The Banana Republic Hotel Reader’s Note: The story that follows is presented as fiction. It is inspired by experiences accumulated over more than thirty years in hospitality and organisational advisory work. Events, conversations, characters, timelines, and organisations have been altered, combined and fictionalised to protect confidentiality and prevent the identification of any individual or enterprise. […]
Hospitality Taught me Humility This story is about how hospitality taught me humility. Over the years, I have been part of, or supported owners and managers of, hotels, resorts, restaurants, tourism businesses, and hospitality platforms as they succeeded, struggled, recovered, and sometimes failed. One observation has remained remarkably consistent. Hospitality assets rarely fail for lack […]
The People Who Taught Me This story is about gratitude. The most valuable teachers are not always the most impressive. Often, they are simply the people who leave us unable to think exactly as we did before we met them. I carry many such people with me. Not their titles. Not their positions. Not their […]
The Professional I Could No Longer Trust Not every lesson arrives through success and admiration. Some arrive through disappointment, hurt, and betrayal. This story is about discernment: the ability to recognise that competence and trustworthiness are not the same thing. Competence creates confidence. Trust creates relationships. When I was younger, I believed competence naturally created […]
Trust is the Final KPI This story is about trust. Not the trust that exists when everything goes well, but the trust that survives disagreement. The more mature I become, the more suspicious I become of success that destroys trust. The immediate outcome may appear attractive, but the long-term cost is often invisible until it […]
The Hotel Chief Operating Officer Who Managed Pace This story is about how patience taught me that sustainable change happens at a pace people can absorb. A hotel chief operating officer I worked closely with taught me that progress is not measured solely by speed. Sometimes progress is measured by what survives the journey. The […]
The Hotel CEO Who Initiated a Dialogue Rather than an Instruction This story is about how curiosity transforms performance management into organisational learning. 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 Hotel HR Director Who Learned to Love Numbers This story is about how curiosity taught me that people and performance succeed together or fail together. One of the most persistent misconceptions in business is that people and performance are in competition with each other. My experience suggests the opposite. Poorly managed organisations damage both. […]
The Most Admirable Hotel General Manager I Know This story is about how authenticity taught me that leadership begins with understanding who you are. Throughout my career, I have encountered many leaders who tried to imitate others. The successful ones rarely did. The strongest leaders usually possess a deep understanding of who they are. They […]
The Dome in the Pamir Mountains This story is about purpose. Some moments stay with me far longer than the hotel budgets, RevPAR reports, or quarterly reviews I once spent so much time preparing. This photograph captures one of those moments. Just before the COVID pandemic, I stood high in the Pamir Mountains of Kyrgyzstan […]