CHENNAI: As a teenager, on the cusp of adulthood, all of us have been asked, ‘What do you want to become when you grow up?’. At the age of 13, Vikram Cotah, too, was faced with this question. Coming from a family illustrious line of sportspersons, Vikram’s parents wanted him to be “a doctor or an engineer as those were the respectable jobs those days,” he points out. But Vikram’s heart lay else where.
“In 1982, I entered Taj Coromandel,” Vikram says “and fell in love with the place’s vibe, luxury, and happiness. I knew I wanted to be a hotelier.” Life came full circle when he joined the hotel as a management trainee in 1987 after graduating from the Institute of Hotel Management, Bengaluru. That was his first step in the hospitality industry. “From that day to today, I have never seen work as my work. It is a hobby that I enjoy doing,” he comments.
Two decades and a dozen promotions later, Vikram is now the CEO of GRT Grand Hotels and Resorts. Going through a fair share of challenges to reach this position, he shares, “Competition is a necessary evil. Without it, you would not try to become better. When I joined GRT, there was one hotel and today we have 22. In another 24 months, five hotels are opening up. We are also going international with a hotel in Maldives.”
Vikram is beyond all these headlines for his professional achievements. During Covid, he wrote a book, Mojo in the Mango Tree. Mixing his passion for work and writing, he is soon releasing another book, The Great Butterfly Effect, on GRT Hotel’s journey towards sustainability. He sits down for a tete-a-tete with CE, where we unravel this personality beyond his professional life.
Excerpts:
Take us back to your childhood and share some memorable moments.
I grew up in a house in Gandhi Nagar. It was large with many mango and jackfruit trees in the backyard. During summer, we, cousins and siblings, would climb these trees and pluck the fruits. We would ripen the mangoes and eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We would roast and cook the jackfruit seeds in coal and enjoy a nice delicacy. We also had cows there and looked forward to them giving birth to calves. After birth, you get colostrum milk, which is used to make a tasty dessert.
What experiences from those times shaped the way you approach leadership today?
My dad travelled a lot as he worked in the cement industry. So for my education, I stayed with my paternal grandmother. She came from a Zamindari family in Andhra. It was from her that I learned financial management early in life. She also taught me how to be hospitable; so whenever guests came, they got preference over everybody about everything. She taught me how to be polite and assertive.
I also grew up with many women, my sister, and other cousins. It taught me how to respect women and treat them as equals. These values develop one’s personality. What you are today is based on the values you grew up with. Honesty, self-pride, self-respect, financial prudence, and others come from living those values by example and seeing people stand by them.
Your family has played a crucial role in your upbringing. How important is your family to you?
A family is like an iceberg where only a small portion is seen outside, shining under the bright sun. Most of it is underwater. The underwater part of the iceberg is your family — your foundation and fall-back. So, everyone should respect their family.
What is your definition of success and how has it evolved?
My definition of success keeps evolving. It is a moving definition. For example, my first definition of success was when I joined as a management trainee, we used to wear a brown coat and beige pants. The managers used to wear a black suit and pinstripe black pants.
So my first definition of success was to get into that suit. Once that is achieved, you look for another statement of success. At some point, it was making money and then designation. But today it’s about spreading happiness and developing people.
How do you navigate through challenges?
I thrive on facing adversaries, situations where it requires a little going against the tide. It’s something built in me. It is a good feeling once you cross the challenge. I do not think I have had a life-changing challenge. There were several challenges on the way to becoming what I am today.
A difficult personal decision that you had to make for your career?
The hardest decision I made was to stay back in India. You had many opportunities to work on cruise liners and ships during those times. It was fast money, but I decided to be in hardcore hospitality and that I should be in the region where I could make the place better. I wanted to put Chennai on the map of world hospitality.
How were your initial days? How has the industry progressed?
It was a very traditional kind of hospitality. We followed certain rules and guidelines. Today, all that is being challenged. Today, hospitality is all about thinking out of the box. The mission remains that the guest has to be happy and feel recognised.
Today we are using AI. For example, you take in the preferences of guests. In the olden days, we never knew that, or only if I saw the customer regularly. But today through guest history and AI, everything is captured. And today, if you stay in Grand Chennai and tomorrow you go to Grand Madurai for the first time, all your preferences are captured and delivered to you.
What is the rewarding aspect of this industry?
It must be to spread happiness. You are living to delight people and hospitality is aspirational for most people. We see all the beautiful milestones in every person’s life. From a baby’s first birthday to the 80th birthday of the grandparents, we see all those celebrations with us. It is very satisfying.
An accomplishment that you are proud of?
Building the GRT Hotels as a brand takes a special place in my heart. On the personal front, my daughter has grown up to be a woman with values we instilled in her. She’s finished her MBA from the University of Toronto and is joining Deloitte. Seeing that feels satisfying.
I also love fitness. Running my first 10K was a great achievement. I am trying a half marathon. Hopefully, my training will make it easy for me.
How do you reward yourself when you think you have accomplished a task?
I reward myself with dark chocolate, and dark chocolate chip ice cream is my favourite treat! Travel is also a treat for me. So, if I do something and feel I have achieved something, I take a nice holiday. I like going to the mountains. I have travelled to 60 countries and more than 120 locations to date.
What does your daily calendar look like?
I wake up at six in the morning. I do group workouts or run on the road for the next hour and a half. Then I practise meditation, followed by Sudarshan Kriya. I have my breakfast and head to the office. After completing my daily tasks here, I return home in the evening and spend time with the family. Before hitting the bed, I have to watch a movie and read. The last movie I saw was Devara and the book was Setting The Table by Daniel Meyer.
Always on the clock, have you found your work-life balance?
Work-life balance is a myth as you cannot separate work and life because you are one person. What matters is how you prioritise. At work, performance requires complete time and attention and that is the priority. At home, family time is a must. Work-life balance is about priority and not splitting your day and saying, I work nine to six and then from six, I will be with my family.
What do you like about your work?
I like meeting people, and creating new things, food specifically, at work. The restaurants at GRT Hotels are all unique in concepts and I enjoy developing them. I work on the entire concept, the storyline, the menu, and the trials.
My last restaurant,Kari Theory, was based on the street food of Tamil Nadu. Our chefs went to roadside eateries in Virudhunagar, Madurai, and Kancheepuram. They noted a few heirloom recipes from people who have been doing it for generations. They deconstructed the technique and now, are serving the dishes differently.
A lesson from your personal life that you believe is important for other leaders to learn.
People in any position should be open to learning because it is continuous. If any leader feels that he/she knows everything, it is the end of his/her leadership. To keep evolving as a leader, you should keep learning and have an open mind.
A lesson from your profession that you would like to pass on to the next generation.
Firstly, work hard and work smart. Only hard work will not get you through. Secondly, embrace the industry trends. If AI is coming into hospitality, don’t keep shutting it off saying you will lose jobs. Welcome it and explore how it can help create jobs.