Sue Trizila has a sign in her office that reads, “The real leader has no need to lead. She is content to point the way.” This guides
her daily as she empowers her team to achieve together, and she can’t even remember doing anything solely on her own in recent
years. As president and CEO of Wyndham Jade LLC, a corporate travel and event company, her style has helped propel the
company to $150 million in sales last year. Smart Business spoke with her about how she’s always right — unless her employees
convince her otherwise.
Plant real people in your organization. I’ve
worked for companies where there were a
lot of smart people, but they couldn’t relate
at all. There’s a real balance in getting
smart people but also getting people who
are street smart.
Common sense is way underrated. Many
times, it’s more important than the book
smarts. Pull it out in an interview. Ask questions that will give them the opportunity to
get excited about past accomplishments.
It’s easy to see if someone is programmed
or if they can talk about accomplishments
with a spirit.
Ask them what they are most proud of in
a nonbusiness situation. You can find out
then if people are real. They don’t expect
nonbusiness questions to come out.
One of my employees, I honestly hired
him because when I asked the question, all
he could talk about is that he’s a kayaker.
The way he got excited and the way he
articulated what it meant to him, I said,
‘Wow, you really are a balanced person.’
The other I hired because he did a foreign
exchange program in Japan, and I sat back
for 10 minutes and listened to him tell me
all about it. Those were two of the best
hires I ever made, but you’ve got to get
them off the other questions. You’ve got
enough other people in your organization
that will ask those questions.
Listen and care. Human nature will trump
logic every time. If you’re not tuned into
the human nature, then you’re going to
miss out. You can feel the personality and
the temperament of your organization if
you walk around.
Don’t just talk to your direct reports. Talk
to everyone, and you’ll find the things that
matter.
People nod their head and even look into
your eyes, and you know that they just
aren’t with you. You can talk to them all day
long, but if you aren’t addressing the things
that are important to them, it is just wasted
time. Set the stage for it and be engaged.
Ask what’s going on with a client. It could
be a new technology program that’s come
out — I ask them to show it to me and ask
how it’s working. Then ask them personal
questions. Ask how their family’s doing.
Do you remember something they told
you before? Find ways to remember things
that matter to people. I come back and
make notes, so the next time I see them, I’m
right there with a question. People have to
know you genuinely care about what they
think. If they believe that, and that comes
with talking to them over time, they’re going
to open up and want to talk to you.
Sell your ideas. You constantly have to sell
why you believe the way you do and get the
buy-in. Sometimes it’s easier to sell one on
one.
It’s an easy way because you talk to
employees and hear what they’re thinking,
and you can counter back with your ideas
and have an opportunity, one on one, to
understand why they think the way they
do, and you can express why you feel the
way you do.
I like to direct. I don’t like to do. If you
know how to sell an idea, and you can get
someone else to embrace it and take ownership of it, you can avoid having to do
everything. If they don’t buy it, then you’re
going to end up doing it, if you want it done.
Have a passion about it first, and you
have to have thought it through. Think of
the objections you may have to overcome,
and in the selling process, you’re going to
hear objections.
Be able to overcome those. There are so
many good ideas out there that never get
acted on because they were not sold properly.
Train others to express themselves. Every time
I talk to someone, I hope I’m teaching them
how they can express their ideas. I’ve often
joked that when I have someone who does-n’t really want to open up to me, I look at
them and say, ‘I’m right. I’m always right
100 percent of the time unless you can take
the time to convince me that I’m not, so
you have to work at it.’
That’s what business is all about. Be
focused on the next generation and always
hire people that are smarter than you. The
smarter the people you have around you,
the more you have the opportunity to go
out and let them do the job.
Put things in perspective. Most things are not
catastrophic, and people tend to overreact.
Sometimes I’ll look at someone who’s taking it so seriously and remind them, ‘This is
the travel business.’
Show people the worst that could happen. If it’s a big hole, plan how you’re not
going to step in it. Then remind everybody we have a team — there are people
around to help everyone with whatever
they’re doing. No one should be out on an
island.
Look back and laugh about things that
have happened to you along your career
path. The things we laugh about are holes
that we have stepped in, and I’m not afraid
to talk about those. Some of the toughest
challenges, if you can turn it into a story to
tell the next generation, are the best learning opportunities.
If you build that kind of atmosphere, that
makes everyone feel more secure, and
whatever they do, it’s not going to be the
end of the world.
Don’t focus too much. One of the business
terms I absolutely hate is the word ‘focus.’
I think it has been so overused, and so
many people have taken the word ‘focus’ to
mean fixation.
You can lose sight if you are so targeted
on something that you’re missing what’s
going on in the big scheme of things. As a
CEO, that’s our responsibility.
HOW TO REACH: Wyndham Jade LLC, (972) 349-7300 or
www.wyndhamjade.com