In this presentation, EnlightenNext executive editor Carter Phipps talks to California hotel mogul Chip Conley about how he transformed his fledgling hospitality company, Joie de Vivre, into America’s second largest independent boutique hotel business. What makes Conley’s success unique is that he did it not simply by focusing on the external operations of his company, but by creating a dynamic and fulfilling corporate culture based on the self-actualization of his employees—from the executives to the cleaning staff.
Conley is not your average CEO, and in this interview he shows it, sharing his insights into the subtler dynamics of creativity and relationships, and explaining why understanding these interior aspects of the human experience is vital to the successful leadership of any organization. He discusses the influence that the work of psychologist Abraham Maslow has had on his management ideas and describes how he’s used Maslow’s models of psychological and spiritual growth as important tools in driving the ongoing evolution of his company. Conley’s story is both instructive and inspiring, and his ideas about the role of culture in creating a successful company may well be a model for the future of business.
BIO
Chip Conley is the founder, president, and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, California's largest independent hotel company—and America's second largest boutique hotelier. Starting out in 1987 at the age of 26 with San Francisco's rock and roll hotel, The Phoenix, Conley created Joie de Vivre with the intention of developing "the most delightfully schizophrenic collection of hotels in America." Each of the company's forty award-winning hotels has an original theme and personality, often inspired by magazines like Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Wired, Outdoor, and Elle.
In addition to running his company Conley is also a respected leader in the business community, a philanthropist, and a speaker and author. He has written a series of business books including The Rebel Rules: Daring to be Yourself in Business and Marketing That Matters: 10 Practices to Profit Your Business and Change the World. Conley’s recent bestselling book, PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, describes his strategy for success based on legendary psychologist Abraham Maslow's “hierarchy of needs.” He credits this theory for helping Joie de Vivre to triple its annual revenues between 2001 and 2008.
