Introduction – Becoming My Own Project This series of articles was never part of a plan. For most of my professional life, I have been asked to analyse businesses, hotels, projects, organisations, and occasionally the people leading them. I would arrive in an unfamiliar place, ask questions, review reports, challenge assumptions, search for root causes, […]
The People Who Taught Me When people speak about mentors, they usually describe a senior figure who intentionally guided their development. My experience was different. Most of my teachers never applied for the role. Some never realised they were teaching me at all. An Executive Chef taught me humility A Stewarding Manager taught me respect […]
The Professional I Could No Longer Trust Not every lesson arrives through success and admiration. Some arrive through disappointment, hurt, and betrayal. One of the most capable professionals I encountered during my career taught me exactly that. Her expertise was genuine. She opened the door to my early career in advisory work. I learned from […]
Trust is the Final KPI For many years, I believed that successful projects could be recognised quite easily. Revenue increased. Profit improved. Market share grew. Guest satisfaction rose. Budgets were achieved. Property value improved. Debt service secured. Investment plan on schedule. The numbers told the story. At least that is what I thought. Then I started noticing something. When I […]
The COO Who Managed Pace If the CEO represented ambition, the COO represented management. That combination proved both powerful and instructive. The COO was exceptionally intelligent. Capable. Curious. And perhaps most importantly, humble enough to learn. Over the years, he absorbed an extraordinary amount of knowledge. Operations. Finance. Performance management. Governance. Strategy. Commercial thinking. Organisational […]
The CEO Who Initiated a Dialogue Rather than an Instruction The organisation had asked for performance management. At least that is what everyone believed. The mandate sounded straightforward. Improve performance. Increase profitability. Strengthen accountability. Introduce structure. Measure outcomes. The objectives were sensible. The implementation began. Managers learned. Reports improved. Discussions became more disciplined. Departments became […]
The HR Director Who Learned to Love Numbers If somebody had told me at the beginning of the project that the strongest advocate for performance management would eventually emerge from Human Resources, I would have been sceptical. Very sceptical. At the time, the HR Director represented something important within the organisation: culture, care, wellbeing, development, […]
The Most Admirable Hotel General Manager I Know Over the years, I have worked with many Hotel General Managers. Some were commercially brilliant. Some were operationally exceptional. Some were charismatic. Some were disciplined. Some were feared. Some were respected. One in particular remains in my memory. Not because he was the most analytical, or achieved […]
International Financial Institutions (IFIs) Years later, I entered institutional advisory work. It was a very different world from hotel operations. Instead of guests, employees, and owners, I found myself working with: Banks Donors Development programmes Procurement frameworks Governance structures International advisory assignments The objective was simple: Help businesses grow. Create jobs. Strengthen local economies. Use […]
The Credit Policy Another country. Another hotel. Another culture. In that particular environment, petty theft and corruption at scale were part of daily life. At the time, people would sometimes say: “If you don’t steal from your company, you steal from your family.” I spent much of my time firefighting. Cash disappeared. Controls were weak. […]