Dan Hanrahan Leaving Celebrity

[Karynanne]

In light of the discussion about whether or not product knowledge is necessary to be a good CEO - Do you think a person with no experience in the cruise industry would be able to run Celebrity Cruise Line as well as someone who has it?

 

IMHO, I do think that someone outside of the cruise industry, with the right creditials, could be a productive CEO of Celebrity Cruise Line. Maybe the potential candidates will come from various transportation and hospitality (hotel) sectors. I'm sure they'll find someone competent that will be approved by the Board of Directors and that the stockholders will be pleased to have as their CEO.

[Karynanne]

The discussion about when hospitals were run by doctors, who were concerned with providing the best medical care possible, vs the way they are run now by business people, who are only concerned with the bottom line, illustrates a very important point.

 

What constitutes a successful business or professional organization? Is it making the most money possible or having a reputation for quality and being better than its competition? If it is the former, than Carnival is a much more successful cruise line than Celebrity because it is has a higher profit margin.

 

You bring up a good point. A business has to define itself either as a Non-Profit, or For-Profit.

 

Most Dr.'s in private practice do not run a non-profit business. They are business people first, that happen to either be medical doctors, dentists, vets, etc. It doesn't mean that they don't care about their patients...but to keep the doors open, and their staff and vendors paid, they must make a profit. And hospital are no different. They have to be run by a skilled administration that keeps the organization profitable so the community can be given adequate care.

[cruising teacher]

I wonder what changes a new CEO will make to Celebrity? They could certainly choose someone who is outside of the cruise industry with fresh ideas, good or bad, and not just let everything be status quo. Just hopefully not too many bad ones!:(

Love the Celebrity product. I just hope they don't change the Loyalty Program. Unless the change is to create an Elite Plus Level:)

[Bridge Maven]

You bring up a good point. A business has to define itself either as a Non-Profit, or For-Profit.

 

Most Dr.'s in private practice do not run a non-profit business. They are business people first, that happen to either be medical doctors, dentists, vets, etc. It doesn't mean that they don't care about their patients...but to keep the doors open, and their staff and vendors paid, they must make a profit. And hospital are no different. They have to be run by a skilled administration that keeps the organization profitable so the community can be given adequate care.

 

There is also something in between. That is being concerned with making enough money to stay afloat, as well as some profit, but being more concerned about the quality of medical care provided than making the most money possible.

 

I know a lot about physicians because my father was a Radiologist at a time when Radiologists did both diagnostic Radiology, as well as what oncologists do today (cancer specialist), and I have many relatives who are anesthesiologists and surgeons. My father was, also, the founder of a large medical center and served as its medical director from the time of its inception until the time of his death. Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, was my father's cousin. We also have many very good friends who are physicians. All of them were/are more concerned with providing the best medical care possible than being very wealthy.

 

To relate this to Celebrity - If Celebrity hires a new CEO that is more concerned with being as profitable as possible than providing the best product possible, it will be good for the bottom line but not for its client base.

[C 2 C]

The purpose of a company in the capitalist system is to make profit for its stockholders. I doubt that any company can remain profitable unless it keeps its (most of its) customers happy. Someone who understands the hospitality business will do fine. A CEO is only as good as the advisers that are employed. I hope that the next CEO is a good listener ...

 

is tech savvy so that the website gets fixed,

is a good communicator so that the message from Miami is consistent,

loves loyalty programs,

and loves formal nights... :D

 

 

Royal Caribbean's profit drops 40% in first quarter to $47 million

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-04-20/business/fl-royal-caribbean-earnings-20120420_1_booking-patterns-richard-d-fain-azamara-club-cruises

[tally10]

There is also something in between. That is being concerned with making enough money to stay afloat, as well as some profit, but being more concerned about the quality of medical care provided than making the most money possible.

 

I know a lot about physicians because my father was a Radiologist at a time when Radiologists did both diagnostic Radiology, as well as what oncologists do today (cancer specialist), and I have many relatives who are anesthesiologists and surgeons. My father was, also, the founder of a large medical center and served as its medical director from the time of its inception until the time of his death. Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, was my father's cousin. We also have many very good friends who are physicians. All of them were/are more concerned with providing the best medical care possible than being very wealthy.

 

To relate this to Celebrity - If Celebrity hires a new CEO that is more concerned with being as profitable as possible than providing the best product possible, it will be good for the bottom line but not for its client base.

 

You said it perfectly. Look at the one who took over for JC Penney. He tried a new strategy to make Penneys more hip and revamped the way they advertised, yet according to what I have read in the business magazines, it was a big flop and the company has lost a ton of money. I think with any company, you have to give what the customers want or you will lose out. Yet on the other hand, you don't want it to be stagnant. Same issue as what we discussed before about hospitals. The "old way" was not good and the insurance companies were instrumental in changing the system. Yet to be profitable, they cut the patient to staff ratios and compromised the care. Very scary to be in a hospital today unless you have an advocate. It is apples to oranges between a cruise line and a hospital but there has to be a middle ground.

[chelsea_gal]

Interesting set of varying opinions on this thread :) and whilst I have not clocked up as many celebrity cruises as some here. So I have no knowledge of how good or different Celebrity was in the past . All I will say is that I wish Dan Hanrahan well.

 

The "Solstice" class of ships are very good and the debate on the specialty restaurants I am sure they will continue for many threads to come. We personally dont mind paying to visit them as we look at it as being no different to going out to a restaurant its optional and you don't have if you don't want too. The food in the MDR has always seem for us to be as good and if not better in some areas than some of the other lines we have been on.

But then each line caters I believe to a certain style of cruiser so we always expect that there will be some difference.

 

The cruise industry I suspect is under huge expectations from shareholders to perform and give shareholder value . So I can imagine that it would be a hard job for whoever is in that position to balance both consumer satisfaction and shareholder return on investment without there be some /cuts/reduction or changes along the way.

 

As I said I wish Dan Hanrahan well in his next appointment and whoever takes over the same, hoping that at minimum the parts that has attractive us to Celebrity will be continued by the new appointee.

[Bridge Maven]

In light of the discussion about whether or not product knowledge is necessary to be a good CEO - Do you think a person with no experience in the cruise industry would be able to run Celebrity Cruise Line as well as someone who has it?

 

Does anyone have an answer to the question quoted above?

[uktog]

There is no correct answer, there is a lot of research about the relationship between the success of an organisation and the background of the CEO all of it inconclusive when viewed across all the relevant indicators of success. Too much knowledge and too little knowledge about the detail of the industry can both be serious inhibitors. It depends on the structure the CEO places in the levels immediately below him or her and the extent to which they lead and the extent to which they take upward feedback from those on that bench. It also depends on the inbuilt culture of the organisation - are they accepting of change and innovation or not. Many times outsiders have struggled in organisations, not because they were the wrong hire but because the pace of change in the organisation was too slow and there was an inherent resistance culture.

 

An outsider can ask the "elephant in the room questions" more easily than the insider - that is the question that everyone knows ought to be asked or the issue that ought to be tackled but no one dares to ask it. New kids on the block have much more permission to ask these questions than those who should know the block.

 

With all new CEOs it is the first 100 days that really tell - and there are many leadership texts written on this. Its about how they hit the ground running without running too fast and tripping themselves up and how they prepare themselves for the race with those around them. It is also about the "style" they adopt in the race and taking the culture of the organisation into account - the type of ground they are runningon

 

So there is no answer to your question

[swedish weave]

Product knowledge is not as important for a CEO as is the ability to ferret out the weaknesses and make the hard calls for correction. That means surrounding himself with people who will be candid with him and support his decisions.

[greeneg]

Product knowledge is not as important for a CEO as is the ability to ferret out the weaknesses and make the hard calls for correction. That means surrounding himself with people who will be candid with him and support his decisions.

 

I think that " being able to listen to those people without bias, particularly if their opinions differ from his ( or hers, as the case may well be.)" needs to be added to the above. Notice please, that I used listen; a good CEO should always listen to people at all the levels with which he interacts-- not necessarily do it their way, but at listen and evaluate their input.

 

IMHO, that's what makes good management. Being a quick learner probably helps also.

 

Ed

[dncdt1]

Dondra Ritzenthaler Sr VP Sales as a replacement

[uktog]

I was just working on some stuff this afternoon and thought I would share some of it here. It is part of a piece of work I am doing on what makes great leaders - and in a great leader I take it to be a CEO.

 

The work I am doing is all based on the concept of learning agility, that is the willingness and ability to develop new competences in order to perform in a situation, either for the first time or under tough or very different circumstances. These are all situations a CEO in a cruise line can experience - first time if they are from outside the industry or even from within the industry but having to tackle something for the first time, tough can be economic or other situations and different circumstances are those situations where no rule book has yet been written.

 

The crux is that where someone has a a high degree of learning agility they are far more likely to succeed.

 

You measure learning agility across five dimensions, and great leaders show high agility in all five dimensions, many have been mentioned here already. They are

People - an ability to be charasmatic, to work with and through people

Results - an ability to deliver results in a range of situations

Mental - to have the ability to assimilate information quickly and to spot patterns in information that would lead you to believe what course of action to take or not take

Change - an ability to bring people along in times of change and the courage to drive change at the right time

The fifth dimension has only recently been added and is the one many people think is the most telling - self awareness - an ability to assess the impact of their behaviour on others

 

When applying these dimensions, there are again 5 roles the leader has to perform - innovating, performing, reflecting, risking and defending.

 

So, the next CEO needs to be someone who has high levels of learning agility and cand apply these in all five roles as a leader. Nowhere does it say in any of this there does or does not need to be an indepth knowledge of the cruise industry, but if I was recruiting someone from outside the industry I sure would want them to have top 1% scores in mental agility

[TLCOhio]

You said it perfectly. Look at the one who took over for JC Penney. He tried a new strategy to make Penneys more hip and revamped the way they advertised, yet according to what I have read in the business magazines, it was a big flop and the company has lost a ton of money. I think with any company, you have to give what the customers want or you will lose out. Yet on the other hand, you don't want it to be stagnant. Same issue as what we discussed before about hospitals. The "old way" was not good and the insurance companies were instrumental in changing the system. Yet to be profitable, they cut the patient to staff ratios and compromised the care. Very scary to be in a hospital today unless you have an advocate. It is apples to oranges between a cruise line and a hospital but there has to be a middle ground.

 

Lots of good, interesting, thoughtful sharing on this thread. Great example on the mess with JCPenney. Real flop.

 

Solving health care and hospitals?? That one is much more complex and challenging than these boards can magically make disappear. We all want the best, newest care/technology, plus at a price of nearly "free" and/or cheap with someone else paying. Not easy to make that business model work!!

 

Cruise lines and most operations in our society face serious, long-term economic and service challenges.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 92,700 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[wwcruisers]

Does anyone have an answer to the question quoted above?

 

Maven -- I'm certainly no expert on what it takes to run a company, but my short answer to that question would have to be a resounding NO. On paper, it's just too easy to reduce a cruise line operation to the status of a floating hotel -- but there is so much more to it than that. IMHO, anyone coming in from "outside" the cruise industry to take over as CEO would face a monumental learning curve -- to say the least.

[Palms2007]

Hopefully, his successor will replace the entire web/internet organization and we'll get a useful/useable web site with accurate information and acceptable speed; they will educate the customer service reps so if you call twice you get the same, correct answer; and the entire management staff will take on public faces rather than "internet manager" or "manager of social media" with no names and no way to contact them.

 

We couldn't agree more.

[curiouscat]

I'm thinking there will be a lot more shakeups to come... I know a lot of other employees transferring to other RCCL divisions from X....:eek:

 

 

CC

[wwcruisers]

I'm thinking there will be a lot more shakeups to come... I know a lot of other employees transferring to other RCCL divisions from X....:eek:

 

 

CC

 

OK -- dish! Who's leaving and why? (Inquiring minds want to know!) ;)

[Bridge Maven]

Maven -- I'm certainly no expert on what it takes to run a company, but my short answer to that question would have to be a resounding NO. On paper, it's just too easy to reduce a cruise line operation to the status of a floating hotel -- but there is so much more to it than that. IMHO, anyone coming in from "outside" the cruise industry to take over as CEO would face a monumental learning curve -- to say the least.

 

wwcruisers - I agree with you :)

[C 2 C]

In light of the discussion about whether or not product knowledge is necessary to be a good CEO - Do you think a person with no experience in the cruise industry would be able to run Celebrity Cruise Line as well as someone who has it?

 

If experience in the field is so important, why is the "Hairspray" industry hiring an expert in the cruising industry. I think management skills trumps hands-on experience. A good CEO can succeed despite not having worked in that industry just as an expert in the field can mess up big time. Look at all the experts who bankrupted much of the automotive industry, or the experts at JP Morgan who had a $6 billion "oops" moment. I don't think that a novice to the company produced the Edsel nor an expert who created the PC. Sometimes a new set of eyes can produce wonders.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

If your post includes comments such as : "the other post was deleted"... as worthy as your post might be, it will be deleted, as it's discussing forum moderation, and is against our Guidelines.

 

Our Guidelines are available for review here : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/faq.php?faq=guidelines

 

Please do not respond to this post, and let's continue on with the discussion. Thanks very much !

[Andy]

If experience in the field is so important, why is the "Hairspray" industry hiring an expert in the cruising industry. I think management skills trumps hands-on experience. A good CEO can succeed despite not having worked in that industry just as an expert in the field can mess up big time. Look at all the experts who bankrupted much of the automotive industry, or the experts at JP Morgan who had a $6 billion "oops" moment. I don't think that a novice to the company produced the Edsel nor an expert who created the PC. Sometimes a new set of eyes can produce wonders.

 

Totally agree Nereus !

[Bridge Maven]

I agree that a person with product knowledge who is lacking in management skills can be a disaster. At the same time, I feel that a person lacking in product knowledge might not be in a good position to judge how to increase profits without alienating their client base.

 

Of course, it is always possible to reinvent a company so that it loses its original client base but replaces it with a new one. There are many department stores that once sold quality merchandise, but now sell inferior products at lower prices. Most of them have lost their original client base but are now filled with shoppers who couldn't afford to buy there when they had better merchandise.

[Lois R]

I agree with whoever posted about having more input with the internet.

I know there are different positions throughout large companies and IT

would probably have their own supervisor (whoever they may be)

but it seems in 2012 the web is a MAJOR part of sales/products

etc.

Hoping whoever this new person is? PLEASE see if you can have 1)

either a more user friendly site or 2) at least make the one you have

now more user friendly.

[FLACRUISER99]

Has there been any new news or rumors on a replacement as time is getting short. It's almost 8/1/2012.:eek: