INSPIRING PERSPECTIVES
Each Sunday, the AJC brings you insights from metro Atlanta’s leaders and entrepreneurs.k
Business editor Henry Unger’s “5 Questions for the Boss” reveals the lessons learned by CEOs of the area’s major companies and organizations. The column alternates with business editor Matt Kempner’s “Secrets of Success, ” which shares the vision and realities of entrepreneurs who started their dreams from scratch.
Find previous columns from Unger and Kempner at our premium website for subscribers at www.myacjc.com/business.
What would you do — meet your new boss like you were told or keep a commitment to your family?
Kirk Kinsell had to make that choice early in his 30-year hotel career, long before becoming president of the Americas for IHG or InterContinental Hotels Group. Kinsell, 59, discusses how that decision frames the way he tries to lead the Atlanta-based unit of the world's largest hotel chain — 676,000 rooms owned mostly by franchisees.
Based in England, IHG’s nine brands — including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo and InterContinental — posted $1.9 billion in revenue last year, with about half coming from the operations Kinsell oversees in North, Central and South America. Prior to the Americas, he was IHG’s president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Kinsell discusses the weekly blog he uses to communicate with 2,500 employees, work-life balance, brand building and operating overseas.
Q: How did you get interested in hotels?
A: I grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif. My great-grandfather and grandfather were in the hotel business. I hung around some of the hotels. I saw what that life was like, and I enjoyed it.
My father was a pediatrician and my mother was a nurse. In medicine, you’re providing physical assistance and emotional support. My father was one of the few who did house calls, and I’d go on some with him.
But when it came time to go to medical school, it turned out that Cornell University’s hotel school liked me more.
Q: After graduating, you went to work in hotel development before getting a job with Holiday Inn. You made a bold move early in your career there that helped you. What happened?
A: Around 1990 at Holiday Inn, I was told by the chairman to greet the new CEO, who I would be reporting to, on a Monday. But I had already made a commitment to my family to take Monday off.
I told the chairman, “I’ll see him on Tuesday.” Then I arranged for someone else to greet the new CEO.
On Tuesday, the new CEO said, “So, you weren’t here for me yesterday.”
“No,” I said, “I keep my commitments.”
He smiled and said, “I’ll like you.”
Later, a similar incident happened when I kept a commitment to a franchise owner instead of going to a hastily called meeting with the top brass. Franchise owners and guests are at the center of our business.
Keeping commitments is the first step to building trust. You broaden that circle of trust by making and keeping more and more commitments, so that you build an emotional bank account.
Then, if you can’t keep a commitment, you can make a withdrawal and you won’t go into a deficit position. If you have no trust, it’s total withdrawal.
Q: Many people, including me, find it difficult to balance their work and personal life. What’s your advice?
A: There's no such thing as balance. It's juggle.
There are external and internal stresses. They can come from work or in our personal lives. You can’t necessarily put one aside. You’ve got to juggle.
My view is that the most important work we do is on ourselves. Having a job is not having a life. Working on your whole self — and not just on workplace skills — rounds out a person and makes him or her more valuable at work.
It’s important to have a personal development plan. Share it with others so you’re getting feedback. Being able to give and take feedback is critical. I can learn from anyone in this building.
We run a program at IHG called “leading with purpose.” It aligns the individual purpose of our leaders with the company’s purpose. Alignment is where our energy can come from every day. But when we are at cross-purposes, that can be energy depleting.
Q: How do you drive that message throughout your company?
A: I write a weekly blog. There's a leadership message, something about me and something about the company. The "about me" part is always something a little revealing. I'm a human being. I'm authentic.
When you’re at work, it’s OK to talk about what’s going on at home. And when you’re at home, it’s OK to talk about work. If you’re having a personal problem, share it with a co-worker or your boss. They may be able to help.
If you’re a boss, acknowledging people and their problems is a key thing. They’re not robots. They’re not hands and backs. They’re hearts and minds.
Q: You've said that creating a brand or rebuilding one is similar to managing employees. Please discuss.
A: Managing brands is very similar to managing people. You have to build trust with employees and customers, delivering over time what you say you will.
A brand is a promise by definition. People want to have an expectation and then experience that each time when they engage that brand.
A brand needs to be relevant and updated. Several years ago, we had inconsistent guest experiences at Holiday Inn. So from 2006 to 2010, we asked all the hotels across all the countries to deliver a consistent set of experiences. During that time, out of a total base of about 3,500 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations worldwide, about 1,400 hotels were terminated. We also added 1,900. The net effect is you have a fresher offer.
The lesson is to be bold about what you’re doing. Be prepared with insight and analysis. Engage all of your stakeholders. Be prepared to do a course correction. There’s always something that goes bump in the night. And maintain the underlying value of that brand.
Also, reflect on what worked and what didn’t work. What hasn’t worked as strongly as we had hoped is the ability to break through and reach a traveling public that has yet to realize how much Holiday Inn has changed.
Bonus question
Q: What’s your best advice for conducting business in other countries?
A: The No. 1 lesson in life is do your homework. In any country, understand the culture, the nuances, the social norms and how government and the private sector work. Also, get underneath the consumer habits so you can relate your brand.
I have a book over there called “Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands,” which is about doing business in more than 60 countries. It’s important to understand that you have to relate on their terms, not yours.
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