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leadership: issy sharp

Issy Sharp for The Rules

Issy Sharp didn't start with a vision. He opened his first Four Seasons in 1961 as a motor inn across the street from Toronto's CBC headquarters, making great connections for publicity from the start. Sharp says he knew nothing at all about the hotel trade back then. Nor was he equipped with a MBA or any formal business training. Describing himself simply as a builder, Sharp is the son of a Polish immigrant who went to work for his father's three-man construction company right after graduating in drafting and architecture from Ryerson College.

But Sharp was a good observer who had been studying hotels for several years and thought he could do things better. An optimist with a strong belief in his own ideas, Sharp ignored the trends of the day and the naysayers' advice. His initial strategy - to approach the business from the customer's perspective (such as putting thick 100 per cent cotton towels in the bathroom instead of the industry's standard flimsy ones) - worked, especially when combined with his conviction that people would be willing to pay for value. To Sharp, it was just common sense.

Eleven years later, when he opened his fourth hotel in London, England, Sharp found the business model for the chain that was to come: a mid-sized luxury hotel with a commitment to homelike comfort and personal service. That was the breakthrough to establishing Four Seasons as a brand. Good service can become a brand, according to Sharp, if it is high quality and consistently delivered.

Innovation has continued to be another Four Seasons trademark. Of the many "firsts" Sharp introduced, from guest shampoo and bathrobes to hotel spas to breaking the $1,000 a night price barrier, his favourite is the custom-made mattress, now a standard for luxury hotels. But Sharp maintains the real secret to the Four Seasons success is their people, working in an established culture of respect and caring. His first "rule" in business is the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's not just his rule, it's operating policy, embodied in one of his favourite sayings: "We are only what we do, not what we say we are."

With 83 Four Seasons luxury hotels and resorts and 40,000 employees in 30 countries around the world, Sharp has ambitious plans to double that in the future, despite the current economic climate. He talked to Report on Business about his business philosophy and developing the Four Seasons brand.

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