A Recipe for Personal Success
Jonathan Tisch talks about the way he views success as a CEO. One key point is about employee selection (well, actually three key points if you look closely): take your time to hire correctly; then train continuously; finally, recognize and reward for performance (Tisch, 70).
I'd call Tisch a sophisticated manager. Part of the family that owns the Loews hotels, he could be imperious and remote. My read on his is different. I find him approachable and interested in the communities in which the Loews hotels reside, an attribute that, while it is pretty normal, is shown to be a key to the Loews success. People don't just work for Loews. They choose to be there. Choose is a good word.
Tisch has twelve tips for success (Tisch, 227):
- Never start a paragraph with "I." Whoops, I already broke the rules.
- Listen carefully: You never hear a thing when your mouth is open.
- Make it a win/win situation: you can't have it all-where would you keep it?
- Do your homework: what you don't know can hurt you.
- Be media savvy: Your fifteen minutes of fame is coming-are you ready?
- Be creative: Learn to think upside-down, inside-out, and sideways.
There are six more in the book. I choose to read this book when I was preparing a talk on partnerships. The talk was really about strategic partnerships - alliances, really - for start-up companies. There was a little bit of topic-creep going when I started this book, but I ended up happy I'd taken the time to read it. One interesting topic I'd never seen mentioned before: the Department of Labor's Workforce Investment Board. I sit on the WIB in Orange County and continue to be impressed about how useful a little bit of help can be to employers and job seekers. Tisch clearly has the same opinion.
Tisch, Jonathan M. The Power of We. Succeeding Through Partnerships. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.