Finding my dream team: an interview with Zach Neumeyer, chairman, Sage Hospitality.

• Author: Ruesch, Grant
• Position: Interview

When you are tasked with finding dynamic and compelling panelists for a conference, it's helpful to have contacts such as Martin Dubin from RHR International to point you in the right direction. That direction led me to lunch with Zachary Neumeyer, who, at the time of our meeting, had already agreed to be a panelist for a session titled, "CEO Retrospective: What Tested Your Mettle During The Recession?"

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As I approached the effort of forming a panel, it occurred to me that the best CEOs to entertain the notion of participating were those with three critical qualities: 1) a desire to share their key learning to help others; 2) the ability to open up and articulate the challenges that really tested their inner resolve and leadership abilities; and 3) those who have strong beliefs and keen insights shaped by life experiences.

Meeting Zachary Neumeyer confirmed my thoughts about the makeup of a dream team of panelists. Zachary is chairman and chief executive officer of Sage Investment Holdings, parent of Sage Hospitality LLC. It comes as no surprise that the hospitality industry has felt the impact of the economic downturn just as the travel and leisure recreation industries have been adversely impacted.

Zachary was gracious in his willingness to be honest and forthright in our conversation about his business and the trials and tribulations of his management team over the past couple of years. Here are some of the highlights of that conversation, which are sure to pique your interest in hearing more from Zachary during the conference.

SHINE A BRIGHT LIGHT ON YOUR BUSINESS

An economic downturn that has a pronounced and rather sudden deleterious impact on your business causes you to shine a bright light on every facet of the business so you can identify and implement operational improvement programs. Such initiatives actually make your business stronger and put you in a better position to capitalize on opportunities once the economy improves.

It is also the case that you don't necessarily sacrifice quality of service and customer satisfaction scores when instituting productivity- and efficiency-enhancement programs. Instead, if you focus on what is critical to quality from a customer standpoint you can end up in an even stronger position.

DEFINE THE REALITY OF YOUR SITUATION

Difficult times also force you to define the reality of the situation you are in. You need to let go of the sacred cows. You need to plan several steps...