Nick Mutton
“People are our greatest asset, and that’s not just a slogan. It’s something that we honestly believe and live up to.”
Nick Mutton believes that attitude is everything. The company’s stringent hiring process, where candidates go through a minimum of four interviews – including a final one with the General Manager – is all about understanding what motivates people. “Job skills can be taught later,” says Nick. “The quality of our people – their attitude, professionalism, personal growth – is actually what we are as a business. Our focus on attitude is paramount because engaged employees who care about our customers create our product, and that clearly contributes directly to our bottom line.”
With responsibility for close to 40,000 employees in 37 countries around the world, Nick concedes that uniformity is not the company’s goal. What really matters is developing confident, professional individuals who act on their instincts to provide service that is genuine. Nick says it takes a special type of person to lead a hotel in this direction. “Keeping a dynamic, upwardly mobile, constantly developing group of middle and senior management has been the key to the health of the company.”
In that context, Nick is always looking about three years into the future, considering anticipated openings, changing global travel patterns, evolving technologies, emerging social issues and succession planning – all factors that drive decisions today and prepare for success tomorrow.
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Career Highlights
- At Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts: joined in 1980 as Hotel Manager in Edmonton; appointed General Manager in 1982 in various hotels; appointed General Manager and Regional Vice President, The Ritz-Carlton Chicago (a Four Seasons Hotel) in 1989 and Senior Vice President, Operations in 1997; has held current position since 2003
- Previously: began hospitality career in England, and came to Canada while working with Skyline Hotels in 1975
- Education: graduated University College Birmingham (England) hotel school, 1969
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Community Involvement
- Canadian Opera Company and Canadian Opera House Corporation, Toronto (Board member)
- Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto (Patient Safety and Quality Committee member)
- United Way of Toronto (Committee member, Major Individual Gifts)
- Terry Fox Humanitarian Award, Toronto (Board member)
- METROLINX, Regional Transportation Authority (Board member)
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Associations
- International Tourism Partnership, London (Governing Council member)
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Personal Insights
- Proudest professional moments: in 2012, Fortune magazine’s naming Four Seasons an “All Star” and one of just 13 companies to appear on the annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list since its inception in 1998
- Fondest Four Seasons memories: working at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago (a Four Seasons Hotel) in the early 1990s, “it was a challenging time with new competitors in the city, including a new Four Seasons around the corner; but when the going gets tough, Four Seasons people get going, resulting in a major travel magazine voting us Best in the US for three years running”
- Dream vacation: fly fishing for trout with his son in Patagonia, Argentina
