”Management is about dealing with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is coping with change.” - John Kotter, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School
In the hospitality industry, Anna Marie Presutti gained global recognition in 2006 when she was appointed the first female vice president of Japanese-owned Nikko Hotels International, which operates 79 properties around the world.
Appointed also the first female general manager of Hotel Nikko San Francisco in the same year, Presutti has been named one of The Most Influential Women in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times for nine straight years.
Asked how she has maintained her passion for her work over the years, she said: “General managers, when they move around a lot, look for as close to the perfect hotel as they can find. There are a lot of moving parts. For me, I found that here. I've had a great relationship with our ownership. Our employee base is amazing, and the management company is incredibly supportive.”
Since Hotel Nikko San Francisco checked in its first guests in 1987, its management has embraced innovation and change, the core of the concept of adaptive leadership defined by Harvard professors and authors Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifetz.
Hotel Nikko San Francisco’s commitment to excellence was clearest when it underwent a sweeping $60 million renovation to mark its 30th anniversary in the city. The hotel’s three-month renovation introduced structural and design upgrades to its facilities, overall infrastructure and technological features.
"When Hotel Nikko San Francisco first opened, it represented the most advanced technological and architectural hotel design available of its time. We are happy to continue that legacy," said Presutti.
Apart from overseeing Hotel Nikko, Presutti is working closely with her fellow hoteliers to reinvigorate San Francisco as a major convention destination, a project that has the support of political leaders.
The collective effort to revive San Francisco coincides with the definition of leadership by Prof. Richard L. Daft, an expert in organizational behavior and design, which is the ability to influence behavior within a group in order to effect real change that reflects their shared purpose.
As San Francisco still grapples with the effects of a prolonged COVID-19 lockdown, the exodus of tech companies, and the wholesale closure of office and retail space, it will take an extraordinary group of managers and leaders to bring back business. Luckily, for Hotel Nikko, Presutti appears to fit the bill.
