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7 Questions with Ashish k sharma
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7 Questions with Ashish k sharma
Name: Ashish k sharma
Current title: Chief strategy officer ( CEO ),VP DEvelopment/operations YYR glamping Africa
Current organization: Thrive hospitality alliance
Cornell certified hospitality leader with multinational experience Over 18 years of leadership expertise in managing /operating /creating range of portfolios which includes city hotels, Malls, wildlife safari, beach, super speciality hospitals, mobile catering, remote luxury camps, coffee retails, private islands, brand development and various
few notable indigenous disruptive concepts are Revolution food hall (world food safari ),farm to table concepts integration to high end award winning luxury lodges etc
undertaken Hospitality leadership roles with leading organizations such as Director operations ,multi unit GM, chief executive officer, Resident GM,mobile catering GM f&B director, facility head, brand development Director etc
currently leading the hospitality consortium Thrive hospitality alliance as chief strategy officer & leading the YYR glamping an extraordinary lodging alternative for UHNWI as VP DEvelopment /operations Africa
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1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
Winning the trust of the team/Board is the most challenging thing in handling a large team as a chief executive. I have witnessed in a way you have to secure a fine balance between both.
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
Indeed the story is a rollercoaster ride which is a fine assortment of hard work,perpetual learner attitude , bit of luck and most significantly never being scared of stepping in a zone which is less conventional or in other way fearlessly exploring life beyond beaten tracks. In short, I was born and raised in a conventional middle class family with no exposure to five star or high end luxury but after schooling dared to dream for it . started as normal management trainee and reached to chief executive of 9 units of close to 1000 workforce within a decade .As indicated took bold steps of going in unconventional way like opting to go for mobile catering in the bigning of my carrier which is against the conventional wisdom of my industry but that gave me launchpad of exploring my skies then again took the employment opportunity in Africa in 2007 .. and those days it was like committing a suicide as a professional but remain unfazed and gone ahead and that truly proved as stepping stone of my carrier as i became chief executive at young age of 30 wherby most of my colleagues that time could not even crossed middle management tier .from my journey i have learnt that strive for organizations where you can grow ,learn and become what you have dreamt for rather being stuck with big name without growth and advancement .
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
My simple philosophy is to move around productivity and no pretension at all. I am a firm believer of face to face interactions ( now video conferencing is the new norm of face to face )which takes around 60 % of work time. I try to minimize phone communication in between 10-15 % whilst the rest 25-30 on electronic communication. I usually start my office with core agendas therfter day to day operations. However as CEO i always comply with no watch police and always on for the team and organization wherever my input is required.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
No matter how good you are,you can always be replaced.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
There are many in fact as i am passionate learner and its difficult to name one but one book i always found close to my personality is outliers: the story of success by malcom gladwell.. in a way it's transforming the way we look at success and determine whether or not someone has been successful in their life .
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
Building a company culture /leadership capacity moves hand in hand in my opinion. bottomline is employees must feel valued,empowered,motivated,listened to & heard is key..i put lots of emphasis on prioritizing effective communication start by trusting them where make listening is an important part of the culture and ensure every touch point is supportive to create purposefully employee first experience building a culture of space,tolerance and capacity has been my USP for leadership capacity building
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
Your calling is bigger than you. It's about the people you are called to impact .