What advice would you give to your younger self at the beginning of your career?

“The characteristics I value from my fellow executives is their ability to adapt to the local business environment and culture when they first set foot in Guam, as most hotel executives are expats from stateside or from another country where business climates and environments are totally different. In a small island like Guam, we can integrate ourselves into the society and call Guam our home away from home much easier.  We all become stakeholders for the betterment of Guam.  Last but not least and saving the best for last, my fellow executives have the biggest hearts and always generously donate or are involved in community fundraising events.”

“I value executives who exhibit candor, trust, and personal accountability. Candor allows us to address issues quickly and make informed decisions. Trust is the foundation of collaboration and without it, progress stalls. Accountability ensures each leader owns their actions and outcomes, preventing anyone from working in isolation. Good leadership teams are like families. For them to be high-functioning and successful, they must be built on these values. In business, working in isolation doesn’t earn you extra credit; what matters is achieving results through teamwork and collaboration. When leaders embrace these principles, the entire team thrives."

“Two words come out to me: ‘Prediction and Commitment.’ To lead the team, you need to understand what might happen in future. To come up with a story people believe, you need to collect info and analyze it and make a plan for [the] future. Prediction is important. To lead the team, you need to show how much you commit to the work and to the team [that] work for you. You are the only one to be able to create a working environment for your team with vision and attitude to the work and the team.”

“I value the characteristics in executives who are generous in sharing wealth and resources. It’s very important that we give something back to the community while engaging in business. We live in a small island and our business will have some impacts on people’s lives and impacts on our sensitive environment. And we need to show that we care about our citizens and our home. Blessings will flow much more abundantly when we share with those who are in need. Integrity, morality and discipline are vital traits for executives.”

“Having watched my grandpa and dad build our family business, here are a few characteristics I now find valuable in executives.

• Communication: It’s difficult to have hard conversations — you could be offered an opposing view, something that you didn’t necessarily want to hear but needed to hear. One can learn to appreciate that a different perspective is often times valuable.
• Approachability: executives with an open-door policy make it easier for others to approach them with questions/challenges at hand. Having collaborative discussions provides practical solutions to finding results. 
• Leadership through experience: leadership through experience comes from knowing that no task is beneath you. A real leader has put in the work and will never ask their team to do something they themselves wouldn’t do.”