You meet a very few people who are an
authority on the work that they do. Their work is a reference for many others
and they create benchmarks that others follow. One such person is Prof. Cathy
Enz, Professor of strategy and currently the Associate Dean for Academic
Affairs, responsible for the review and development of all faculty. She
oversees the Office of Student Services as well at the prestigious Cornell
University, Ithaca, USA.
I was privileged to meet her last summer, not
only that but also attended a Professional Development Program delivered by
her. And God I was so impressed, she is a powerhouse – extremely knowledgeable,
talented and her enthusiasm is unmatched. She connected with every participant
and mind you the participants were over 38 professionals from more than 20
different countries. She shared many concrete real life examples through
storytelling and made the class truly dynamic and interesting. The PDP on
Innovation and Change Management was one the best that I have attended in my
career. In fact all courses I took were managed very professionally, I wouldn’t
have known what I missed had I not gone to the Cornell; I’ll be forever
grateful to my organization, The Park Hotels, India for giving me the opportunity.
Once back to my base and to the job that I love, I wrote to Prof. Enz, she
reverted in a warm email. I think it’s her persona to make everyone feel
special; I felt that all through my time at Cornell. That’s also the way
everyone there connected with her. Every delegate took a picture with
her; probably making her a part of his or her professional journey or
life per say. I wrote to her recently saying that I wished to share her
inspirational story on Indian Women in Hospitality (IWH) of which I am the
Founder. She was very prompt in her reply; she just made my day saying that
she’d revert with details and here comes her story. Infact I was reading the
PDP reviews on the Executive Education of Cornell University where my review
features at the top, what drew my attention was a review that was just one
sentence and it was, ‘Cathy Enz really number one!!!’ That speaks
volumes about the dynamic lady.
IWH features stories of Indian women who have
contributed to the growth of the industry in India or around the globe and have
made worthy contributions. Prof. Enz to me is a global hospitality leader and
educationist who has inspired many professionals from around the world and
mentored hundreds of them. It is an honour to feature her on this platform.
Prof. Enz currently serves as the associate
dean for academic affairs in the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell
University. Her prior administrative roles included serving as associate dean
for industry research and affairs, executive director of the Center for
Hospitality Research, and school management area coordinator. Prior to her
academic activities, Prof. Enz held several industry positions, including
strategy development analyst in the office of corporate research for a large
financial services organization and operations manager responsible for
Midwestern United States customer service and logistics in the dietary food
service division of a large U.S. health care corporation. Prof. Cathy Enz
received her Ph. D from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University
and taught on the faculty of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana
University prior to her embarking on her professional journey at Cornell in
1990.
The Early Life
Prof. Cathy Enz was born and raised in the
Western United States in Arizona. Her parents were an interesting mix of
early Americans – her mother’s ancestors came to America from England in the
1600s and fought in the American Revolution. Her father’s family arrived
in America from Switzerland in the early 20th century. Prof.
Enz grew up in a musical family, her mother was a professionally trained
vocalist and pianist (and school teacher) and her father was an engineer.
For her it was the perfect blend of science and art in harmony.
Her focus at University was on business, and
her Ph.D. dissertation was about the impact of value sharing on power dynamics
within organizations.
She began her career working for local
government with city planners, working on land use and serving as the
clerk for several commercial development and planning groups. Prof. Enz
then worked for the Dietary Products division of a large pharmaceutical company
after college, as a manager of customer service and product delivery to hospitals
as their primary clients. This she says was mostly a logistics challenge
getting special needs food products to a large network of hospitals. Later
while getting her Ph.D she worked for the Office of Corporate Research for a
large financial services company, doing dedicated research for various
subsidiaries. She has been a professor at two large public universities, and
for the last 28 years she has been a professor at Cornell. Prof. Enz has
consulted extensively to the hospitality industry – helping firms to manage
change and introduce new strategies to enhance performance.
High Points of Her Career
Prof. Cathy Enz successfully built initiatives
when she served as the Executive Director of the Center for Hospitality
Research (2000-2003); Her research on pricing and hotel performance was
conducted in multiple countries and also in the golf industry. She also
developed online courses and a change simulation to help students worldwide.
Awards, Accomplishments and Accolades
·
Outstanding Teacher of
the Year Awards from the students on numerous occasions.
·
Awards for Hospitality
Industry Research Relevance – for work on pricing.
·
Outstanding author
contributions / Best paper and academic paper awards from journals and academic
conferences.
·
The Michael Olsen
Research Award – for her contributions to Hospitality Research.
One notable award was for Best Practitioner
Paper that was written with her daughter Elizabeth James, who works in the
industry. This paper was presented at the Revenue Management &
Pricing in Services Conference. The mother daughter duo later published the
paper, it was her daughter’s first published paper.
Given below is the link to the paper: Enz, Cathy A. and James, E.
(2016) “Beyond Channel Mix Management: Building Within OTA Metrics and
Strategies.” Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management.
doi:10.1057/s41272-016-0033-5
She has published over one hundred journal
articles and book chapters, as well as five books in the area of strategic
management and innovation. Her research has been published in a wide variety of
prestigious academic and hospitality journals, such as Administrative Science
Quarterly, The Academy of Management Journal, and The Cornell Hospitality
Quarterly.
She teaches courses in innovation and
strategic management and is the recipient of both outstanding teaching and
research awards. She developed the Hospitality Change Simulation, a learning
tool for the introduction of effective change which is available as an online
education program of eCornell. Three strategic management courses are also
available through eCornell. Prof. Enz also presents numerous executive programs
around the world, consults extensively in North America, and serves on the
Board of Directors of two privately owned hotel companies.
I just couldn’t resist the lure of the big
opportunity that was there in front of me to get the most out of this truly
empowered and dynamic lady. I posed a few questions to her and she more
than graciously answered them.
IWH: What challenges have you faced as a woman
in the industry?
Prof. Enz: We did a study of women in hospitality which
speaks to a broader set of challenges that women face in the industry. We
interviewed many successful women and found that some of the common challenges
include: Not providing flexibility to accommodate mid-career needs including
making adjustments for women during the period of their lives when they are
having children and balancing work and family. Not having role models of
senior women who can model leadership and management skills and help to advance
women.
Many of the challenges women face have existed
for a long time and companies that think innovatively and help to accommodate
and retain talented women are few, but benefit from the hard work and loyalty
of these women.
Links to the studies:
See Walsh, K., Fleming, C., and Enz, Cathy A.
Enz, (2016) “Give and You Shall Receive: Investing In The Careers Of Women
Professionals,” Career Development International, Vol. 21, Iss 2.
Walsh, K., Fleming, S., and Enz, Cathy A.
(2014) “Developing High-Level Leaders in Hospitality: Advice for Retaining
Female Talent,” Center for Hospitality Research Report, Vol. 14, No. 5.
IWH: What do you think of IWH?
Prof. Enz: I think it is wonderful! I support your efforts and
believe that you are helping provide support, role models, and insights to
other women.
IWH: Your advice to the young professionals
and students.
Prof. Enz: Think strategically about your career. Advocate for
your own voice and opinions. Seek out advice from diverse
individuals. Speak up when you need to and don’t expect others to rescue
you. Learn from all of your bosses, good and bad, and when necessary
change jobs, take risks, and believe in stretching. You can learn on the
job, you do not need to be perfect before you jump in.
What an enlightening conversation I had with
Prof. Enz! IWH and I are grateful to her beyond words.
Website: http://www.theiwh.com/
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