Dr. Naim Maadad Chief Executive & Founder, Gates Hospitality
With a Professional Doctorate in Tourism & Hospitality and almost 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry in Australia, Asia and the Middle East, Dr. Naim is the Chief Executive and Founder of Gates Hospitality, a home-grown hospitality group based in the UAE, with award-winning concepts such as folly, Bistro Des Arts and Reform Social & Grill.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00There is a famous saying, it's lonely at the top.
00:06Welcome back, Naeem.
00:07It's been a few years since we last met.
00:11I think it was during COVID Expo 2020.
00:15And I know things have changed and we've moved on.
00:20We'd love to hear more about what you've been up to.
00:23Thanks for having me back.
00:24It has indeed been a while.
00:26And as you rightly say, life has actually changed.
00:29If you take the last five years, I think the impact of COVID,
00:33the impact of values, the impact of how we do things has changed drastically.
00:38Whilst we still do the same businesses,
00:41I think we had to really evaluate our businesses from longevity,
00:45sustainability, the work mix and the city itself has changed.
00:50So we have to be always kind of revolutionising
00:55the business and moving forward one step ahead of the game
00:58in order to stay lucrative financially, in order to stay successful
01:03and in order to make sure innovation stays at the head of everything we do.
01:07Awesome. For our audience,
01:10Naeem has an amazing history in hospitality.
01:13I think it ranges from six senses resorts to minor hotels,
01:17to Rixos, to Gates Hospitality.
01:21Tell me more about how it all started.
01:23Your memory is good, but you're giving my age away.
01:26That's what I'm not happy about.
01:27Look, I've been in the industry now for years, decades.
01:31And frankly, people often ask me, if you weren't in hospitality,
01:35what else would you be doing?
01:35And I say hospitality actually entails every other lifestyle, every sector.
01:40If you take hospitality as an industry,
01:43fashion is included, design is included,
01:46luxury at every level is included, travel is included.
01:49So it's one of those industries, one of those sectors that really entails a lot.
01:53And it's up to individuals to kind of take the blinkers off and say,
01:57what else can I do and what is the next step?
01:59So the journey has been hotels early in the days.
02:04Before that, family restaurants back in Australia and Adelaide.
02:08After that, hotels, 26 years of hotels at different levels.
02:12I did eight openings of GM capacity.
02:16Then the last eight years of my hotel career, four of those were six senses.
02:21I started as area GM.
02:22I finished as an MD for the group.
02:25And the same with Anantara.
02:26I was four years with Anantara Minor International for four years at an MD level.
02:31And really, if you take an MD level of such organizations,
02:35what you cover is operations, you cover owners relationships,
02:39you cover development
02:41and you're principally running the business with multiple GMs reporting into you.
02:45So it's quite a quite an extensive
02:48responsibility level.
02:50However, you're still working for a brand.
02:52You still have your limitations or your
02:56defined parameters of playing grounds.
02:59I've always been labeled as an over ambition driven individual.
03:06And I think that's whoever actually announced that early in the piece
03:09hasn't hasn't been too far wrong
03:12for the for the good reasons.
03:13And I think ambition is if you control ambition, it's
03:17it's always a positive outcome.
03:19If it's out of control, then this is where you kind of do damage.
03:23After Hotels, I've decided with Gates
03:25to have a look at the marketplace and see where are the vacuums.
03:28And for me, it's about identifying vacuums and finding solutions for these vacuums.
03:33And really, Gates was born on the back of that 2010.
03:37Looked at the market and I thought, what is available?
03:39What is not available?
03:40Who are the demographics?
03:42Where are the hotspots, locations?
03:44And we started looking at three three business silos, hotels, resorts,
03:48food and beverage, holistic wellness, holistic wellness.
03:52And I underline that it's not spas.
03:53It's a different lifestyle altogether, which is our main topic today.
03:57This is why we're here. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely.
03:59And look, frankly, I'm glad I've actually focused on the holistic
04:02wellness aspect as well, because today it's no longer a taboo.
04:06Talking about one's wellness, one's mindset, one's behavior.
04:11It's it's it's one of the topics that I'm a great ambassador of.
04:15I'm very much trying to push that forward and put it part of the agenda
04:20in every sector, not only in hospitality.
04:22So what would you call are the top challenges
04:26employees face when it comes to mental wellness
04:31in the hospitality industry?
04:33Look, it's it's a long list, and I don't think it's unique to any sector.
04:37It's not just hospitality.
04:38I think the the world has brainwashed us.
04:40There's a stigma about how much do you tell about yourself
04:43and how much do you tell about your feelings and where do you start?
04:47Where do you finish?
04:47We've been kind of brainwashed from a very young age,
04:50generally, to to keep our emotions to ourselves, not to to open up
04:55and talk about our personal. It was a taboo.
04:57Absolutely. It was one of those topics that you don't talk about.
04:59It's it's it's an embarrassment and it's a sign of weakness
05:03rather than anything else where I'd like to think in the last five, ten years.
05:07I think there's been a movement.
05:08There's been a paradigm shift, principally, to talk about these things
05:11and encourage communication, encourage the forum for such discussions.
05:16And last but not least, make sure that there are people within organizations
05:20who are there to listen, not necessarily give you answers,
05:24but to listen and help you find solutions,
05:26guide you in the right direction to find solutions and put you at ease.
05:31So how would you as an employer
05:34do or what are the assets, tools that you use to ease this?
05:40I think it's it's all about culture.
05:42And I think reality is if once a culture of an entity,
05:46an organization is defined, it's it's about the formalities,
05:48it's about the openness, it's about the dialogue, it's about discipline.
05:52So if you really put all these four together,
05:54discipline dictates how an organization functions.
05:57So for me, once that culture is defined, it becomes easy enough to say,
06:02yes, whilst we have a reporting line, reporting line is for business,
06:06but reporting lines also equally as important when it comes to communication,
06:10when it comes to openness, when it comes to respect
06:14across every position within an organization.
06:17So cultural, cultural definition, cultural understanding is very essential.
06:22So we have something in common, I guess.
06:25We've both worked in corporates and we shifted to our own
06:30startups or businesses.
06:32The term work life balance.
06:35What does it mean to you back then and today?
06:39OK, moderation, I think that's really fundamentally what it's all about.
06:43It's making sure that people identify what is important,
06:47because ultimately, if you take a normal life cycle,
06:51we all kind of study for the first 18 to 20 years.
06:54That's how we've been told life is.
06:57Then you work for 20 to 65.
07:00Then you have so much left, so little left, I should say,
07:04to actually enjoy life and enjoy what you've learned
07:06and what you've garnered in life and not financially,
07:09but just enjoy life as a as a mature individual.
07:12How the generation has shifted now is very fundamentally different.
07:17And I think people now are looking at work is not the thing
07:20that we should be doing.
07:21Work is one of the things that we should be doing.
07:23And the ability to switch off from work, if you do nine to five,
07:27if you do nine to two, whatever your working schedule is.
07:30I think the ability to be able to say, OK, I need to stop
07:33and switch back to my personal life, whatever that may be.
07:38It's a very strong and powerful mindset change.
07:41And I think individuals.
07:42Sorry, I just want to finish this.
07:44I think individuals have the ability to switch.
07:48You see, they enjoy life a lot more.
07:50Others can't switch because of pressure, because of uncertainty
07:53and because of if I switch, am I going to lose my job?
07:57Principally, is this is an amazing topic you hit on.
08:04Is this generational thing?
08:06Do we see this in the Gen Z's or the millennials?
08:09And was there a point that basically fast tracked this during COVID?
08:17I think it started well before COVID.
08:19I think COVID was kind of the fast forwarder.
08:23I think people, yes, people stopped and had time to really analyze
08:27and people had enough time to say what's important.
08:30Why have we been really so blinded by life commitments and life pressures?
08:36And here we are.
08:38We've been told that the world is upside down in COVID.
08:40And why haven't we spent more time on ourselves and our lives
08:44and really focus on what's important?
08:47So it is a generational.
08:49I think it's it's been it's been happening for four years.
08:52But I think COVID was really the amplifier.
08:56Being an expert in the hospitality industry.
08:59What are some of the best practices that you see,
09:04whether you've implemented them or organizations should implement
09:08to bring us to that, you know, balance?
09:13Look, Andy, I think I'm just going to use Gates as a classic example.
09:16And I think what we are doing today in Gates, so we have a third party.
09:20We have an organization that comes in and does emotional intelligence sessions.
09:25The entire world is talking about AI.
09:27In Gates, we're talking about AI.
09:29Why? Because our sector is about human connections.
09:33So I think if every entity understands their purpose and kind of focuses
09:37on delivering, developing, nurturing their talent towards that sector,
09:41I think it's very powerful.
09:43That entity that does what it does on emotional intelligence.
09:46They do some yoga classes.
09:48They do some confidence classes.
09:50Not forgetting in this part of the world we have on our payroll today.
09:54I think we have 47 or 48 nationalities, which is amazing
09:58because everybody brings something new to the table.
10:00However, when it comes to.
10:04Discipline, when it comes to standards, 47 different ideas.
10:09So how do you bring all of those into a streamline to say
10:13this is a business purpose, this is how we behave, this is how we conduct ourselves,
10:16conduct business and carry our message across.
10:19So by having these individuals coming through for the ladies,
10:23we have makeup classes for the gents.
10:25We have grooming classes.
10:26We actually have identified a barbershop where everybody goes.
10:30They don't pay.
10:31It's we've built that relationship with one of the barber organizations here.
10:36So it's I think it's beyond work.
10:40I think it's finding, identifying what is important to individuals.
10:44Money is very important, but culture is equally as important.
10:47And confidence development is very important
10:51to a certain extent that.
10:53Anybody that leaves Gates, I can assure you that within two years
10:57when they knock back depends on your performance,
10:59a lot of these guys have come back, they haven't come back because we overpay.
11:03They've come back because of the way we conduct ourselves.
11:08Yeah, that's an amazing story to hear.
11:12Congratulations.
11:13I was hesitant to ask about AI, but since you brought it up,
11:17I'm sure it's part of our daily operations today.
11:24Is there a way where, you know, AI is helping with mental wellness
11:29in the hospitality industry?
11:32OK, absolutely. Absolutely.
11:33I think every technology aspect is actually helping us become better individuals.
11:39I think the onus is really on ourselves to say,
11:42where do we let it take over and where do we let it add value?
11:46I think identifying where value add is,
11:49this is where we should be really focusing on.
11:52Artificial intelligence is really based on habits.
11:55It's based on ample examples.
11:57And this is how the system is actually built.
12:02So it's based on actual events that have happened time after time after time.
12:06So I think there is a massive benefit as long as we don't let them take over.
12:11You mentioned the barbershop story.
12:16You know, what are some of the benefits when you invest in your
12:20the culture of the employees of the company or the organization
12:24in mental wellness?
12:26How do you reap back the benefits?
12:31Look, again, if we talk about wellness, if we talk about sustainability,
12:35a lot of these guys have actually lots of experiences
12:38back in their own countries, back at their homes.
12:40So they add value as well.
12:42And I think the best thing that we're doing now, we are educating individuals.
12:46Not only are we making them good hospitality individuals,
12:50but we're making them better humans for the society, for the economy, for the future.
12:54So when they go back to their countries, when they go to another organization,
12:58they're taking all these principles with them.
13:00So they're becoming better individuals.
13:02And my advice to all of my team members,
13:06no matter what you do, no matter which organization you end up working,
13:10if you leave hospitality and you go into airlines, tourism, banking,
13:15all of these learnings you're taking with you.
13:18So you're basically becoming a better person.
13:20You're taking these skill sets, these
13:25fundamental behaviors into the next best skill set.
13:29And then eventually your family will benefit, your neighbors will benefit.
13:32So we're changing communities by making sure that we stay connected
13:36and we stay grounded and we stay focused on what the purpose of the business is.
13:40Very well said. I think it's investing in yourselves.
13:44Absolutely. I always like to end with a question,
13:48which is slightly off topic in a way, because we talk about,
13:53you know, health, wellness of the organization and the employees.
13:58But what about the bosses?
14:01Aren't they also part of this conversation?
14:05What do you do to avoid burnout?
14:08Or, you know, we're humans as well.
14:11Yeah, there is a famous saying, it's lonely at the top.
14:15So true is as cliche as it sounds.
14:17But it's very, very true.
14:19Having said that, I think as as individuals, if we identify these
14:23lonely moments, these lonely times
14:27and we surround ourselves by people that are like minded individuals
14:33that understand our values, I think this is a comfort
14:37that you gain.
14:38Not forgetting that all of the things that we're doing in Gaze,
14:41all the things that we do in our daily lives is a learning for me as well.
14:45So I sit in where I can, where I possibly can.
14:48And what I find myself doing, Andy, is I'm always giving examples
14:52about my life to my people.
14:54And whilst I'm doing that, I'm actually listening to my own voice
14:56because I'm telling myself the story equally as everyone else.
15:00You're reminding yourself. Absolutely. Absolutely.
15:02So it's about that engagement.
15:03It's awareness, self-awareness.
15:06Thank you so much, Naeem.
15:07Always a pleasure having you.
15:08I hope we do this more often.
15:10Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
15:11Thank you. Thank you so much.