Editor’s Note: The Strategic Advisory Group, a division of ALHI, provides customized management and strategic advising to Member hotels, clients and preferred partners. Dr. Lalia Rach, Executive Managing Director, recently conducted the group’s second roundtable discussion, Perspectives with ALHI Strategic Advisers, with Heather Hansen O’Neill, “Speaker Sue” Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, Eric Rozenberg and Neil Johnson on a range of topics. Below is an excerpt. Additional content will be posted soon, including video clips. A regular series of webcasts is being planned for later this year. More information to come.
Lalia Rach: What is currently occupying your client's thoughts?
Heather Hansen O’Neill: The majority of them are still having a lot of trouble with finding and keeping top talent. But I want to add in, too, differentiation in a noisy world is a very close second. Everyone has got so much noise out there that doesn't necessarily mean anything and so we have to find ways in organizations to laser focus what differentiates us and just do that, as opposed to trying to be everything to everyone.
Eric Rozenberg: Building on what Heather said, it's somewhat similar. Yes, it's keeping the talent and it's also how to structure themselves to keep up with the growth. On one hand, people are concerned about the economy, the future, but also they are completely overwhelmed. It seems that they come back to the numbers and the business like in 2019, and the challenge is not only to keep the right people, but to structure themselves so that they can focus on what they do best and remove themselves, and I'm talking about business owners, from the daily operation and build a team around them in order to serve their clients. It's so overwhelming now that they are involved in too many things that they should not be.
“Speaker Sue” Sue Hershkowtiz-Coore: For my hospitality clients, the challenges are that they're seeing a lot of new talent, a lot of new hires that don't have the skills that they would like them to have to be able to communicate and sell. On the opposite, there are more, shall we say, seasoned sellers who are sticking with the way that they've always done it, and that is no longer working. There are so many shifts in the way that we're selling. I keep getting hired to either on-board new people and help them start off in a way that is going to reflect their brand, to reflect professionalism, to be able to make next steps easy for the buyer, and to work with the more seasoned professional who has always been comfortable getting results but has great trepidation about trying something new and different to get better results.
Neil Johnson: When I heard this question, I chose to look at this from two perspectives: one would be an industry perspective because my lane is so narrow and so niche, and the other would be from a Member hotel perspective and how can we help you get in and navigate the space. From an industry perspective to kind of go back to what Eric was talking about, investment and gaming in esports a few years ago was at an all-time high. At that point, people were trying to do more things in what their base was instead of producing the product or service that produced the best widgets out there. They were trying to control the whole product lifecycle and they were doing things that weren't in their wheelhouse that they thought were going to scale down the road. There has since been a market correction and there's been companies who've been merged and their employees who've been laid off, and the industry is kind of telling you stick to what you do and do that best. From an industry perspective, it's market efficiencies. That's the name of the game and how that works.
Lalia: What I'm hearing a lot from my clients is how do I focus on correcting challenges with tasks as opposed to focusing on the people when really the problem is the challenge or the task. I remind everyone that we tend to look at people we work with and we like or dislike them but we don't always solve the challenge when we do that. Instead, whether you like or dislike someone, are you solving your challenges? How do I increase my revenue? Do I go into a new market segment as Neil is suggesting and how do I do that? Not that I don't want to see this person succeed.
Strategic Advisers Roundtable: April 2024
The group will hold its next roundtable at 1 p.m. Central Daylight Time, Sept. 25, 2024. Join using this link: Perspectives with ALHI Strategic Advisers
Members and clients are welcome to join or can also email questions for the advisers in advance at advisorygroup@alhi.com.
Advice for Members and Clients
Eric: Learn, learn. Keep learning. Look at what you want to be better at and what you need to be doing. There are so many opportunities. The best example I can give you I was raised in Belgium more on know your strength than weaknesses and work on your weaknesses until one day I wake up say, no I want to work on my strength and hire people whose strength are my weaknesses.
Neil: I'll jump in and say we are pretty risk averse, and we are looking for eight million ways to feel 100 % certain about the outcome. That's not life. That's not realistic. Do your homework and then after that commit and make a decision. Once you make a decision and you've pushed through, nine times out of 10, you feel better about that. You feel like you've gained some intrinsic things as part of the journey. Commit and then see where it goes.
Sue: Be yourself. Most people aren't selling caskets and even if you are, you're selling to someone who is going to sell it to the grieving. But people forget in this industry that we are a fun industry. We're supposed to be hospitable and being yourself. Authenticity beats perfection every time.
Heather: I would just have to say that change is the most consistent part of your future and what you do with it is going to make all the difference. Allow for that initial resistance and then consciously choose the adventure mindset so that you can embrace and learn from the changes like Eric was talking about. Adaptability is the key to success, period.
Lalia: I'm going to add one of my own and that is don't make assumptions, ask questions. Don't think you know what the other person feels about your statement or is thinking or is going to do. Ask them about it. I find the best leaders ask questions constantly.
Learn more about the Strategic Advisory Group and ALHI Esports Division.