It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Jonathan Tisch, Executive Chairman, Loews Hotels & Company, interviewed by David Kong

• David Kong

Share episode

Jon shares his career journey and key success factors. He discusses leadership habits, the "Imposter Syndrome" and risk taking. He offer thoughts on improving diversity and inclusion in our industry. He offers his advice on approach to challenges, overcoming setbacks and networking. You won't want to miss his advice on self empowerment. 

David Kong:

Greetings. I'm David Kong, the founder and principal of D E I Advisors. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering personal success. Today I'm delighted to welcome Jonathan Tisch, the co-chairman of Loews Corporation and Executive Chairman of Loews Hotels and Company. Jon is an icon in our industry. He founded and served as chairman of the travel Business Roundtable and now serves as the Chairman Emeritus of the successor organization. The United States Travel Association He is the author of several bestselling books and serves on the board of several civic and philanthropic organizations. Jon, it's a great honor to have you on our show.

Jon Tisch:

David, always a pleasure to see you and I appreciate this opportunity.

David Kong:

Thanks very much, Jon. why don't we start with your career journey, because you have such a successful career. Can you share some of the key inflection points and some of the success factors that led your success?

Jon Tisch:

David, I was fortunate to grow up in this industry, my father and uncle and their parents, Sadie and Al. Started some 70 years ago. What is today? Lowe's Corporation and it's wholly owned subsidiary Lowe's Hotels. So my cousins who I run our parent company with and myself, we have worked, literally worked in hotels since we are two years old. I remember a property that we had down in Bell Harbor, the Americana, where I would have to stand on a box behind the front desk when I was about. So that I can check people in. So I've been doing this for a very, very, very long time, and I got to learn from the best in the business. My father, Bob Tish, was an incredibly gregarious, warm, humble human being. And really knew the industry inside and out, and he early on understood the value of creating a connection with team members and your guests in the communities where you operate hotels. His brother, my uncle, Larry Tish, was a financial genius. Larry had the ability to ask you five questions about your. And based on your answers, he would know more about what you do than you would know what you do. And together they were a unique and incredibly talented, caring tandem and once again, they created what is today Lowe's Corporation. These are two guys that grew up in Brooklyn with very. And so we are in a very fortunate position some seven, eight decades later to still be able to run what they started. So to learn the business side from my uncle, the operations and marketing side from my father really made it unique for me. I've been back at Lowe's now some 43 years. I went to Tufts University in Boston. When I graduated from there in May of 1976, I was a TV producer for three years and started once again here in January of 1980. So here we are some 43 years later, and I've been able to learn so much from so many people in our incredible industry. And even though I am not respons, As of January 1st for the day-to-day operations of Lowe's hotels. I am still executive chairman. They know where to find me when they need me. I still have certain responsibilities within the organization. My nephew, Alex Tish, is now president and ceo, so the company is in really good hands now being run on a day-to-day basis by the fourth generation of our.

David Kong:

That's a great story, John. Thanks for sharing. That certainly sounds like you've learned from the past, and it's great to have depth in a family too. someone that can take over after you. You've led Loews to a great high, and I'm sure your nephew would do a great job too. Let's switch gears and talk about habits. I'm a big fan of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and I believe that habits eventually become leadership traits. John, what are some of your habits?

Jon Tisch:

Sure. I think everybody who is successful. Really needs to know their craft. You have to be really understanding. Know the various elements that that contribute to success, and you have to work as a team. I'm a big believer that you can't be all things to all people. That we have certain parts of our core mission that we're really good at. I'm not a numbers guy. I'm the first to admit that, but fortunately at Lowe's Hotels and Lowe's Corporation, I'm surrounded in terms of our CFO O or in terms of our controllers by people who really know that part of the business. So realizing that we can't be all things to all people. That we need to put aside our individual concerns and work together towards the greater good. That is a very strong guidepost for once again, knowing what you are good at and then surrounding yourselves with the right people, and that's an important part of success. Another element to this is the ability to listen. We all like to talk. Sometimes we talk too much. Sometimes we say things that we haven't really thought out, but when you listen, you understand that you can learn and that's, that's a really important element. I talk about that all the time with young people. When I'm fortunate to go to college campuses and there's so many great hotel programs, Around the various universities and colleges and and community schools in, in our country. But listening is really, really important. And the leaders that, that I know who have been successful also, not only do they know how to talk and put a sentence together, the ability to communicate is really important, especially when you are at the top of an organization. It is a constant. To get people to understand the mission and the way they do that is through your communication skills, but having the ability to just be quiet for a second, be calm in your place for a second, and listen to what other people have to say. That's really an important trait. So I think all of these elements come together to create. And once again, understanding this whole notion of you can't do it by yourself. I was very fortunate. Like you, I had an opportunity a few years ago where I had a TV show where I was interviewing other CEOs, and once again, similar to what you've created over the last year or so, talking to people in our industry, I think I interviewed 57 men and women who had gotten to the head. The top role of their organization and to a person. They said that they didn't do it by themselves. That they built a team around them. They shared ideas, they, they viewed challenges in a collective manner, and that's how they created their success. You cannot run an organization by yourself, and if you think you can, you are making an enormous mistake.

David Kong:

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I totally agree with you and. We just can't do it all. And you also right in. Saying that we should leverage our strength and surround ourselves with good people who can make up for our deficiencies. That's a key to success. You were very kind

Jon Tisch:

to mention the three books that I have co-authored, and the first book was called The Power of We Succeeding Through Partnerships, and it's, at its core, it's about understanding who you need to partner with to create the success that I think you're referring.

David Kong:

That's a good book and I think all of us should get a copy of that. That's such sage advice and what you said about communications and practicing active listening skills is also important. In fact, that's one of the seven habits. Seek first to understand. Wonderful. Let's talk about other leadership qualities cuz you've, in your days, hired a lot of executives. What are some of the key leadership qualities that you try to assess.

Jon Tisch:

I think when you're looking to grow your team or if there's a change in leadership, I'm, I'm a big believer in not stopping somebody from an opportunity. There are people that become part of your organization and it's good to have the continuity. It's good to have the consistency, but I, I don't think I've ever tried to talk somebody out of taking another role if I thought it was gonna be good for their career and good for their family. And so, once again, building a. Understanding the contributions that you each make and knowing that there are gonna be difficult days. Running a business is never easy, but it's harder today than ever before. The forces that are conspiring against you on any given day, and you were the CEO of an incredibly successful organization, so you understand every day is something else. Every day you've gotta be. That there is out there something lurking that could have a very negative impact on your business. And what makes it even harder today is the digital age that we live in. Where I say that everybody is in the technology business today. Everything that we do is impacted somehow by technology. So the speed of change is amazingly. And the ability to communicate through the good times, and probably more importantly through the challenges that need is greater than ever. So it goes back to what we were just referencing, communication skills, listening skills, working together, understanding what everybody brings to the organization, what are their. Versus what you are good at, that all is incredibly important, and probably today more than ever, and what is a little bit scary is that circumstances that might be out of your control could have a very negative impact on your business. And because of social media, because of the digital ability to communicate so quickly, thing negative. Forces could be taking over your business before you even know about it. And we see that with the ability for our guests to communicate immediately, were they happy? Were they not happy? Do they think that they were taken advantage of? Do they think that the the service wasn't as good as they expected? I say that we're, we're not in the business of meeting expectations. We're in the business of exceeding, expect. But the flip side of that is that when people are unhappy, they can immediately let the rest of the world know that they were not pleased with a certain experience. So you really have to have your organization stood up in a way that you can find out these kinds of challenges on a real time basis.

David Kong:

That's so true. I really love everything that you said. And you also mentioned a new point about strategic agility because things happen so fast nowadays. Exactly. Really important to be agile. Yeah. Let's talk about diversity and inclusion. You've been known in industry as an ally. You, have strongly advocated for women and other underrepresented groups. There are several big hotel companies now that are following your path and they are implementing. D E I programs aim to make a difference and thankfully these are really good programs and they are making a difference, but we still have a long ways to go. So in your mind, what are some of the things the industry can do to better embrace diversity and inclusion? Well, David,

Jon Tisch:

you have made this a focal point of your career and now that you're looking at other opportunities, I know it's also a very important matter for your colleagues and your. What always frustrated me was that the senior management of our industry never reflected entry level positions in terms of diversity or the diversity of our guests. Diversity of our clients, and there's something that happened in the food chain over decades. Where clearly when people are starting their careers or their entry level positions in, in our properties, uh, we have a very diverse workforce. And I think we as an industry do a very good job of allowing these women and men to be who they want to be to express themselves. But as you would move up to different roles, maybe middle management on the property level, at the property level, or at the home, And then to senior management. That diversity started to go by the wayside, and you would see it at all of our industry events and are, were very good about putting conferences on in our industry and it would frustrate me to no end. And I've had the honor of chairing the NYU conference now for 37 years, but when you would get to certain panels that represented senior management, the top of the food chain in the lodging industry, or the travel and tourism industry. It was five or six white males. I think we are starting to, as you just referenced, really understand how the diversity of our industry is our strength, and it's represented in the men and women who work for us, and it's represented in the men and women who stay with us. And so there are lots of initiatives underway. To encourage people to think about lodging, travel and tourism as a career. That's one of the challenges. And, and I've been working with a lot of schools in'em, and I'm honored that the hotel school at NYU is named after me, so I have an opportunity to be in close contact with them. But there are, there's a whole generation, there's a whole segment of our population that didn't envision hospitality as a. They didn't envision travel and tourism as a career. And I think we're making changes slowly in that regard. And you mentioned the big names of the industry and, and we at those hotels are tiny with 27 properties compared to the Hiltons, the Hyatts, the Marriotts, the IHGs of the world, who these are really well run global. Corporations and they are starting to understand that a diverse population is good for your business. It sends a message out to your guests that you care and that you care about creating opportunities for every member of the community, not just a very small segment. So I'm pleased that our industry is starting to make some change. And recognize that diversity is very important for our long-term

David Kong:

health. I really appreciate what you just said. You are right. The customer base is diverse, so we must be diverse. Although in the industry, we are pretty diverse. That diversity resides in the bottom rungs of our hierarchy. As you move up the ladder to the C-suite positions, like you just mentioned, it's hard to find a female or a person of color or other underrepresented groups to be on a panel at NYU because there are only so many.

Jon Tisch:

But, but we're getting there. A former colleague of ours, and, and I think you might know her or read. Her weekly blog, Emily Goldfischer puts out this, uh, her tellier. So, uh, every Sunday she sends out an email that highlights the successes of women in the hospitality industry. And she's now, she lives in London. She worked for us here in New York. She moved with her family to London about 10 years ago, and she puts out this weekly blog of successes by women in the launching industry. And it's very encouraging. It comes every Sunday into my inbox and many others to, to read some of the, the successes that are starting to happen for women in the hotel. Yeah,

David Kong:

I'm a big fan of Emily and her Hertelier. I hope other people would avail themselves to it., I think it's Hertelier.com. But yeah. Anyway, please, avail yourself to her newsletter. It's just fantastic. Talking about the underrepresented groups, many of us have the imposter syndrome. Sometimes we have these negative thoughts that we are not good enough or we don't belong. Jon, what's your advice? Dealing with that negativity and what are some of the constructive things that we can do?

Jon Tisch:

I think it goes back to a notion that I mentioned a moment ago, and that's really knowing your craft. And because with my cousins, I had an opportunity to work every job in a hotel since I was five years old. I, I knew if somebody was BSing. If somebody wasn't giving me the whole story, if somebody didn't do their homework, if they didn't look at a situation, approach it the correct way. And I think by being an expert at what you do, you know that you're not an imposter. You, you know that you have the experience, you have the expertise you have. The knowledge to get through any situation, and that takes a lot of work and there are so many roles in our business, the lodging industry, to allow us to, on any given day, declare success. And you know this well because you came through the financial side of the industry, but you've got the food and beverage path. You've got the sales path, you've got the room division path, you have the asset management path. Each one can get you to a senior position, a C-suite position, as you mentioned. And each one is so important. You can't run a hotel. In most cases, without a successful f and b operation, or a rooms division or some of our hotels are quite big, where we have a hotel under construction now in Arlington, Texas that will have 250,000 square feet of meeting space, big hotel, 900 rooms. So obviously, The meeting side of the industry will be very important to us. Or you look at our hotels in Orlando and our joint venture with Universal. So really knowing your craft is incredibly important and knowing that if a situation arises, you have the tools at your fingertips, the resources, working with others to create a successful outcome for any problem that you may.

David Kong:

Yeah, that's really well said. And it's a perfect segue to the next question, which is about taking risks. A lot of the leaders that we've interviewed have talked about importance of taking risks to broaden one's horizon. As you mentioned, there are so many disciplines in the hospitality industry, and you've gotta be good at so many of them. And without taking risks, you are not able to branch out and try new things and gain new knowledge and experience to prepare you for bigger roles. So let's talk about taking risks, which is. Uncomfortable for a lot of people. What's your approach to taking risk and your advice on how we can do that effectively?

Jon Tisch:

Well, this is a lesson that my cousins and I got to learn early on from our fathers and and uncle, and that is making decisions based on the information that you. Really doing your homework. This is Lowe's Hotels and Lowe's Corporation. We spend a lot of time going through the numbers, making sure we didn't miss anything. You make a decision based on the information that you have gathered. Hopefully it works out, but if it doesn't, you don't look back. You don't. Second guess you don't minimize what work went into making that decision. And fortunately for us, many decisions have gone in the direction that we had hoped, but nothing goes in a straight line. Nothing works all the time. And there are acquisitions, there are development deals. There are. Companies that we brought into the corporation that didn't work out, but you look at each other and you learn from your mistakes, but you don't second guess and, and you don't criticize anybody for their effort, their work, and making a decision based on the right information at the. And I think back as to the big risks that we took, and I was responsible for most of them at at the time, over the past 10, 20 years. But the two biggest risks continued to this day to be a success story for Lowe's Hotels, and that is the, in 1994 when we bid to be the city of Miami Beach's partner. On the Convention Center hotel that they wanted developed, which led to through quite a, a process over a two or three year period, which led to a 1998 on Christmas Eve, low Miami Beach opening. And here we are some 25 years later and is still incredibly successful. And that was a big. Miami Beach was not what it is today. I remember the only two hotels that were being developed at the time, Ian Schrager was building the Delano and we were building Lowe's, Miami Beach Hotel. And my father, God bless him, thought that my thinking wasn't sound. And fortunately, we plowed ahead. We became the partner of the city. We now own the project a hundred percent. It's owned by Lowe's. And it's been incredibly successful. And the other opportunity which, and I'm knocking on wood on my desk on 61st Street in Madison Avenue, which continues to do well, is our partnership in Orlando, where we in 26 years ago became partners with Universal, which then was owned by Seagrams for originally to develop three hotels, 2,600. Here we are today in 2023. We're now partners with the fourth owner of Universal, so it went from Seagrams to Vivendi, a French company to ge, and now Comcast is our partner. As I said, we started with three hotels. Today we have eight hotels and 9,000. In our joint venture with Universal and it was an enormous risk. At the time, Lowe's Corporation wrote a very big check in dollars that were large 25 years ago, and they're still big because we're still writing checks cuz we're building more hotels and that has worked out incredibly well.

David Kong:

Those are wonderful stories. And I'm just so impressed with, the big risks that you took on at the time. They are gigantic risk as

Jon Tisch:

you, I, I always thought if, if, especially those opportunities, if it didn't go well, I could go back to being a TV producer, but I ha I haven't needed to do that.

David Kong:

That's great. And I like what you said earlier also, when the risks don't pan out, it's okay. Just learn from it and don't point the blame to anyone. Just learn. I like that very much, but you know, not all the risk have panned out. I'm sure some of them didn't. How do you overcome those setbacks and disappointments? Because you put in so much effort and things don't work out. How do you find the strength and resilience to eventually

Jon Tisch:

prevail? This is where you need a strong support system, and that usually comes from family, family. Incredibly important. I know that you believe that cuz you are a, a strong family man, and I have the benefit of an incredible wife, three phenomenal children, and they have been there at times where every decision didn't work out as you had hoped. And whether it's through a partner or through a spouse, through a special relationship, through your. To have the ability to look inward and to admit that things didn't go well, and not thinking that you're a master of the universe and you can do everything by yourself, for yourself is an important trait and, and being honest, and being realistic and being real, and I think it takes a lot to get to that. Uh, I think of the leaders of our industry. Uh, you were recognized as one of the real, uh, educated CEOs of, of our industry, but I, I think of the, the men and women who were running some of these big names that I rattled off a moment ago, and these are, these are people that are very good at what they do running huge operations. If you look at Marriott today, if you look at Hilton, Hi, I H G aor. These are big, big companies. They're global and they have so many different brands and so many different flags, but they're run by women and men who are good at what they do, and have created incredible teams and surrounded themselves with first class individuals. And I think that knowing that you are not doing this by yourself, that this journey takes other people. Can help you overcome setbacks and disappointments? Yeah,

David Kong:

I really like that. I think back to the most difficult times that I've endured, it's my support network that have lifted me up, whether it's my family, my wife in particular, or the folks that I work with. It's veryimportant, let's talk about networking. Some people have said that your network is your net worth, and it's really important to one's career. What's your advice on networking?

Jon Tisch:

Big believer in something I talk to young people about, um, on when I speak at, at schools, universities, high schools, as I mentioned a moment ago, and getting at there, meeting people is really important. Once again, you can't do it all yourself, and I think back as to who I've. Along the path to this 43 year career of coming back to Lowe's Hotels. And what's interesting, and this, this leads to something I talk about all the time, which is you need to be nice to everybody cuz you never, ever know when you will see them again. And I come across people today that I. When I was a cameraman at W B Z in Boston or through the NFL with our, uh, 50% ownership for the New York Giants or any situation just sitting here in the midst of New York City. And you need to be nice to everybody because there is a good chance you're gonna run into some people again. And you're gonna need them. They're gonna need you. And they will remember if you were a. Or if you were well behaved, respectful and were interested in what they had to say. So networking is incredibly important and that's obviously, it's why Well, I think one of the reasons our industry and so many others have, so have a plethora of conferences, whether it's nyu, whether it's Alice, whether. Many others that are organized because people in our industry, they tend to be outgoing, they tend to be gregarious, and they like meeting others. And so it's no coincidence that when we're at the Marriott Marquee in Times Square that everybody's in the lobby talking to each other. Now they're trying to make deals and, and they're trying to. Get a sense of where the industry is heading. But a large part of it is networking, and it goes back to something I said earlier is that when we've had senior execs who have gone onto other roles within other organizations, I really rarely have I tried to stop somebody because I, I think letting somebody experience, opportunity and try to get to some of what I've been fortunate to have in my life is really a good thing to. Yeah,

David Kong:

I totally agree with you, being nice is such an important thing and so overlooked, and you don't wanna burn the bridges. You never know. I see we are running out of time, but before I let you go, would you mind to share one more piece of advice. Our show us about self-empowerment? So let's hear from Jonathan Tisch, the icon of the industry. What's his advice on self-empowerment?

Jon Tisch:

A lot of it has been discussed already, but just knowing your capabilities, knowing what you're good at, but almost more importantly, knowing what you're not good at. That's empowering, knowing that you can depend on others to become more successful. And when I say success, I'm not just talking individual success. You have to create success for the entire organiz. Once again, we are tiny compared to the big guys, but we still have 11,000 women and men who are part of this organization, and I'm sitting here on Madison Avenue in New York City as I have a chance to enjoy a conversation with you, but I'm not checking anybody in. I am fortunately for our guests not cooking. I am not in the laundry. I am not a pool attendant. I am. A room service manager. We have 11,000 women and men who do their jobs every single day and do them well. And that is empowering to know that you are at the top of a food chain that allows these people to have a good job, get compensated for their work and. It's important for us to respect them every single day, and that's the kind of approach that one needs to take to feel good about what you do. And my sense is, my guess is that when you feel good about what you do every single day, you're pretty much there in terms of self-empowerment.

David Kong:

I love that. Thanks so much for sharing that Sage advice. Jon, thank you. I appreciate your taking the time to be on the show. I know how busy you are. I'm just so grateful.

Jon Tisch:

Thank you, David. It's always a pleasure and hopefully we'll get you to New York for the NYU conference. I know you've got commitments this year, but yeah, we'll see you very soon.

David Kong:

Love to see you again. And to the audience, if you enjoy this show, I hope you will join us on our website, d e i advisors.org. You'll see plenty other very, very good interviews on the website. Thank you again for joining us. Thanks again, Jon. Thanks

Jon Tisch:

David.