Lessons - She Ran a $3B Cruise Line When the Entire Industry Shut Down Overnight | Lisa Lutoff-Perlo - Fmr CEO of Celebrity Cruises (Royal Caribbean Group)

In this lessons episode, discover how great leaders adapt when facing uncertainty, personal loss, and overwhelming pressure. Understand why empathy and resilience become essential during times of crisis. Explore how continuous unlearning strengthens leadership over time. And uncover practical habits for staying focused on what can be controlled while navigating change. what are leadership lessons that, and you can tell the story as well, whatever you feel comfortable sharing, but what are some leadership lessons and some, I don't know, some strategy that you used during like a really traumatic period to still, to still operate, to still, to still show up to work. Because I would say that out of, Most types of jobs, this is like in terms of like stress and people's lives, like this is like right up there. Right. So like this is not like money stressful, too. But like lives, when you make a wrong decision. Could really impact them to, you know, the health and wellness. Like that's not a that's not a light job. Right. That's not a light thing to do every single day. So maybe walk me through how you how you dealt with all of that. Well, the first thing I talk about, chapter one, is called Sailing Through the Storm. And you also did puns. Yeah, I know. Well, I did. I did. Chapters all are puns. You know, there was like, I wanted to have a little fun with it. And it was, yeah, I talked about International Women's Day and Captain Cade and 100% of the bridge manned by women. And that was March 8th of 2020. That cruise happened on International Women's Day. I got off mid-cruise probably around the 11th. I flew back to my after a huge celebration. And I remember standing in the grand plaza of the ship after designing, building and introducing this transformational series of ships that was critically acclaimed, making more money than we ever thought we would possibly ever imagine making. The crew and the team on board were so proud and excited of what we had accomplished in gender equality and as a brand. And the guests were partying and celebrating. And I remember standing there thinking, this is a mic drop moment. If I walked away right now, and that was 2020, I could not have asked for more. I could not have left a better legacy. And I was... euphoric is the right word. I left the ship. I got back to the office on a Thursday, went home for the weekend on Friday, and we shut down. That weekend. Sunday. We ceased operations and we weren't gonna be back for 15 months. Little did we know then it would be 15 months. Imagine going from the highest of high to the lowest of low in your career within like, I don't know, 72, 96 hours. I just couldn't imagine it. One month later, April of 2020, my sister was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And that's why she had 12 to 18 months to live and she only lived for 12. But here's what I learned during that horrible time. I learned that 20,000 crew members were counting on me and my family was counting on me to get us all through as best we could. Silver lining of the COVID-19 cloud is that my sister lived with me and I got to spend every day of the last year of her life with her. Had COVID not happened, that wouldn't have happened. And I wouldn't have been able to do that unless I left the company. And it made such a difference to her and it made such a difference to me. And as I was thinking of how I was going to get 20,000 people around the world through this horrible time we were living through, I needed to show up for them every day, and I needed to flex different leadership muscles, which I learned leaders really need to be flexible because you need to dial up and dial down certain things depending on the situation and what people need from you. So I needed to go away from that hard driving results, performance-driven, up-income profitability, growth. Return on invested capital, CEO to empathetic, hopeful, building confidence, letting people know it's going to be okay. You're going to get back to work. You're going to be able to provide for your families again. Even if I didn't know that on any given day because we thought we'd be back in business three months later, not 15 months later. So, yeah. I learned a lot during that time, and I probably learned the most about being a leader during that time than in any other time of my career. And I also learned you have to focus on the things you can control and put aside the things you can't control and look in the windshield and not in the rearview mirror and try to stay as positive as you can and keep people focused on positive things and the future to the best of your ability. Because... You know, adaptability is one thing, but the shift that you had to make in your life probably required you to unlearn some things, some preconceived notions. And I think unlearning allows room for learning and growth. Did you feel like that was something that you struggled with when everything was to a degree smooth sailing up until this point? And you had to sort of change the way that you lead, change the way that you understand maybe priorities in life. Obviously, when there's a terminal illness in the family, that really shakes you up. I guess I want any advice that you have on unlearning to sort of spur personal growth. How do you sort of shed things that you've known for the past 30 years successfully and not let that baggage burden you or hurt your decision-making capabilities? Because obviously it didn't. You navigated successfully, but you also shed a lot of... what you knew and who you were to be able to do that, or I don't think you would have been successful at navigating COVID plus a sister's illness. That, that is, is not just normal run of the mill adaptability. That's radical shift. Well, the good thing is, I think I had some of that behind me already. And I've, and I had done that so many times in my career, right? I had, I had unlearned a lot. And I had to relearn a lot. And I had to evolve a lot. And I had to get better, you know, I have You know, I was in the Galapagos with my other sister and her two daughters, my nieces, who, you know, I dedicated the book to because they're so special to me. And I've always, you know, I've always conducted myself in a way that I wanted them to be proud of me. And we were in the Galapagos and Darwin was in the Galapagos. So whether you believe in his theory of evolution or not, this isn't about that, but I bought a Darwin t-shirt when I was in the Galapagos. And here's how I'm hoping to answer that question. On the front of the t-shirt, it says evolve. And on the back of the t-shirt it says, or become extinct. And I, I had practiced that so many times throughout my career in adaptability, unlearning what I knew, learning new things, learning how to be a better leader, learning how to focus on different leadership qualities. Some of that was through feedback. Some of it was through self-reflection, self-evaluation. Some of it was being open to conversations. And I'm learning to be vulnerable because I didn't know everything like I did when I was in sales and marketing. And so when I saw myself and was in this situation with being confronted in a way I never would have imagined, certainly all of those things had to go on steroids, because who could imagine being closed down for 15 months due to a global pandemic? But I had already done those things. And so I think I was, it helped me. I think that's what leaders need to understand. I don't think you can go from one, only one thing to being successful during COVID if you weren't willing and able and had the experience of doing that along your way. I fully agree. I think that's what probably stopped you from breaking. Like, I think that I think that would break most people. Honestly, I look back and don't know how I did. I don't I still to this day don't know how I did it. But I did. I did. Good. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters. Right, exactly. Yeah. It's like sometimes, sometimes, you know, like shit happens and you just figure it out. And that's like, you know, all the anecdotes and the tropes and the life lessons later, it's just like, you know what? You just figure it out, which is easier said than done, obviously. Do you have, yeah, go ahead. It's so money. I put that in my, in one of the chapters. I can't even remember, but I was like, I had to, I was in a situation. I'm like, I just have to figure it out. And the editor, the publisher's editor came back and said, you know, what do you mean by that? No, you should say this. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to say that. Because what I said is exactly the truth. You just have to figure it out. Yeah. Is there any practices that you include in your life to be able to, whether or not it was something that you turned on during COVID and when you're helping your sister, or it could have just been something you learned over your entire career, like practices you include into your own life for you to be able to operate in like a 24-7, 365, high-stress environment that's really helped you? I mean, whether or not it's your routine, diet, like, I don't know, meditate, pick something. What really helps you like stay on point? It's interesting that for someone who has such a public persona and who has lived such a public life, and whether it's on the ships with our 20,000 crew members or speaking or, you know, having conversations like this, which are so inspiring and wonderful, I'm really a person of self-reflection. And I choose to... disconnect in a way that allows me to process. And I believe it has truly helped me cope with the stress, figure out, you know, it's, I've been with my husband since 1983. And that's a really long time. and maybe longer than many people listening to this podcast have been on planet Earth. But what's funny is that, you know, he knows that when I go quiet, it's because I need that space and I need that time to process it and be introspective and come up with my solution. And I am a person who does that. That's that's. the way I do it. Some people want to talk about it. Some people need a lot of input. I really need to just go into myself for a little while. And I do that every day, because every day, even still, there's something right that we're all dealing with. And that's my that's my coping mechanism. And that's how I, you know, get clarity. And that's how I figure out how I'm going to what's my way forward. Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.