Interviewing the GM of Trump International Hotel & Tower in Vancouver, Canada, Philipp Posch
Philipp Posch is the pre-opening GM of the Trump International Hotel Vancouver in Canada (to be opened in the summer of 2016). He is a young and hardworking GM with an abundance of energy, enthusiasm, and dedication.
Living a balanced life while working in the hotel industry may sound like an ideal situation, but it is a tall order to fill. Most successful hoteliers tend to work more hours than they are willing to admit. The reality is that "living a balanced life" in conventional terms is, for the most part, a myth. Hotel business is a 24/7 business at the management level; it is just not a 9 to 5 job! In addition, if you truly are passionate about what you do, you will put in more time and effort simply because you enjoy what you are doing.
Philipp Posch is quick to admit that he doesn't care as much about the hours or the pay as he cares about the sense of achievement! He believes rewards will come! Not only that, he wants to work with like-minded people. While there are plenty of hoteliers who work long hours, weekends, and even holidays, Philipp is the only hotelier I have interviewed who does not sound guilty or appear apologetic because of the sacrifices he has to make. His eagerness is infectious! In spite of being Austrian, he has adopted the North American work ethic!
INTERVIEW
You graduated from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. Did you always want to work in the hotel industry?
I think I did, but I wasn't conscientiously aware of it, because no one in my family was in the hotel business. I came from a small town in Austria. My parents had a beer tap place. When I was a boy, I would run and tap the beer, cut up some bacon, cheese, and bread for the guests.
When I got older, I played in DEL, which was the German professional hockey league. I competed in in the ice hockey world championships for Austria. However, I injured my shoulder and had to quit the sport. A friend of my father said to him, "Philipp is always so hospitable, why doesn't he go into the hotel business? At the time, we didn't know that there were professional schools where you could study hotel management. Later, I met the GM of one of the best hotels in Munich through my uncle. During our meeting, the name "Lausanne" came up. That was how I ended up studying in Lausanne.
I had school from 8 AM to 4 PM. After school, I put on a Rolling Stones t-shirt and went to work for an Irish/British pub. I worked six or seven days a week. I really, really enjoyed my job!
While I was studying, my father met the GM of the Mandarin Oriental Singapore. The GM hired me to work in his hotel for one year. After that, one thing led to another, and I ended up working for the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok . . .
You grew up in an international environment. How did this life experience affect your career choice?
You can be a good hotelier, regardless of whether you grow up in one city or multiple cities. Hospitality is something that you either love or you don't.
The advantage of growing up internationally is that you get to meet many people and experience a lot of different cultures. For instance, the difference between my experiences working in Asia vs my experiences working in NYC is day and night. In Asia, you snap your fingers and 200 people jump and want to please you. In America, the mentality of the people is so different. Living in different countries has opened my mind culinary-wise, people-wise, relationship-wise, and work-wise.
At one point in time, you were the founding partner of a restaurant concept. What changed your mind so that you decided to go back and work for an international corporation like Trump Hotels?
I can summarize it with one word, "dreams". Everybody has dreams; the city of New York brings up dreams more than other places. There are 7000 to 8000 restaurants and bars in Manhattan. I was working there, living there, and meeting many restaurant owners. My business partner and I were working at the St. Regis New York at the time. New York is like a magnifying glass for dreams. We were like "wow", if everybody else is doing it, we could be doing it as well. To make a long story short, it was a great experience. I learned a lot about planning, project management, legal work, and financial work. It was an incredible journey, but unfortunately it didn't work out.
Being a pre-opening GM is a challenging job and this is your first GM job. How does it make you feel?
It's probably thinking of the unthinkable. Hotel business is like no other business; you can think about everything, yet you may still miss certain things. And that's probably the most challenging aspect of my job right now.
Another challenge is that my new team is going to drive the culture of the hotel, and the culture is going to determine the success of our hotel. So, getting the right people to join the team --- passionate people who are willing to put the company, the product, and the job ahead of themselves --- is very important.
Almost all successful hoteliers I've interviewed have talked about their passion. What does "passion" mean to you?
If you don't care, then you don't have passion. For me, caring and passion mean the same. As you know, people in the hotel industry don't work for a great pay; they work because they are passionate about the business. Therefore, if I care, it also implies that I am driven, not by money but by a sense of accomplishment.
At work, what pleases you the most?
Improvement. When I see people grow and start to develop a passion for their work from within; when their own passion is driving them like a little internal battery, I am very happy. For example, if somebody is, all of sudden, taking initiative and doing something without having to be asked several times – it's like, "Wow, they did this on their own"! Seeing that is probably the biggest pleasure for me.
What displeases you the most?
Probably the opposite. When you are wasting everyone's time because a team member just doesn't care. My answer is, "Get on board, or get out of here." It displeases me the most when negative energy affects the positive energy.
In your opinion, what do your employees expect from you?
Leadership, drive, enthusiasm, honesty, inspiration, and passion. Although they expect me to be disciplined, they also expect me to be able to joke with them about non-work related events such as sports.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
My weakness: Sometimes, I am too fast. I need to stop, take a deep breath, and realize that not everybody around me moves at the same speed.
My strengths: I am well known for getting things done. If I attack a problem, I try to resolve it as fast as possible. People around me say that I am extremely creative, and I never take no for an answer. Also, my style of leadership. People are very happy to work with me.
Why is a GM important to his employees and the hotel?
Actually, the GM is the motivating engine of the hotel. He or She needs to be the leader of the pack. He needs to find out about his people's strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to harvest their strengths and keep their weaknesses in the background.
Are you all work and no play?
I am definitely a fun person; I am always open to having a good laugh. A good leader has to be a little transparent, funny, and a bit of a clown. If I make a clown of myself, and the result is that my hardworking employees smile, then I have achieved my goal.
Life is too short to tolerate: _____________________________.
Wasting a day.
I tell every employee who comes into the building that they should make every single day count. Don't just come to work, sit there for eight hours, and then go home. Life is too short to sit around. Better we do something productive. Give the world a reason why we are on this planet.
If you were to hire a manager, what qualifications would you be looking for?
Common sense would be on the top of the list. You can study, but at the end of the day, if you don't approach a problem with common sense, it doesn't matter.
Being passionate. I want people who are like me; I don't want managers to care about how many hours they work, or how little money they make. Your moment will come! People will recognize you.
Following through. If people don't follow through, it shows that they don't care. You want to build a reputation so that people think "If I give this project to Charlie, in three days, he will have the solutions".
What is your lifetime ambition?
Probably happiness. I think that happy people are productive people. Everybody has the possibility to be happy, but it takes work and effort.
Be happy, and get the negativity out of your life!
What advice would you offer to those who are aspired to become a GM someday?
You definitely have to be willing to do the dirty work. A lot of young graduates come out of these big universities. It's their first job, and they are basically looking to be the GM. This has got to do with the mentality of the Millennials. They think: "How fast can I get to the top?" But unfortunately it is not that kind of an industry. The only way you are going to get to the top is doing the little stuff at the beginning and sticking with it through hard work.
Also, learn something that you don't know. Maybe it is something that you don't like, but learn more about it and learn to LIKE it.
Out of 40 students from my semester class, less than 10 are still in the hospitality industry. You got to have that hospitality drive.
What's next?
The biggest thing for me right now is working towards opening the Trump Vancouver in summer 2016. The owner has brought the ball to the goal line by designing a stunning building; I need to kick it into the goal by bringing it alive and providing the Trump experience!
Philipp Posch is among the 52 top senior hoteliers featured in my new book,
"The Quote Book: Wit & Wisdom from Successful Hoteliers".
Lin & Pavelson B.V. is an international hospitality publishing company. We design & produce some of the most exciting books available for hoteliers. Lin & Pavelson"s clients include most of the household-names of the hotel industry, and its books are being sold all over the world. See more: www.wearehoteliers.com
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