IWD - Marta Fidalgo

A short paragraph about your career journey leading to where you are now.

My career started back in Portugal when I was just 14 years old. During summertime holidays I used to work in various restaurants. Then at 16 years old I had my first school internship within a 5* luxury hotel and here I have developed my passion within the industry of hotels and F&B. By 23 years old when I finished my degree and post-graduation, I’ve moved to London to expand my knowledge. I end up staying 3 and half years and did my first restaurant pre-opening at Harrods which has helped me launch my career in Dubai afterwards. After 11 years away from my home country and having led few restaurants, I’m now working in a hospitality management company based in DIFC as Group Assistant Director of Operations.

What inspired you to pursue a leadership role?

The passion to lead projects and people. The rewarding of seeing staff under you growing, your guests happy and all the stakeholders satisfied with your work is really inspiring.

What is or are your biggest career achievements?

I have few but 3 of the most important achievements would be when I became Restaurant Manager at 25, then at 29 Restaurant General Manager and finally at 31years old when I was managing one of the most important restaurants within Burj Al Arab.

How did you develop your leadership skills?

I have always been a bit bossy since a younger age. But to be a good leader you need to have good examples. Learning from great role models - I have always been very lucky to be surrounded with only the best of the best managers. As well, I was a curious young manager that used to read blogs and have always tried to mingle with passionate people from the industry. “Tell me your tribe I will tell you your vibe”. 

How do you define your leadership style?

Approachable and open to listen to anyone. Never been afraid of having smarter people under me either. There’s so much to learn from everyone. I am what I am today because of all the people and experiences I have had. I’ve learned and evolved to be a better leader.

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

Keep being humble. 

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

I’m only 34 years old – its only getting started here. So much to learn, accomplish and to grow.

How important is personal development to your success, and how do you approach it?

It’s everything – you have to try to be a better person, a better soul, a better human. Having free time for yourself and having a hobby was the best thing I have discovered the past years. I used to be workaholic, like honestly feeling bad if I didn’t work 12+ a day. Nowadays I see that is a big mistake as well as disregarding your mental health. That is my one top priority in my life at the moment and this is what helps me keeping it up.

How do you prioritise tasks when everything feels like a priority?

I’m a multitasker, I really can do few things at same time. Although as I have more than one project in hands, I try to dedicate time for each project by writing down a list of priorities. I use a workflow management program to help me keep this on track. 

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

Leaders lead people and people are not easy to manage. It’s a constant energy flowing and requires a lot of strength specially working in F&B.  It is always hard to have to fire someone, in most cases it’s for the well-being of the company as the F&B business is very seasonal and any socio-economic issue can affect the industry. But again, as a people person it is not an easy task to do it even for a greater purpose.

What steps do you take to measure your own performance?

I keep my own track of little achievements and I like to listen feedback from everyone that works along with me and not only from my upper management.

What does success mean for you as a business leader?

Results. And results come in different shapes & forms. There are no perfect recipes but if there is passion and openness to do better next time, I would say that’s a quite good potion that can set you up for long term success.

What advice would you give to someone starting off their career as a future business leader?

I would say 3 important lessons I’ve learnt. Don’t be afraid of not knowing it all – no one does. Mistakes are needed to learn and improve – it is called growth. You don’t always need a perfect plan - just enjoy the journey.