HotelChatter

From Fortune, November 26, 2007:

1. MAKE LISTS. Besides my BlackBerry and cellphone, my most important tools are my yellow legal pad, black felt-tip pens, yellow highlighter pens to make the numbers really jump, and a red pen to indicate something really important. The process of making to-do lists helps me focus. I make one every Sunday, and then have longer-term lists as well. They keep my head above water. Along with my Starbucks coffee--it is like a pacifier.

2. CHANGE YOUR NUMBER. I get inundated with e-mails, so I keep my BlackBerry address private. Only the people at the highest levels have it, and that allows me to focus on time-sensitive issues. But that exclusivity ultimately gets eroded. I've had the address for a year. It's gotten out, so now I'm changing it.

3. CUT BACK ON MEETINGS. Always question whether a meeting is still necessary. Sometimes the structure gets set, and it's hard to remove because we're creatures of habit. When I was opening the Gramercy Park Hotel, I'd have weekly meetings with the PR staff to keep their feet to the fire. But after a while it wasn't necessary anymore, so we stopped. And a time slot opened.

4. LEAVE YOUR DESK. I fight not to get absorbed by administrative detail and turn into a desk jockey. As you get bigger, you get further away from what you really love to do. I'm happiest when I'm in the field. There's no paper, no memos, no time between idea and implementation. I accomplish more.

5. WATCH POP CULTURE. Ideas come from everywhere. I saw my daughters react to High School Musical, and I got interested. Why is [it] a phenomenon? Things don't just happen. They're a manifestation of something going on in our culture.

6. TAKE VACATIONS. Being effective is not so much about saving time as it is about staying focused. That requires frequent vacations, maybe every six weeks. I just came back from Turkey, and I find myself incredibly effective and enthusiastic about my work. Seeing the use of color and patterns and the Byzantine architecture had its effects on me. You'll find some of those things in my next project.