Adam Bryant, New York Times; Corner Office: Interview with Andrew Cosslett, chief executive of InterContinental Hotels Group:
"Q. How do you hire?
A. If I’m recruiting people for very senior positions, I will delve quite extensively into what makes them tick. I will look into how many times in their life they’ve been seriously tested emotionally, physically, where they’ve had to stand on their own feet and deal with something that they couldn’t be prepared for. That could be in the business context. It could be in the family context, social context.
And the ones who are the best, I’ve found, are the people who have had to confront something very difficult, and they’re the people you can rely on when the going gets really tough because they’ve been there, and they know what they can do...
Q. How do you test yourself?
A. I just have lunches with general managers of hotels. And because they know me and I’m trusted, they know they can speak very straight. The culture we’ve built in the business is one of great trust and openness and candor. And they know that they’ll only get rewarded for being open. The only people who suffer in I.H.G. are ones who don’t come up and say what they think and what’s on their mind.
In business, the big prizes are found when you can ask a question that challenges the corporate orthodoxy that exists in every business. In every business I’ve worked in, there’s been a lot of cost and value locked up in things that are deemed to be the way we do things around here, or they’re deemed to be critical to — in the hotel world — a guest experience. So you have to get talking to people and ask questions. I just keep asking people, “Why do you do that?”...
Q. What’s your best career advice to somebody who has just graduated from college?
A. Leave home. Go as far away as possible from what you know. I think you’ve got to be tested, and you’ve got to test yourself. So my best career advice would be life advice. Go and find out who you are and what you can deal with and put yourself in some positions that will be distinctly uncomfortable. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone is a great learning in life.
The second would be: keep asking questions. There’s a lot of perceived wisdom in most industries that haven’t hasn’t been challenged for years. The trick in business is not to care too much. Because if you care too much, you won’t ask questions and you won’t challenge because you’ll care too much about your position and what someone’s thinking about you.
I was always relatively cavalier in my early career because I always thought if I don’t make it in business, I’ll go and do something else anyway. I always have given 100 percent to everything I’ve done, but I’ve always had a slightly maverick side that actually stood me in great stead, because it enabled me to ask those difficult questions and be the burr under the saddle.
The third one is: have a sense of humor. It’s a lot easier to get through most things if you’ve got a smile on your face. It doesn’t have to be a chore. So just lighten up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/business/04corner.html
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