MEINIG FAMILY CORNELL NATIONAL SCHOLARS
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Ryan Pernice '07
Hotel Administration
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“Leadership is about people, mutual responsibilities, and ethics; practical experience and intentions of contributing a positive influence to society.”
1) Describe how your experiences at Cornell through the lens of a National Scholar align with this philosophy.
What amazed me about the Scholars – and I suppose is one of the things I’ll miss most about Cornell – is that everyone in the organization seemed so eager to make a positive impact on the University. None of us were passive in experiencing this place; we took an active interest in our time here, focusing our efforts, energy, and passion on improving some aspect of student life. Largely, the means we employed to affect change were team-based, which is to say we did little in isolation. In fact, I can’t think of a single Scholar friend I have to set out to accomplish something entirely on his own and without some team to support him. Rather, we sought out those with similar passions and ambitions and included them in our efforts, resulting in an achievement that was greater, more fulfilling, and, frankly, more impressive than had we existed as “islands unto ourselves” (so to speak).
2) How has your participation in your organization or group provided you with practical experience?
This year, I was privileged to serve as a principal consultant and founder of CHC, Hospitality Consultants, the only student-run hospitality consultancy in the nation. When the other six founders and I first created CHC, our goal was to bridge what we perceived to be a gap between the academic theory of the classroom and the “real-world” practice we experienced in our summer internships. Today, CHC has grown into a viable, highly educational business that provides its consultants with a forum to showcase and hone their talents. In each of our client projects – which, so far, have ranged from suggesting a “flag” (i.e., brand) for a hotel in Bethesda, MD to providing a small businessman in Elmira with a feasibility study for a 100-room bed & breakfast to performing an extensive market survey for a private equity firm on San Francisco – we apply our classroom skills to actual business problems. The result is that our consultants are able to develop skills they lack and improve those they already have. Additionally, they can sample different facets of the industry to test their interest in them. For example, my own consultancy taught me that I don’t actually want to be a consultant! Instead, I now see the value in working a few years before calling myself an “expert” in any one field. (That is indeed what I’ll be doing next year: working in a restaurant software company before starting my own career as a restaurant consultant. However, eventually I’d like to own my own restaurant company in NYC….)
3) What positive impact has your contribution made on your group or society in general?
As one of seven CHC founders, I have affected all company functions from human resources to internal financing. Since this was something that had never been done before, the seven of us were pretty much “flying by the seat of our pants” most of the time, constantly debating the optimal means of recruitment or project pricing or advertising. More individually, I spent much time managing the group’s relationship with the School of Hotel Administration (SHA) and with Student Agencies, Inc. I’m tremendously proud of the progress we’ve made in each of those relationships. (In fact, the Dean of the SHA has a highly favorable opinion of what we’ve done, and he’d like to explore the possibility of offering academic course credit to those involved in client projects.) Recently, we were invited to present a summary of CHC and it’s activities to the School of Hotel Administration’s Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at this year’s Hotel Ezra Cornell, and I spearheaded the presentation effort. This meeting was quite important for us, as it signaled the SHA’s (unofficial) approval of what we’ve done. (In the future, we hope the Hotel School will officially sponsor our activities.) As an added bonus, that presentation secured thousands of dollars worth of future client projects and invaluable visibility among the SHA’s active alumni base.
4) How do you plan to utilize what you have learned (both theoretically and experientially as a leader) in the next chapter of your life?
This exercise in entrepreneurship convinced me that there’s nothing as exciting as crafting a strategy, assembling the right people and structure, and actuating one’s vision to achieve something great. I’m very passionate about CHC’s current success and future promise, having worked so hard to make the business a reality. After feeling such a rush of adrenaline and sense of fulfillment from the experience, I know I’d like to do something entrepreneurial in the future. While the next year certainly contains a degree of uncertainty, CHC has given me a confidence in my leadership and entrepreneurial abilities that, I’m sure, will be of great benefit to me.
