1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?

After I became CEO of Shinee Hotels & Resorts, I found it easy to manage and not challenging. In my opinion if you are a leader with positive thoughts & ready to hold hands with your team they will make all your work & goals easy to achieve. A personal touch with the team & few words of motivation with care is all enough to make a company successful.

2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?

Becoming a CEO is not tough; anyone can reach that position if willing to take responsibility for company growth & to set up a healthy work culture for team & colleagues. The time when I used to be a steward I always focused on my best deliverable & I kept moving forward without expecting anything in return. I think that's the one thing which I can proudly say that kind of work habit made me to achieve this position today. I always keep doing innovative, creative & encouraging teams to move forward for growth so when you start creating leaders you automatically grow because you keep passing your responsibility on to your juniors who also need growth & they make you grow together.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I have a fixed schedule for me which i call time management, If a person can not manage his day things will always go into disbalance situation. I wake up at 6am in the morning after getting fresh. I have a cup of Coffee along with some book readings or articles. Next is 30 minutes of yoga along with meditation to stay focused & then I spend 1hour in the Gym. After I finish gym I eat a healthy breakfast which includes some boiled vegetables, eggs, milk, Sausages, Juice etc depending on the diet given by the trainer. I start my official hours at 9.30 by having a short meeting with the team to know their day plan & i also add my suggestions to them if they need any assistance from me.
I check my all mails, social media accounts, My appointments for the day & first half i keep my self busy in work & reminding team for their daily routine work if something is skipped. I believe in one thing that trust in team is must but monitoring on any given work is very important to complete work within set guidelines. My second half after lunch is slow where I keep watching some motivational clips & I sit with team members one to one so I could know more about them & if they need any help I can do counseling for them because it's required for new comers. The time when i started my career at the age of 18 i was blank about my goals & growth having no body mentor or support i use to get demotivate many times so i wish being CEO of Shinee Hotels & Resorts i should take that responsibility to build team with vision of their growth along with us by helping them to know about industry. I read books for one hour in the evening before dinner & my dinner is very light to keep me active. After taking follow-up on a group from the team for day work assigned in the morning i go to bed at 10pm & spend some time talking to my beautiful wife & my son who keep missing me every- time every-day. It's hard to stay away from family but when it comes to sacrifice, always your personal life gets affected but once you achieve everything you wanted you get back all your personal relationships & your own whom you love most. Hard to manage but not impossible in short (Kuch paane ke liye kuch khona padta hai).

4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

Leadership is all about walking together with your team not alone or not ahead. Learn that when you become bossy with your team they will not come up with new ideas which is very important to hear from young generations. They have lots of new ideas which if some of those we implement in business or in our personal life can be beneficial. I believe in listing from all & then implement wisely. A leader is one who always listen his team & understand the grown reality then come out with ideas & solution for team, A leader is one who always think himself keeping on team's side/place.

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?

I read many books till now. Out of those I am impressed & learned many things which I even implemented & keep doing the same in my life. I read a book one minute Manager where the writer has mentioned "Catch People Doing Right" . I truly believe in this & feel that mistake we all doe's & when we do there are people who keep poking on mistakes but when we do good things no one appreciates. Appreciation is one thing which recharge a person 200%

6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?

Building leadership is not a very tough task. It's all about a person who has grown from scratch level & has seen each & every single difficulty which nowadays newcomers go through.
My strategy to build leadership is focusing on training & development of young Hospitality comers. Education from books does not give us confidence to convert your thoughts in reality for that we need practice that as CEO of Shinee i personally focus on. Building confidence in team, Training & developing leaders, Creating leaders for future hospitality, Giving free hands to work, Making team realize that leader is one & followers are many so to be a leader have that inner confidence in practice.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?

I have many stories to share before I was CEO because everyday we see something new & for me it's been a 12 years long journey serving this industry.

Coming to your question meaningful story as CEO
- Well, when I used to be an employee in a junior position I learned from so many bosses but they all were very mean they used to get their work done & when it used to come for my personal favor like health, rest, leave & fun they used to say no always.
After being CEO I look at the employees from the same angle because who knows the pain can cure it. I always sit with my team in social gatherings even sometimes with juniors also & that moment is a free moment for them all & i love hearing stories from them.

Recently a young team member from one of our unit was given chance to prove himself where he had lots of challenges to manage things in many ways sometimes he argued with colleagues to follow his words & orders after giving him free hand slowly i found there is a leader in between him & i did supported even he was wrong sometimes, Now he is dealing well in getting us new leads for expansion & even keeping his unit sales on track along with care of his team members.