Rapid Response: Fighting through headwinds at Marriott, w/President Stephanie Linnartz
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2021
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With Marriott's business already reeling due to Covid, beloved CEO Arne Sorenson was lost to cancer earlier this year. Stephanie Linnartz, president of Marriott International, shares how she and new CEO Tony Capuano have picked up the reins in the most challenging travel environment in modern times. Stephanie’s journey, and her prescriptions for Marriott’s future, reveal an unrelenting entrepreneurial spirit and an inspiring dedication to Sorenson's legacy.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ultimately, companies are differentiated by how they make progress when there's major |
| 0:06.1 | headwinds. |
| 0:07.1 | Like, that's what we're having right now, major headwinds. |
| 0:10.7 | And I think companies have a choice. |
| 0:12.2 | Are you simply going to focus on survival? |
| 0:15.3 | Or are you going to innovate and are you going to transform to meet a new reality? |
| 0:21.3 | We know travel's coming back. |
| 0:23.4 | Travel cannot be stopped. |
| 0:25.6 | When I think about 2020 and I think about COVID, it's this complex, and devastating |
| 0:30.7 | amalgamation, and social, economic, health issues all coming together. |
| 0:35.9 | And it just makes you realize what's important in life. |
| 0:38.2 | And then, of course, being so close to Arnie as he battled and ultimately died from pancreatic |
| 0:43.4 | cancer. |
| 0:44.4 | I mean, that just puts everything in life into perspective. |
| 0:50.8 | That's Stephanie Lennart, president of Marriott International. |
| 0:54.5 | The hotel business got rocked by COVID-19. |
| 0:57.4 | And though Marriott's trajectory is finally beginning to head upward, demand is still far |
| 1:02.0 | below capacity. |
| 1:03.2 | I'm Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company, founder of the Flux Group, and host of |
| 1:08.7 | Masters of Scale Rapid Response. |
| 1:11.2 | I wanted to talk to Stephanie because in the midst of Marriott's other difficulties, it's |
| 1:15.7 | beloved CEO Arnie Sorenson died from cancer earlier this year. |
... |
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