More than 25 years ago I joined the faculty at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. In those 25 years there have been numerous changes at the Hotel School and the Industry. The Hotel School has been renamed the Nolan School and is part of Cornell’s College of Business. The Hotel Business which was once dominated by major brands that owned and operated their properties is now part of a complex structure where brands rarely own, sometimes manage, and mostly franchise and license. At that time, there was a new company called Expedia and the Online Travel Agency was born. Soon, every brand had a website, business travelers stopped using travel agents and booked on their own. Technological changes are not limited to just bookings. Guests use their phones as room keys, text their questions to the concierge, receive in room dining and other amenities from robots, and between lighting, outlets, and Televisions, hotel rooms seemingly need an operating manual. Over this same time, the concept of revenue management went from an academic theory to accepted practice to the point that when people ask about a hotel stay the second question they ask is what rate did you pay?

There are, however, four things that have not changed: First, the Hospitality Industry, despite the technological advances that reduced the need for certain services to be performed by employees, remains as the most labor-intensive industry in the world. Second, turnover in hospitality is higher than most, if not all, other industries. Third, hotel owners and operators are in a perpetual search for talent. Finally, despite the evaluation from personnel to human resource departments and despite the fact that HR has navigated from a secondary department to being part of the “C-suite” in most hotel companies, the prime duties of HR – finding, developing and retaining talent remains a mystery.

As the founding and current director of the Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor Relations (CIHLER) and the Nolan Schools Ceriale Professor of Hospitality Human Resources and Professor of Law, I have had the privilege, along with colleague Professor Bruce Tracey, of developing the agenda for the National Human Resource in Hospitality Conference. In our 17 Annual conferences and more than 70 Roundtables, we have addressed numerous HR and Labor and Employment Law issues and, we believe, have provided creative solutions to the many problems our industry faces. One area we have not been able to truly solve is how to find and identify talent. We have had sessions on interviews, different industrial psychological tests, and numerous other methods that employers use to hire. One conclusion has permeated these discussions – nothing really works! Interviews have limited predictive values, psychological tests also have limited value and create adverse impact issues, job fairs simply provide numbers, and recommendations often create more internal problems than actually provide talent. The conclusion was simple: lots of options, but none that truly work. That was the fact until 2021.

At our 15 annual conference in San Diego, Ca, Alex Mirza approached us to discuss a new way to find talent. Alex’s credentials were off the charts, he holds an MBA from Harvard, was awarded the Sasakawa Peace Fellowship for doctoral studies in international economics York University and held senior management positions, including leading corporate strategy, at industry stalwarts like Hilton, Starwood, and Caesars. His consulting career at Deloitte, a leading hospitality consulting group, resulted in him advising CEO’s and high-level government officials. Even more impressive than his resume, was his clear ability to communicate complex ideas in easily understandable language and peppered with relevant examples. After speaking to Alex for 30 minutes, I put him to work. We quickly created a conference Roundtable for Alex to lead. The results were exactly what I expected: the participants at the Roundtable were blown away by Alex’s vision for identifying, developing, and retaining talent. Our conference speakers include CHRO’s, EVP’s and SVP’s of HR and Labor Relations, partners at major law firms, in-house counsel at major brands, owners, and high level operators. At some level it is a diverse group, in that there are very few sessions that all our stakeholders wish to attend. Alex’s session was an anomaly – every profile of our attendees and speakers was completely enthralled by Alex’s ideas. The only problem with Alex’s presentation was that he only connected with 25 of our 350 attendees. Selfishly, I suggested a plenary session so that all our attendees could benefit from Alex’s work. Realistically, I knew that Alex’s work needed the broadest of distribution well beyond any conference in terms of reach and depth. Thus, I was thrilled when Alex notified me that he was writing a book. Two years later, I am honored to write this forward.

Alex’s book, the Talent Disruption, People are the Brands is a groundbreaking work that incorporates the latest AI technology into the age-old search for talent. His technology creates a systematic method for identifying high performing employees who have the right skill set and intangibles for the job. In addition, Alex applies his experience and knowledge into an AI model that provides guidance for employers who are determined to develop and retain those that have joined their organizations.

For 25 years, I have accepted the fact that employers simply cannot be certain that they have attracted the right applicant pool and that those hired will be high performers who can be long-term assets to the organization. Alex’s work is the best method that I have ever seen to solve this problem. All employers, and especially hospitality employers, will be well served by not only reading this book but operationalizing the concepts and proscriptions in it. I, for one, am thankful for the content and look forward to our 2024 conference where Alex will blow us all away!

David Sherwyn
Academic Director at Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations (CIHLER)