Tisch’s ‘Power’ Is About Partnerships

In his new book, CEO of Loews Hotels and Tufts graduate Jonathan Tisch talks about adhering to principles of partnership – not only in the corporate world, but also with the community.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [11.17.04] Jonathan A. Tisch may be the CEO of a large hotel chain, but in his new book “The Power of We,” he attributes his and his family’s success to the establishment of cooperative partnerships.

“The power of partnerships begins with the recognition that no organization exists in a vacuum,” the Tufts trustee and 1976 graduate writes. “We can achieve success and prosperity only by working effectively with others.”

Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, got the idea for the book from a series of talks he had been giving around the country.

“The thoughts are important in this age of CEOs being hauled off in handcuffs,” Tisch said in an online chat on Forbes.com. “We should all be working together.”

This fall, the 50-year-old Tisch embarked on a 14-city tour to promote the book and his views on business partnerships – including a stop at his alma mater.

The best partnerships, Tisch believes, are mutually beneficial.

“When you partner, you work together to help and better yourself, while doing the same for the group that you are working with. And this is not just for CEOs,” he told Forbes.com.

One of Tisch’s most successful relationships has been with the city of Miami Beach, with whom he worked in the mid-1990s to build a large resort on the oceanfront.

In an unconventional pitch, Tisch showed city commissioners a video of himself dressed as a woman, talking to beachgoers.

The Loews Miami Beach eventually became the chain’s most successful and helped spark a hotel boom in the city, The Miami Herald reported.

“I think part of the reason Miami Beach is doing well is because the Loews got built,” Scott Brush, a Florida hotel consultant, told the Herald.

The Tisch family enjoys a vast business empire, which includes the Loews Corp. holding company and half of the New York Giants, among other companies, and once included CBS and the Loews theater chain. Tisch’s father, Preston Robert Tisch, and his uncle Laurence Tisch once both sat on the Forbes 400 list. Laurence Tisch died last November.

His family’s success was also inspirational in writing the book.

“My father and late uncle were the perfect example of partners,” Tisch told Forbes.com “My father was the one who would run the companies that Larry would buy.”

This spring, Tisch participated in a show on The Learning Channel called “Now Who’s Boss?” where he rolled up his sleeves and dove into the housekeeping, room service, kitchen and bellman chores that his employees perform each day.

For Tisch, the show recalled the values he espouses in his book.

“I was reminded how important it is for all departments in the hotel to coordinate their activities and work together,” he told The Learning Channel. As a result of his appearance on the show, senior managers throughout the hotel chain will have to go through a similar experience of performing their employees’ duties.

The close relationship between management and employees will not be entirely unfamiliar.

“Even prior to this experience, I have spent a lot of time with our employees and at Loews Hotels, we pride ourselves as being part of a family,” Tisch told The Learning Channel. “This experience probably brought the family closer together.”

This attitude he favors is far different from the cutthroat corporate mentality conveyed on reality shows like “The Apprentice.”

“What is interesting about the young people on “The Apprentice” is that they start out all playing nicely in the sandbox. But then, the only way they can succeed is to stab each other, pretty much in the front, not the back. This is a bad message,” Tisch said in the Forbes.com chat.

But, like any businessman, he is aware that getting his company featured on a television show pays large dividends in the form of exposure.

“We’re not as large as our competitors,” Tisch told Time magazine, “so we have to use creativity.”