Meet: Isadore Sharp

Context

The Four Seasons is one of the most luxurious brands in the hospitality industry, operating over 100 hotels and resorts in almost 50 countries.

• Canadian company

• 45,000 employees (2018)

• $4.3 billion in revune (2015)

• Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1986

• Went private again in 2007 (with a deal led by Bill Gates)

• Has one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the hospitality industry (aka employees stay)

Isadore Sharp’s story

Born in Toronto in 1931 (92 years old today), Isadore (known as Issy) grew up in an immigrant home without overthinking about what he wanted to be. He spent his teenage years building houses in his father's construction business.

Issy went to college to study architecture and design, and when graduated at 21 years old, his father made him take over the family business.

A few years in, he built a 22-unit motel for a family friend, and even though this motel was in the middle of nowhere, it worked pretty well. So Issy thought, “If it worked here, it would work downtown as well.”

That was the beginning.

He borrowed some money, and after six years in the making, in 1961, the first Four Seasons Hotel finally opened.

After opening the second and third hotels, which also worked well, he thought: “Gee, maybe instead of this being my nighttime job I’ll make it my day job”. The next project was The Four Seasons Sheraton, a 1600-room hotel.

Market differentiation

Issy wanted to be the best in the industry and knew he needed to differentiate The Four Seasons hotels from others. In his words: “How can a relatively tiny company (7 hotels at the time) become the best?”

Well, he was inspired by McDonald's.

Every time he went to McDonald's, he marveled at the kids who worked behind the counter; they had such an upbeat attitude, always had a smile, and always were customer-friendly.

He spotted the opportunity: The Four Seasons hotels' differentiation would be their quality of service. That's when he came up with the Golden Rule, which is still today the mission statement of The Four Seasons, their secret source: “Do unto others as you would do unto you.”

And the Four Seasons started doing things others didn't, like 24/7 room service and revolutionizing the bathroom experience by placing small shampoo bottles in the shower (now considered an industry standard).

Career advice

His first advice: Be sincere, without pretense. You are who you are. That will enable you to build strong relationships, both personal and business. Those relationships are what your reputation is, and with a good reputation, you can build extraordinary things.

His second piece of advice: Don’t try too much to make a schedule for your career aspirations (like within five years from now, I want to be to X). He would never have expected to be in the hotel business, but since he was open-minded, he could spot the opportunity on time and act on it. In his words: “Just do your best; it will lead you to your next step.”

If you want to listen to Isadore Sharp tell his story himself on a podcast interviewed by LinkedIn’s CEO Ryan Roslansky, watch it here.

And if you're further interested, Isadore Sharp wrote an inspiring memoir book, which you can find here.

Until the next one,

– Steve