Hiring Framework

I know that you take great pride in putting together good teams. What traits do you look for when hiring? Is there a certain framework that you use?

Well, let's say, certainly, we look at the competence of any individual for the job that you're looking for but beyond that, we spend quite a bit of time really probing their leadership profile and we don't care where the leadership showed up, it could have been they were the head of tour guides in their college, so we're looking for people who have been able to show this ability of kind of envisioning a better future, energizing others in that future and enabling great results, and we look for lots of different examples of leadership because we feel like if you bring in great leaders, they will be able to be nimble and adapt to changing circumstances. The other thing we spend a great deal of time is looking for the cultural fit. We want people who are invested in wanting to get to know their teammates who are not afraid of expressing different points of view and really working together for us to win, and so I'd say those are the two hallmarks of what we really look for, leadership and have the cultural fit, and I'm proud, we have the great luxury of out of 250 of our employees, we've hired about 240 of them, so we've been able to handpick every single person on this team and really ensure the team works well together.

And something you just said made me think of something I read about you in terms of it doesn't matter where the leadership comes from, I remember reading the story about how you were trying to get into business school. Was it Duke you were trying to get into? And so, there was some concern that you didn't have any business experience and you came right back with, "I do, I helped run my family's motel." Can you tell that story?

Sure, well, at the time, I was an undergrad at Duke and I applied, kind of the school, I loved Duke so much that I wanted to go to business school. I remember the dean of admissions said, "Well, we have a requirement that you have to have at least a few years of work experience," and my response was, "I've been working since I was 14 years old." When I was 14 years old, we sold our house, we took every penny we had and we really started our motel business, our hospitality business, and so while it wasn't a direct work experience right after school, I would say from 14 through my mid 20s, I definitely worked and helped kind of my dad and our family build that business, and I think it satisfied him that I did indeed have business experience and probably the gumption to be able to challenge the normal status quo.