Business Leaders interview: Laurent Boisdron

Tell us a little about yourself and your business.

I grew up in France and left at 22 to pursue a career in hospitality. My global journey of more than 30 years took me from one continent to another, from Europe, to the Middle East, United States, and Southeast Asia, allowing me to grow and be able to help other people grow in every place I’ve been.

I studied Hospitality Management with a major in Food & Beverage at Nantes & La Roche sur Yon, France, and completed professional internships, international management training programs, and business master's courses with ACCOR North America at Ryerson University in Canada. 

Throughout my vast portfolio and intentional efforts to allow myself to continuously learn, I was able to hold Senior Executive positions under Hilton, Sable at Navy Pier Curio Collection by Hilton Chicago as General Manager, Conrad Manila, Philippines as General Manager, Carlson Rezidor Worldwide: General Manager - Radisson Blu Cebu, Philippines, Corporate Director of Operations - Minneapolis overseeing 12 multi-brand hotels in North America; Hotel Manager Hotel General Manager at Forty One North Marina Resort Hotel; Director of Operations at Accor Worldwide Sofitel Miami; and Director of F&B for pre- and post-opening at Accor Worldwide Sofitel Dubai.

And now holding the Vice President and General Manager post in Lanson Place Mall of Asia, an international brand based in Hong Kong that partnered up with SM Group, one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates. I am very proud that we were able to create a great team of devoted hosts since pre-opening until to date, and I know that this property will be a winner in the coming years. 

How did you develop your leadership skills and how would you define your leadership style?

"Experience is the best teacher" is a cliché, but it IS true. If you allow yourself to experience hurdles, successes, and the processes in between, you are bound to grow and advance to become the leader you desire.  Only by allowing yourself to be a part of the team can you become an effective leader.  

Leadership style is not one size fits all, it is a mixture of things that works for you and for your team, and these are my top 3:

1. Lead from the front - Walk the same route as your team, be present with them, and make them feel as if you are with them on the journey, all while giving them plenty of room and time to grow, figure out where they shine, and focus on where they need to improve.
2. Leadership is about being intentional - change and opportunity are inevitable in every organisation, but they will only be effective if leaders become intentional in their attempts to make each change worthwhile. 
3. Convey confidence and it will echo - managing a team is not an easy work, but it is critical that you show confidence even when things are difficult, even on days when you don't know how you'll get through it, because mindset is everything. When you believe you can overcome the issue, it will be visible to your team, and they will gradually feel the same way, allowing you to overcome the struggles together as a team.

What do you consider to be the key component(s) of effective business operational development?

I've preached about "Our People, Our Success" before, and I still continue to believe in it. Organisations can be merely structures and machinery, but they will not be successful in the market unless they leverage on capable, committed, and engaged employees. Aside from aesthetics and ideal location, customers in the hospitality industry pay for service, which is a product of thorough training and successfully embedding the company's brand culture in its team members. 

How do you approach identifying areas for improvement within a company's operations?

Maintain an objective point of view. Setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals at the start of each journey will help you see the property's performance from a bird's-eye view, providing you with reliable and accurate data on which processes are working well and should be maintained, as well as which areas require further improvement. 

Preparation is also key; forward planning is quite beneficial in organisations; through analysing past data, each department develops strategies for improving profitability and service quality.

Where do you think the most promising investments should be focusing on and/or made on?

Personally, I believe that investing in real estate and stocks can be a great source of passive income, which I have been doing for years. It can be very beneficial not only monetarily, but also in terms of peace of mind, knowing that you are covered and have something to fall back on. Entrepreneurship is also on my list; being able to call anything "your own" provides you with a distinct level of independence and flexibility to establish your own brand and, if successful, hire employees of your own. 

What is or are your biggest career achievement(s)?

First thing that comes to my mind is that this career allowed me to travel globally and work with a lot of brands, from boutique sized properties to really big hotel chains. 

But if I take a deeper look on my journey, I would say my biggest win is being able to help other people grow, professionally and personally. Few of my colleagues before who were once a manager, or a director have now become general managers of different hotels and brands, which makes me feel really proud and delighted. As I reflect on their achievement, I find myself in a state of joy while realizing that I was once part of their journey, and my presence was able to make an impact in the lives of other people. 

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

Being able to lead diverse teams across the world, I have learned that leadership is not something you can define by success, but rather by your values. 

Travelling and meeting a lot of different people needs a lot of versatility, but one thing that you should never change are your values. Leadership is about bringing your principles to wherever life takes you and live by it, and possibly share with your team with the hope that they will do the same, if not, better. 

Have you achieved everything you wanted in your career so far?

At this point, I believe I am now fully content and at peace with what I have achieved in the hospitality field. From operations to cruise lines, corporate offices and back to operations, hospitality literally runs in my blood and I am really proud of it. 

But, if you’re going to ask me if I want to try on another venture, I would say entrepreneurship. The idea of having your own business somehow gives me sparks and excitement, so I am currently working on that. 

What was the hardest decision you have taken as a leader? 

Being mobile and grabbing opportunities from one continent to another can have its pros and cons and one of its cons is that you know in yourself that one day, there will come a time where you will need to venture out on a different journey and that you might feel a little sad leaving a place of familiarity and the people that you have been used to. 

It’s always a hard decision to take risks and try something new, but I intentionally keep myself grounded by the idea that “maybe the reason why this door has closed, is because another one is going to open”.