Leadership lessons emerged from Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld earlier this month as top executives discussed what makes a good leader. The gathering went beyond typical platitudes, offering candid advice and sharing the mistakes they have overcome to reach their positions.
Surrounding Yourself Differently
Effective leaders understand the importance of listening, but for some executives, this skill does not come naturally. Dondra Ritzenthaler, CEO of Azamara Cruises, had to develop the ability to listen to people with differing opinions.
“I used to think that as a leader, you surround yourself with people that are like you,” she said. “Ten years ago, I would want to try to find people that I feel super comfortable with because their personalities or their style was aligned with mine.”
She took advice from leaders who told her to do the opposite: surround herself with people who are good at the things she is not. “And then listen to them,” she said. “And when you do that, you’re plugging up all those holes that you might have, and then you become so much more successful because you did that.”
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Comfortable With Uncertainty
Another lesson the panel imparted is that leaders at their level do not always have answers, and they are okay with that. Barbra Taylor, president of Travel Insured International, noted the complexity of modern operations.
“There’s so much going on, from AI and technology and customer demands changing; you can’t absolutely know everything and have the answers,” Taylor said. “I think it’s getting comfortable that you might not always have the answers, but you’re going to seek to find out what they are.”
Camille Olivere, Globus chief sales officer, said it is also okay to move forward without all the answers. “There’s this thing called analysis paralysis,” she said. “What I think that people that have risen to the higher levels in their organization have in common is kind of that courage to go ahead and make the decision when you don’t have all the information.”
Comfort with uncertainty is essential for progress. Taylor agreed. “Not having an answer isn’t an excuse to stop progress,” she said. “You have to take some risks, and you have to move forward.”
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Building a Collaborative Culture
When faced with significant decisions, these leaders believe that collaboration yields the best results. Ken Muskat, president of Scenic Group, USA/Latam, initially thought that employees would rely on top-level leadership for guidance, but he now recognizes the value of teamwork.
“The more important thing about being a leader is creating the corporate culture that drives that positive energy to hear from everybody else,” he said. “You have to create the positive corporate culture, create the empowerment, create the open communication, the transparency, and develop a team that, as a result, thrives.”
Ritzenthaler agreed, saying she has learned to resist the urge to do everything herself. “The mistake that you make when you do that is that you don’t empower your team,” she said. “And then when you’re not there, they don’t know what to do and how to do it. You’re creating dependency. … Now I do everything in my power to speak last in the meetings.”
Showing Up Every Day
The weight of leadership can be difficult, the executives said. A tough lesson for Taylor was that decisions will not always be popular, even if they are important to the future of the business. “You feel the human side of it after the fact. And that’s very, very difficult,” she said.
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As tough as things can get, a leader needs to show up. Olivere shared that she had recently learned that Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, did not miss one day of swimming for four years.
“Regardless of how he felt, he got up and went,” she said. The takeaway for her is to “show up every day. … You don’t have to be at 100% every day, but you have to show up every day.”
Ken Muskat reminded the audience that small, incremental improvements can lead to significant progress over time. He referenced the 1% rule, encouraging leaders to focus on being 1% better than the previous day, quarter, or year. ‘It’s not like you got to go from A to Z overnight,’ he said.