Josiah: Was there a leader early in your career that you recall being very formative in how you think about leadership and hospitality today?
Nikheel: Yes, sure. Definitely. I mean, I think mentorship has been a common theme throughout my growth in all the businesses I’ve been involved in, but it started quite early in my youth. And my dad was a great mentor. Not only was he a leader, but he took a very serious interest in how I was developing and what I was doing. Some of it was very tough. Because at 16, he said, you know, you need to get a job, and you’ve got this very fun lifestyle, and you’re going to find it yourself. So there were some very tough moments. But, you know, throughout my career, when I think back, whether it’s at the Ritz Carlton, where people like James McBride. Peter Schoch, these guys are some of the greatest hoteliers today. In those days, they were our direct leaders, and they were developing themselves, but they always took time to work with you. And when you’re new in an industry and learning or new in a company, to have those helping hands, people who really care, they open doors that nobody else will. They sit with you in times when you feel lost. You feel like, what am I going to do next? And I’ve had I can count another probably about 10, 15 mentors in my life that they’re still part of my life today. We still talk, and I don’t think I’d be where I am today without them. So I take that energy among a lot of our team members and make sure that I do the same because it is so valuable. And I do it with my kids as well because it starts at home. Mentorship starts at home, as I’ve learned from my dad, and it carries on throughout your life.
Josiah: I love that. You shared a whole range of people, and now you are taking, it sounds like, some of those lessons, and with all the teams and people that you lead, you’re passing it along to them. I usually ask my guests what piece of advice stands out. As I’m listening to you, one of the things that stands out to me is that it’s more of an observation of how they act over time and maybe some of the bigger things. You talked about opening doors. That’s really interesting. It’s kind of working with someone, watching how they operate, maybe some of the most formative stuff. I don’t even know if I should ask you if there’s a piece of advice that stands out to you because maybe it was more observation-based. I don’t know. What do you think?
Nikheel: Yes, I think that’s really a good question. I think that, you know, with mentorship, you’ve got to be willing to listen. That’s the first thing, right? And these mentors will challenge you. They’ll challenge you to things that you might not think you can do, but they’ve gone through this before. You’ve got to understand that they’ve walked this path. Give them a chance, be open-minded, because sometimes we’re like, oh no, I think I know what’s better. We haven’t walked that path. One of the mentors told me once that because I was planning to do something different, I was planning to change roles and join another company, they were paying me double. He sat down and said, I remember this really clearly, and he said, look, you’re on a great path. Yes, you’re not going to make that money today, but you can take double today. or you can make 10 times in 10 years. Now, in 10 years in that other role, you’re probably making double, maybe triple. But in 10 years here, with this company, with our growth, you’d be making 10 times. And I couldn’t see that. So I had to sit back and think, okay, wow, do I trust this guy? Of course, I do. He’s got my best interests at heart. And sure enough, he was right. In fact, it was even better than that. He was conservative.
Josiah: Amazing. Well, I was going to ask you that. Does it actually pan out? It sounds like it did. Yeah, it did. Really did. I love that. Now, one thing, Nikhil, that I’m really interested in is you’ve worked in luxury hospitality leadership across cultures in so many different environments. And I’m curious for you, how has that international cross-cultural experience shaped your leadership style and how you think about that?
Nikheel: So I think I’ll start with Ritz-Carlton. It’s an incredible training ground. Even today, they’ve got some of the greatest hotels in the world. And yes, they have amazing properties, and it starts there. But it’s the people that bring it to life. It’s the credo that they practice day in, day out. And the leadership and mentorship that you get when you’re at these hotels, they’re life-changing. And I was lucky to be part of this group at a stage they were growing quite a bit. I started in Singapore and moved to Malaysia at a very young age at 26, 27. I was one of the youngest food and beverage directors in the company. And that was an opportunity through mentors who said, I think this guy can do it. There was a mentor who was the vice president of food and beverage, Gerard Van Grinsveld. So, I came there actually to help open, and then he gave me the news that, hey, you’re going to be the new food and beverage director. Now, at the time, most food and beverage directors were either French or German. So, I was the Asian guy, and I was the youngest of all of them. So, I was like, you know, I was going to be F&B director, assistant F&B in Osaka with another mentor, François Delcarte. And I said, you know, I feel really comfortable with that. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but being the director right now, don’t you think that’s too early? And I still remember this clearly, I’m in the office, and he says, you met the owners, they like you, you’ve got this young energy, it’s gonna work, don’t worry. And he gave me a file about that thick, and he said, every single thing you want to know is in that file. All the SLPs that you would ever need. And here’s my phone number. And he knew that I would, because I’d be applying myself, and I had great mentors there as well, the general manager was James McBride, I didn’t have one moment in the first three months to look at that file, or to call him. And he’d check on me every now and then, but, you know, it was a great environment, great leadership. And then, you know, you just got to believe in that and believe in yourself.
Josiah: It feels like mentorship is such a key part of your story, both receiving mentorship, as you’ve described. But I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how you think now about mentoring others. How do you think about all those lessons you’ve learned and sharing it?
Nikheel: I am so thrilled. We can start here in New York City, right? Two of the greatest general managers at properties, one at the Ritz-Carlton and one at Corinthia. He was also the Ritz-Carlton. He was at the Ritz-Carlton prior, opening New York with me downtown in Battery Park about 20-odd years ago. Both of these gentlemen are general managers today of some of the finest properties in New York City. One at the Ritz Carlton Nomad Bastion and Pradeep at the Carinthia today. He oversees their newest property here and the region, but before that at the Baccarat, which is a great luxury hotel in New York. They were restaurant managers close to 15, 20 years ago, and we worked together. And each leader that they’ve worked with gives them a little something. And to see them successful today in one of the greatest cities in the world makes me really proud. The journey carries on when I look back to Turks and Caicos and the leaders that we’ve worked with and developed. There are at least 20, 30 great general managers or assistant general managers or heads of divisions within the industry, but also we’ve developed a lot of entrepreneurs. Because as a smaller company, when we were growing, we might not have the opportunity for you to grow. And so they’d sit down and say, what if I grew and created a beverage company that could support the hotel industry? We were very much in favor of that and supported because we knew growth within our industry when it was one hotel was limited. And so we then helped them set up their businesses. We had a marketing manager, Roger, who, you know, had reached his peak and we didn’t have anything more for him. So he said, you know what, if I start a marketing company and support you guys, but then I can have three, four more clients, would you help me? And we said, yes, of course we would. So, you know, growth comes in many different shapes and forms. and you’ve got to be supportive of any one of those growths for individuals because you had that same benefit and the door’s open for you.
Josiah: Well, I like that because I feel like sometimes I talk with leaders or I honestly have worked for some that you almost kind of get a sense of they only like you as long as you’re kind of working on their team. And then if that’s no longer fit for whatever reason, it’s kind of like goodbye. And I’m sensing a very holistic sort of big picture perspective where you want what’s best for the person. And sometimes that means actually they’re going to work at a different organization.
Nikheel: And you know, earlier on in my career, most of my mentors have been selfless. It started with my dad. We grew up with not a scarcity mentality but an abundance mentality. Let me say, always be enough for everybody. And when you grow up with that kind of mentality, another mentor of mine, Mark Duriet, who’s my business partner right now at Grace Bay Resorts, said, look, when we have a great employee, let’s celebrate them. And if we have one that’s going to leave, let’s still celebrate them. Let’s keep that relationship because you never know what happens. And you know, that’s one of the greatest things because we live on an island, Turks and Caicos, beautiful by nature, and everybody’s somewhat related. So, you know, you’ll notice that, you know, yeah, they might not be appropriate for you today for whatever reason. And once we’ve identified that, we want to celebrate them to get to another great position in their life, where they are comfortable, where maybe things are run differently, the expectations are different. So I think that abundance mentality is a very valuable skill set and a mindset to use in the journey of life.
