Josiah: Are you curious about what it really takes to build a people-first culture in hospitality? If so, stay tuned, because in this episode, Sage Hospitality co-founder and CEO Walter Isenberg shares how they put their purpose, which is enriching lives one experience at a time, into action. And that purpose starts with their own people. From housekeepers to executives, you’ll hear how Sage invests in culture, leadership, and the everyday moments that make associates feel seen, supported, and inspired. Let’s get into it.
[intro]Walter: We at Sage, our purpose, we’re a purpose-led organization, is to enrich lives one experience at a time. And we talk about enriching lives of our customers and our guests, but we also talk from a leadership perspective about enriching the lives of our associates and how do we get up every day to do something that will help enrich their lives. And we know that, first of all, they are what makes this place go. We wouldn’t be here if our housekeepers didn’t get up every day to come in. And Mr. Pastelli told me in an early conversation, he said, Walter, do you know what a housekeeper has to look forward to every single day? I said, no, sir. He said, 16 dirty toilets. And it’s so true that we should never lose sight of the job that these people do. It’s important to our success. And that runs through the entire organization, whether it’s a dishwasher, a night auditor, front desk associate, we have to make sure that they have a great environment to work in, that they know that we care for them. And that we’re going to be there to support them. And I think fundamentally that is really what our business is, is all about.
Josiah: Tell me a little bit more about that, I guess, to the lens of, is there something that you teach all new team members in that direction or along those lines?
Walter: So, as I said, as a purpose-led organization, when we’re going through the interview process with leaders in particular, we talk about this notion of service to others and really about enriching lives. That is something that we don’t stop talking about that around here. I got an email the other day from a new associate that joined us as a front office manager, and she went through our cultural immersion program and sent me this really beautiful email. And I wrote her back and thanked her. I hadn’t met her, but look forward to meeting you. Thanks for enriching my life today with this email. And then the people she mentioned who work in our people and culture group, I sent them this note and I said, thank you for enriching my life and her life today. And so that goes on all the time in our organization.
Josiah: It’s at our core, it’s our why, it’s our purpose. So I would love to talk about culture a little bit more because what you just described seems a great way to build the culture. You see something that you love, you share it with others, inspires them. You also mentioned this person originally reached out talking about the cultural immersion program. Tell me about that. What is that cultural immersion program at Sage?
Walter: Anybody that’s a new leader within our organization, so it could be front office manager, executive committee member at a property, we bring them into the corporate office and they are put through a program about our history, our culture, and then they get to meet leaders from the organization, from our executive committee, and so that they really understand what we do and who the leaders are within the organization, and then the how, right? In terms of our core values and, you know, the purpose of the organization. So that is an investment that we make. We do it quarterly. I’m usually there. I happen to be out of town. I had a meeting in Portland that I couldn’t miss, but our leaders are there assuming they’re, they’re in town, but it’s a robust program and one that we believe is really critical for new people coming into our company to really understand the core of the organization and our culture.
