Leadership Secrets of the World's Most Successful CEOs

Stephanie
Sonnabend,
CEO
Sonesta International Hotels










Stephanie Sonnabend, CEO Sonesta International Hotels, Lead people the way they want to be led.












I was honored to be among a number of extraordinary CEOs who were profiled
a few years ago in Eric Yaverbaum's great book, Leadership Secrets of the Worlds Most Successful CEOs.





He interviewed hundreds of business leaders and wrote stories on 100 top executives as they revealed some of the management strategies that made their companies great. I want to write a little about an awesome business leader who operates hotels world wide, Stephanie Sonnabend.





In Eric's book Stephanie is quoted as saying that she leads people the way that they want to be led. She lays out the vision and then works with her people on developing strategies for implementing the vision. Some people can easily translate vision into strategy; others need to be led down the path to make the connection.





According to the author a number of years ago the company lives it's Core Values. A recent check of the firms annual reports shows that their performance is still strong and we hope their success continues.



Stephanie Sonnabend is quoted as saying:


"My vision is always closely connected to Sonesta's core values:

• Practice high standards of integrity and ethics


• Value employees as individuals


• Exceed Customers expectations


• Service with passion

For Sonesta Resorts, we wished to turn a hotel stay into a memorable experience"

DeDominic: When times are tough it helps to remind yourself of your own mission, and as a corporate leader to revisit the company's core values and mission.

Ask yourself, "Why am I here and what are we really all about?"

It will answer a lot of anxiety and debate and serve as your true north star when things get tough. Over the years as we built my own staffing firm, PDQCAREERS, into one of California's largest employers, we needed to revisit our mission and vision regularly. We usually did this at an annual Retreat, or Advance as PDQ team used to call them.

Reviewing not only your strategic objectives but the real reasons why you exist can help to galvanize your team. It can help reduce the noise of the difficulties and refocus people's attention on the priorities. It certainly reinforced our commitment to remain as a staffing partner to America's finest employers. This was a high goal but it also helped our sales and service staff remain focused and keep up our own high standards.