Four Seasons by Isadore Sharp

Author:Isadore Sharp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-03-24T17:01:36+00:00

CHAPTER 19

The Early Leaders

Four Seasons had many leaders who were pivotal to our early success, for no one person creates an exceptional company alone, especially one such as ours, where dishwashers stay because they’re treated with respect and, like vice presidents, contribute by giving their best.

I had been lucky with our first three hotels in hiring Ian Munro, who continually gave his employees a perfect example of how to treat customers. Ian, a first-rate professional, got us off to a fine start. He not only taught me the business; he was such a delight to work with that I came to enjoy my role as hotelier.

But Ian changed, and I can recall when the change first caught my attention: our very successful opening of the Inn on the Park in London. Everyone had gone to bed except Ian and me. We were having a quiet drink in the dining room when Ian began to say things like, “This is the world I come from, but I can’t do it. I can’t deal with royalty. I’m not in their class.”

I made light of what he was saying. “This is no big deal,” I told him. “We’re not dealing with royalty as such. When royalty is staying with us, they’re just guests like anyone else.”

Ian at that time was dealing with personal matters that were taking a toll on his work. He stayed with the company until 1976, and soon afterward he died. He was the most important person in Four Seasons’ early success. It’s a shame he couldn’t be around to see the final results.

Our next most essential leader in our early days was Michael Lambert. I had hired Michael as Ian’s successor several years before, when I first realized Ian’s problem was serious. Michael was highly qualified. He had more hotel experience than any of our people, and as vice president of hotel operations, he brought in numerous members of his previous company, Westin Hotels, setting up the beginning of our organizational structure. In 1983 I sent him over to Singapore to work with B. S. Ong in selecting sites for hotels in financial centers of Asia and Europe. But nothing came of these ventures. Michael then left Four Seasons, and was succeeded by another lifelong hotel professional, John Sharpe.

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