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What is Your Style of Decision-Making? Strategize for Influence.

Imagine unlocking the secret to success in both business and day-to-day life. It’s all rooted in one critical talent: strategic decision-making – the essence of exceptional leadership, the engine driving meaningful change, and the spark igniting innovation.

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, adjunct professor in Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business, is a pioneer in shaping our understanding of this crucial skill. She is an accomplished author, educator, the creator of the AREA Method – a game-changing problem-solving approach – and the author of the Complex Decision-Making Cornell certificate program.

Her insights have reshaped how leaders steer their decision-making strategies and offer valuable lessons for navigating the complexity of the corporate world and your career.

Einhorn shared some key decision-making guidelines in a recent Keynotes webcast hosted by eCornell:

Understanding Strategic Choices

Einhorn believes that our problem-solving styles are behaviors with which we feel most adept and comfortable. She asserts, “we all have a comfort, a dominant problem solver profile. And we can all become more dynamic problem solvers.” This perspective champions the inherent adaptability within each of us to navigate different problem-solving styles.

The Adaptability of Problem-Solving Styles

Contrary to popular belief, problem-solving styles aren’t prescriptive. Instead, they offer space for adaptability and growth. Acknowledging our problem-solving styles provides a valuable opportunity for self-awareness and interpersonal development.

Einhorn defines five distinct styles of decision making that offer unique perspectives into the world of strategic problem solving:

The Adventurer: Einhorn describes the adventurer as “a very decisive decision maker. She knows what she wants. The future is endlessly more interesting than the present.”

The Detective: With a strong need for concrete evidence, the detective is “a slower decision maker because she wants to find data.”

The Listener: This style of decision maker is “relational, collaborative, trusting,” Eihorn said. “She emphasizes the importance of gathering input, and she likes to gather the wisdom and opinions of others.”

The Thinker: Someone who “values understanding the why and thinking about the different options.” This style represents a “thoughtful, careful decision maker.”

The Visionary: “A big, creative, out-of-the-box thinker.” Einhorn warns, however, that “this kind of decision maker could have a planning fallacy.” Visionaries can dream big and are often the source of innovative ideas, but they must stay grounded to avoid unrealistic expectations.

Decision-making styles are dynamic, changeable over time, and influenced by various factors such as age, experiences, and environments. For example, your style at work might differ from your style at home. Einhorn explains that you have the freedom to choose your problem-solving style based on the situation: “You could decide that you want to plan a meal as a visionary. You want to take a vacation as an adventurer. You want to buy insurance as a detective. And each of these opportunities are available to you once you understand the five different profiles.”

No “Perfect” Combination

Harnessing the power of strategic decision makers isn’t about achieving a “perfect” combination of problem-solving styles. The real value lies in understanding and leveraging diverse profiles to become more effective leaders.

Awareness of these profiles can offer insights into the kind of information each leader needs and highlight any cognitive biases that might obstruct effective problem solving. “You can learn what this means that you’re good at and the places where each of us might have mental mistakes that are most relevant to getting in our way. And then how we can make better choices together,” Einhorn said.

With this knowledge, we can fill gaps in perspective, ensure a more comprehensive understanding of situations, and contribute more effectively to collective problem-solving processes to foster strategic leadership and decision making.

In mastering the craft of strategic leadership, we pave our own route toward personal and professional achievement. Adopt an introspective approach and learn to leverage your unique problem-solving styles in Cornell’s Complex Decision-Making certificate program. You’ll gain a dynamic skill set to boost your confidence, empower your choices, and drive significant change in all aspects of your life.

Watch Einhorn’s Making Difficult Decisions Keynote webcast on the eCornell website.

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Navigating the Future of Hospitality Management

Labor market shifts and workforce issues continue to challenge the hospitality industry due to the lingering effects of global travel restrictions and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. With decreased interest in hospitality jobs, many people exited the industry, creating a need for new talent and a push to bring back those who left. The profitability of travel and tourism businesses relies on how well hospitality leaders can address these issues.

In the Keynote webcast, “The Next 100 Years: Hospitality Workforce of Tomorrow,” industry experts J.D. Barnes, vice president of global workforce innovation and optimization at Hilton, and Katherine Grass, CEO of Optii, joined Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration faculty J. Bruce Tracey, professor of management; Vincent Slaugh, assistant professor of operations management and Tashlin Lakhani, assistant professor of management and organizations, to share valuable insights on adapting and thriving in the evolving landscape of human resources in the hospitality industry.

How have pandemic-induced labor market shifts transformed the landscape of HR in hospitality? 

Barnes: “The emerging trends around greater flexibility, the reset from the pandemic, the rise of the gig economy – all of these considerations are things that are now impacting the labor market. At Hilton, we’re keen on embedding greater flexibility, choice and control, bringing in the best talent and modernizing some of the roles and assignments within our hotels to make them more appealing to different generations.”

Grass: “It’s all about how to keep these new entrants into hospitality happy. How do you train them? How do you make things very easy for them? How do you engage in ways that maybe, as J.D. was saying, they were used to in other industries and offering that flexibility. And sometimes the challenge of hospitality is offering flexibility in new ways because you don’t always have that work-from-home option.”

What are some ways hospitality HR professionals can attract and retain talent?

Barnes: “We have an ability to bring in students who might not have traditionally looked at our employment because they can’t give up an eight-hour shift when they’re working in between classes or managing a workload. For them what’s important is a four, five, six-hour shift, which is why they may have looked at gig endeavors. And then similarly, (we have) encore retirees and people who have left the workforce but want some level of flexibility in between their retirement to pick up a different level of work.”

Lakhani: “We really need to focus I think on the retention and the growth opportunities, telling the stories but also creating the stories, showing them that there are opportunities for growth and that they can see their colleague being promoted to positions, and that there is really a space for them to grow and have a lifelong career.”

Grass: “There’s all these different (talent) pools coming in who maybe are not familiar with hospitality, so how can you embrace them, how can you help them, how can you train them and bring them into the culture as quickly as possible?”

Which positions are first in line when it comes to redesigning work?

Barnes: “I do think that housekeeping, in particular, is one of the biggest areas in our hotels from a staffing perspective. If you look at the contribution that those team members make in terms of the guest experience and the amount of time they take in preparing a room, that experience is important.”

Lakhani: “Some of the most severe labor shortages are in housekeeping or in the back of the house – where we can’t create hybrid work.”

Barnes: “The more information we can gather ahead of the arrival of the customer, the more we can infuse that into the actions that our team members take in delivering that service and experience. Technology is playing a big part in making sure that it’s seamless, that it’s fast, and that the preferences are known.”

What are the influences of AI and other technologies on hospitality management?

Barnes: “We’ve incorporated AI from a training perspective in our ability to use virtual reality in helping team members understand what their duties are, how to personalize services, the sequence of steps and things like that. It’s really interesting for us to think about how we’ve morphed training across some of our hotels.”

Slaugh: “I think we completely miss frontline service work as a domain for analytics. There’s a lot of opportunity for growth. In recent years, I’ve worked on a hotel’s housekeeping scheduling problem. And that’s just a new model for our field.”

Barnes: “Things like text messaging recruiting. A lot of this AI technology is coming in here. Being able to schedule a candidate and say, hey, come in three days. We’ll be able to interview you in person. We’ve got to modernize a lot of that approach to recruiting.”

Grass: “Just even the diversity on the language front when you are managing departments: There can be a dozen languages spoken, so how does your software in real time translate conversations for them? We ensure that we do inline and real-time translations so that if a team leader is communicating something in Spanish, everyone is receiving that in their (preferred) language. All those communications are happening in real time. It’s giving that sense of community and ensuring that everyone has a voice and can make that voice be completely understood.”

How can leaders in hospitality increase the industry’s appeal?

Lakhani: “We’ve seen innovation. We’ve seen compensation go up. But I think there’s still work to be done in terms of changing the perception of what it means to work in hospitality.”

Grass: “When you have this personal connection and personal interaction, (you ask) how can the technologies help me eliminate or simplify the rinse-and-repeat that gets a bit monotonous, especially for people who are new to an industry and step in and say, ‘Oh, this is really kind of same-old, same-old every day.’ How can you smarten up and remove that monotonous bit to allow people to have more quality time to interact with the guest in better ways?”

Barnes: “The greater desire is for us to continue to emphasize that life doesn’t have to fit into work, that work should fit into your life. And so enabling that functionality, enabling that choice and control for our team members across all our hotels. It’s also the flexibility of allowing that choice and control for the team member and for them to inform us about what works for them.”

Explore Cornell’s hospitality certificate programs to gain an edge in today’s transforming industry and prepare for the workforce of tomorrow.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Experience the full webcast “The Next 100 Years: Hospitality Workforce of Tomorrow” here.

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4 ESG Strategies for Corporate Sustainable Development and Omnichannel Success

Corporations play a significant role in improving global sustainability through their supply chain, production and management choices. While the careful development of eco-friendly products and services is essential, business leaders must not forget about their customers in the process. Omnichannel strategies can raise awareness of sustainable options and innovations that meet consumers where they are.

In the recent webcast, “Omnichannel Meets Sustainability: Strategies for Incorporating Sustainability Into Omnichannel Business Models,” industry leaders joined Dan Hooker, director of Cornell’s Omnichannel Leadership Immersion Program and senior lecturer in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, to share four corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies for achieving sustainable development goals that protect the environment, increase revenue and improve customer loyalty.

1. Adapt to Pandemic-Driven Culture Shifts

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift in consumer behavior, pushing businesses to reevaluate their sustainability practices. Consumers are shopping more on phones, choosing delivery instead of in-person grocery shopping and making online orders instead of first checking out products in brick-and-mortar locations. The results are increased demand for goods that require packaging and growth in the delivery industry.

In the new homebody economy, businesses will need to get creative in reducing their environmental footprint and adopting better ESG practices.

“Our packaging commitment is to achieve 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by the end of 2025,” said Janelle Meyers, chief sustainability officer at Kellogg Company. “We have three key approaches: reducing packaging usage across our portfolio by decreasing total packaging weight wherever possible, excluding certain plastic items in packaging materials and redesigning packaging to be more recyclable or compostable, whether it is going into brick-and-mortar stores or if it’s going online.”

2. Gauge Consumer Reluctance

When customers are resistant to eco-friendly alternatives and their higher costs, businesses can increase understanding and adoption of sustainable options through education. Businesses can also emphasize the long-term benefits of environmental action, appealing to consumers’ sense of social and ethical responsibility.

“If you ask our customers if they would value more sustainable recyclable packaging, over 85% would absolutely agree. If you then ask them if they would be willing to pay for it, about 60% would agree,” said Erik Weenink, director of pricing and promotion at Giant Food, an Ahold Delhaize subsidiary. “However, when we give them the choice in the store, less than 20% of our customers will vote with their wallets.”

“At the very individual level, people have to recognize that they’re part of mitigating the impacts of climate change by actually making consumer choices. There’s a lot of opportunity to use the omnichannel approach and meet the person where they are on the educational side of the new innovations out there,” said Devry Vorwerk, founder and CEO of DevryBV Sustainable Strategies.

3. Integrate ESG Practices Companywide – and Industrywide

To genuinely embrace sustainable management, businesses must go beyond communication and escape the perception of greenwashing. ESG practices should be integrated into organizational design, logistics and budgeting.

At Kellogg Company, the sustainability core team is embedded in the supply chain, ethics and compliance organizations, with aligned goals across departments. According to Meyers, the corporation’s custom of a quarterly council enables the coordination of objectives at cross-functional global and regional levels.

Collaboration between various players in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, including retailers and delivery services, is equally important for achieving sustainable development goals. These organizations can create synergies that promote environmentally responsible behaviors. When working with external contractors and vendors, corporations can improve ESG goal compliance through the transparency provided by certifications and demonstrate commitment to sustainability across the entire value chain.

“We can’t do it alone. We want to make sure that we not only say these things and set these goals, but that when we perform and report against them, that it is what we actually do,” Weenink said. “That’s why we work with third parties to provide transparency. It is through partnership that we can achieve that.”

4. Attract Customers with Sustainability Impact Programs

Sustainable practices – and effective communication of their importance – can be a powerful force in attracting eco-conscious consumers. However, corporations can also incentivize customers to choose sustainable options by making them easily accessible, affordable and beneficial. Ahold Delhaize promotes recyclable products as part of its Loop program, in which customers receive reusable containers they can later return for a rebate.

A tangible product is not always necessary to generate the same impact. In partnership with Kennedy Rice, Syngenta and Regrow, Kellogg assists growers in reducing methane production from rice cultivation. Effective marketing of programs like Kellogg’s inGrained initiative can drive consumers to purchase from these brands.

“We hosted over 200 retailtainment events. There was a booth that helps consumers understand the benefits of soil health and how our program is helping improve the soil health in the Louisiana rice program. We’re pretty excited. We just closed that pilot year. We’re looking forward to our second year,” said Meyers.

Corporations can make a significant impact by pursuing ESG efforts that promote responsible consumption and production. In this year’s Omnichannel Leadership Immersion Program at the Cornell Tech campus in New York City, global business leaders will join Cornell faculty experts to discuss best practices for engaging in sustainable development as well as optimizing the customer experience and strengthening operations through technology, data analytics and change management. Apply to participate in the program this June.

Ready to discover the latest sustainability best practices for your business? Learn about Cornell’s certificate programs in sustainable business and corporate sustainability.