Ralph Radtke was general manager of Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul in Turkey when I spoke with him for The Luxury of Attention. The book notes that he also holds the role of Regional Vice President.
Radtke named, more clearly than most of the leaders I interviewed, the precondition that makes empowerment last. Trusting a team to make the right decisions and act on them depends on having hired the right people for the right jobs in the first place. Once those people are in place and trusted to deliver, something happens that most general managers do not expect. The leader gains confidence in their own decisions rather than losing it, because they are no longer making every decision personally and can give their judgment to the few questions that need it.
“One of the most important aspects of leadership is to trust your team to make the right decisions, and empower them to take action as necessary.” Ralph Radtke, then general manager, Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul
He was equally direct about technology. He told me he had noticed technology becoming a top priority for some luxury hotels, and he considered that a mistake. His rule was simple. Technology belongs in the guest experience only so far as it adds to that experience. The moment it becomes an end in itself, it has crossed a line. I adopted his formulation as the operating rule of the chapter on the human touch: technology that adds to the human experience stays, and technology that substitutes for it does not.
In the book, Ralph Radtke appears in Chapter 5, Giving the Keys, where his account explains why hiring well is the foundation of any attempt to hand authority to a team; and in Chapter 8, The Human Touch, where his caution about technology sets the boundary for everything the chapter says about tools in a luxury property.
“Technology must be carefully integrated into the guest experience, but only insofar as it adds to that experience, rather than becoming an end unto itself.” Ralph Radtke, then general manager, Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul