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The Point e-newsletter
January 2008
On Point with Chip ConleyBy DAVID PARKS
You have an incredibly successful business and you are a busy CEO. What motivated you to write a book? Well, let me say, first of all, on a purely personal level, when I was a kid 12-13 years old, I wanted to be a writer when I was going to grow up. I told that to my dad, and he said "You can't make a living as a writer" and I lodged that in my brain, and thought I never can be a writer. So part of it is just me wanting to do what I wanted to do when I was a kid, and I do enjoy the process of writing. Yet doing that while you're a fulltime CEO of a company that's growing fast takes a toll. I talk a lot about job/career/calling, the three different kinds of dynamics of the relationship that you can have with your work, and as you move up that pyramid — job, career, calling — you move up the pain threshold, of how much pain you're willing to put yourself through. So, if you're actually pursuing a calling, you have a very high pain threshold, and you're able to do things that other people look at you and say "I couldn't do that". How do you impart your vision at Joie de Vivre? We are not like a McKinsey or a Google or most other companies for that matter. Half of our employees speak English as a second language, they don't have email addresses, they don't have voicemail, so the process of actually getting the message out, and creating a culture, is harder… a lot of it has to actually be in person. We're the second largest boutique hotelier in the U.S., but we're only in California. This is completely conscious. It's not because no one has asked us to do something outside California… Being able to continue to have a real culture that is grass-roots-oriented, where senior leaders of this company are going to properties and meeting with the staff directly — that's something that is easier done when we're geographically closer. As you think about your personal experiences, what is the most powerful leadership development experience you’ve ever had? There are many. I think the one that most comes to mind was when we went off-site with a team of about 35 senior managers to Stinson Beach, CA. We studied Southwest Airlines for three days. We dissected Southwest Airlines as an organization, and the whole retreat was based upon saying, “What is Southwest Airlines doing right that we can apply to our company?” It was fascinating. It was a really wonderful, deeper version of best practices in a company that we didn’t compete with directly. What does leadership development look like at Joie de Vivre? We do a lot of things. We’ve got everything from Joie de Vivre University, (our most formal approach) which is a series of courses taught every quarter, to a couple of different training tracks for managers, junior-level managers and more senior-level managers. For those who are really serious about their growth, we have informal mentorship programs that really help ally people with someone who can teach them on an ongoing basis. I’ve done that for a dozen employees as a mentor, and it’s been a very valuable way to help grow our people. Can you share a good example of how leadership development comes to life and is integrated into the fabric of Joie de Vivre? Actively recognizing our employees is a good example. Studies show that the number one reason employees leave their job is the lack of recognition they feel from their direct supervisor. At our executive committee meetings every two weeks we integrated the idea of ten minutes of recognition at the end of the meeting for people in the company. So the VP of Sales talks about something that a salesperson in one of our hotels did. And then the VP of IT will say, “I’ll go and say thanks to that person.” So, a few things have happened there. Number one, we end our meetings on a positive note. Number two is that person in the field gets recognized, and that feels good. But number three is they get recognized by someone outside their department. So an IT person is recognizing a salesperson because the VP of Sales brought it up in a meeting. All of a sudden the silos that naturally occur in a fast growing company like ours are much less likely to occur. We’ve taken the insight of a recognition theory and applied it. We enjoy the process of exercising it and we enjoy the end of our meetings too. Do you actively coach and what do you see as the key to coaching success? I believe asking good questions is the best way for me to help staff to see things that they might not have seen otherwise. I’m just shifting to a place in my life where I’m moving from, “Okay, well, here’s my proclamations of what I think it would be good for you to do” to being a little bit more Socratic in my approach by actually getting them to ask those good questions themselves. What’s your pearl of wisdom for those assessing the world of leadership development? I guess my pearl of wisdom is that there’s an awful lot of thoughtful and sometimes not-so-thoughtful business books out there. The key is to take what’s out there in the world, synthesize it in a way that works for you personally, for your world view and your approach to business, and then your company. That’s someone who’s really top of their game as a leader. Chip Conley is the CEO of Joie de Vivre hotels and the author of several books, including Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow. Visit Chip’s website at www.chipconley.com David Parks is VP Business Development at Bluepoint Leadership Development. He can be reached by email.
bluepoint wins vendor innovation award
Twenty-two organizations were named for excellence in training and development, including companies such as HP, SAP, Wachovia and Rockwell Collins. The awards recognize the effective and efficient deployment of learning and development which results in significant business improvement. “The 2007 Learning Leaders represent the best of the best,” said Josh Bersin, President of Bersin & Associates. “Bluepoint was acknowledged for its outstanding work in customizing and deploying leadership development based upon The Leadership Experience workshop.” Bersin & Associates is a research and advisory firm focused solely on enterprise learning and talent management. They provide in-depth market analyses designed to guide professionals in making fast and confident decisions on training and development. what will happen if nothing changes?By GREGG THOMPSON
I have news for you (and me). While these are worthy goals, the truth is we will all still be at the same spot next year, fussing about the way we are organizing, prioritizing and delegating. But what would happen if we were determined to make a real change in the way we lead our organizations this year? Perhaps we should ask ourselves the more compelling question…what will happen in our organization this year if nothing changes in the way we lead? Here are seven leadership resolutions you might consider that will make a real difference in your organization in the coming year. Which ones will provide the biggest payoffs? Do all seven, and I promise that you will have the most rewarding year of your leadership career!
Why not make this your best year ever as a leader. What will happen if nothing really changes? Gregg Thompson is President of Bluepoint Leadership Development. He can be reached by email.
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Chip Conley is CEO and founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality. Twenty-o
Bluepoint Leadership Development was named by Bersin & Associates as a winner in the Vendor Innovation category of their annual Learning Leaders Award announced this week.
Many of us who lead organizations go through a very similar routine this time of the year. We start by admonishing ourselves for the mistakes of the past year - the projects left undone and the opportunities not seized. We grit our teeth, clean off our desks, start a fresh notebook and resolve to make significant changes in the way we will work in the coming year. Year after year, the same resolutions are made:
My wife and I go to the same house for a new year’s party every year. It’s a pleasant way of celebrating with a great group of friends. Each year everyone at this party predicts what the Dow Jones Index will be at the end of the coming year. Last year I predicted the Dow would end up at 13,500. I’m writing this article on December 29th and the Dow closed yesterday at 13,359. I might wind up being close to the final bell’s count, but I had no idea the wild ride the markets would take over the course of 2007. The amount of fluctuation this year has driven investors mad, caused financial distress or ruin for many, and caused general unease.
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