadership coaches, John Maxwell, put it this way, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.”  As head coach of our team of associates, I believe it’s critical that we “Hire an attitude and teach them the business,” as expressed in our firm’s Value Statement #3.

Several years ago, Hotel Equities began a Management Development Program designed to grow talent within the company.   To date, six classes, each with five or six members, have completed the classwork. Over 70 percent of the graduates have moved into bigger, more responsible roles in the firm.

Last fall, we introduced a Leadership Development Program targeting associates with multi-unit responsibilities.  We tapped rising stars, under the guidance of our Vice President of Learning & People Development, to meet for discussions, take on assignments and work with senior leaders who mentor them in all aspects of the hotel business.

As the product of a corporate-sponsored management training program myself, I am committed to supporting and teaching in our training programs because I believe they are vital to our firm’s future.

Within our company, opportunities abound daily for each of us to ‘show the way’ and ‘teach the business’.   We learned from those who led us.  Now it’s our turn to teach the people we lead.

Hospitably,

Fred Cerrone,

Chairman & CEO