Creative Execution: What Great Leaders Do to Unleash Bold Thinking and Innovation

How Creative Execution Powers Four Seasons

As we retrace Isadore Sharp’s rise from humble motel builder to CEO of the largest luxury hotel chain in the world, it’s clear that, like Sakichi Toyoda with his car company, Sharp built a unique formula to lift the Four Seasons to a place where it could win the battle for luxury travel in any city in the world. There were false starts and disappointments, such as being kicked out of his chosen sites in Vancouver and Rome, but like the other Creative Execution leaders in this book, Sharp was able to quickly learn from his mistakes and fine-tune his formula. His own assessment of his professional success tells it all: “Years back, I didn’t know where we were going. Today it’s easy to look at the future. ...