[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_137":-5,"_138":-5,"_139":140,"_141":142,"_143":144},"routes/clips.$id.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12},"clip",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":-5,"_18":19,"_20":-5,"_21":22,"_23":24,"_25":26,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":32,"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":45,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5},"canonicalUrl","https://howleaderslead.com/clips/1603/to-understand-your-customer-cast-a-wide-net","id",1603,"title","To understand your customer, cast a wide net","subtitle","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.300\nOne of the things that you have to look at is what your current customers are\n\n2\n00:00:04.300 --> 00:00:05.200\nexperiencing,\n\n3\n00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:09.120\nwhat they like, what they're saying about the experience,\n\n4\n00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:15.380\nso that you can garner pieces of information that help you understand how you\n\n5\n00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:17.040\ncan continue to evolve\n\n6\n00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:19.920\nand improve your brand and your experience.\n\n7\n00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.760\nI don't care what brand or experience any of us are responsible for,\n\n8\n00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:27.440\nanywhere in the world, you have to continue to evolve.\n\n9\n00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.370\nBecause you need to keep bringing your customers back so they want new\n\n10\n00:00:31.370 --> 00:00:32.160\nexperiences.\n\n11\n00:00:32.160 --> 00:00:38.000\nAnd if your brand is growing, our brand was growing with the Edge Series by 72%\n\n12\n00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:38.960\nover a five-year\n\n13\n00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:44.400\nperiod of time. That is enormous growth. And you need to bring new customers in\n\n14\n00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:45.360\nif you're going to\n\n15\n00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:51.240\nfill that capacity and charge the prices that you need to charge without dil\n\n16\n00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:52.640\nuting your revenues.\n\n17\n00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:57.290\nAnd so when you think about what your current customers like, what they're\n\n18\n00:00:57.290 --> 00:00:57.840\nlooking for,\n\n19\n00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:03.040\nand then you start asking other people what they think of cruising, what would\n\n20\n00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:03.840\nconvince them to\n\n21\n00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:09.200\ncruise, especially in the socioeconomic environment and affluent guests that we\n\n22\n00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:10.320\nwere after,\n\n23\n00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:15.830\nwe were able to think about the experiences that we wanted to create. And I've\n\n24\n00:01:15.830 --> 00:01:16.400\nsaid this\n\n25\n00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:21.200\nquite often and the man that I worked for said this quite often as well.\n\n26\n00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:26.160\nIf Henry Ford asked his customers what they wanted, he would have just created\n\n27\n00:01:26.160 --> 00:01:27.520\na faster horse.\n\n28\n00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:32.240\nSo sometimes your customers don't always know what they want, but you just need\n\n29\n00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:32.640\nto be\n\n30\n00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:38.480\nwatching trends and being ahead of the curve. And by the time you start\n\n31\n00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:39.520\nthinking about a ship\n\n32\n00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:43.480\nuntil you introduce it, you're looking at five or six years. So you've really\n\n33\n00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:44.880\ngot to be somewhat\n\n34\n00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:49.130\nfuturistic in your thinking and understanding where the consumer is going. So\n\n35\n00:01:49.130 --> 00:01:50.160\nit's a complicated\n\n36\n00:01:50.160 --> 00:01:54.730\nformula. You take in a lot of data points, a lot of information, a lot of\n\n37\n00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:56.000\nintelligence.\n\n38\n00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.810\nYou scan the universe for what's going on in hospitality and you really have to\n\n39\n00:01:59.810 --> 00:02:00.400\nlook outside\n\n40\n00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:05.100\nof your industry if you're going to convince people to try cruising if they\n\n41\n00:02:05.100 --> 00:02:06.480\nhaven't done that in the\n\n42\n00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:36.480\npast. What was the\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",669940,"end_time",797019,"keywords","Customer, customer experience, customer feedback, data, customer acquisition, cruise, hospitality, Celebrity Cruises","slug","to-understand-your-customer-cast-a-wide-net","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","LagS1cIRYrIMu3aCCs9A5SS01yWtes8MwhTCK5rmV27M","mux_asset_id","4NbzsYCnk6SjyVol1z102tudUpnpgCbjsxj014mHUtcww","leader_id",166,"episode_id",315,"updated_at","2025-02-26T20:06:50.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/1603/to-understand-your-customer-cast-a-wide-net","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":36,"_101":102,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_25":107,"_108":109,"_62":110,"_59":110,"_111":112,"_69":113,"_39":114,"_115":-5,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_116":117,"_89":118,"_44":119,"_120":121,"_122":123,"_46":-5,"_124":125,"_126":127,"_93":128,"_51":-5},"episode",{"_13":38,"_15":52,"_27":53,"_17":54,"_55":56,"_18":57,"_20":58,"_59":60,"_61":-5,"_62":60,"_63":-5,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_68":-5,"_69":-5,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":-5,"_35":36,"_39":75,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_76":77,"_78":79,"_80":81,"_82":83,"_84":-5,"_85":-5,"_86":87,"_88":-5,"_89":-5,"_46":-5,"_90":91,"_92":-5,"_93":-5,"_51":-5},"og_image_media","Persistence pays off","persistence-pays-off","Learn how the power of persistence can help you overcome obstacles, skepticism, and rejection. Plus, the secrets of tapping into what customers really want (and why it’s often not what they say).","summary","

If you’re a leader, you’re going to face big obstacles, skepticism, and rejection. How can you tap into the power of persistence to overcome that stuff – and even leverage it to drive success?

Also in this episode:

How to truly dial in what customers want
The mindset you need when others doubt you
Why you might to adjust your leadership style
The key to uniting a team (even when there’s disagreement)
How consumers’ definition of luxury has changed
The groundbreaking way Celebrity Cruises celebrated International Women’s Day

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.960\nWelcome to How Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I\n\n2\n00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:08.580\ninterview some\n\n3\n00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:10.660\nof the very best leaders in the world.\n\n4\n00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:13.940\nI break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have\n\n5\n00:00:13.940 --> 00:00:14.540\nsomething\n\n6\n00:00:14.540 --> 00:00:18.300\nsimple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.\n\n7\n00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:20.900\nThat's what this podcast is all about.\n\n8\n00:00:20.900 --> 00:00:26.410\nWell, I hate to break it to you, but if you're a leader, you're going to face\n\n9\n00:00:26.410 --> 00:00:27.460\nobstacles and\n\n10\n00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:29.300\nsetbacks.\n\n11\n00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:32.180\nWhat does it really take to overcome them?\n\n12\n00:00:32.180 --> 00:00:34.540\nAnd could they actually help you succeed?\n\n13\n00:00:34.540 --> 00:00:39.600\nWell, I think you'll find some insight into those questions today as I talk\n\n14\n00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:40.680\nwith Lisa\n\n15\n00:00:40.680 --> 00:00:42.620\nLutoff-Perlo.\n\n16\n00:00:42.620 --> 00:00:48.220\nShe recently stepped down after nine years as the first ever woman CEO of\n\n17\n00:00:48.220 --> 00:00:50.100\nCelebrity Cruises.\n\n18\n00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:55.740\nShe's grown the brand and the bottom line, but let me tell you, it has not been\n\n19\n00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:56.500\neasy.\n\n20\n00:00:56.500 --> 00:01:03.500\nShe faced rejection, gender bias, and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\n21\n00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:07.820\nBut Lisa is one of the most persistent leaders I've ever talked to.\n\n22\n00:01:07.820 --> 00:01:12.260\nI mean, she just does not take no for an answer.\n\n23\n00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:17.140\nShe's got the kind of mentality that turns obstacles into opportunities.\n\n24\n00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:21.940\nAnd she's going to remind you that persistence pays off.\n\n25\n00:01:21.940 --> 00:01:27.800\nSo here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Lisa Lutoff\n\n26\n00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:28.940\n-Perlo.\n\n27\n00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:37.700\nWell, let's start out by you just telling us about the Royal Caribbean Group.\n\n28\n00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:42.890\nYeah, the Royal Caribbean Group is a publicly traded company, New York Stock\n\n29\n00:01:42.890 --> 00:01:44.340\nExchange, S&P\n\n30\n00:01:44.340 --> 00:01:45.420\n500.\n\n31\n00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:49.500\nAnd under the umbrella of the corporation, there are three cruise lines, Royal\n\n32\n00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:50.060\nCaribbean\n\n33\n00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:55.110\nInternational Celebrity Cruises, which I was president and CEO of, and Silver\n\n34\n00:01:55.110 --> 00:01:55.740\nSeas, which\n\n35\n00:01:55.740 --> 00:01:57.980\nis the ultra luxury brand.\n\n36\n00:01:57.980 --> 00:02:03.150\nI've been with the company for 39 years, started out with the Royal Caribbean\n\n37\n00:02:03.150 --> 00:02:03.940\nbrand and then\n\n38\n00:02:03.940 --> 00:02:08.630\ntransitioned over to the Celebrity brand and into the amazing role of president\n\n39\n00:02:08.630 --> 00:02:09.100\nand CEO\n\n40\n00:02:09.100 --> 00:02:10.100\nof Celebrity.\n\n41\n00:02:10.100 --> 00:02:11.860\nThat's fantastic.\n\n42\n00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:16.420\nAnd you became the CEO of Celebrity Cruises in 2014.\n\n43\n00:02:16.420 --> 00:02:20.540\nTell us about the business you took over and what it is today.\n\n44\n00:02:20.540 --> 00:02:24.100\nI took over the Celebrity Fleet.\n\n45\n00:02:24.100 --> 00:02:31.980\nIt was a fleet of about 12 ships, it's 16 ships now, sails all over the world.\n\n46\n00:02:31.980 --> 00:02:35.500\nAnd it was performing fairly well when I took it over.\n\n47\n00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:41.570\nBut after nine years of transforming the brand and repositioning it, we\n\n48\n00:02:41.570 --> 00:02:42.660\ntransformed\n\n49\n00:02:42.660 --> 00:02:46.220\nthe financial performance of the brand as well.\n\n50\n00:02:46.220 --> 00:02:50.480\nI'm very proud of the awards that the fleet had won and the great experiences\n\n51\n00:02:50.480 --> 00:02:51.020\nthat we\n\n52\n00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:53.180\nprovide to our guests.\n\n53\n00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:57.060\nI understand you asked for the CEO job three times.\n\n54\n00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:00.100\nWhat motivated you to keep putting yourself out there?\n\n55\n00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:05.450\nYeah, well, I think it took me a while to decide what I wanted and if I wanted\n\n56\n00:03:05.450 --> 00:03:05.860\nto be\n\n57\n00:03:05.860 --> 00:03:10.710\npresident and CEO of one of the brands, and then once I did, I'm a person who's\n\n58\n00:03:10.710 --> 00:03:11.220\npretty\n\n59\n00:03:11.220 --> 00:03:18.790\ndetermined and I always look at no as an opportunity to turn it into a yes,\n\n60\n00:03:18.790 --> 00:03:19.060\nwhether\n\n61\n00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:23.060\nit's in my career or in my marriage, whatever.\n\n62\n00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:28.580\nYou know, whenever I bump into a no, it's my motivation to make it a yes.\n\n63\n00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:34.350\nAnd I really wanted the role once I had decided decades into my career that\n\n64\n00:03:34.350 --> 00:03:35.100\nthat's what I\n\n65\n00:03:35.100 --> 00:03:36.100\nwanted to do.\n\n66\n00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:39.660\nAnd I was determined to do whatever it took to get there.\n\n67\n00:03:39.660 --> 00:03:43.980\nAnd I was determined to keep asking until I turned the no into a yes.\n\n68\n00:03:43.980 --> 00:03:47.630\nSo yeah, it took me three times, David, but it wasn't the only time I was\n\n69\n00:03:47.630 --> 00:03:48.340\nrejected.\n\n70\n00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:51.220\nYou know, I started in sales back in 1985.\n\n71\n00:03:51.220 --> 00:03:55.250\nSo rejection is something that, you know, I have faced one or two times\n\n72\n00:03:55.250 --> 00:03:56.140\nthroughout my\n\n73\n00:03:56.140 --> 00:04:01.900\ncareer and I just looked at this as just one more chance to turn it around.\n\n74\n00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:06.930\nNow when you get turned down for the role of CEO, you know, somebody is going\n\n75\n00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:07.500\nto give\n\n76\n00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:09.940\nyou a reason why maybe you're not ready.\n\n77\n00:04:09.940 --> 00:04:14.140\nYou know, what did you learn about yourself when you were getting turned down?\n\n78\n00:04:14.140 --> 00:04:15.500\nAnd what did you do about it?\n\n79\n00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:16.500\nYeah.\n\n80\n00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:20.500\nAnd that was the answer that the feeling was that I wasn't ready, even though I\n\n81\n00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:20.940\nfelt I\n\n82\n00:04:20.940 --> 00:04:27.580\nwas ready and interestingly enough, the two men that vacated the president and\n\n83\n00:04:27.580 --> 00:04:28.340\nCEO role\n\n84\n00:04:28.340 --> 00:04:32.300\nthat I was asking for recommended me for the position.\n\n85\n00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:33.300\nThey said I was ready.\n\n86\n00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:38.190\nI was the best person for the job that I should be promoted into it and yet the\n\n87\n00:04:38.190 --> 00:04:38.700\nperson that\n\n88\n00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:42.480\nwas ultimately making the decision, the chairman and CEO felt differently and\n\n89\n00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:43.220\nhe didn't feel\n\n90\n00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:44.660\nthat I was ready.\n\n91\n00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:49.380\nAnd his was the one mind I needed to change.\n\n92\n00:04:49.380 --> 00:04:54.180\nAnd one of the things that he said to me after we had gone through this back\n\n93\n00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:55.100\nand forth and\n\n94\n00:04:55.100 --> 00:05:01.420\nhe finally decided I was ready, probably, I want to say eight or nine months\n\n95\n00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:01.860\nafter my\n\n96\n00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:08.710\nfirst ask, he told me that the way I handled the situation was one of the\n\n97\n00:05:08.710 --> 00:05:09.980\nthings that he\n\n98\n00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:16.380\ntruly admired about me during that time in that I let him know exactly how I\n\n99\n00:05:16.380 --> 00:05:17.420\nfelt about\n\n100\n00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:18.780\nhis decision.\n\n101\n00:05:18.780 --> 00:05:26.070\nBut he described that I did it in an elegant way and I did it in a professional\n\n102\n00:05:26.070 --> 00:05:26.620\nway and\n\n103\n00:05:26.620 --> 00:05:32.970\nI still stated my disagreement and I still told him I was going to prove him\n\n104\n00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:34.580\nwrong eventually\n\n105\n00:05:34.580 --> 00:05:36.300\nand I went about doing that.\n\n106\n00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:41.020\nBut I think that the way I handled it was one of the things that ultimately\n\n107\n00:05:41.020 --> 00:05:41.460\nturned my\n\n108\n00:05:41.460 --> 00:05:43.660\nno into a yes.\n\n109\n00:05:43.660 --> 00:05:47.670\nAnd you know, Lisa, you've done so much to close the gender gap in the cruise\n\n110\n00:05:47.670 --> 00:05:48.500\nline industry\n\n111\n00:05:48.500 --> 00:05:51.460\nand I want to get into that a little bit later.\n\n112\n00:05:51.460 --> 00:05:58.090\nYou've also been part of some cutting edge innovations in the cruise line world\n\n113\n00:05:58.090 --> 00:05:58.180\n.\n\n114\n00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:01.260\nWhat did you do on a ship that had never been done before?\n\n115\n00:06:01.260 --> 00:06:03.100\nWhat are you most proud of?\n\n116\n00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:07.870\nWell, I'm most proud of the edge series of ships and that was the opportunity\n\n117\n00:06:07.870 --> 00:06:08.780\nthat presented\n\n118\n00:06:08.780 --> 00:06:14.020\nitself in very early on in my tenure as president and CEO.\n\n119\n00:06:14.020 --> 00:06:18.780\nWhen I came into the president and CEO role, I had previously been with\n\n120\n00:06:18.780 --> 00:06:19.780\ncelebrity for\n\n121\n00:06:19.780 --> 00:06:23.980\nseven years running the entire hotel operation.\n\n122\n00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:26.780\nI very much understood the brand.\n\n123\n00:06:26.780 --> 00:06:29.700\nI understood the opportunity the brand had.\n\n124\n00:06:29.700 --> 00:06:33.930\nI understood the opportunity to strengthen the positioning of the brand and\n\n125\n00:06:33.930 --> 00:06:35.780\nwhere it was\n\n126\n00:06:35.780 --> 00:06:38.540\nin the hierarchy of cruise brands in the world.\n\n127\n00:06:38.540 --> 00:06:42.620\nAnd I thought that or I knew that this new series of ships that we were\n\n128\n00:06:42.620 --> 00:06:43.500\nbuilding was\n\n129\n00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:47.670\ngoing to be the make or break for celebrity and it was going to once and for\n\n130\n00:06:47.670 --> 00:06:48.260\nall be the\n\n131\n00:06:48.260 --> 00:06:51.680\none catalyst that was going to transform the brand and the financial\n\n132\n00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:52.540\nperformance of the\n\n133\n00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:53.540\nbrand.\n\n134\n00:06:53.540 --> 00:06:57.780\nSo given all of the experience I had in the industry, all of the experience I\n\n135\n00:06:57.780 --> 00:06:58.340\nhad in the\n\n136\n00:06:58.340 --> 00:07:02.980\ncompany, I had a very clear vision about what these ships needed to be.\n\n137\n00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:11.010\nAnd I wanted the ships to change the minds of people who felt like you couldn't\n\n138\n00:07:11.010 --> 00:07:11.620\nget this\n\n139\n00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:16.060\nluxurious experience at scale at sea.\n\n140\n00:07:16.060 --> 00:07:20.610\nPeople have this misperception of cruising that I've been committed to changing\n\n141\n00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:20.860\nfor\n\n142\n00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:25.220\n39 years and I really wanted to do it with the edge series.\n\n143\n00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:29.580\nAnd that really is the thing that I am most proud of.\n\n144\n00:07:29.580 --> 00:07:32.500\nWe hired world renowned designers.\n\n145\n00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:38.050\nWe significantly upgraded the type of dining experiences on the ships, the type\n\n146\n00:07:38.050 --> 00:07:39.620\nof accommodations,\n\n147\n00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:41.980\nthe state room appointments.\n\n148\n00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:46.690\nAnd when people told me that you couldn't do luxury at scale, I disagreed with\n\n149\n00:07:46.690 --> 00:07:47.180\nthem,\n\n150\n00:07:47.180 --> 00:07:52.120\nprofusely and said if Las Vegas can deliver luxury at scale, the cruise\n\n151\n00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:53.180\nindustry can do\n\n152\n00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.940\nit and that's what we did with celebrity.\n\n153\n00:07:55.940 --> 00:08:01.570\nYou know, as I understand it, when you started to get into the design work for\n\n154\n00:08:01.570 --> 00:08:02.420\nEdge, you\n\n155\n00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:06.260\nweren't really that happy with the design themselves.\n\n156\n00:08:06.260 --> 00:08:10.820\nAnd I'm sure you had people on your team who had been working on it.\n\n157\n00:08:10.820 --> 00:08:14.740\nHow have you learned how to coach your team in moments like this to help them\n\n158\n00:08:14.740 --> 00:08:15.100\nsee that\n\n159\n00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:18.460\nthere's another level that you can really strive for?\n\n160\n00:08:18.460 --> 00:08:24.790\nThat's a great question because when I went into my role, the ship was already\n\n161\n00:08:24.790 --> 00:08:25.780\ndesigned.\n\n162\n00:08:25.780 --> 00:08:28.540\nThe general arrangement was already on the wall.\n\n163\n00:08:28.540 --> 00:08:30.740\nIt was already complete.\n\n164\n00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:36.380\nAbout a year to a year and a half of design work had been put into the ship.\n\n165\n00:08:36.380 --> 00:08:44.270\nBut what's really interesting is when I took the role, our head of sales, and I\n\n166\n00:08:44.270 --> 00:08:44.820\ntell the\n\n167\n00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:50.910\nstory, our head of sales kept telling me I needed to go see the general\n\n168\n00:08:50.910 --> 00:08:52.060\narrangement\n\n169\n00:08:52.060 --> 00:08:53.660\nof Edge.\n\n170\n00:08:53.660 --> 00:08:58.260\nAnd it was early December, the holidays were coming, the ship was already\n\n171\n00:08:58.260 --> 00:08:59.140\ndesigned.\n\n172\n00:08:59.140 --> 00:09:03.110\nI had been of the opinion that whatever that ship was going to be, it was going\n\n173\n00:09:03.110 --> 00:09:03.620\nto be.\n\n174\n00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:07.420\nAnd I didn't have an opportunity to influence it in any way.\n\n175\n00:09:07.420 --> 00:09:10.100\nAnd she kept nagging me.\n\n176\n00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:13.880\nAnd she was part of the team that I took over, but we had worked together for\n\n177\n00:09:13.880 --> 00:09:14.500\nmany years\n\n178\n00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:16.780\nbefore when I was at Celebrity.\n\n179\n00:09:16.780 --> 00:09:21.340\nAnd she knew as well as I did when I finally listened to her and walked in the\n\n180\n00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:21.900\nroom and\n\n181\n00:09:21.900 --> 00:09:25.400\nlooked at that general arrangement, that this was not the ship that Celebrity\n\n182\n00:09:25.400 --> 00:09:26.340\nshould be building\n\n183\n00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:28.500\nand that we could do much better.\n\n184\n00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:32.530\nSo I was fortunate that the person who was so familiar with the brand and so\n\n185\n00:09:32.530 --> 00:09:33.260\npassionate\n\n186\n00:09:33.260 --> 00:09:37.550\nabout the brand and was responsible for selling the brand felt exactly the same\n\n187\n00:09:37.550 --> 00:09:39.060\nway I did.\n\n188\n00:09:39.060 --> 00:09:43.470\nAnd then as I started having conversations with our head of new build and our\n\n189\n00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:44.020\nhead of\n\n190\n00:09:44.020 --> 00:09:49.100\nthe design team and even our chairman, they all agreed that we could do better.\n\n191\n00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:51.100\nAnd so we started over again.\n\n192\n00:09:51.100 --> 00:09:58.390\nAnd because I started my career in sales, I have a good way of influencing and\n\n193\n00:09:58.390 --> 00:09:58.860\ntelling\n\n194\n00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:04.590\na story that's pretty compelling and I felt that the strategy for this new\n\n195\n00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:05.420\nseries of\n\n196\n00:10:05.420 --> 00:10:10.650\nships needed to change if the transformation of Celebrity was really going to\n\n197\n00:10:10.650 --> 00:10:11.420\nhappen.\n\n198\n00:10:11.420 --> 00:10:14.220\nAnd slowly but surely everybody came along.\n\n199\n00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:19.060\nAnd when I gave them all the reasons why they ultimately agreed with me.\n\n200\n00:10:19.060 --> 00:10:23.260\nAnd I had a lot of experience and I think that's one of the lessons that I\n\n201\n00:10:23.260 --> 00:10:23.940\nlearned that\n\n202\n00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:26.100\nI think is really important for leaders.\n\n203\n00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:30.180\nThe more experience that you have, the more you understand customers, the more\n\n204\n00:10:30.180 --> 00:10:30.980\nyou understand\n\n205\n00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:36.070\nyour brand, the more you understand branding, the better you're going to be\n\n206\n00:10:36.070 --> 00:10:36.860\nwhen you get\n\n207\n00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:40.480\ninto these roles because you're going to have the experience you need.\n\n208\n00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:44.620\nAnd then you have the credibility that you need to change minds.\n\n209\n00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:46.340\nAnd this was a big deal.\n\n210\n00:10:46.340 --> 00:10:50.060\nChanging people's minds for this particular project was a big deal.\n\n211\n00:10:50.060 --> 00:10:54.580\nWe took a whole year to redesign that ship and we invested more money in it.\n\n212\n00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:59.660\nSo the pressure was on to truly make these ships pay off.\n\n213\n00:10:59.660 --> 00:11:00.980\nYou mentioned the customer.\n\n214\n00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:05.700\nI'm really curious as to how you really think through the customer experience.\n\n215\n00:11:05.700 --> 00:11:08.740\nOh my goodness, that is a long process.\n\n216\n00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:13.160\nCertainly one of the things that you have to look at is what your current\n\n217\n00:11:13.160 --> 00:11:14.060\ncustomers are\n\n218\n00:11:14.060 --> 00:11:19.600\nexperiencing, what they like, what they're saying about the experience so that\n\n219\n00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:20.180\nyou can\n\n220\n00:11:20.180 --> 00:11:26.240\ngarner pieces of information that help you understand how you can continue to\n\n221\n00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:26.820\nevolve\n\n222\n00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:29.780\nand improve your brand and your experience.\n\n223\n00:11:29.780 --> 00:11:33.720\nAnd I don't care what brand or experience any of us are responsible for,\n\n224\n00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:34.220\nanywhere in\n\n225\n00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:39.260\nthe world, you have to continue to evolve because you need to keep bringing\n\n226\n00:11:39.260 --> 00:11:40.100\nyour customers\n\n227\n00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:42.260\nback so they want new experiences.\n\n228\n00:11:42.260 --> 00:11:47.800\nAnd if your brand is growing, our brand was growing with the Edge series by 72%\n\n229\n00:11:47.800 --> 00:11:48.340\nover a\n\n230\n00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:50.260\nfive-year period of time.\n\n231\n00:11:50.260 --> 00:11:55.380\nThat is enormous growth and you need to bring new customers in if you're going\n\n232\n00:11:55.380 --> 00:11:56.380\nto fill that\n\n233\n00:11:56.380 --> 00:12:01.790\ncapacity and charge the prices that you need to charge without diluting your\n\n234\n00:12:01.790 --> 00:12:02.780\nrevenues.\n\n235\n00:12:02.780 --> 00:12:07.000\nAnd so when you think about what your current customers like, what they're\n\n236\n00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:07.980\nlooking for,\n\n237\n00:12:07.980 --> 00:12:12.720\nand then you start asking other people what they think of cruising, what would\n\n238\n00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:13.380\nconvince\n\n239\n00:12:13.380 --> 00:12:18.500\nthem to cruise, especially in the socioeconomic environment and affluent guests\n\n240\n00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:19.300\nthat we were\n\n241\n00:12:19.300 --> 00:12:24.900\nafter, we were able to think about the experiences that we wanted to create.\n\n242\n00:12:24.900 --> 00:12:29.700\nAnd I've said this quite often and the man that I worked for said this quite\n\n243\n00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:30.380\noften as\n\n244\n00:12:30.380 --> 00:12:31.380\nwell.\n\n245\n00:12:31.380 --> 00:12:36.070\nIf Henry Ford asked his customers what they wanted, he would have just created\n\n246\n00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:36.660\na faster\n\n247\n00:12:36.660 --> 00:12:37.660\nhorse.\n\n248\n00:12:37.660 --> 00:12:42.070\nSo sometimes your customers don't always know what they want, but you just need\n\n249\n00:12:42.070 --> 00:12:43.300\nto be,\n\n250\n00:12:43.300 --> 00:12:46.940\nyou know, watching trends and being ahead of the curve.\n\n251\n00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:51.080\nAnd by the time you start thinking about a ship until you introduce it, you're\n\n252\n00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:51.380\nlooking\n\n253\n00:12:51.380 --> 00:12:52.780\nat five or six years.\n\n254\n00:12:52.780 --> 00:12:56.180\nSo you've really got to be somewhat futuristic in your thinking and\n\n255\n00:12:56.180 --> 00:12:57.420\nunderstanding where the\n\n256\n00:12:57.420 --> 00:12:58.940\nconsumer is going.\n\n257\n00:12:58.940 --> 00:13:00.780\nSo it's a complicated formula.\n\n258\n00:13:00.780 --> 00:13:06.020\nYou take in a lot of data points, a lot of information, a lot of intelligence.\n\n259\n00:13:06.020 --> 00:13:09.460\nYou scan the universe for what's going on in hospitality and you really have to\n\n260\n00:13:09.460 --> 00:13:09.780\nlook\n\n261\n00:13:09.780 --> 00:13:14.980\noutside of your industry if you're going to convince people to try cruising if\n\n262\n00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:15.340\nthey\n\n263\n00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:17.420\nhaven't done that in the past.\n\n264\n00:13:17.420 --> 00:13:21.860\nWhat was the biggest insight you got when you looked outside your industry?\n\n265\n00:13:21.860 --> 00:13:30.660\nYou know, that hospitality was elevating at such a rapid rate.\n\n266\n00:13:30.660 --> 00:13:37.350\nAnd if you really wanted to attract consumers that were looking for luxurious\n\n267\n00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:38.540\nexperiences\n\n268\n00:13:38.540 --> 00:13:43.140\nand the other thing I learned was that the definition of luxury had changed\n\n269\n00:13:43.140 --> 00:13:44.500\ndramatically.\n\n270\n00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:49.880\nPeople weren't looking for pretentious luxury or uncomfortable luxury or formal\n\n271\n00:13:49.880 --> 00:13:50.660\nluxury.\n\n272\n00:13:50.660 --> 00:13:56.190\nThey were looking for a relaxed experience that was elegant and sophisticated\n\n273\n00:13:56.190 --> 00:13:57.780\nbut approachable.\n\n274\n00:13:57.780 --> 00:14:01.020\nYou know, the whole pretentious thing had gone away.\n\n275\n00:14:01.020 --> 00:14:06.480\nAnd if you were looking at this space that you were trying to own all by\n\n276\n00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:07.620\nyourself, I\n\n277\n00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:12.780\nlearned that you really had to tap into that new consumer mindset and how they\n\n278\n00:14:12.780 --> 00:14:13.700\napproached\n\n279\n00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:15.340\nor thought of luxury.\n\n280\n00:14:15.340 --> 00:14:19.940\nAnd that's how we came up with the design and the experiences that we developed\n\n281\n00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:20.340\nfor the\n\n282\n00:14:20.340 --> 00:14:22.380\nCelebrity Edge series.\n\n283\n00:14:22.380 --> 00:14:23.580\nThat's really interesting, Lisa.\n\n284\n00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:26.180\nAnd now I want to take you back a little bit.\n\n285\n00:14:26.180 --> 00:14:30.420\nWhat's the story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are\n\n286\n00:14:30.420 --> 00:14:30.820\ntoday?\n\n287\n00:14:30.820 --> 00:14:34.920\nOftentimes people ask me when I knew I was a leader and I always give the\n\n288\n00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:35.740\nanswer when\n\n289\n00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:38.100\nI was two years old.\n\n290\n00:14:38.100 --> 00:14:43.300\nAnd it's true because my first sister was born when I was two.\n\n291\n00:14:43.300 --> 00:14:48.340\nAnd for some reason, I thought I was in charge from the minute she was born.\n\n292\n00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:52.640\nAnd I just took on this leadership role in our family and I was the one who\n\n293\n00:14:52.640 --> 00:14:53.420\nalways got\n\n294\n00:14:53.420 --> 00:14:57.690\nher ready for school and made her lunch and made sure she brushed her teeth and\n\n295\n00:14:57.690 --> 00:14:58.340\ntook care\n\n296\n00:14:58.340 --> 00:15:03.660\nof her and took her by the hand everywhere we went and protected her.\n\n297\n00:15:03.660 --> 00:15:07.620\nAnd then my other sister was born when I was 14 years old.\n\n298\n00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:11.180\nAnd once again, I went into leadership mode.\n\n299\n00:15:11.180 --> 00:15:14.500\nAnd when I was in school, I was in Catholic school.\n\n300\n00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:18.060\nAnd then if the nuns had to leave the room, they always put me in charge.\n\n301\n00:15:18.060 --> 00:15:24.180\nAnd I taught my other classmates the Palmer cursive method of writing.\n\n302\n00:15:24.180 --> 00:15:25.180\nAnd I don't know.\n\n303\n00:15:25.180 --> 00:15:27.740\nIt was just something that was innate inside me.\n\n304\n00:15:27.740 --> 00:15:30.780\nIt didn't always make me popular with my sisters.\n\n305\n00:15:30.780 --> 00:15:33.860\nAnd it didn't always make me popular in school, but it was just something that\n\n306\n00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:34.500\ncame really\n\n307\n00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:35.980\nnaturally to me.\n\n308\n00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:41.620\nAnd so I went from two years old all the way to, I guess, where I am right now.\n\n309\n00:15:41.620 --> 00:15:44.940\nAnd it's a lot of years later since I was two years old.\n\n310\n00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:46.100\nThat's for sure.\n\n311\n00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:48.940\nYou're obviously a great salesperson.\n\n312\n00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:52.540\nAs I learned about you, you studied to be in an accountant.\n\n313\n00:15:52.540 --> 00:15:55.300\nHow important was that in your career?\n\n314\n00:15:55.300 --> 00:15:57.580\nTerribly important.\n\n315\n00:15:57.580 --> 00:16:02.780\nOn the time I was in sales, looking at my performance sheets and my revenues\n\n316\n00:16:02.780 --> 00:16:03.540\nand where\n\n317\n00:16:03.540 --> 00:16:08.100\nI was and where I needed to be and what kind of business I was bringing in.\n\n318\n00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:11.800\nAnd if it was profitable and if it wasn't, all the way up to being responsible\n\n319\n00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:12.180\nfor the\n\n320\n00:16:12.180 --> 00:16:17.660\nP&L, operating income, EBITDA, return on invested capital, capital investments\n\n321\n00:16:17.660 --> 00:16:19.140\nat celebrity.\n\n322\n00:16:19.140 --> 00:16:20.260\nAnd I was always good at math.\n\n323\n00:16:20.260 --> 00:16:21.260\nI loved math.\n\n324\n00:16:21.260 --> 00:16:25.940\nAnd so it was something that I really thought I wanted to do as a profession.\n\n325\n00:16:25.940 --> 00:16:30.770\nBut it was interesting when I was putting myself through school, I was wait\n\n326\n00:16:30.770 --> 00:16:31.660\nressing, waiting\n\n327\n00:16:31.660 --> 00:16:32.660\non tables.\n\n328\n00:16:32.660 --> 00:16:35.260\nI've been in hospitality my entire life.\n\n329\n00:16:35.260 --> 00:16:39.580\nAnd the customers, the guests I was serving would always ask me, what are you\n\n330\n00:16:39.580 --> 00:16:40.020\ngoing to\n\n331\n00:16:40.020 --> 00:16:41.020\nschool for?\n\n332\n00:16:41.020 --> 00:16:42.020\nWhat are you studying?\n\n333\n00:16:42.020 --> 00:16:43.180\nAnd I would say accounting.\n\n334\n00:16:43.180 --> 00:16:46.040\nAnd they would just look at me with this strange look on their face and they're\n\n335\n00:16:46.040 --> 00:16:46.340\nlike,\n\n336\n00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:48.140\nnope, I don't see it.\n\n337\n00:16:48.140 --> 00:16:52.100\nAnd I took Umbridge at that because I was like, well, why would you say that?\n\n338\n00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:53.100\nThat's what I've chosen.\n\n339\n00:16:53.100 --> 00:16:59.240\nBut they were right, although it's an amazing education and one that has served\n\n340\n00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:00.100\nme well,\n\n341\n00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:03.260\nit just wasn't in the stars for me to be an accountant.\n\n342\n00:17:03.260 --> 00:17:11.300\nBut I took everything I learned and applied it in the best way possible.\n\n343\n00:17:11.300 --> 00:17:15.480\nHave you ever wondered what David is thinking as he interviews our guests each\n\n344\n00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:15.980\nweek?\n\n345\n00:17:15.980 --> 00:17:20.050\nOr have you been interested in hearing David's take on some of the questions\n\n346\n00:17:20.050 --> 00:17:20.740\nthat he asks\n\n347\n00:17:20.740 --> 00:17:21.740\nhis guests?\n\n348\n00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:23.140\nWell, I do.\n\n349\n00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:25.180\nAnd I know a lot of you do too.\n\n350\n00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:28.650\nMy name is Koolah Callahan and together with David, I host the three more\n\n351\n00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:29.940\nquestions podcast\n\n352\n00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:32.020\nthat airs every Monday.\n\n353\n00:17:32.020 --> 00:17:34.100\nThese episodes are just about 15 minutes.\n\n354\n00:17:34.100 --> 00:17:38.760\nAnd in them, I asked David three questions that dive deeper into the themes of\n\n355\n00:17:38.760 --> 00:17:39.580\nhis episode\n\n356\n00:17:39.580 --> 00:17:41.500\nwith his guests.\n\n357\n00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:45.090\nDavid shares incredible insights and stories from his career leading young\n\n358\n00:17:45.090 --> 00:17:45.860\nbrands and all\n\n359\n00:17:45.860 --> 00:17:49.060\nof his answers are super practical and inspiring.\n\n360\n00:17:49.060 --> 00:17:52.160\nLike this great insight, David shared in one of our most recent three more\n\n361\n00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:53.700\nquestions episodes.\n\n362\n00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:56.780\nThe other thing is, is everybody has references.\n\n363\n00:17:56.780 --> 00:18:01.440\nDon't rely on your headhunter to tell you what everybody thinks if you're using\n\n364\n00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:02.180\nexecutive\n\n365\n00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:03.420\nrecruiters.\n\n366\n00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:10.040\nCall the people directly that had direct contact with that person and ask them\n\n367\n00:18:10.040 --> 00:18:11.060\nwhat they think\n\n368\n00:18:11.060 --> 00:18:12.500\nof that person.\n\n369\n00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:13.620\nBecause you know what?\n\n370\n00:18:13.620 --> 00:18:18.320\nIt's easy for them to tell a headhunter or executive recruiter that, oh, he's a\n\n371\n00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:18.820\nreally\n\n372\n00:18:18.820 --> 00:18:21.220\ngood guy or she's a really good person.\n\n373\n00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:24.180\nShe's really terrific, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.\n\n374\n00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:27.740\nBut when you call them up yourself and they know that someday they may have to\n\n375\n00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:28.140\nlook you\n\n376\n00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:31.460\nin the eye, you're going to get the real skinny.\n\n377\n00:18:31.460 --> 00:18:33.540\nThey're going to tell you what that person's all about.\n\n378\n00:18:33.540 --> 00:18:36.820\nSo don't delegate the entire process.\n\n379\n00:18:36.820 --> 00:18:40.880\nIf you really have a key person you want to go after, go get them and make sure\n\n380\n00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:41.220\nthat\n\n381\n00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:43.060\nyou make that your top priority.\n\n382\n00:18:43.060 --> 00:18:44.380\nAnd why not?\n\n383\n00:18:44.380 --> 00:18:45.780\nTalent is everything.\n\n384\n00:18:45.780 --> 00:18:49.070\nIf you bring in a highly talented person, you're going to grow the company\n\n385\n00:18:49.070 --> 00:18:49.660\nbecause we\n\n386\n00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:53.060\nall know that formula success that I always talk about.\n\n387\n00:18:53.060 --> 00:18:57.110\nBuild people capability first, then you satisfy more customers and that's how\n\n388\n00:18:57.110 --> 00:18:57.860\nyou make more\n\n389\n00:18:57.860 --> 00:18:58.860\nmoney.\n\n390\n00:18:58.860 --> 00:19:01.860\nAnd that's a very common sense approach.\n\n391\n00:19:01.860 --> 00:19:06.210\nBut believe me, it's an approach that really does work when it comes to driving\n\n392\n00:19:06.210 --> 00:19:06.980\nconsistent\n\n393\n00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:08.260\nresults.\n\n394\n00:19:08.260 --> 00:19:12.280\nGet the three more questions podcast in your feed each Monday and dive even\n\n395\n00:19:12.280 --> 00:19:13.020\ndeeper into\n\n396\n00:19:13.020 --> 00:19:14.900\nthe episodes you know and love.\n\n397\n00:19:14.900 --> 00:19:20.020\nJust subscribe to How Leaders Lead wherever you get your podcasts.\n\n398\n00:19:20.020 --> 00:19:30.500\nI'd like you to tell us about this guy named Art Gregory.\n\n399\n00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:31.900\nOh my goodness.\n\n400\n00:19:31.900 --> 00:19:32.900\nSo.\n\n401\n00:19:32.900 --> 00:19:33.900\nOkay.\n\n402\n00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:34.900\nYeah.\n\n403\n00:19:34.900 --> 00:19:35.900\nYou want to talk about rejection.\n\n404\n00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:38.540\nLet's go all the way back to when I first started in the company.\n\n405\n00:19:38.540 --> 00:19:42.670\nThe company that I'm in for 39 years and I've had an amazing career and did\n\n406\n00:19:42.670 --> 00:19:43.700\nreject me quite\n\n407\n00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:45.620\na few times along my way.\n\n408\n00:19:45.620 --> 00:19:49.580\nThe first time was when I applied for a district sales manager position, which\n\n409\n00:19:49.580 --> 00:19:51.020\nwas my entry\n\n410\n00:19:51.020 --> 00:19:56.370\nlevel sales position calling on travel agencies and asking them to sell royal\n\n411\n00:19:56.370 --> 00:19:57.620\nCaribbean cruises.\n\n412\n00:19:57.620 --> 00:19:59.460\nI was with Royal Caribbean at the time.\n\n413\n00:19:59.460 --> 00:20:03.260\nI applied for the position and I didn't get it.\n\n414\n00:20:03.260 --> 00:20:06.020\nI was the second choice.\n\n415\n00:20:06.020 --> 00:20:09.380\nAnd I was very disappointed that they didn't hire me.\n\n416\n00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:12.260\nThey hired a gentleman named Art Gregory.\n\n417\n00:20:12.260 --> 00:20:19.030\nI want to say two months later, that was February and in April, I was on one of\n\n418\n00:20:19.030 --> 00:20:19.460\nthe\n\n419\n00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:24.330\nships of Royal Caribbean in New York for an event where they were showing off\n\n420\n00:20:24.330 --> 00:20:24.980\nthe ship\n\n421\n00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:29.140\nand they were just starting service from New York to Bermuda because I worked\n\n422\n00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:29.860\nin a travel\n\n423\n00:20:29.860 --> 00:20:32.860\ncompany that did a lot of business with Royal Caribbean at the time.\n\n424\n00:20:32.860 --> 00:20:34.780\nI was invited to go.\n\n425\n00:20:34.780 --> 00:20:39.820\nSo I got on board and I met the woman who was in charge of the region who didn\n\n426\n00:20:39.820 --> 00:20:40.460\n't hire\n\n427\n00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:47.260\nme and I said hello to her and said, \"I'd really like to meet Art Gregory.\n\n428\n00:20:47.260 --> 00:20:48.780\nIs he on board?\"\n\n429\n00:20:48.780 --> 00:20:53.180\nAnd she said, \"He's no longer with the company.\"\n\n430\n00:20:53.180 --> 00:20:55.260\nI was like, \"You're kidding me.\n\n431\n00:20:55.260 --> 00:20:57.460\nHe's no longer with the company.\"\n\n432\n00:20:57.460 --> 00:21:02.860\nAnd you would think that if you were second choice and the person they hired\n\n433\n00:21:02.860 --> 00:21:03.820\ndidn't even\n\n434\n00:21:03.820 --> 00:21:08.510\nmake it through their probationary period, they would call you up and say, \"\n\n435\n00:21:08.510 --> 00:21:09.540\nListen,\n\n436\n00:21:09.540 --> 00:21:10.540\nhe didn't work out.\n\n437\n00:21:10.540 --> 00:21:12.220\nThe person we hired didn't work out.\n\n438\n00:21:12.220 --> 00:21:14.820\nYou were next in line or you're still interested in the job.\"\n\n439\n00:21:14.820 --> 00:21:15.820\nAnd they didn't.\n\n440\n00:21:15.820 --> 00:21:19.880\nI had to apply all over again and start all over again and go through the\n\n441\n00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.260\ninterview process\n\n442\n00:21:21.260 --> 00:21:22.700\nall over again.\n\n443\n00:21:22.700 --> 00:21:26.220\nAnd then finally, they hired me the second time.\n\n444\n00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:29.260\nYou are persistent for sure.\n\n445\n00:21:29.260 --> 00:21:30.260\nOh, no.\n\n446\n00:21:30.260 --> 00:21:33.860\nOkay, that is a leadership lesson at the top of the list.\n\n447\n00:21:33.860 --> 00:21:37.540\nPersistence is like a number one top of the list.\n\n448\n00:21:37.540 --> 00:21:43.180\nAnd yeah, so I got beat out by a guy who didn't even make it through probation.\n\n449\n00:21:43.180 --> 00:21:47.220\nAnd you were the first woman at Royal Caribbean to take on many different\n\n450\n00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:49.420\nleadership roles.\n\n451\n00:21:49.420 --> 00:21:53.020\nAnd I'm sure you had anxiety and I would say extra anxiety.\n\n452\n00:21:53.020 --> 00:21:56.980\nEverybody has anxiety when you move into new situation, but you're doing it as\n\n453\n00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:57.460\na female\n\n454\n00:21:57.460 --> 00:21:58.780\nfor the first time.\n\n455\n00:21:58.780 --> 00:22:02.860\nHow did you get over that anxiety you probably had?\n\n456\n00:22:02.860 --> 00:22:08.030\nWell, you know, it was interesting because I was the first woman and there were\n\n457\n00:22:08.030 --> 00:22:08.660\nno other\n\n458\n00:22:08.660 --> 00:22:11.700\nwomen there, not even in charge.\n\n459\n00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:15.580\nYou know, yes, I was the first women to lead these functions, but there weren't\n\n460\n00:22:15.580 --> 00:22:16.100\neven any\n\n461\n00:22:16.100 --> 00:22:19.420\nother women anywhere that I went or looked.\n\n462\n00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:24.320\nAnd it was, you know, it was in 2005 that I moved into operations and I've\n\n463\n00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:25.220\nspent 21\n\n464\n00:22:25.220 --> 00:22:26.620\nyears in sales and marketing.\n\n465\n00:22:26.620 --> 00:22:30.460\nThere are plenty of women in sales and marketing and in leadership roles.\n\n466\n00:22:30.460 --> 00:22:33.300\nBut when I started in operations, there were none.\n\n467\n00:22:33.300 --> 00:22:38.180\nAnd I was leading these functions and I was leading all men for the most part.\n\n468\n00:22:38.180 --> 00:22:43.180\nThe vast majority were men and I had no experience in operations.\n\n469\n00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:46.620\nI wasn't chosen for my subject matter expertise.\n\n470\n00:22:46.620 --> 00:22:49.300\nI was chosen for, I guess, my leadership qualities.\n\n471\n00:22:49.300 --> 00:22:52.220\nI was chosen because I was really smart.\n\n472\n00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:53.660\nI was a fast learner.\n\n473\n00:22:53.660 --> 00:22:59.460\nI represented a cultural change that was really needed in our industry.\n\n474\n00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:03.460\nAnd so there were a lot of other reasons that I was put into these roles.\n\n475\n00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:07.340\nAnd our company believed in moving high potential people around and letting\n\n476\n00:23:07.340 --> 00:23:08.700\nthem learn new disciplines\n\n477\n00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:09.940\nin the company.\n\n478\n00:23:09.940 --> 00:23:13.830\nSo when I took on these roles as someone that really wasn't familiar with the\n\n479\n00:23:13.830 --> 00:23:14.460\noperation\n\n480\n00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:18.990\nand leading all of these men who were skeptical, looking at me, wondering why I\n\n481\n00:23:18.990 --> 00:23:19.900\nwas now their\n\n482\n00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:20.900\nboss.\n\n483\n00:23:20.900 --> 00:23:27.460\nThere was a tremendous amount of pressure on me to prove the skeptics wrong.\n\n484\n00:23:27.460 --> 00:23:32.700\nAnd that's another thing that I talk about is, watch me prove you wrong.\n\n485\n00:23:32.700 --> 00:23:38.160\nAnd I think a lot of times when we're given opportunities where people doubt us\n\n486\n00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:38.740\n, it also\n\n487\n00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:43.300\nfuels us and serves as motivation to prove people wrong.\n\n488\n00:23:43.300 --> 00:23:45.860\nAnd that's what I did in the first role that I had.\n\n489\n00:23:45.860 --> 00:23:47.540\nThat's what I did in the second role.\n\n490\n00:23:47.540 --> 00:23:51.640\nAnd then by the time I was president and CEO, the first woman in our company to\n\n491\n00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:52.260\nhave that\n\n492\n00:23:52.260 --> 00:23:57.420\ntitle for one of our brands, there were so many women rooting for me.\n\n493\n00:23:57.420 --> 00:24:01.120\nAnd I remember thinking, you can't screw this up because you might be the first\n\n494\n00:24:01.120 --> 00:24:01.620\n, but you\n\n495\n00:24:01.620 --> 00:24:03.740\ndon't want to be the last.\n\n496\n00:24:03.740 --> 00:24:08.790\nAnd there's a tremendous amount of responsibility in making sure you do well so\n\n497\n00:24:08.790 --> 00:24:09.740\nthat you prove\n\n498\n00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:13.860\nthe decision to put you in the role was the right decision.\n\n499\n00:24:13.860 --> 00:24:18.380\nYou and celebrity led the way bringing women into leadership positions in the\n\n500\n00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:18.980\ncruise ship\n\n501\n00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:20.060\nindustry.\n\n502\n00:24:20.060 --> 00:24:22.340\nAnd how'd you go about doing it?\n\n503\n00:24:22.340 --> 00:24:23.980\nWhat was the big move you did?\n\n504\n00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:25.540\nOr did you have a big move?\n\n505\n00:24:25.540 --> 00:24:27.700\nYeah, well, I did have a big move.\n\n506\n00:24:27.700 --> 00:24:32.660\nI figured it was about six months into my tenure as president and CEO.\n\n507\n00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:37.000\nAnd I knew, a lot of people asked me, how does it feel to have achieved what\n\n508\n00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:37.860\nyou achieved\n\n509\n00:24:37.860 --> 00:24:43.260\nin accomplishing being the CEO of one of the brands?\n\n510\n00:24:43.260 --> 00:24:46.260\nAnd I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was great.\n\n511\n00:24:46.260 --> 00:24:49.940\nIt was a major accomplishment and it was something I never dreamed that would\n\n512\n00:24:49.940 --> 00:24:50.380\nhappen\n\n513\n00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:51.380\nfor me.\n\n514\n00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:56.140\nBut I think the real thing for me isn't so much about me because sure I made it\n\n515\n00:24:56.140 --> 00:24:56.700\n, it's\n\n516\n00:24:56.700 --> 00:24:57.740\nwonderful, it's great.\n\n517\n00:24:57.740 --> 00:24:59.140\nI worked really hard.\n\n518\n00:24:59.140 --> 00:25:00.980\nI've earned everything I got.\n\n519\n00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:04.850\nBut the biggest thing for me was bringing others along with me in an industry\n\n520\n00:25:04.850 --> 00:25:05.340\nthat was\n\n521\n00:25:05.340 --> 00:25:07.740\nwoefully short of women.\n\n522\n00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:12.060\nAnd there was, you know, the gender imbalance was staggering.\n\n523\n00:25:12.060 --> 00:25:17.240\nSo the first big move that I made was appointing the first woman captain for\n\n524\n00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:18.340\ncelebrity and\n\n525\n00:25:18.340 --> 00:25:24.680\nthe first and still only American woman ever to be the captain of a mega cruise\n\n526\n00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:25.660\nship, Captain\n\n527\n00:25:25.660 --> 00:25:27.380\nKate McEw.\n\n528\n00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:28.380\nThat was the start.\n\n529\n00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:29.780\nThat was the first big move.\n\n530\n00:25:29.780 --> 00:25:34.860\nAnd then at that time, 3% of the women on our bridges were women.\n\n531\n00:25:34.860 --> 00:25:42.620\nAnd by the time I stepped down from celebrity in April of 2023, 33% of the crew\n\n532\n00:25:42.620 --> 00:25:43.180\nmembers\n\n533\n00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:44.940\non our bridges were women.\n\n534\n00:25:44.940 --> 00:25:49.250\nAnd I did that with the help of men that I worked with who were equally\n\n535\n00:25:49.250 --> 00:25:50.420\npassionate about\n\n536\n00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:53.740\nmore gender equality on our bridges.\n\n537\n00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:57.900\nAnd I give them a tremendous amount of credit for helping get us there.\n\n538\n00:25:57.900 --> 00:26:02.540\nJust for everybody's edification, what's a bridge role?\n\n539\n00:26:02.540 --> 00:26:07.150\nYeah, so the bridge is made up of the captain, the staff captain, the safety\n\n540\n00:26:07.150 --> 00:26:09.660\nofficer, cadets,\n\n541\n00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:11.300\nthe watch officers.\n\n542\n00:26:11.300 --> 00:26:16.230\nI mean, it's the bridge team that's responsible for the safety and the\n\n543\n00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:18.140\nnavigation of the ship.\n\n544\n00:26:18.140 --> 00:26:21.740\nYou know, you say that Captain Kate McEw is a rock star.\n\n545\n00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:26.560\nIf you had to pick one thing that really distinguishes her as a leader, what\n\n546\n00:26:26.560 --> 00:26:28.180\nwould it be?\n\n547\n00:26:28.180 --> 00:26:32.420\nThe approach that she has to being a captain.\n\n548\n00:26:32.420 --> 00:26:34.980\nIt is so refreshing.\n\n549\n00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:36.340\nIt's so unique.\n\n550\n00:26:36.340 --> 00:26:38.860\nIt's so different.\n\n551\n00:26:38.860 --> 00:26:40.900\nAnd everybody loves her.\n\n552\n00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:45.140\nYou know, she brings so much heart and empathy to her role.\n\n553\n00:26:45.140 --> 00:26:48.500\nHer crew loves her, the guests love her.\n\n554\n00:26:48.500 --> 00:26:52.520\nAnd you know, the way you think about captains sometimes and cruise ship\n\n555\n00:26:52.520 --> 00:26:53.500\ncaptains is they\n\n556\n00:26:53.500 --> 00:26:55.980\nhave very different personalities.\n\n557\n00:26:55.980 --> 00:27:03.050\nAnd I think what she has proven is that you can be human and approachable and\n\n558\n00:27:03.050 --> 00:27:04.620\nstill respected\n\n559\n00:27:04.620 --> 00:27:07.180\nand great at what you do.\n\n560\n00:27:07.180 --> 00:27:13.050\nAnd she really just changed the personality and profile of how captains should\n\n561\n00:27:13.050 --> 00:27:13.660\nbehave\n\n562\n00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:14.660\nand think.\n\n563\n00:27:14.660 --> 00:27:17.900\nAnd that's exactly what I was going for when I appointed her.\n\n564\n00:27:17.900 --> 00:27:21.500\nAnd I just knew she would be so great at it.\n\n565\n00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:25.160\nYou know, when I interviewed Jenny Rometty, the former CEO of IBM, she told me\n\n566\n00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:25.620\nthat you\n\n567\n00:27:25.620 --> 00:27:28.740\ncannot be what you cannot see.\n\n568\n00:27:28.740 --> 00:27:34.220\nTalk about what you did for International Women's Day in 2020 and the impact\n\n569\n00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:34.700\nthat it\n\n570\n00:27:34.700 --> 00:27:36.700\nhad on your culture.\n\n571\n00:27:36.700 --> 00:27:38.980\nCaptain Kate says that all the time too.\n\n572\n00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:42.540\nYou know, if you have to see it, if you want to be it.\n\n573\n00:27:42.540 --> 00:27:49.130\nAnd we had worked so hard on our gender equality and bringing more women into\n\n574\n00:27:49.130 --> 00:27:50.540\nall leadership\n\n575\n00:27:50.540 --> 00:27:56.920\npositions on our brand, but especially on the bridge where again, 97% of the\n\n576\n00:27:56.920 --> 00:27:58.100\nbridge crew\n\n577\n00:27:58.100 --> 00:28:00.500\nwere men.\n\n578\n00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:08.740\nAnd I remember being in a planning session in August of 2019.\n\n579\n00:28:08.740 --> 00:28:14.660\nAnd our PR team was talking about some ambitious goals that we should have.\n\n580\n00:28:14.660 --> 00:28:19.700\nAnd one of those was an ambitious goal around International Women's Day.\n\n581\n00:28:19.700 --> 00:28:24.050\nAnd they said, wouldn't it be wonderful if we were the first cruise line to\n\n582\n00:28:24.050 --> 00:28:24.660\nsail with\n\n583\n00:28:24.660 --> 00:28:29.140\na 100% female bridge for International Women's Day.\n\n584\n00:28:29.140 --> 00:28:30.740\nWe would make history.\n\n585\n00:28:30.740 --> 00:28:35.780\nWe would have broken every barrier that there is, especially in the cruise\n\n586\n00:28:35.780 --> 00:28:36.700\nindustry.\n\n587\n00:28:36.700 --> 00:28:38.420\nAnd I fell in love with that idea.\n\n588\n00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:41.100\nI was immediately excited.\n\n589\n00:28:41.100 --> 00:28:43.780\nAnd so I said to the team, when do you think we can do that?\n\n590\n00:28:43.780 --> 00:28:48.900\nAnd this was 2019 that we were having the discussion.\n\n591\n00:28:48.900 --> 00:28:52.860\nAnd they said, I think we can do that by 2023.\n\n592\n00:28:52.860 --> 00:28:55.700\nAnd so I said, okay, well, that's an interesting goal.\n\n593\n00:28:55.700 --> 00:28:59.770\nSo I looked at our head of Marine and I asked him, do you think we can do that\n\n594\n00:28:59.770 --> 00:29:00.940\nby 2023?\n\n595\n00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:03.140\nAnd he said, 2023, what are you talking about?\n\n596\n00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:05.780\nWe could do that this coming March.\n\n597\n00:29:05.780 --> 00:29:09.980\nAnd I said, what do you mean we could actually sail with a 100% women bridge in\n\n598\n00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:11.220\nMarch of 2020\n\n599\n00:29:11.220 --> 00:29:12.860\nfor International Women's Day?\n\n600\n00:29:12.860 --> 00:29:14.180\nHe said, of course we can, Lisa.\n\n601\n00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:16.620\nWhat do you think we've been doing all this time?\n\n602\n00:29:16.620 --> 00:29:20.320\nAnd I said, we have enough women on our bridges for every single position that\n\n603\n00:29:20.320 --> 00:29:21.380\nhas to be manned\n\n604\n00:29:21.380 --> 00:29:23.740\n24 hours a day for women.\n\n605\n00:29:23.740 --> 00:29:27.220\nHe said, yep, give me two weeks and I'll have the whole crew assembled.\n\n606\n00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:30.500\nAnd two weeks later, he had the whole crew assembled.\n\n607\n00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:32.100\nAnd we didn't stop at the bridge.\n\n608\n00:29:32.100 --> 00:29:35.660\nEvery leader across the entire operation was a woman.\n\n609\n00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.100\nEvery person on the bridge was a woman.\n\n610\n00:29:38.100 --> 00:29:44.120\nAnd we celebrated International Women's Day in March of 2020 with a 100% women\n\n611\n00:29:44.120 --> 00:29:44.660\nbridge\n\n612\n00:29:44.660 --> 00:29:47.860\nand leadership team for the first time ever.\n\n613\n00:29:47.860 --> 00:29:49.340\nAnd still the only time ever.\n\n614\n00:29:49.340 --> 00:29:51.340\nWe were the only cruise line that could do it.\n\n615\n00:29:51.340 --> 00:29:54.500\nWe probably still are the only cruise line that could do it.\n\n616\n00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:55.900\nIt was a glorious event.\n\n617\n00:29:55.900 --> 00:30:00.080\nI don't think I tell a story where I was standing in the grandplause that\n\n618\n00:30:00.080 --> 00:30:00.900\nCaptain Kate\n\n619\n00:30:00.900 --> 00:30:02.660\nwas pouring martinis.\n\n620\n00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:07.180\nMelania, the associate hotel director was playing the electric guitar.\n\n621\n00:30:07.180 --> 00:30:08.780\nThe feeling was electric.\n\n622\n00:30:08.780 --> 00:30:10.620\nThe crowd was cheering.\n\n623\n00:30:10.620 --> 00:30:12.540\nWe were on the beautiful celebrity edge.\n\n624\n00:30:12.540 --> 00:30:17.040\nAnd I remember thinking, if I left my position right now, it would be a mic\n\n625\n00:30:17.040 --> 00:30:17.380\ndrop.\n\n626\n00:30:17.380 --> 00:30:20.680\nBecause more than everything I ever thought I could accomplish was happening\n\n627\n00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:21.300\nright before\n\n628\n00:30:21.300 --> 00:30:22.300\nmy eyes.\n\n629\n00:30:22.300 --> 00:30:25.620\nAnd it was a beautiful and proud moment for me.\n\n630\n00:30:25.620 --> 00:30:26.620\nAwesome.\n\n631\n00:30:26.620 --> 00:30:29.950\nNow, I know you were the CEO and I know you had the ultimate power, but you\n\n632\n00:30:29.950 --> 00:30:30.420\nmentioned\n\n633\n00:30:30.420 --> 00:30:33.620\nthat the men really got behind us.\n\n634\n00:30:33.620 --> 00:30:39.740\nWhat was it that drove men wanting to go for this gender equality move?\n\n635\n00:30:39.740 --> 00:30:42.420\nWhat did they see that got them excited?\n\n636\n00:30:42.420 --> 00:30:47.180\nI think we all know that diverse cultures are strong cultures.\n\n637\n00:30:47.180 --> 00:30:51.790\nWe all know that balance is critically important if you're going to have a\n\n638\n00:30:51.790 --> 00:30:53.020\nhealthy culture,\n\n639\n00:30:53.020 --> 00:30:57.020\nthe right business decisions and the right outcomes.\n\n640\n00:30:57.020 --> 00:31:01.820\nAnd I don't think it was any secret to any of us that there was no gender\n\n641\n00:31:01.820 --> 00:31:02.700\nbalance on\n\n642\n00:31:02.700 --> 00:31:03.700\nour bridges.\n\n643\n00:31:03.700 --> 00:31:07.590\nAnd one of the gentlemen that helped me with Swedish and the Swedes are very\n\n644\n00:31:07.590 --> 00:31:08.300\nwell known\n\n645\n00:31:08.300 --> 00:31:11.140\nfor gender equality and gender balance.\n\n646\n00:31:11.140 --> 00:31:15.850\nAnd this gentleman had two daughters and had very high hopes and aspirations\n\n647\n00:31:15.850 --> 00:31:17.260\nfor his daughters.\n\n648\n00:31:17.260 --> 00:31:19.060\nHe was a captain.\n\n649\n00:31:19.060 --> 00:31:22.540\nAnd then the other gentleman that helped me was a Greek captain.\n\n650\n00:31:22.540 --> 00:31:27.740\nHe also has two daughters and wanted to see his daughters be able to accomplish\n\n651\n00:31:27.740 --> 00:31:28.420\nanything\n\n652\n00:31:28.420 --> 00:31:29.860\nthat they wanted to accomplish.\n\n653\n00:31:29.860 --> 00:31:33.900\nAnd they both knew there was a big opportunity on our ships to improve our\n\n654\n00:31:33.900 --> 00:31:35.020\nculture and improve\n\n655\n00:31:35.020 --> 00:31:36.380\nour gender balance.\n\n656\n00:31:36.380 --> 00:31:41.200\nSo yes, I was the CEO and I wanted to make it one of our priorities, but there\n\n657\n00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:41.700\nwas no\n\n658\n00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:44.980\nway I was going to be able to make it a priority without their help because\n\n659\n00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:45.700\nthey're the ones\n\n660\n00:31:45.700 --> 00:31:49.050\nout recruiting all over the world and bringing these women into our\n\n661\n00:31:49.050 --> 00:31:50.020\norganization.\n\n662\n00:31:50.020 --> 00:31:53.270\nAnd they're the men that these women are talking to when they're making their\n\n663\n00:31:53.270 --> 00:31:53.780\ndecision\n\n664\n00:31:53.780 --> 00:31:57.490\non if they want to go to see and if they want to choose celebrity as the brand\n\n665\n00:31:57.490 --> 00:31:57.900\nthat they\n\n666\n00:31:57.900 --> 00:31:58.900\nwant to work for.\n\n667\n00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:01.660\nSo they had to be genuine in it.\n\n668\n00:32:01.660 --> 00:32:05.040\nThey had to be authentic and they had to really want it as much as I did\n\n669\n00:32:05.040 --> 00:32:05.740\nbecause you\n\n670\n00:32:05.740 --> 00:32:07.300\ncan't fake that.\n\n671\n00:32:07.300 --> 00:32:11.830\nAnd the other thing I always said, David, is it's one thing bringing women into\n\n672\n00:32:11.830 --> 00:32:12.860\nan environment\n\n673\n00:32:12.860 --> 00:32:14.300\nand into a culture.\n\n674\n00:32:14.300 --> 00:32:18.420\nBut if that culture isn't empowering, if it isn't nurturing, if they don't feel\n\n675\n00:32:18.420 --> 00:32:18.660\nlike\n\n676\n00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:22.320\nthey can accomplish everything they want to accomplish, they're not going to\n\n677\n00:32:22.320 --> 00:32:22.700\nstay.\n\n678\n00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:26.100\nAnd then you've defeated the purpose of what you're trying to do because the\n\n679\n00:32:26.100 --> 00:32:26.580\nwomen will\n\n680\n00:32:26.580 --> 00:32:30.360\nopt out and they'll leave and then you're no further ahead than when you\n\n681\n00:32:30.360 --> 00:32:31.100\nstarted.\n\n682\n00:32:31.100 --> 00:32:37.870\nSo you have this career highlight at the International Women's Day of 2020 and\n\n683\n00:32:37.870 --> 00:32:38.300\nthen\n\n684\n00:32:38.300 --> 00:32:41.180\nCOVID hits just a few days later.\n\n685\n00:32:41.180 --> 00:32:44.500\nAnd your entire business shuts down.\n\n686\n00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:49.790\nWhat do you think is the best thing a leader can do when the business is in\n\n687\n00:32:49.790 --> 00:32:51.060\ncrisis mode?\n\n688\n00:32:51.060 --> 00:32:56.010\nI always lived up to what my boss used to say all the time, never let a good\n\n689\n00:32:56.010 --> 00:32:56.780\ncrisis go\n\n690\n00:32:56.780 --> 00:32:58.340\nto waste.\n\n691\n00:32:58.340 --> 00:33:02.020\nAnd that was a quote from Winston Churchill.\n\n692\n00:33:02.020 --> 00:33:09.880\nAnd because I have been described as a relentless optimist, I needed to use\n\n693\n00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:12.700\nthis terrible situation\n\n694\n00:33:12.700 --> 00:33:17.360\nand turn it into a positive thing for me to get through it, for my team to get\n\n695\n00:33:17.360 --> 00:33:17.980\nthrough\n\n696\n00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:22.020\nit, for our crew to get through it, for all of our employees to get through it.\n\n697\n00:33:22.020 --> 00:33:27.410\nAnd so I decided that we were going to use the time because when would you ever\n\n698\n00:33:27.410 --> 00:33:27.940\nthink\n\n699\n00:33:27.940 --> 00:33:33.980\nyou're going to get a 15 month time out to reevaluate your brand positioning?\n\n700\n00:33:33.980 --> 00:33:38.580\nWe had a mantra that the comeback was going to be stronger than the setback.\n\n701\n00:33:38.580 --> 00:33:42.220\nAnd we reimagined some of our experiences.\n\n702\n00:33:42.220 --> 00:33:45.060\nWe reimagined our brand positioning.\n\n703\n00:33:45.060 --> 00:33:49.940\nWe changed our pricing strategy so that we could improve our profitability.\n\n704\n00:33:49.940 --> 00:33:51.940\nAnd we came out really strong.\n\n705\n00:33:51.940 --> 00:33:55.580\nBut I will tell you that I think as a leader, one of the things I learned\n\n706\n00:33:55.580 --> 00:33:56.580\nduring that time\n\n707\n00:33:56.580 --> 00:34:02.130\nis I really had to dial down some of the innate qualities of being a hard\n\n708\n00:34:02.130 --> 00:34:03.620\ndriving, results\n\n709\n00:34:03.620 --> 00:34:10.330\nfocused leader with metrics and traffic lights and key performance indicators,\n\n710\n00:34:10.330 --> 00:34:11.020\ndriving my\n\n711\n00:34:11.020 --> 00:34:17.690\ndecisions and everything I did every day to a leader who had to dial those down\n\n712\n00:34:17.690 --> 00:34:18.660\nand dial\n\n713\n00:34:18.660 --> 00:34:24.170\nup all of my empathy, my optimism, my motivation, and my inspiration because I\n\n714\n00:34:24.170 --> 00:34:26.380\nhad 20,000 people\n\n715\n00:34:26.380 --> 00:34:30.190\nthat I was working with every day that weren't sure if we were ever going to\n\n716\n00:34:30.190 --> 00:34:30.900\ncome back.\n\n717\n00:34:30.900 --> 00:34:34.940\nHell, I wasn't sure if we were ever going to come back, but I had to instill\n\n718\n00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:35.860\nthat optimism\n\n719\n00:34:35.860 --> 00:34:40.060\nand hope and confidence in people every day because that's the leader they\n\n720\n00:34:40.060 --> 00:34:40.820\nneeded me to\n\n721\n00:34:40.820 --> 00:34:44.340\nbe and leaders need to learn how to pivot.\n\n722\n00:34:44.340 --> 00:34:49.340\nWe all need to learn how to flex our style and be the leader that our teams\n\n723\n00:34:49.340 --> 00:34:50.220\nneed on any\n\n724\n00:34:50.220 --> 00:34:53.140\ngiven day, which could be very different.\n\n725\n00:34:53.140 --> 00:34:56.750\nWhen you're winning and you're going and you're achieving, it's one thing, but\n\n726\n00:34:56.750 --> 00:34:57.340\nman, when you're\n\n727\n00:34:57.340 --> 00:35:02.420\nout of business for 15 months, it's a whole different style of leadership that\n\n728\n00:35:02.420 --> 00:35:02.780\nyou have\n\n729\n00:35:02.780 --> 00:35:05.380\nto dial up.\n\n730\n00:35:05.380 --> 00:35:09.580\nHey, everyone.\n\n731\n00:35:09.580 --> 00:35:13.610\nIt's Kula, co-host of Three More Questions, and I have some exciting news to\n\n732\n00:35:13.610 --> 00:35:14.300\nshare with\n\n733\n00:35:14.300 --> 00:35:15.300\nyou.\n\n734\n00:35:15.300 --> 00:35:18.500\nWe just launched a breakthrough app that will help you become a better leader\n\n735\n00:35:18.500 --> 00:35:19.020\nin less than\n\n736\n00:35:19.020 --> 00:35:20.660\ntwo minutes a day.\n\n737\n00:35:20.660 --> 00:35:22.460\nIt's called How Leaders Lead.\n\n738\n00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:26.090\nAs you know on the podcast, David spends about an hour each week interviewing\n\n739\n00:35:26.090 --> 00:35:26.660\nsome of the\n\n740\n00:35:26.660 --> 00:35:28.620\ntop leaders in the world.\n\n741\n00:35:28.620 --> 00:35:32.580\nPeople like Tom Brady, Condolee is a rice and Jamie Diamond.\n\n742\n00:35:32.580 --> 00:35:36.300\nBut we know that leaders like yourself are pressed for time.\n\n743\n00:35:36.300 --> 00:35:40.620\nSo we've taken the very best clips from these conversations and put them into\n\n744\n00:35:40.620 --> 00:35:41.260\nan easy to\n\n745\n00:35:41.260 --> 00:35:45.780\nuse mobile app that you can learn from in less than two minutes a day.\n\n746\n00:35:45.780 --> 00:35:49.270\nIf you want to become a better leader, start a daily leadership habit with the\n\n747\n00:35:49.270 --> 00:35:49.860\nHow Leaders\n\n748\n00:35:49.860 --> 00:35:51.100\nLead app.\n\n749\n00:35:51.100 --> 00:35:54.220\nIt's available now for free in the App Store.\n\n750\n00:35:54.220 --> 00:36:03.940\nDownload it today.\n\n751\n00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:09.540\nYou say that you work in an organization where a team is everything.\n\n752\n00:36:09.540 --> 00:36:14.140\nEveryone says this, Lisa, but how did you really make it sink in?\n\n753\n00:36:14.140 --> 00:36:18.960\nOh, I think it's important to surround yourself with like-minded people who are\n\n754\n00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:20.500\nnot like you.\n\n755\n00:36:20.500 --> 00:36:27.340\nI come from a place of vulnerability and I come from a place of authenticity.\n\n756\n00:36:27.340 --> 00:36:32.900\nI am very transparent and I share the why and the vision.\n\n757\n00:36:32.900 --> 00:36:33.900\nI'm a salesperson.\n\n758\n00:36:33.900 --> 00:36:37.180\nI'm a salesperson at heart.\n\n759\n00:36:37.180 --> 00:36:42.070\nWhen I laid out just sort of where the brand was and where we had the\n\n760\n00:36:42.070 --> 00:36:43.540\nopportunity to go\n\n761\n00:36:43.540 --> 00:36:47.810\nand how I needed their help to get there, it wasn't just me saying this is what\n\n762\n00:36:47.810 --> 00:36:48.220\nwe're\n\n763\n00:36:48.220 --> 00:36:50.300\ngoing to do.\n\n764\n00:36:50.300 --> 00:36:55.020\nWhat it was me saying was this is where we need to go.\n\n765\n00:36:55.020 --> 00:36:58.540\nNow how do we all think we're going to get there?\n\n766\n00:36:58.540 --> 00:37:02.780\nLet's share our ideas and put something down on paper that we think is really\n\n767\n00:37:02.780 --> 00:37:03.340\ngoing to\n\n768\n00:37:03.340 --> 00:37:06.620\ntransform our business.\n\n769\n00:37:06.620 --> 00:37:11.040\nFor the most part, and I will say for the most part, it was very easy to get\n\n770\n00:37:11.040 --> 00:37:11.740\npeople to\n\n771\n00:37:11.740 --> 00:37:15.360\ncome along with me because everybody who worked on our brand loved our brand,\n\n772\n00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:16.500\nwe're so passionate\n\n773\n00:37:16.500 --> 00:37:17.500\nabout it.\n\n774\n00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:21.300\nWe had all of the potential that the brand had and we were looking for someone.\n\n775\n00:37:21.300 --> 00:37:24.620\nThey were looking for a leader that was going to sort of take them to the\n\n776\n00:37:24.620 --> 00:37:26.020\npromised land.\n\n777\n00:37:26.020 --> 00:37:29.480\nI was fortunate that they believed I was that person and we all made it to the\n\n778\n00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:30.020\npromised\n\n779\n00:37:30.020 --> 00:37:32.340\nland which was absolutely wonderful.\n\n780\n00:37:32.340 --> 00:37:36.180\nBut then at the end of the day, sometimes I also had to make unpopular\n\n781\n00:37:36.180 --> 00:37:37.220\ndecisions that\n\n782\n00:37:37.220 --> 00:37:41.430\nI knew were in the best interest of the brand that sometimes the team didn't\n\n783\n00:37:41.430 --> 00:37:42.180\nreally buy\n\n784\n00:37:42.180 --> 00:37:44.020\ninto or believe in.\n\n785\n00:37:44.020 --> 00:37:47.630\nAt the end of the day, I believe that you're batting average as a leader is the\n\n786\n00:37:47.630 --> 00:37:48.260\nthing that's\n\n787\n00:37:48.260 --> 00:37:52.480\ngoing to get your team to trust you and go along with you even if they don't\n\n788\n00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:53.540\n100% agree\n\n789\n00:37:53.540 --> 00:37:58.270\nwith you at the time because sometimes being a leader, you have to make lonely\n\n790\n00:37:58.270 --> 00:37:59.220\ndecisions.\n\n791\n00:37:59.220 --> 00:38:03.120\nBut in the end, you want your team to rally behind you and help you get there\n\n792\n00:38:03.120 --> 00:38:03.620\neven if\n\n793\n00:38:03.620 --> 00:38:06.540\nthey aren't 100% sold on it.\n\n794\n00:38:06.540 --> 00:38:10.940\nYou think it's critically important that a leader shows their heart.\n\n795\n00:38:10.940 --> 00:38:12.180\nHow do you do that?\n\n796\n00:38:12.180 --> 00:38:18.980\nWhat is it about your leadership where people feel you've got a heart?\n\n797\n00:38:18.980 --> 00:38:22.850\nJust in the way I behave and treat them, I treat everyone with a tremendous\n\n798\n00:38:22.850 --> 00:38:23.420\namount of\n\n799\n00:38:23.420 --> 00:38:24.420\nrespect.\n\n800\n00:38:24.420 --> 00:38:28.020\nI don't consider myself any better than anyone.\n\n801\n00:38:28.020 --> 00:38:30.820\nI don't believe that titles come with respect.\n\n802\n00:38:30.820 --> 00:38:34.500\nI believe you have to earn that with every interaction.\n\n803\n00:38:34.500 --> 00:38:39.300\nI genuinely care that people are happy in their personal lives because I\n\n804\n00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:40.580\nbelieve it helps them\n\n805\n00:38:40.580 --> 00:38:45.140\nbe happy and more productive in their professional lives.\n\n806\n00:38:45.140 --> 00:38:51.490\nI think that I took on an even bigger caring persona as a leader when I started\n\n807\n00:38:51.490 --> 00:38:52.780\nin operations\n\n808\n00:38:52.780 --> 00:38:57.160\nand I was leading our crew, 20,000 crew members from all over the world who\n\n809\n00:38:57.160 --> 00:38:58.300\nworked so hard\n\n810\n00:38:58.300 --> 00:39:02.590\nand take care of each other and our guests and leave their homes for six, eight\n\n811\n00:39:02.590 --> 00:39:03.460\n, 12 months\n\n812\n00:39:03.460 --> 00:39:07.740\nat a time, leave their families, mothers leave their children.\n\n813\n00:39:07.740 --> 00:39:12.850\nI wanted them to know that I genuinely cared about them and I behaved that way\n\n814\n00:39:12.850 --> 00:39:13.540\nand again,\n\n815\n00:39:13.540 --> 00:39:16.740\nI always got on our ships and treated them with respect.\n\n816\n00:39:16.740 --> 00:39:20.730\nI never wanted them to be afraid that I was coming on board or that I was going\n\n817\n00:39:20.730 --> 00:39:21.100\nto be\n\n818\n00:39:21.100 --> 00:39:22.100\ncritical.\n\n819\n00:39:22.100 --> 00:39:26.890\nSure, I would see things that I knew needed to perhaps be done a little better\n\n820\n00:39:26.890 --> 00:39:27.460\nand I would\n\n821\n00:39:27.460 --> 00:39:30.340\nshare that at the right time with the right people.\n\n822\n00:39:30.340 --> 00:39:34.310\nI always thanked the crew for everything they did and treated them with respect\n\n823\n00:39:34.310 --> 00:39:34.540\n.\n\n824\n00:39:34.540 --> 00:39:41.550\nI believe that the way you show up every day shows people that you have heart\n\n825\n00:39:41.550 --> 00:39:42.540\nand I hold\n\n826\n00:39:42.540 --> 00:39:45.020\npeople tremendously accountable.\n\n827\n00:39:45.020 --> 00:39:47.100\nOur goals are lofty.\n\n828\n00:39:47.100 --> 00:39:50.900\nOur accountabilities are high but at the same time, they have to know I care\n\n829\n00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:51.860\nabout them because\n\n830\n00:39:51.860 --> 00:39:56.460\nI also believe that the discretionary effort you get when you show people you\n\n831\n00:39:56.460 --> 00:39:58.060\ncare is priceless\n\n832\n00:39:58.060 --> 00:40:02.570\nand I believe leaders don't place enough value on leading with heart and\n\n833\n00:40:02.570 --> 00:40:03.380\nempathy.\n\n834\n00:40:03.380 --> 00:40:06.420\nYou talk about the importance of shared accountability.\n\n835\n00:40:06.420 --> 00:40:11.340\nCan you share a specific story on how you drove that concept home?\n\n836\n00:40:11.340 --> 00:40:13.380\nWell, it goes back to the team.\n\n837\n00:40:13.380 --> 00:40:14.940\nI'm a big believer in team.\n\n838\n00:40:14.940 --> 00:40:21.220\nI use sports analogies all the time to talk about how we're all accountable for\n\n839\n00:40:21.220 --> 00:40:22.260\nthe results\n\n840\n00:40:22.260 --> 00:40:27.170\nand if the head of sales wins and the brand doesn't win, then the head of sales\n\n841\n00:40:27.170 --> 00:40:27.740\ndoesn't\n\n842\n00:40:27.740 --> 00:40:29.540\nwin.\n\n843\n00:40:29.540 --> 00:40:35.000\nI believe in everybody working for the greater good, not just their own\n\n844\n00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:37.420\nindividual accomplishment.\n\n845\n00:40:37.420 --> 00:40:42.310\nI believe in calling each other out when people don't feel that they're living\n\n846\n00:40:42.310 --> 00:40:43.460\nup to our culture\n\n847\n00:40:43.460 --> 00:40:49.330\nor our values because we all have this shared accountability and less than\n\n848\n00:40:49.330 --> 00:40:50.740\nuntil we're all\n\n849\n00:40:50.740 --> 00:40:54.180\nplaying as a team in that regard.\n\n850\n00:40:54.180 --> 00:40:58.710\nIf it was the head of marketing and they had, we took a thousand web bookings\n\n851\n00:40:58.710 --> 00:40:59.340\ntoday.\n\n852\n00:40:59.340 --> 00:41:04.540\nThat's great, but the brand didn't hit its targets today.\n\n853\n00:41:04.540 --> 00:41:06.500\nYou should feel good about a thousand bookings.\n\n854\n00:41:06.500 --> 00:41:10.610\nThe brand didn't win, so we all have this shared accountability to make sure\n\n855\n00:41:10.610 --> 00:41:10.900\nall of\n\n856\n00:41:10.900 --> 00:41:13.930\nour channels are performing and as the head of marketing, you need to make sure\n\n857\n00:41:13.930 --> 00:41:14.460\nthat all\n\n858\n00:41:14.460 --> 00:41:18.340\nthe channels are performing and the demand is spread across all of our\n\n859\n00:41:18.340 --> 00:41:20.660\ndifferent channels.\n\n860\n00:41:20.660 --> 00:41:24.070\nOur head of operations could say, \"Hey, we got a great net promoter score and\n\n861\n00:41:24.070 --> 00:41:24.540\nlook, we're\n\n862\n00:41:24.540 --> 00:41:26.860\nbeating our net promoter scores.\"\n\n863\n00:41:26.860 --> 00:41:30.680\nI'm like, \"Okay, but the brand, you've got a green light, but the brand has\n\n864\n00:41:30.680 --> 00:41:31.140\nfive red\n\n865\n00:41:31.140 --> 00:41:35.020\nlights, so we can't claim individual victory.\n\n866\n00:41:35.020 --> 00:41:39.880\nWe really have to think about how we get better as a team and how the brand\n\n867\n00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:40.980\ndoes well.\"\n\n868\n00:41:40.980 --> 00:41:45.630\nThat I think keeps people humble and honest and working in a more collaborative\n\n869\n00:41:45.630 --> 00:41:46.500\nand cohesive\n\n870\n00:41:46.500 --> 00:41:47.500\nway.\n\n871\n00:41:47.500 --> 00:41:50.940\nYou're obviously a very results-oriented person.\n\n872\n00:41:50.940 --> 00:41:54.940\nHow do you judge yourself in your own individual performance?\n\n873\n00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:59.340\nWell, clearly, when you're the CEO of a unit within a publicly traded company,\n\n874\n00:41:59.340 --> 00:41:59.900\nit truly\n\n875\n00:41:59.900 --> 00:42:02.220\nis all about the money.\n\n876\n00:42:02.220 --> 00:42:04.300\nThat's just what it comes down to.\n\n877\n00:42:04.300 --> 00:42:06.860\nThat's the cold, hard reality of what we do every day.\n\n878\n00:42:06.860 --> 00:42:10.460\nI completely understood that every day that I went to work, returning\n\n879\n00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:11.940\nextraordinary shareholder\n\n880\n00:42:11.940 --> 00:42:18.470\nvalue was my number one mission and it was really the thing I was judged on and\n\n881\n00:42:18.470 --> 00:42:19.180\nthat's\n\n882\n00:42:19.180 --> 00:42:21.420\nwhat I needed to do.\n\n883\n00:42:21.420 --> 00:42:24.940\nAt the end of the day, that's what mattered and that's what mattered most.\n\n884\n00:42:24.940 --> 00:42:29.100\nWhat I always thought about every single day was how I was going to do that.\n\n885\n00:42:29.100 --> 00:42:31.580\nIt wasn't just that I did that.\n\n886\n00:42:31.580 --> 00:42:33.660\nIt was how did I do it.\n\n887\n00:42:33.660 --> 00:42:38.370\nI wanted to make sure that I was a leader, that people wanted to work for, that\n\n888\n00:42:38.370 --> 00:42:38.980\nknew I\n\n889\n00:42:38.980 --> 00:42:44.090\nwas fair, that had a heart, and that led them with courage and would make a\n\n890\n00:42:44.090 --> 00:42:44.820\ndecision\n\n891\n00:42:44.820 --> 00:42:46.860\nand would have their backs.\n\n892\n00:42:46.860 --> 00:42:51.140\nAnytime things went well and any time things didn't go well.\n\n893\n00:42:51.140 --> 00:42:57.270\nSo employee engagement, I remember we were having probably the toughest year\n\n894\n00:42:57.270 --> 00:42:57.820\nthat we\n\n895\n00:42:57.820 --> 00:43:02.400\nhad as a brand when we were coming out of COVID and trying to get back to our\n\n896\n00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:02.860\nglory\n\n897\n00:43:02.860 --> 00:43:05.740\ndays, going back to the glory days.\n\n898\n00:43:05.740 --> 00:43:09.360\nYet even during that really difficult time, I had the highest employee\n\n899\n00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:10.340\nengagement score\n\n900\n00:43:10.340 --> 00:43:16.280\nin the company, even though our brand was having a difficult time getting back\n\n901\n00:43:16.280 --> 00:43:16.980\nto where\n\n902\n00:43:16.980 --> 00:43:20.060\nwe were when we shut down.\n\n903\n00:43:20.060 --> 00:43:24.320\nIt was because of how I led, but not only me, it was how even the other leaders\n\n904\n00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:24.980\nthat worked\n\n905\n00:43:24.980 --> 00:43:30.800\nwith me led and how our employees felt about being a part of what we were doing\n\n906\n00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:30.900\n.\n\n907\n00:43:30.900 --> 00:43:34.030\nIn good times or bad times, we've always had the highest employee engagement\n\n908\n00:43:34.030 --> 00:43:34.460\nscore and\n\n909\n00:43:34.460 --> 00:43:39.870\nI think that speaks volumes about how you make people feel when they're coming\n\n910\n00:43:39.870 --> 00:43:40.460\nto work\n\n911\n00:43:40.460 --> 00:43:44.140\nevery day, trying to accomplish great things.\n\n912\n00:43:44.140 --> 00:43:47.250\nThis has been a lot of fun and I want to have some more with my lightning round\n\n913\n00:43:47.250 --> 00:43:48.020\nof questions.\n\n914\n00:43:48.020 --> 00:43:49.100\nAre you ready for this?\n\n915\n00:43:49.100 --> 00:43:50.740\nI'm ready.\n\n916\n00:43:50.740 --> 00:43:54.700\nWhat's one word others use that best describe you?\n\n917\n00:43:54.700 --> 00:43:56.100\nDriven.\n\n918\n00:43:56.100 --> 00:43:59.580\nWhat would you say is the one word that best describes you?\n\n919\n00:43:59.580 --> 00:44:01.140\nDriven.\n\n920\n00:44:01.140 --> 00:44:03.260\nWho would play you in a movie?\n\n921\n00:44:03.260 --> 00:44:05.140\nReese Witherspoon.\n\n922\n00:44:05.140 --> 00:44:10.060\nIf you could be one person for a day beside yourself, who would it be?\n\n923\n00:44:10.060 --> 00:44:12.060\nTom Brady.\n\n924\n00:44:12.060 --> 00:44:17.140\nWhat's something about leadership you've learned from Tom Brady?\n\n925\n00:44:17.140 --> 00:44:20.660\nKeep that chip on your shoulder man and keep proving them wrong.\n\n926\n00:44:20.660 --> 00:44:23.180\nWhat's your biggest pet peeve?\n\n927\n00:44:23.180 --> 00:44:25.180\nNegativity.\n\n928\n00:44:25.180 --> 00:44:28.260\nYour most memorable cruise destination.\n\n929\n00:44:28.260 --> 00:44:30.380\nAlaska.\n\n930\n00:44:30.380 --> 00:44:34.720\nWhat's something you'd only know about being at sea if you worked in the\n\n931\n00:44:34.720 --> 00:44:35.700\nindustry?\n\n932\n00:44:35.700 --> 00:44:37.820\nThe feeling of family.\n\n933\n00:44:37.820 --> 00:44:41.420\nWhat's one of your daily rituals something you'd never miss?\n\n934\n00:44:41.420 --> 00:44:43.700\nTaking time for my family.\n\n935\n00:44:43.700 --> 00:44:46.860\nIf I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear?\n\n936\n00:44:46.860 --> 00:44:49.060\nBruce Springsteen.\n\n937\n00:44:49.060 --> 00:44:51.180\nWhat's something about you a few people would know?\n\n938\n00:44:51.180 --> 00:44:53.420\nI'm a huge football fan.\n\n939\n00:44:53.420 --> 00:44:55.900\nWell, we're out of the lightning round.\n\n940\n00:44:55.900 --> 00:44:56.900\nGreat job.\n\n941\n00:44:56.900 --> 00:45:00.100\nI just got a few more questions for you and I'll let you go.\n\n942\n00:45:00.100 --> 00:45:05.300\nYou have a great book coming out called Baking Waves, A Woman's Rise to the Top\n\n943\n00:45:05.300 --> 00:45:06.300\nusing Smart's\n\n944\n00:45:06.300 --> 00:45:08.460\nHeart and Courage.\n\n945\n00:45:08.460 --> 00:45:10.060\nWhy'd you write it?\n\n946\n00:45:10.060 --> 00:45:13.740\nBecause everybody told me I needed to write a book.\n\n947\n00:45:13.740 --> 00:45:18.780\nJust like being president and CEO of Celebrity was never in my line of vision.\n\n948\n00:45:18.780 --> 00:45:20.940\nWriting a book was never in my line of vision.\n\n949\n00:45:20.940 --> 00:45:25.740\nBut so many people that I have encountered along my journey when I made it to\n\n950\n00:45:25.740 --> 00:45:26.340\nthe top\n\n951\n00:45:26.340 --> 00:45:31.350\ninside of our company and industry outside said you need to write a book and\n\n952\n00:45:31.350 --> 00:45:32.180\nshare what\n\n953\n00:45:32.180 --> 00:45:33.460\nyou've learned.\n\n954\n00:45:33.460 --> 00:45:37.180\nAnd so finally I decided, all right, let me give it a go.\n\n955\n00:45:37.180 --> 00:45:41.380\nAnd I really wanted to do it to share what I've learned.\n\n956\n00:45:41.380 --> 00:45:45.960\nListen, I rose from the very bottom to the very top and I also wanted to share\n\n957\n00:45:45.960 --> 00:45:46.660\nthat if\n\n958\n00:45:46.660 --> 00:45:49.220\nI can do it, so can you.\n\n959\n00:45:49.220 --> 00:45:55.980\nAnd you just need to be purposeful about it and think about what you want and\n\n960\n00:45:55.980 --> 00:45:56.580\ndon't\n\n961\n00:45:56.580 --> 00:45:58.100\ntake no for an answer.\n\n962\n00:45:58.100 --> 00:46:00.580\nJust keep going as far as you can go.\n\n963\n00:46:00.580 --> 00:46:05.860\nYou're stepping away from Royal Caribbean after almost 40 years in the company.\n\n964\n00:46:05.860 --> 00:46:10.000\nAfter getting to know you a little bit in this conversation, I can't believe it\n\n965\n00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:10.020\n.\n\n966\n00:46:10.020 --> 00:46:12.420\nA, you really are young.\n\n967\n00:46:12.420 --> 00:46:16.080\nB, you have a young mind and C, you're very, very passionate about what you're\n\n968\n00:46:16.080 --> 00:46:16.660\ndoing.\n\n969\n00:46:16.660 --> 00:46:19.100\nWhy in the hell are you leaving?\n\n970\n00:46:19.100 --> 00:46:22.180\nAnd when does a leader know that it's time to move on?\n\n971\n00:46:22.180 --> 00:46:23.940\nHow do you go through that process?\n\n972\n00:46:23.940 --> 00:46:25.660\nOh my goodness.\n\n973\n00:46:25.660 --> 00:46:27.820\nThank you, but I'm not that young.\n\n974\n00:46:27.820 --> 00:46:31.980\nI am clearly retirement age, but I'm not going to retire.\n\n975\n00:46:31.980 --> 00:46:37.100\nBut you know, listen, 39 years in the corporate world, nine amazing years as\n\n976\n00:46:37.100 --> 00:46:38.100\npresident and\n\n977\n00:46:38.100 --> 00:46:43.740\nCEO of Celebrity, I wrote this book and the subtitle is A Woman's Rise to the\n\n978\n00:46:43.740 --> 00:46:44.260\nTop Using\n\n979\n00:46:44.260 --> 00:46:46.540\nSmart's Heart and Courage.\n\n980\n00:46:46.540 --> 00:46:52.230\nAnd I really lean on the word courage because courage, it took so much courage\n\n981\n00:46:52.230 --> 00:46:53.100\nevery step\n\n982\n00:46:53.100 --> 00:46:55.180\nof the way for me.\n\n983\n00:46:55.180 --> 00:46:59.710\nAnd so many of the things that I've done in my life and in my career, it also\n\n984\n00:46:59.710 --> 00:47:00.460\ntook courage\n\n985\n00:47:00.460 --> 00:47:01.620\nto walk away.\n\n986\n00:47:01.620 --> 00:47:06.680\nYou know, sometimes you just have to say, I know I'm done with this, but I know\n\n987\n00:47:06.680 --> 00:47:07.300\nI'm not\n\n988\n00:47:07.300 --> 00:47:09.340\ndone yet.\n\n989\n00:47:09.340 --> 00:47:12.300\nAnd the time was just right for me.\n\n990\n00:47:12.300 --> 00:47:14.860\nIt was a stage in my life.\n\n991\n00:47:14.860 --> 00:47:18.810\nYou know, when you're in this corporate environment for 39 years, you got to\n\n992\n00:47:18.810 --> 00:47:20.580\nadmit I spent a lot\n\n993\n00:47:20.580 --> 00:47:25.780\nlonger in this corporate world than most people do, especially in one company.\n\n994\n00:47:25.780 --> 00:47:27.180\nI lived through COVID.\n\n995\n00:47:27.180 --> 00:47:33.420\nI lost my sister during COVID, which significantly impacted me.\n\n996\n00:47:33.420 --> 00:47:36.860\nAnd at a certain point in time, I don't think I'm unlike anybody else right now\n\n997\n00:47:36.860 --> 00:47:37.140\n.\n\n998\n00:47:37.140 --> 00:47:40.820\nYou're reevaluating what the rest of your life is going to look like.\n\n999\n00:47:40.820 --> 00:47:42.060\nAnd oh, I am not done yet.\n\n1000\n00:47:42.060 --> 00:47:43.500\nI promise you that.\n\n1001\n00:47:43.500 --> 00:47:46.460\nI want to write a new chapter literally and figuratively.\n\n1002\n00:47:46.460 --> 00:47:49.460\nAnd that's the stage of my life that I'm at.\n\n1003\n00:47:49.460 --> 00:47:51.580\nAnd it took a lot of courage to make that decision.\n\n1004\n00:47:51.580 --> 00:47:56.040\nI have to tell you, leaving celebrity, leaving our crew, leaving the people I\n\n1005\n00:47:56.040 --> 00:47:56.740\nworked with\n\n1006\n00:47:56.740 --> 00:47:58.940\nevery day was a tough, tough decision.\n\n1007\n00:47:58.940 --> 00:48:02.220\nIt took a lot of courage, but it was the right decision.\n\n1008\n00:48:02.220 --> 00:48:04.700\nAnd I'm really excited about the future.\n\n1009\n00:48:04.700 --> 00:48:08.300\nHave you been able to identify your unfinished business?\n\n1010\n00:48:08.300 --> 00:48:09.460\nWhat is it if you have it?\n\n1011\n00:48:09.460 --> 00:48:11.660\nNo, I haven't, but I'm looking for it.\n\n1012\n00:48:11.660 --> 00:48:13.500\nAnd people ask me, all right, what's next?\n\n1013\n00:48:13.500 --> 00:48:15.460\nAnd there are a few things that are next.\n\n1014\n00:48:15.460 --> 00:48:19.530\nI have a way of believing that the I'm going to be, leave myself open to the\n\n1015\n00:48:19.530 --> 00:48:20.500\nuniverse because\n\n1016\n00:48:20.500 --> 00:48:22.620\nthat's what I've done my entire career.\n\n1017\n00:48:22.620 --> 00:48:29.360\nI didn't always have a plan, but things happened to transpire that took me in\n\n1018\n00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:30.620\nthe right direction\n\n1019\n00:48:30.620 --> 00:48:34.700\nand a great direction and places I never expected to be.\n\n1020\n00:48:34.700 --> 00:48:36.500\nAnd I think that's going to continue.\n\n1021\n00:48:36.500 --> 00:48:40.510\nI also believe that we're all an outcome of our body of work and everything\n\n1022\n00:48:40.510 --> 00:48:41.180\nthat we've\n\n1023\n00:48:41.180 --> 00:48:45.750\ndone and the reputation that we've built and the results that we've achieved\n\n1024\n00:48:45.750 --> 00:48:46.500\nand how we've\n\n1025\n00:48:46.500 --> 00:48:50.620\ndone that are going to serve us well in the future.\n\n1026\n00:48:50.620 --> 00:48:56.200\nAnd so I'm very optimistic that I'm going to have a very exciting next chapter,\n\n1027\n00:48:56.200 --> 00:48:56.700\nmaybe\n\n1028\n00:48:56.700 --> 00:48:58.220\neven more exciting than the first.\n\n1029\n00:48:58.220 --> 00:48:59.700\nWho knows?\n\n1030\n00:48:59.700 --> 00:49:01.460\nIt doesn't sound like you're retiring.\n\n1031\n00:49:01.460 --> 00:49:03.620\nIt sounds like you're refiring, which is great.\n\n1032\n00:49:03.620 --> 00:49:04.620\nThere you go.\n\n1033\n00:49:04.620 --> 00:49:05.620\nOh, I love that.\n\n1034\n00:49:05.620 --> 00:49:06.620\nI'm going to use that.\n\n1035\n00:49:06.620 --> 00:49:08.500\nWell, I stole it from somebody myself.\n\n1036\n00:49:08.500 --> 00:49:09.980\nSo go ahead.\n\n1037\n00:49:09.980 --> 00:49:10.980\nLast question.\n\n1038\n00:49:10.980 --> 00:49:16.140\nWhat's the single best piece of advice you'd offer to other leaders?\n\n1039\n00:49:16.140 --> 00:49:17.220\nFocus on the people.\n\n1040\n00:49:17.220 --> 00:49:19.620\nThe people will get you where you want to go.\n\n1041\n00:49:19.620 --> 00:49:23.500\nYou know, I achieved great things and none of it was alone.\n\n1042\n00:49:23.500 --> 00:49:27.990\nIf I didn't have amazing people that I worked with every day, I would have not\n\n1043\n00:49:27.990 --> 00:49:28.940\naccomplished\n\n1044\n00:49:28.940 --> 00:49:34.460\nanything and just value the people and lead with heart.\n\n1045\n00:49:34.460 --> 00:49:35.460\nFantastic.\n\n1046\n00:49:35.460 --> 00:49:38.700\nAnd Lisa, you obviously walk the talk.\n\n1047\n00:49:38.700 --> 00:49:42.370\nYou're a well acknowledged leader, highly respected, not only in your industry,\n\n1048\n00:49:42.370 --> 00:49:42.820\nbut in\n\n1049\n00:49:42.820 --> 00:49:44.900\nthe world of leaders.\n\n1050\n00:49:44.900 --> 00:49:48.300\nAnd I thank you for taking the time to be on the show with me.\n\n1051\n00:49:48.300 --> 00:49:50.460\nDavid, it was an absolute honor.\n\n1052\n00:49:50.460 --> 00:49:52.260\nI so appreciate this.\n\n1053\n00:49:52.260 --> 00:49:53.780\nThank you so very, very much.\n\n1054\n00:49:53.780 --> 00:50:09.160\nWell, I don't know about you, but after talking to Lisa, I'm ready to board a\n\n1055\n00:50:09.160 --> 00:50:10.660\ncruise\n\n1056\n00:50:10.660 --> 00:50:15.790\nship to some tropical place where Captain Kate is in charge and the ranch water\n\n1057\n00:50:15.790 --> 00:50:17.140\nis flowing.\n\n1058\n00:50:17.140 --> 00:50:20.950\nBut just to stay here in reality for a minute, let's talk about how this\n\n1059\n00:50:20.950 --> 00:50:22.020\nconversation can\n\n1060\n00:50:22.020 --> 00:50:24.180\nmake you a better leader.\n\n1061\n00:50:24.180 --> 00:50:28.770\nLisa reminds us what a game changer it is when we tap into the power of\n\n1062\n00:50:28.770 --> 00:50:29.860\npersistence.\n\n1063\n00:50:29.860 --> 00:50:34.750\nWith optimism and strength and just good old fashioned stubbornness, you can\n\n1064\n00:50:34.750 --> 00:50:35.380\nturn your\n\n1065\n00:50:35.380 --> 00:50:39.260\ntoughest challenges into your biggest successes.\n\n1066\n00:50:39.260 --> 00:50:41.540\nSo take a minute and think back.\n\n1067\n00:50:41.540 --> 00:50:45.030\nWas there a time in your professional life where you really had to be\n\n1068\n00:50:45.030 --> 00:50:46.140\npersistent, when\n\n1069\n00:50:46.140 --> 00:50:49.220\nyou just wouldn't take no for an answer?\n\n1070\n00:50:49.220 --> 00:50:51.740\nHow did that persistence pay off for you?\n\n1071\n00:50:51.740 --> 00:50:56.060\nI want you to remind yourself of your own persistence.\n\n1072\n00:50:56.060 --> 00:51:00.420\nAnd let me tell you something, that will help you draw more on that strength\n\n1073\n00:51:00.420 --> 00:51:01.100\nwhen you need\n\n1074\n00:51:01.100 --> 00:51:02.100\nit.\n\n1075\n00:51:02.100 --> 00:51:04.180\nSo do you want to know how leaders lead?\n\n1076\n00:51:04.180 --> 00:51:09.100\nWhat we learned today is that great leaders know that persistence pays off.\n\n1077\n00:51:09.100 --> 00:51:13.690\nComing up next on how leaders lead is NFL Hall of Famer and four time Super\n\n1078\n00:51:13.690 --> 00:51:14.620\nBowl champ,\n\n1079\n00:51:14.620 --> 00:51:15.620\nLynn Swan.\n\n1080\n00:51:15.620 --> 00:51:21.110\nYou know, certainly in the competitive environment football, you don't always\n\n1081\n00:51:21.110 --> 00:51:21.380\nwin.\n\n1082\n00:51:21.380 --> 00:51:25.300\nYou get hit, you get knocked down, somebody intercepts a pass.\n\n1083\n00:51:25.300 --> 00:51:27.700\nThey stop you from doing what you're trying to get done.\n\n1084\n00:51:27.700 --> 00:51:30.060\nSo what do you do?\n\n1085\n00:51:30.060 --> 00:51:34.800\nYou go back to your film study, you watch practice film, you watch game film,\n\n1086\n00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:35.460\nyou watch\n\n1087\n00:51:35.460 --> 00:51:41.930\nand learn from other people and you learn constantly for yourself and how to\n\n1088\n00:51:41.930 --> 00:51:43.220\nget better.\n\n1089\n00:51:43.220 --> 00:51:47.580\nSo be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation.\n\n1090\n00:51:47.580 --> 00:51:50.930\nThanks again for tuning in to another episode of How Leaders Lead, where every\n\n1091\n00:51:50.930 --> 00:51:51.420\nThursday\n\n1092\n00:51:51.420 --> 00:51:55.370\nyou get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the\n\n1093\n00:51:55.370 --> 00:51:55.980\nworld.\n\n1094\n00:51:55.980 --> 00:52:00.070\nI make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can\n\n1095\n00:52:00.070 --> 00:52:00.900\napply to your\n\n1096\n00:52:00.900 --> 00:52:05.100\nbusiness and your leadership so that you will become the best leader you can be\n\n1097\n00:52:05.100 --> 00:52:05.340\n.\n\n1098\n00:52:05.340 --> 00:52:15.340\n[BLANK_AUDIO]\n\n1099\n00:52:15.340 --> 00:52:25.340\n[BLANK_AUDIO]","

David Novak 0:04

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Well, I hate to break it to you. But if you're a leader, you're going to face obstacles and setbacks. What does it really take to overcome them? And could they actually help you succeed? Well, I think you'll find some insight into those questions today, as I talk with Lisa Lutz off Pirlo. She recently stepped down after nine years as the first ever woman CEO of Celebrity Cruises. She's grown the brand and the bottom line. But let me tell you, it has not been easy. She faced rejection, gender bias, and of course, the COVID 19 pandemic. But Lisa is one of the most persistent leaders I've ever talked to. I mean, she just does not take no for an answer. She's got the kind of mentality that turns obstacles into opportunities. And she's going to remind you that persistence pays off. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Lisa ludolph, Pirlo.

Let's start out by you just telling us about the Royal Caribbean group. yacht,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 1:37

the Royal Caribbean group is a publicly traded company, New York Stock Exchange, s&p 500. And under the umbrella of the corporation, there are three cruise lines Royal Caribbean International Celebrity Cruises, which I was president and CEO of and silver seas, which is the ultra luxury brand. I've been with the company for 39 years, started out with the Royal Caribbean brand, and then transitioned over to the celebrity brand, and into the amazing role of president and CEO of celebrity. That's

David Novak 2:10

fantastic. And you became the CEO of Celebrity Cruises in 2014. Tell us about the business you took over and what it is today.

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 2:19

I took over the celebrity fleet. It was a fleet of about 12 ships, it's 16 ships now, sales all over the world. And it was performing fairly well when I took it over. But after nine years of transforming the brand and repositioning it, we transformed their financial performance of the brand as well. And I'm very proud of the awards that the fleet had won and the great experiences that we provide to our guests.

David Novak 2:52

You know, I understand you asked for the CEO job three times. What motivated you to keep putting yourself out there?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 2:59

Yeah, well, you know, I think it took me a while to decide what I wanted. And if I wanted to be president and CEO of one of the brands, and then once I did, I'm a person who's pretty determined, and I always look at no as an opportunity to turn it into a yes. Whether it's in my career or in my marriage, whatever. You know, whenever I bump into a No, it's my motivation to make it a yes. And I really wanted, I really wanted the role once I had decided decades into my career that that's what I wanted to do. And I was determined to do whatever it took to get there. And I was determined to keep asking until I turned the no into a yes. So yeah, it took me three times, David. But it wasn't the only time I was rejected. You know, I started in sales back in 1985. So rejection is something that, you know, I have faced one or two times throughout my career, and I just looked at this as just one more chance to turn it around.

David Novak 4:01

Now, when you get turned down for the role of CEO, you know, somebody is gonna give you a reason why maybe you're not ready, you know, what did you learn about yourself when you were getting turned down? And and what did you do about it?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 4:15

Yeah, and that was the answer that the feeling was that I wasn't ready, even though I felt I was ready. And interestingly enough, the two men that vacated the president and CEO role that I was asking for recommended me for the position. They said I was ready, I was the best person for the job that I should be promoted into it. And yet, the person that was ultimately making the decision, the Chairman and CEO felt differently and he didn't feel that I was ready. And his was the one mind I needed to change. And one of the things that he said to me, after we had gone through this back and forth and he finally decided I was ready probably I want to say eight or Nine months after my first task, he told me that the way I handled the situation was one of the things that he truly admired about me during that time in that I let him know exactly how I felt about his decision. But he described that I did it in an elegant way. And I did it in a professional way. And I still stated my disagreement. And I still told him, I was going to prove him wrong, eventually. And I went about doing that. But I think that the way I handled it was one of the things that ultimately turned my no into a yes.

David Novak 5:43

And you know, Lisa, you've done so much to close the gender gap and the cruise line industry. And I want to get into that a little bit later. But you've also been part of some cutting edge innovations in the cruise line world. What did you do on a ship that had never been done before? What are you most proud of?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 6:02

Well, I'm most proud of the Edge series of chips. And that was the opportunity that presented itself in very early on in my tenure as president and CEO. When I came into the president and CEO role I had previously been with celebrity for seven years, running the entire hotel operation, I very much understood the brand, I understood the opportunity the brand had, I understood the opportunity to strengthen the positioning of the brand and where it was, you know, in the hierarchy of cruise brands in the world. And I thought that, or I knew that this new series of ships that we were building was going to be the make or break for celebrity, and it was going to once and for all be the one catalysts that was going to transform the brand and the financial performance of the brand. So given all of the experience I had in the industry, all of the experience I had in the company, I had a very clear vision about what the chips needed to be. And I wanted the chips to change the minds of people who felt like you couldn't get this luxurious experience at scale at sea. People have this misperception of cruising that I've been committed to changing for 39 years, and I really wanted to do it with the Edge series. And that really is the, you know, the thing that I have most proud of we hired world renowned designers, we significantly upgraded the type of dining experiences on the ships, the type of accommodations, the state room appointments. And when people told me that you couldn't do luxury at scale, I disagreed with them profusely and said, If Las Vegas can deliver luxury at scale, the cruise industry can do it. And that's what we did with celebrity.

David Novak 7:55

You know, as I understand it, would you started to get into the design work for edge. You weren't really that happy with the design themselves? And I'm sure you had people on your team who had been working on it. How have you learned how to coach your team in moments like this to help them see that there's another level that you can really strive for? That's

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 8:18

a great question, because when I went into my role, the ship was already designed, the general arrangement was already on the wall, it was already complete. About a year to a year and a half of design work had been put into the ship. But what's really interesting is when I took the role, our head of sales, and I tell the story, our head of sales kept telling me I needed to go see the general arrangement of edge. And it was early December, the holidays were coming, the ship was already designed, I had been of the opinion that whatever that ship was going to be it was going to be and I didn't have an opportunity to influence it in any way. And she kept nagging me and she was part of the team that I took over. But we had worked together for many years before when I was at celebrity. And she knew as well as I did when I finally listened to her and walked in the room and looked at that general arrangement, that this was not the ship that celebrities should be building and that we could do much better. So I was fortunate that the person who was so familiar with the brand and so passionate about the brand, and was responsible for selling the brand felt exactly the same way I did. And then as I started having conversations with our head of new build, and our head of the design team, and even our chairman, they all agreed that we could do better and so we started over again and you know, because I started my career in sales. I have a good way of influencing and telling a story that's pretty compelling. And I felt that the strategy for this new series of chips needed to change if the transformation of celebrity was really going to happen. And slowly but surely everybody came along. And when I gave them all the reasons why they they ultimately agreed with me, and I had a lot of experience. And I think that's one of the lessons that I learned, that I think is really important for leaders, the more experience that you have, the more you understand customers, the more you understand your brand. The more you understand branding, the better you're going to be when you get into these roles, because you're going to have the experience you need. And then you have the credibility that you need to change minds. And this was a big deal, changing people's minds for this particular project was a big deal. We took a whole year to redesign that ship, and we invested more money in it. So the pressure was on to truly make the chips pay off.

David Novak 10:58

You know, you mentioned a customer. And I'm really curious as to how you really think through the customer experience. Oh,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 11:05

my goodness, that is a long process. And certainly, one of the things that you have to look at is what your current customers are experiencing what they like, what they're saying about the experience, so that you can garner pieces of information that help you understand how you can continue to evolve and improve your brand and your experience. And I don't care what brand or experience any of us are responsible for anywhere in the world, you have to continue to evolve, because you need to keep bringing your customers back. So they want new experiences. And if your brand is growing, our brand was growing with the Edge series by 72% over a five year period of time, that is enormous gross. And you need to bring new customers in if you're going to fill that capacity and charge the prices that you need to charge without diluting your revenues. And so when you think about what your current customers like, what they're looking for, and then you start asking other people, you know what they think of cruising what would convince them to cruise especially in the in the socio economic environment and affluent guests that we were after, we were able to think about the experiences that we wanted to create. And I've, I've said this quite often and the man that I worked for said this quite often as well. If Henry Ford asked his customers what they wanted, he would have just created a faster horse. So sometimes your customers don't always know what they want. But you just need to be, you know, watching trends and being ahead of the curve. And by the time you start thinking about a ship until you introduce it, you're looking at five or six years. So you've really got to be somewhat futuristic in your thinking and understanding where the consumer is going. So it's a complicated formula, you take in a lot of data points, a lot of information, a lot of intelligence, you scan the universe for what's going on in hospitality, and you really have to look outside of your industry. If you're going to convince people to try cruising if they haven't done that in the past,

David Novak 13:16

what was the biggest insight you got when you looked outside your industry,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 13:20

you know that hospitality was elevating at such a rapid rate. And if you really wanted to, to attract consumers, that were looking for luxurious experiences, and the other thing I learned was that the definition of luxury had changed dramatically. People weren't looking for pretentious, luxury or uncomfortable luxury, or formal luxury, they were looking for a relaxed experience that was elegant and sophisticated, but approachable. You know, the whole pretentious thing had gone away. And if you were looking at this space that you were trying to own all by yourself, I learned that you really had to tap into that new consumer mindset and how they approached or thought of luxury. And that's how we came up with the design and the experiences that we developed for those celebrity Edge series.

David Novak 14:21

That's really interestingly so now I want to take you back a little bit. What's the story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are today?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 14:29

Oftentimes people asked me when I knew I was a leader, and I always give the answer when I was two years old. And it's true because my first sister was born when I was two. And for some reason I thought I was in charge from the minute she was born. And I just took on this leadership role in our family and I was the one who always got her ready for school and made her lunch and made sure she brushed her teeth and took care of her. Took her by the hand everywhere we went and protected her. And then my other sister was born when I was 14 years old. And once again, I went into leadership mode. And when I was in school, I was in Catholic school. And then if the nuns had to leave the room, they always put me in charge. And I taught my other classmates, the Palmer cursive method of writing. And I don't know, it was just something that was innate inside me didn't always make me popular with my sisters. And it didn't always make me popular in school, but it was just something that came really naturally to me. And so I went from two years old all the way to, I guess where I am right now. And it's a lot of years later, since I was two years old, that's for sure. You know,

David Novak 15:46

you're obviously a great salesperson. As I learned about you, you, you studied to be an accountant. How important was that in your career,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 15:54

terribly important. You know, from the time I was in sales, looking at my performance sheets and my revenues and where I was and where I needed to be, and you know, what kind of business I was bringing in, and if it was profitable, and if it wasn't all the way up to being responsible for the p&l, operating income EBIT, da return on invested capital, capital investments at celebrity, and I was always good at maths, I loved maths. And so it was something that I really thought I wanted to do as a as a profession. But it was interesting. When I was putting myself through school, I was waitressing waiting on tables. I've been in hospitality my entire life. And the customers, the guests I was serving would always ask me, What do you you know, what are you going to school for? What are you studying? And I would say accounting, and they would just look at me with this strange look on their face. And they're like, Nope, I don't see it. And I took umbrage at that, because I was like, Well, what why would you say that? That's what I've chosen. But they were right. Although it's a an amazing education, and one that has served me well. It just wasn't in the stars for me to be an accountant. But I took everything I learned and applied it in the best way possible.

Koula Callahan 17:11

Have you ever wondered what David is thinking as he interviews our guests each week? Or have you been interested in hearing David's take on some of the questions that he asks his guest? Well, I do. And I know a lot of you do, too. My name is Kula Callaghan. And together with David, I host the three more questions podcasts that airs every Monday. These episodes are just about 15 minutes. And in them, I asked David three questions that dive deeper into the themes of his episode with his guests. David shares incredible insights and stories from his career leading yum brands. And all of His answers are super practical and inspiring. Like this great insight David shared and one of our most recent, three more questions episodes.

David Novak 17:53

The other thing is, is everybody has references. Don't rely on your Headhunter to tell you what everybody thinks if you're using executive recruiters, call the people directly that had direct contact with that person and ask them what they think of that person. Because you know what, it's easy for them to tell a headhunter or executive recruiter that oh, he's really good guy, or she's a really good person. She's really terrific, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But when you call them up yourself, and they know that someday, they may have to look in the eye, you're going to get the real skinny, they're going to tell you what that person is all about. So don't delegate the entire process. If you really have a key person you want to go after, go get him and make sure that you make that your top priority and why not? Talent is everything. If you bring in a highly talented person, you're going to grow the company because we all know that formula success that I always talk about build people capability first, then you satisfy more customers. And that's how you make more money. And that's a very common sense approach. But believe me, it's an approach that really does work when it comes to driving consistent results.

Koula Callahan 19:07

Get the three more questions podcasts in your feed each Monday and dive even deeper into the episodes you know and love. Just subscribe to how leaders lead wherever you get your podcasts.

David Novak 19:27

I'd like you to tell us about this guy named Art Gregory.

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 19:30

Oh my goodness. So okay, you want to talk about rejection? Let's go all the way back to when I first started in the company, the company that I'm in for 39 years and I've had an amazing career and did reject me quite a few times along my way. And the first time was when I applied for a district sales manager position which was my entry level sales position, calling on travel agencies and asking them to sell Royal Caribbean Cruises. I was with Royal Caribbean at the time. I applied I for the position, and I didn't get it, I was the second choice. And I was very disappointed that they didn't hire me. They hired a gentleman named Art Gregory, I want to say two months later, that was February. And in April, I was on one of the ships of Royal Caribbean in New York for an event where they were showing off the ship. And they were just starting service from New York to Bermuda. And because I worked in a travel company that did a lot of business with Royal Caribbean At the time, I was invited to go. So I got on board. And I met the woman who was in charge of the region who didn't hire me. And I said hello to her and said, You know, I'd really like to meet art Gregory, is he on board? And she said, he's no longer with the company. I was like, You're kidding me. He's no longer with the company. And you would think that if you were second choice, and the person they hired didn't even make it through their probationary period, they would call you up and say, Listen, you know, he didn't work out the person we hired didn't work out, you were next in line, are you still interested in the job? And they didn't, I had to apply all over again, and start all over again, and go through the interview process all over again. And then finally, they hired me the second time.

David Novak 21:27

You are persistent, for sure. You know, Oh,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 21:29

okay. That is a leadership lesson. At the top of the list. Persistence is like a number one top of the list. And yeah, so I got beat out by a guy who didn't even make it through probation.

David Novak 21:42

And you were the first woman at Royal Caribbean to take on many different leadership roles. And, and I'm sure you had anxiety, and I would say extra anxiety. You know, everybody has anxiety when you move into a new situation, but you're doing it as a female for the first time. How'd you get over that anxiety? You probably had? Well, you know,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 22:03

it was interesting, because I was the first woman. And there were no other women. They're not even in charge. You know, yes, I was the first women to lead these functions. But there weren't, weren't even any other women, anywhere that I went or looked. And it was, it was in 2005, that I moved into operations. And I've spent 21 years in sales and marketing, there are plenty of women in sales and marketing and in leadership roles. But when I started in operations, there were none. And I was leading these functions, and I was leading all men. For the most part, the vast majority were men. And I had no experience in operations, I wasn't chosen for my subject matter expertise, I was chosen for I guess, my leadership qualities I was chosen. Because I was really smart, I was a fast learner, I represented a cultural change that was really needed in our industry. And so there were a lot of other reasons that I was put into these roles. And our company believed in moving high potential people around and letting them learn new disciplines in the company. So when I took on these roles, as someone that really wasn't familiar with the operation, and leading all of these men who were skeptical, looking at me, wondering why I was now their boss, you know, there was a tremendous amount of pressure on me to prove the skeptics wrong. And, you know, that's another thing that I talk about is, you know, watch me prove you wrong. And I think a lot of times, when we're given opportunities, where people doubt us, it also fuels us and serves as motivation to prove people wrong. And you know, that's what I did in the first role that I had. That's what I did in the second role. And then by the time I was president and CEO, the first woman in our company to have that title for one of our brands, there were so many women rooting for me. And I remember thinking you can't screw this up, because you might be the first but you don't want to be the last. And there's a tremendous amount of responsibility in making sure you do well. So that you prove the decision to put you in the role was the right decision.

David Novak 24:13

You and celebrity lead the way bringing women into leadership positions in the cruise ship industry, and how did you go about doing it? And what was the big move? You did? Or did you have a big move?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 24:25

Yeah, well, I did have a big move. I figured it was about six months into my tenure as president and CEO. And I knew, you know, a lot of people asked me, How does it feel to have achieved what you achieved in in accomplishing, you know, being the CEO of one of the brands, and I'd be lying if I didn't say that. It was great. It was a major accomplishment. And it was something I never dreamed that would happen for me. But I think the real thing for me isn't so much about me because sure I made it. It's wonderful. It's great. I worked really hard. I earned it. The thing I got, but the biggest thing for me was bringing others along with me in an industry that was woefully short of women. And there was, you know, the gender imbalance was staggering. So the first big move that I made was appointing the first woman captain for celebrity, and the first and still only American woman ever to be the captain of a mega cruise ship captain Kate McHugh. That was the start. That was the first big move. And then, at that time, 3% of the women on our bridges were women. And by the time I stepped down from celebrity in April of 2023 33%, of the crew members on our bridges were women. And I did that with the help of men that I worked with, who were equally passionate about more gender equality on our bridges, and I give them a tremendous amount of credit for helping get us there. You're

David Novak 25:58

just for everybody's edification, what's a bridge role? Yeah,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 26:02

so the bridge is made up of the captain, the staff captain, the safety officer, cadets, the watch officers mean, it's the bridge team that's responsible for the safety and the navigation of the ship.

David Novak 26:17

You know, you say that Captain Kate McKenna is rock star. If you had to pick one thing that really distinguishes her as a leader, what would it be?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 26:27

The approach that she has to being a captain, it is so refreshing, it's so unique, it's so different. And everybody loves her, you know, she brings so much heart and empathy to her role. Her crew loves her, the guests love her. And, you know, the way you think about captains, sometimes and cruise ship captains is they have very different personalities. And I think what she has proven is that you can be human and approachable and still respected and great at what you do. And she really just changed the personality and profile of how captains should behave and think. And that's exactly what I was going for when I appointed her. And I just knew she would be so great at it.

David Novak 27:20

You know, when I interviewed Ginni Rometty, the former CEO of IBM, she told me that you cannot be what you cannot see. Talk about what you did for International Women's Day in 2020, and the impact that it had on your culture, Captain

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 27:36

Kate says that all the time to you know, if you, you have to see it, if you want to be it. And we had worked so hard on our gender equality, and bringing more women into all leadership positions on our brands, but especially on the bridge where, again, 97% of the bridge crew were men. And I remember being in a planning session in August of 2019. And our PR team was talking about some ambitious goals that we should have. And one of those was an ambitious goal around International Women's Day. And they said, Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were the first cruise line to sail with a 100% female bridge for International Women's Day, we would make history, we would have broken every barrier that there is, especially in the cruise industry. And I fell in love with that idea. I was immediately excited. And so I said to the team, when do you think we can do that? And this was this was 2019 that we were having the discussion? And they said, I think we can do that by 2023. And so I said, Okay, well, that's an interesting goal. So I looked at our head of marine and I asked him, Do you think we can do that by 2023? And he said, 2023, what are you talking about? We could do that this coming March. And I said, What do you mean, we could actually sail with a 100% Women bridge in March of 2020, for International Women's Day? He said, Of course we can. Lisa, what do you think we've been doing all this time? And I said, we have enough women on our bridges for every single position that has to be manned? 24 hours a day for women? He said, Yep, give me two weeks, and I'll have the whole crew assembled. And two weeks later, he had the whole crew assembled. And we didn't stop at the bridge. Every leader across the entire operation was a woman. Every person on the bridge was a woman. And we celebrated International Women's Day in March of 2020. With a 100% Women bridge and leadership team for the first time ever, and still the only time ever we were the only cruise line that could do it. We probably still are the only cruise line that could do it. It was a glorious event. I don't think I tell a story where I was standing in the grand plot. As the captain K was pouring martinis Melania, the associate hotel director was playing the electric guitar. The feeling was electric. The crowd was cheering, we were on the beautiful celebrity edge. And I remember thinking, if I left my position right now, it would be a Mic drop. Because more than everything I ever thought I could accomplish was happening right before my eyes. And it was, it was a beautiful and proud moment for me. Awesome.

David Novak 30:25

Now, I know you were the CEO, and I know you had the ultimate power. But you mentioned that the men really got behind us. Okay. What was it that drove men wanting to go for this gender equality move? What did they see that got them excited?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 30:41

I think we all know that diverse cultures are strong cultures, we all know that balance is critically important if you're going to have a healthy culture, the right business decisions and the right outcomes. And I don't think it was any secret to any of us that there was no gender balance on our bridges. And one of the gentlemen that helped me was Swedish. And the Swedes are very well known for gender equality and gender balance. And this gentleman had two daughters, and had very high hopes and aspirations for his daughters. He was a captain. And then the other gentleman that helped me was a great captain, he also has two daughters and wanted to see his daughters be able to accomplish anything that they wanted to accomplish. And they both knew there was a big opportunity on our ships to improve our culture, and improve our gender balance. So yes, I was the CEO. And I wanted to make it one of our priorities, but there was no way I was going to be able to make it a priority without their help, because they're the ones out recruiting all over the world and bringing these women into our organization. And they're the men that these women are talking to when they're making their decision on if they want to go to sea, and if they want to choose celebrity as the brand that they want to work for. So, you know, they had to be genuine in it, they had to be authentic, and they had to really want it as much as I did, because you can't fake that. And, you know, the other thing I always said, David is it's one thing bringing women into an environment and into a culture. But if that culture isn't empowering, if it isn't nurturing, if they don't feel like they can accomplish everything they want to accomplish, they're not going to stay. And then you're you've defeated the purpose of what you're trying to do, because the women will opt out, and they'll leave and then you're no further ahead than when you started.

David Novak 32:30

So you have this career highlight at the International Women's Day of 2020. And then COVID hits just a few days later, and your entire business shuts down. What do you think is the best thing a leader can do? When the business is in crisis mode,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 32:50

I always lived up to what my boss used to say all the time, never let a good crisis go to waste. And that was a quote from Winston Churchill. And because I have been described as a relentless optimist, I needed to use this terrible situation, and turn it into a positive thing for me, to get through it for my team to get through it for our crew to get through it for all of our employees to get through it. And so I decided that we were going to use the time because you know, when would you ever think you're going to get a 15 month timeout to reevaluate your brand positioning to, you know, we had a mantra that The comeback was going to be stronger than the setback. And we reimagined some of our experiences, we reimagined our brand positioning, we changed our pricing strategies so that we could improve our profitability, and we came out really strong. But I will tell you that I think as a leader, one of the things I learned during that time is I really had to dial down some of the innate qualities of being a hard driving results focused leader, you know, with metrics and traffic lights and key performance indicators, driving my decisions and and everything I did every day, to a leader who had to dial those down and dial up all of my empathy, my optimism, my motivation, and my inspiration because I had 20,000 people that I was working with every day that weren't sure if we were ever going to come back. Hell, I wasn't sure if we were ever going to come back. But I had to instill that optimism and hope and confidence in people every day, because that's the leader they needed me to be and leaders need to learn how to pivot. We all need to learn how to flex our style and be the leader that our teams need on any given day, which could be very different. You know, when you're winning and you're going and you're achieving, it's one thing but man when you're out of business for 15 months, it's a whole All different style of leadership that you have to dial up.

Koula Callahan 35:08

Hey, everyone is Kula co host of three more questions, and I have some exciting news to share with you. We just launched a breakthrough app that will help you become a better leader in less than two minutes a day. It's called how leaders lead. As you know, on the podcast, David spends about an hour each week interviewing some of the top leaders in the world, people like Tom Brady, Condoleezza Rice, and Jamie Dimon. But we know that leaders like yourself are pressed for time. So we've taken the very best clips from these conversations, and put them into an easy to use mobile app that you can learn from and less than two minutes a day. If you want to become a better leader, start a daily leadership habit with the how leaders lead app, it's available now for free in the App Store, download it today.

David Novak 36:03

You say that you work in an organization where a team is everything. Everyone says this, Lisa, what how did you really make it sink in?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 36:14

Oh, I think it's important to surround yourself with like minded people who are not like you, I come from a place of vulnerability. And I come from a place of authenticity. And I am very transparent. And I share the why and the vision. And I'm a salesperson, you know, I'm a salesperson at heart. And so when I laid out just sort of where the brand was, and where we had the opportunity to go, and how I needed their help to get there. You know, it wasn't just me saying this is what we're going to do. What it was me saying was, this is where we need to go. Now how do we all think we're going to get there, and let's share our ideas and put something down on paper that we think is really going to transform our business. And for the most part, and I will say for the most part, it was very easy to get people to come along with me because everybody who worked on our brand loved our brand. We're so passionate about it, we knew all of the potential that the brand had. And we were looking for someone, they were looking for a leader that was going to sort of take them to the promised land. And you know, I was fortunate that they believed I was that person. And we all made it to the promised land, which was absolutely wonderful. But then at the end of the day, sometimes I also had to make unpopular decisions that I knew were the in the best interest of the brand that sometimes the team didn't really buy into or believe in. But at the end of the day, I believe that your batting average as a leader is the thing that's going to get your team to trust you and go along with you. Even if they don't 100% agree with you at the time. Because sometimes, being a leader, you have to make lonely decisions. But in the end, you want your team to rally behind you and help you get there even if they aren't 100% sold on it.

David Novak 38:05

And you think it's critically important that a leader shows their heart. You know, how do you do that? And what is it about your your leadership where people feel you've got a heart

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 38:18

just in the way I behave and treat them, I treat everyone with a tremendous amount of respect. I don't consider myself any better than anyone. I don't believe that titles come with respect, I believe you have to earn that with every interaction. I genuinely care that people are happy in their personal lives because I believe it helps them be happy and more productive in their professional lives. And I think that I took on an even bigger carrying persona as a leader when I started in operations. And I was leading our crew 20,000 crew members from all over the world who worked so hard and take care of each other and our guests and leave their homes for six 812 months at a time leave their families, mothers leave their children. And I wanted them to know that I genuinely cared about them. And I behaved that way. And I again, I always got on our ships and treated them with respect. I never wanted them to be afraid that I was coming on board or that I was going to be critical. Sure I would see things that I knew needed to perhaps be done a little better. And I would share that at the right time with the right people. But I always thanked the crew for everything they did and treated them with respect. And I believe that the way you show up every day shows people that you have heart and I hold people tremendously accountable. Our goals are lofty. Our accountabilities are high but at the same time, they have to know I care about them because I also believe that the discretionary effort you get when you show people you care is priceless. And I believe leaders don't place an have value on leading with heart and empathy. You talk

David Novak 40:03

about the importance of shared accountability, can you share a specific story on on how you drove that concept home? Well,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 40:11

it goes back to the team. You know, I'm a big believer in team, I use sports analogies all the time to talk about how we're all accountable for the results. And if the head of sales wins, and the brand doesn't win, then the head of sales doesn't win. And I believe in everybody working for the greater good, not just their own individual accomplishment. And I believe in calling each other out when people don't feel that they're living up to our culture or our values, because we all have this shared accountability. And unless and until we're all playing as a team, in that regard, you know, if it was the head of marketing, and they had, we took 1000 web bookings today, okay, well, that's great, but the brand didn't hit its targets today. So while you should feel good about 1000, bookings, the brand didn't win. So we all have this shared accountability to make sure all of our channels are performing. And as the head of marketing, you need to make sure that all the channels are performing. And the demand is spread across all of our different channels. So our head of operations could say, Hey, we got a great Net Promoter Score. And look, we're beating our net promoter scores. And I'm like, okay, but the brand's you know, you've got a green light, but the brand has five red lights. So we can't claim individual victory, we really have to think about how we get better as a team, and how the brand does well, and and that I think keeps people humble and honest and working in a more collaborative and cohesive way.

David Novak 41:46

You know, you're obviously a very results oriented person, how do you judge yourself in your own individual performance?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 41:54

Well, clearly, when you're the CEO of a unit within a publicly traded company, it truly is all about the money. I mean, that's just that's just what it comes down to. That's the cold, hard reality of what we do every day, I completely understood that every day that I went to work, returning extraordinary shareholder value was my number one mission. And it was really the thing I was judged on. And that's, you know, what I needed to do. And at the end of the day, that's what mattered. And that's what mattered most. But what I always thought about every single day was how I was going to do that. It wasn't just that I did that. It was, how did I do it. And I wanted to make sure that I was a leader that people wanted to work for that knew I was fair, that had a heart. And that led them with courage and would make a decision and would have their backs, anytime things went well, and anytime things didn't go well. So employee engagement, I remember we were having probably the toughest year that we had as a brand when we were coming out of COVID. And trying to get back to you know, our glory days, going back to the glory days. And yet, even during that really difficult time, I had the highest employee engagement score in the company, even though our brand was having, you know, a difficult time getting back to where you know, where we were when we when we shut down. And it was because of how I lead but not only me, it was how even the other leaders that worked with me lead, and how our employees felt about being a part of what we were doing. In good times or bad times. We've always had the highest employee engagement score. And I think that speaks volumes about, you know, how you make people feel when they're coming to work every day, trying to accomplish great things.

David Novak 43:43

You know, this has been a lot of fun, and I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 43:48

I'm ready.

David Novak 43:49

What's one word? Others used that best describes you?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 43:54

Driven?

David Novak 43:55

What would you say is the one word that best describes you? Driven? Who would play you in a movie?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:02

Reese Witherspoon?

David Novak 44:04

If you could be one person for a day besides yourself? Who would it be?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:09

Tom Brady?

David Novak 44:10

What's something about leadership you've learned from Tom Brady?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:16

Keep that chip on your shoulder man and keep proving them wrong.

David Novak 44:20

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:22

Negativity,

David Novak 44:23

your most memorable cruise destination? Alaska. What's something you'd only know about being see if you worked in the industry?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:34

The feeling of family?

David Novak 44:37

What's one of your daily rituals? Something

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:39

you'd never miss? Taking time for my family?

David Novak 44:42

If I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear? Bruce Springsteen. What's something about you? A few people would know. I'm

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 44:51

a huge football fan.

David Novak 44:53

Well, we're out of the lightning round. Great job and I got just got a few more questions for it. I'll let you go. You You have a great book coming out called baking waves, a woman's rise to the top using smarts, heart and courage. Why did you write it? Because

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 45:09

everybody told me I needed to write a book I, you know, just like being president and CEO of celebrity was never in my line of vision. Writing a book was never in my line of vision. But so many people that I've encountered along my journey, when I made it to the top inside of our company and industry outside said, you need to write a book, and share what you've learned. And so finally, I decided, alright, let me give it a go. And I really wanted to do it to share what I've learned. And listen, I rose from the very bottom to the very top. And I also wanted to share that if I can do it soak in you. And you just need to be purposeful about it and think about what you want. And and don't take no for an answer. Just keep going as far as you can go.

David Novak 46:00

You're stepping away from Royal Caribbean after almost 40 years in the company. After getting to know you a little bit in this conversation. I can't believe it. A you really are young, B you got a young mind and see you're very, very passionate about what you're doing. Why in the hell are you leaving? And when does a leader know that it's time to move on as you go through that process?

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 46:24

Oh, my goodness, thank you. But I'm not that young. I am clearly retirement age, but I'm not going to retire. But you know, listen, 39 years in the corporate world nine amazing years as president and CEO of celebrity, I wrote this book and the subtitle is a woman's rise to the top using smarts, heart and courage. And I really lean on the word courage because courage, it took so much courage every step of the way for me, and all so many of the things that I've done in my life, and in my career, it also took courage to walk away, you know, sometimes you just have to say, I know I'm done with this, but I know I'm not done yet. And the time was just right. For me, it was a stage in my life. You know, when you're in this corporate environment for 39 years, you gotta admit, I spent a lot longer in this corporate world than most people do. Especially in one company. I lived through COVID, I lost my sister during COVID, which significantly impacted me. And at a certain point in time, I don't think I'm unlike anybody else right now. You're reevaluating what the rest of your life is going to look like. And oh, I am not done yet. I promised you that. I want to write a new chapter literally and figuratively. And that's the stage of my life that I'm at. And it took a lot of courage to make that decision, I have to tell you, leaving celebrity leaving our crew, leaving the people I worked with every day was a tough, tough decision. It took a lot of courage, but it was the right decision. And I'm really excited about the future.

David Novak 48:04

Have you been able to identify your unfinished business? And what it what is it if you have it? No,

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 48:09

I haven't. But I'm looking for it. And people ask me all right, what's next, and there are a few things that are next, I have a way of believing that the I'm going to be leaving myself open to the universe, because that's what I've done my entire career. I didn't always have a plan. But things happened to transpire that took me in the right direction and a great direction and places I never expected to be. And I think that's going to continue. I also believe that we're all an outcome of our body of work, and everything that we've done and the reputation that we've built, and the results that we've achieved and how we've done that are going to, you know, serve us well in the future. And so I'm very optimistic that I'm going to have a very exciting next chapter maybe even more exciting than the first who knows.

David Novak 48:58

It doesn't sound like you're retired, it sounds like you're retiring, which is great. There

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 49:03

you go. Oh, I love that. I'm going to use that. Well, I stole

David Novak 49:06

it from somebody myself. So go ahead. Last question. What's the single best piece of advice you'd offer to other leaders? Focus

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 49:15

on the people, the people will get you where you want to go, you know, I achieved great things. And none of it was alone. If I didn't have amazing people that I worked with every day, I would have not accomplished anything, and just value the people and lead with heart.

David Novak 49:33

Fantastic. And Lisa, you obviously walked the talk and you're well acknowledged leader highly respected not only in your industry, but in the world of leaders. And I thank you for taking the time to be on the show with me.

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo 49:48

David, it was an absolute honor. I so appreciate this. Thank you so very, very much

David Novak 50:06

Well, I don't know about you. But after talking to Lisa, I'm ready to board a cruise ship to some tropical place where Captain Kate is in charge and ranch water is flowing. But just to stay here in reality for a minute, let's talk about how this conversation can make you a better leader. Lisa reminds us what a game changer it is when we tap into the power of persistence. With optimism and strength and just good old fashioned stubbornness. You could turn your toughest challenges into your biggest successes. So take a minute and think back. Was there a time in your professional life where you really had to be persistent, when you just wouldn't take no for an answer? How did that persistence pay off for you? I want you to remind yourself of your own persistence. And let me tell you something that will help you draw more on that strength when you need it. So do you want to know how leaders lead while we learned today is that great leaders know that persistence pays off. Coming up next on how leaders lead is NFL Hall of Famer and four time Super Bowl champ Lynn Swann,

Lynn Swann 51:15

you know certainly in the competitive environment in football, you don't always when you get hit, you get knocked down. Somebody intercepts a pass. You know, they stop you from doing what you're trying to get done. So whether you do you know, you go back home study, you watch practice film, you watch game film, you watch and learn from other people, and you learn constantly for yourself and how to get better. So

David Novak 51:42

be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business and your leadership so that you will become the best leader you can be

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