Christophe Laure, General Manager of InterContinental Paris le Grand Hotel meets students

“The most difficult one when you hold a leadership position is the evolution of a management position to that of leader,” explains Christophe Laure, Paris Regional Director for IHG Hotels & Resorts and Managing Director of InterContinental Paris — Le Grand Hôtel, during a leadership seminar with Master's students in the Luxury Hotelschool.

“It's not because I am a manager, responsible for a department, that I am a leader,” he continues. “Being aware of the need to change the prism, to give priority to natural authority in power is already beginning to become a leader. This transition requires emotional intelligence, listening, empathy, humility... This is how you can unite around you, your vision and your values, motivate, stimulate and inspire your teams with the leitmotiv of fostering and accompanying the personal development of everyone.”

Rich with international experience after running InterContinental hotels in Egypt, Spain, Jordan, Oman or Malta, Christophe Laure insists, questioned by our students: “To become a virtuous leader, you need to get to know each other better, receive feedback from your teams, learn to question yourself and get out of its comfort zone. In my view, a leader works for his team, not the other way around.”

“It is very important for me to be able to give time to students of the Luxury Hotelschool whose courses correspond to our universe. I have a duty, humbly, to share my experience. As customers and professions in the hospitality industry evolve very quickly, these exchanges with students are even very profitable to question themselves.”