Jonathan Tisch: A Family Affair

How does he do it all? “I don’t sleep,” says 56-year-old Jonathan Tisch laughing, non-facetiously. “I really don’t sleep. I go to bed but wake up after a few hours and start working.”

Although he may positively channel his insomnia, he still relies on his team to get it all done.

“I have really superb people I get to work with. I believe in giving individuals the tools they need to do their jobs and letting them enact and focus on  their portfolios,” he explains. 

A third-generation hotelier, the Tisch family involvement in the hospitality industry started in the 1940s at a children’s summer camp in New Jersey, where Jonathan’s father, Preston Robert, better known as Bob, and uncle, Laurence, worked as counselors. 

The camp, owned by their father, Jonathan’s grandfather, stirred their interest in hospitality. 

The two started buying existing hotels but it was the Americana Bal Harbour in Florida that put them on the map.

“They were young guys who took a real chance in building in Bal Harbor. This was 1956 and to build a hotel outside a gateway city was unheard of. That didn’t stop them and they built this group hotel with 700 rooms and 25,000 square feet of meeting space,” Tisch says. “They were the forbearers of today’s modern meetings industry.” Today, the hotel is in the midst of being transformed into the ritzy St. Regis Resort & Residences. 

He vividly remembers his father standing at the front door of the Americana talking to the meeting planner and the president of the company, making sure everything was running smoothly. Knowing how to service meeting groups is something else he learned from his father. 

Jonathan grew up in the business. “I remember being seven years old working behind the front desk when I could hardly see over it,” he reminiscences. “I’ve worked in the kitchen, in housekeeping, as a telephone operator, and a bellman.” 

The hospitality industry is his family tradition. That is why he is so deeply hurt to see the way it has been attacked. With his heritage at stake, Tisch leads the battle cry.

“When the rhetoric started coming out of our nation’s capitol that if you were holding a meeting you were doing something un-American it was so against the nature of our business. When you look at the travel, tourism, and meetings industries you realize there are very few industries out there like ours that still possesses the ability to create jobs,” explains Tisch. “It’s unfortunate that the whole AIG effect was instigated by the negative perception of an incentive trip. There is nothing wrong with an incentive trip. When these salespeople reach their goals, it benefits the entire organization.”

Unifying the industry has been a focus of Tisch’s since the 1990s when he founded and served as chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable. This prominent coalition of chief executives representing various sectors of the travel and tourism industry, merged in January 2009 with the Travel Industry Association, becoming the U.S. Travel Association (USTA), of which he serves as Chairman Emeritus. 

The USTA rallied the industry and unleashed the “Meetings Mean Business” campaign defending meetings and events. “Fortunately, leaders from the industry joined together to try to dispel that corrosive rhetoric that was coming from our nation’s capitol as well as elected officials from all over the country who jumped on the bandwagon,” Tisch declares. “As we look to rebuild the strength of travel and tourism and meetings, it’s important that we continue to speak with one voice.”

Progress is being made and he was especially impressed when the White House called the USTA at the onset of the Swine flu hysteria. This happened about six weeks after leaders from the biggest travel companies in the industry, Tisch included, met with President Barack Obama to discuss the role travel can play in strengthening the American economy. 

“When Swine flu first started becoming an issue the White House reached out to us to have another meeting to stay ahead of the potential negative impact it could have to the country and the travel industry,” says Tisch. “I think we finally have an entity in place that is speaking for all of travel and tourism.”

The statistics are disheartening. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in December there were 15.3 million who were unemployed, a rate of 10 percent. Unofficially, unemployment is probably at 17 to 18 percent. “Until we see a  recovery of jobs, and people feeling better about themselves, it will be difficult for the economy in general, and our industry in particular, to recover. It’s going to take longer than people hope and are wishing for,” explains Tisch. “We’ve been through downturns before but this particular difficult economic time we’re living through encompasses so many of the demand generators that our industry needs so that we can thrive and create more jobs. The combination of weak consumer confidence and the way the meetings side of our industry has been demonized makes it very difficult for us to operate profitably and to insure we have full employment.”

Although he predicts that 2010 is going to continue to be tough, Loews is starting to see interest in booking out years starting in 2011. Co-chairman of the board and a member of the Office of the President of Loews Corporation, one of the largest diversified financial holding companies in the U.S., Tisch is also chairman and chief executive officer of its subsidiary, Loews Hotels with 18 properties in the United States and Canada. Loews is opening its 19th hotel on April 1st in Atlanta. The 414-room hotel with 25,000 square feet of meeting space is part of a mixed use development. The economy be damned, Tisch is also looking to acquire new hotels in gateway cities Loews is currently not in like San Francisco and Boston. 

During his tenure, Tisch has engineered Loews Hotels’ expansion and emergence as one of the leading luxury hotel chains in the industry. Although Loews Hotels is the corporation’s smallest subsidiary, it is its founding division, and what Tisch calls the “soul” of the company. 

Optimistically, Tisch predicts that things will probably not get worse. “We’re  going to buck along the bottom for a while until the whole sense of why people meet is reactualized in the minds of CEOs, in the minds of  men and women who make decisions. They have to decide to go ahead with their meetings and not wait another year. Not only will this help their business but meetings create jobs and this is the way we are going to get our country back on strong economic footing.”

“Citizen You,” his third book, will hit the shelves in May. At its core is the question, “What can I do to help make our world a better place?” Today, society needs a new kind of citizen activism where ordinary individuals are willing to tackle global challenges, according to Tisch.  This “new activism,” as he refers to it, is what the book focuses on and the thousands of individuals and organizations who are working to alleviate social problems. 

“I am from a family that instilled in me a strong sense and understanding of active citizenship,” says Tisch. “The values of opportunity, responsibility, and community have been deeply ingrained in me by my family.” As Tisch’s father built Loews Hotels and Loews Corporation with his brother, he often noticed that he was as kind to Frank the doorman as he was to Frank Sinatra. He remembers his father treating all with dignity and respect and he instilled in him the three tenets of civil society: opportunity, responsibility, and community.

These virtues have been kept alive through the generations as in 1990, Jonathan created  the Loews Good Neighbor Policy as the company's formal commitment to the communities where it owns and operates hotels. The policy includes donating excess food to local food banks, shelters, and hunger relief programs; supporting local literacy programs by providing space for classes to be held and volunteer instructors from the hotels; extensive recycling programs; donating used goods such as linens and furniture to local organizations and shelters; encouraging volunteer activities for hotel employees; and implementing energy saving equipment in new hotels and in existing properties as they are renovated.

Loews Hotels Good Neighbor Policy was awarded the President’s Service Award, the highest honor given by the President of the United States, for community service directed at solving critical social problems.

“It is possible to do well and do good at the same time,” says Tisch, a mantra that defines his life. “By creating programs that show the community you care, when they are looking for a venue for a party they’ll think of you. You can turn what is needed in today’s world into a demand generator for your business and that debunks the myth of not doing well and doing good at the same time.”

“Giving back” is a relatively new buzz phrase, but it is not one that Tisch is an advocate of. “I’m not a fan because in my way of thinking, this is a static, possibly one time event, where you give back by writing a check or going out and doing something one day. The term is too limited. Sadly, in today’s world with diminished resources from  the government at all levels, it is more important for the private sector as well as private citizens to understand their responsibility of helping the community where they live or run a business. This has to be an ongoing daily effort.”

He is insuring this is a focus of the next generation by creating the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. A national leader in civic education, Tisch College is setting the standard for higher education’s role in civic engagement. The college prepares young people to be lifelong active citizens and creates an enduring culture of active citizenship. 

What exactly is active citizenship? Building stronger, healthier, and safer communities is at its core.  Active citizens are in every sector and field of study, they come from all backgrounds and experiences, but share a commitment to actively engage in their communities.

“What I like best about the college is that it teaches how to look at the root of the problems that exist in the community. It asks how did the problem start and what can be done to fix it so others don’t have to suffer in that area,” Tisch explains. 

It is the root of success that Tisch explores as host of “Beyond the Boardroom,” a television series where he goes one-on-one with the nation’s leading CEOs. Presently, it is aired on Plum TV, a small network in eight markets, but he is in discussions about broader distribution. 

The only show where CEOs are interviewed by another CEO, Tisch has interviewed Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz who shared how he was broke with an expectant wife and a father-in-law who wanted him to leave his coffee business dream and get a real job. Schultz never quit and created Starbucks, the leading retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee in the world. Another interview was with CEO of NBC, Jeff Zucker, who was self-effacing when he said he never really had seen the Today Show when he accepted his first job on the broadcast. 

Not only does he enjoy being on television as he interviews CEO from diverse backgrounds and industries, but he has learned from them as well. He has uncovered two consistent themes all of the 32 CEOs he has interviewed share in common. That they wouldn’t be successful without the help of supportive people surrounding them and there is no substitution for discipline and hard work. 

“Success is not an accident,” says Tisch. “Yes, there is a portion of luck that may be involved but you make your own breaks by being offered an opportunity and ceasing that opportunity and 

doing something with it.” As he gears up for another season of “Beyond the Boardroom,” he hopes to land interviews with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two icons in the world of business. 

They may two of the world’s wealthiest business leaders, but both have admitted that they stay up at nights thinking about new opportunities. Since he hardly ever sleeps it wasn’t appropriate to ask Tisch what keeps him up at night, but he does mention a worry: security. 

“Not just in the context of day-to-day security, insuring our country and the world remains safe for those who just want to raise their families and make an honest living,” Tisch says. “But also in the respect that our economy and this recovery is so fragile. If there were to be some major event that derails us at this point it would have a long lasting negative impact. I worry about making sure we have a country where people can achieve the same kinds of goals and accomplishments my family has.” 

In his first book, “The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships,” Tisch demonstrates how working together yields the best results. He shows how the most successful leaders create synergy. 

Similarly, he cites his proudest accomplishment as: “Creating an environment where our 7,000 coworkers know we care about them and their families and that we ensure buy in at all levels of this company to demonstrate what we stand for as a hotel company, as an employer, and as a member of the community.”  He continues: “Success is having a sense of personal satisfaction that you have done everything you can to create a work environment for people to accomplish their goals and to have values that your family respects and insuring you’re doing things that are not only good for you but good for others.”

In his second book, “Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience,” Tisch recognizes that it is the people-to-people connections, regardless of price point, that differentiate a customer’s experience. He knows, he was working the front desk when he could barely see over it.