Jonathan M. Tisch (LA '76), Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, gave a speech Tuesday afternoon as part of the Lyon and Bendheim Alumni Lecture Series.
He lectured on the importance of partnership in both business and everyday life as discussed in his recently released book, "The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships."
Tisch said he believed that individuals must understand and care about the community, putting aside singular concerns to work toward the greater good - what Tisch labeled "the power of we."
Tisch, who also mentioned his part in the redesign of the library that bears his name, focused on six types of business partnership throughout his lecture: partnership with customers, co-workers and employees, the community, competitors, the government, and investors.
Tisch said that people in all career fields need to be collaborative in their partnerships in order to work towards group unification, and must avoid a singular mind-set.
"By creating a pathway to success, you have to support those around you," Tisch said. This is a policy that he claims to employ not only in relation to his co-workers and customers, but to the communities that surround his hotels as well.
Tisch took pride in his ability to use his position of prominence and power to help people who live and work around his business. Programs such as Loews Hotel Good Neighbor Policy, which donates left-over food and blankets to area food banks and missions, and Loews Loves Pets, which raises money for animal shelters, are examples of partnerships business leaders can easily form, Tisch said.
Tisch's understanding of the importance of partnerships was reinforced in June, 2003, when he took part in a week-long The Learning Channel (TLC) program entitled "Now Who's Boss."
The program restarted CEOs at entry-level positions within their own corporations. There they traded their business attire for a blue-collar uniform and were trained for labor-oriented service duties, after which they performed these services for paying customers.
Tisch's experience involved cleaning hotel rooms, running a front desk, serving as a bellman, and cooking breakfast at the hotel restaurant. His employees were brutally honest with his performance, granting him a "C" in the housekeeping section. Tisch admitted it took him three hours to clean one room.
Tisch said his experience in the program "reinforced my understanding of how important these individuals are to my success, to my company's success. I understood what they can do for us and what we can do for them. All executives should do what I just experienced."
Tisch said that he did not simply give back to his community by "throwing on a tux and writing a check at a fundraiser." Rather, he said he created numerous partnerships and took risks in an on-going effort to incorporate products and services into organizations.
He said that by working toward the greater good, and by managing assets in the most efficient way possible, organizations from "Ma and Pa" stores to huge corporations will help reflect the "powers of partnership" by serving as examples of great success.
