Take Care of Your Team: Interview with Zack Gharib, President of Red Roof

I recently went one-on-one with Zack Gharib, President of Red Roof.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Zack: I was born and raised in Lebanon. I have one brother, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. My dad had an incredible work ethic and worked long days when we were growing up. I remember him saying that his work could be a grind, but that it is important to be consistent. That really stuck with me. 

I went to school at the Lebanese American University, which was a great experience. I played basketball for the University, and we once traveled to Greece for a tournament. That was the first time I stayed in a hotel. That experience was life-changing for me. I was in awe of the setting, the environment, and the hospitality. I had the opportunity to meet the general manager of the hotel where we stayed, and we spoke multiple times. From those conversations, I resolved to get into the hospitality industry, and I did!

After earning a bachelor’s degree in business management, I came here to the U.S. to pursue a master's degree in restaurant, hotel, and institutional management at Texas Tech University. But it was really that visit to Greece that was the spark that put me on this path in my life.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Zack: To grow and scale a business you must drive demand for the brand and the product. This relies on creating and maintaining real relevance for the customer, and for us the customer is both our franchisees and our guests. We use research and data to ensure that we have the right product offering and consistently deliver the value for the experience that the customer expects. Finding the right markets and geographies is critical. If we are in the right markets, with the right product, and if we are evolving and elevating to the needs and expectations of our customers, the business will grow, and it will grow profitably and sustainably. And to do all that, you need to have a great team, and I am lucky to be surrounded by a great team with lots of knowledge, passion, and drive.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Zack: I really believe that it is critical to work from a people-first philosophy. So, as a leader, that means setting metrics that drive employee buy-in to the company’s mission and vision and measuring employee engagement and satisfaction to better understand where people are and where adjustments are needed. Leaders set expectations, articulate goals and provide the resources and feedback to drive success. Most importantly, leaders must live the brand’s core values. I’ve tried to make that simple for our team. Together, we created a culture that reflects our core values. We call it our ‘HABITS’: hospitality, adaptability, belonging, impact, trust and success. These are the attitudes and attributes embodied by our leaders and team members. Leaders who are transparent, collaborative, supportive, and foster a sense of loyalty and dedication will win with their teams, and winning teams result in loyal customers, ultimately driving the business.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Zack: Leaders and aspiring leaders must start with the right foundation. For me, the people-first philosophy is the bedrock of that foundation. Moving to the next level, though, carries a responsibility for accountability and performance. I think that is key. I learned that from my dad’s work ethic. Aspiring leaders must be willing to put in the hard work and must be accountable for their own performance. I can say “people first,” but if I’m not living it every day, no one will follow me. Leaders also must be collaborative and have a willingness to learn in order to grow. This requires a real sense of self-awareness, knowing strengths and weaknesses, and having the courage to adapt. A leader who wants to move to the next level needs to take risks to reach that next plateau.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Zack: Let me start with an obvious one: No risk, no reward. There is no growth in our personal or professional lives without some risk. In fact, not taking risks is itself a risky proposition. With risk comes reward. Now, let’s be clear: you need to be able to assess risks, especially if they will affect a lot of people around you. I encourage my team to take calculated risks every day. If you want to be innovative, you must take risks.

My next one is to build a network. Networking is key, especially in our industry. That means creating new relationships and deepening existing relationships. Listen and learn from these people and their experiences, and then apply your learnings to implement smart ideas and initiatives in your own way. When you network effectively, you open yourself to new ideas and broaden your empathy for varying experiences. 

Finally, I think entrepreneurs, business, and civic leaders need to be curious. Curiosity is the mother of innovation. The whole concept of travel is about being curious about potential experiences. I was curious about how coming to the U.S. might impact my life. What could I learn and how could I grow and what doors might I find open? That curiosity ultimately led me to my current position at Red Roof.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Zack: I’ll go back to belief in having a real, authentic people-first philosophy. And that means you must measure the right internal metrics so that you can see that your people are growing, are happy, and are buying into the business mission and vision. It is imperative to see and measure employee engagement and satisfaction. And of course, leading by example is critical. That means living and breathing the brand’s core values. I also believe you need to take care of the people around you. When you do that, good things happen.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Zack: This is a big one. Books have been written, and I think movies have been made, about these topics. Let me break them down separately for clarity. 

When it comes to sales, it starts with a real understanding of the customer’s needs, or their pain points, if that is applicable. Layer trust onto that, and that means a trusting relationship. It means being honest and transparent about what your product and/or service can and cannot do. I think social proof is important as well. Claims and promises are nothing if you cannot back them up with credible data and real experiences. Then of course there’s follow-up, which ultimately closes the deal when done authentically, constructively, and respectfully.

Marketing is probably the fastest of the three because of the speed technology has evolved to change the nature of our relationship with our guests. Smart marketing starts with a deep understanding of constituencies. That begins with good segmenting that yields an understanding of their interests, preferences, and behaviors. It demands a deep understanding of what they know, how they consume information, and how they are influenced. The content created from this deeper understanding must be high quality and must provide real value. Most importantly, it must be layered and multi-channeled so that people can be reached where they are, when they are ready, and when they are most receptive to messaging. The brand voice must be consistent, and it must be consistently relevant.

Finally, branding, or brand building, is central to our success with both growing our brand with prospective franchise owners and with prospective guests. This is where the rubber hits the road. It starts with a clear and authentic voice that speaks to the customer. It is predicated on great storytelling that allows constituents to connect emotionally with the brand. It needs to be consistent to earn trust and recognition. Most importantly, it depends on consistent positive experiences. We want every interaction with a customer to reflect our brand promise and brand value. Happy customers reap rewards for all.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Zack: That’s easy. The single best piece of advice I’ve received is to focus on these three words: relationships, relationships, relationships. Everyone knows the three words in real estate: ‘location, location, location,’ and my longtime friend and mentor, Rajiv Trivedi, gave me his three-word take: ‘relationships, relationships, relationships’. It has stuck with me, and it has served me well.

I had another good piece of advice from an icon in our industry, Bill Marriott. I was the manager of housekeeping at the Marriott in downtown Indianapolis at the time, and Bill told me that my priority should be to take care of my team. He said, “Take care of your team. They'll take care of your guests. And now, in the franchise world, they'll take care of our franchisees.” That was a good piece of advice that I have incorporated into my own leadership and evolved into my people-first mentality.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Zack: Trust the path you are on. If you love your industry and you greet every day with passion and pride, good things will happen. Build authentic relationships and care for the people around you, and good things will happen. Never stop being curious. Curiosity will take you to new places. Curiosity will create opportunity, and great things will happen!


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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