As executive vice president and chief marketing and commercial officer of Marriott International, Stephanie Linnartz is one of the company’s highest-ranking female executives. She stepped into the role, a new one for the company, in April 2013, and is responsible for all the consumer-facing aspects of the business: brand management, sales, marketing, revenue management, ecommerce and digital and, as of about a year ago, IT.
Hospitality is in Linnartz’s blood—her parents run the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. She worked for a brief time for Hilton early in her career, then went to business school. She joined Marriott in 1997 as an analyst in finance—and, like so many at the company, worked her way up to the very top. Fortune caught up with her recently to talk about the company’s culture, the changing marketing landscape and how she manages her time.
Fortune: Did growing up in the hospitality industry shape your career?
Stephanie Linnartz: I have spent my whole life in this business. My family owns a hotel so it’s a little mini version of growing up like the Marriotts, on a tiny, tiny scale. And one thing I loved about Marriott from the getgo was that the culture was so similar on a smaller scale. My parents had a family business, my mom and dad were very involved, and it was all about treating the people who worked for our business as part of our family. So when I joined Marriott it was amazing that even at this big giant company you still had that same feel. 18 years later I still feel that way.
We just spent a lot of time looking into the Marriott culture. What about it has had the most impact on you personally?
For me, it’s been the culture of diversity and inclusion. Marriott’s very focused on building careers for people and I’ve been an example of that. I’ve been given a ton of opportunity to do different things– I’ve worked in finance, I’ve worked in all different parts of sales and marketing. The idea that anyone can make it to the top here, if you work really hard, has been something that helped me. There’s also a spirit of mentorship that’s important that’s helped me.
Who have been some of your mentors?
Amy McPherson, who is our president of Europe now, was one of my early bosses. And she took a great interest in me personally and professionally and she was everything you should be in terms of giving somebody lots of exciting and challenging work but also coaching them on what you’re doing well and where you can improve. It was also great to have a woman mentoring another woman, and I try to do that now in my role. More recently, our [former] coo Bob McCarthy; it was later in my career, so I was at a different level, but he really taught me. He gave me a lot of great coaching and advice and a ton of challenging work.
What do you tell the people you mentor?
I think the key thing to being a good leader is to first be a good listener. It’s that expression, ‘It’s why we have two ears and one mouth.’ To really listen and have empathy for people. And if people really want to move up the career ladder, I say take risks. Take the toughest, most difficult job or project someone can give you because that’s how you move ahead. You take the toughest, thorniest thing and you pull it off, and that helps you get recognized and get promoted.
How much time do you spend on the road?
On average, about 50% of my time. We’ve got hotels in 79 countries now and my team is around the world. So I try to get out and travel as much as possible. When you’re actually out there with the hotel teams and the regional teams you’re really getting close to the business. But I have two little kids, so I try to balance it all.
And how do you do that?
I think the main way I’ve done it– and everyone has their own circumstances– but I have a great husband. He works, too, by the way, like many couples in America; we’re not the only ones doing it. [Linnartz and her husband met at Marriot; he’s now a real estate developer in the hotel business]. But we have a good balance between the two of us of working it out. In the early days I had my children in the daycare Marriott has on property, and that was very helpful to me. My kids are school age now, so they’re not babies anymore.
What are your best time management tactics?
I wish I had a perfect recipe for that. I’m extremely organized. I’m a big listmaker. I’m very thoughtful in how I schedule my days and make sure I try—it doesn’t always work out this way—but try to leave a bit of time to catch up on email. I do a lot of email at night, I have to admit, because the days so packed with meetings. Increasingly I’ve been trying to make sure whether it’s weekends or nights or even if it’s an hour or two I try to reenergize myself; I do exercise as much as I can.
I work a ton. The times I’m not working I’m trying to be with my family. I think any woman who doesn’t admit this …something has to give. My girlfriends are in a book club, and I don’t do any of that. Because I just can’t. You have to decide where you’re going to make your sacrifices.
You oversee all of marketing for a big consumer brand. How has the marketing landscape changed?
Marketing’s totally different now. 86% of people skip TV ads. You can Tivo a show and be like, ‘skip.. skip…’ right? As a brand, you can’t talk at customers anymore; you need to talk with them. You have to engage with them–give them something of value, and if you do that they’ll engage with you and commerce will come out of it. It’s very different from traditional marketing. It doesn’t mean we won’t do traditional marketing too, but we’re making a shift toward content marketing. We launched a new content and creative studio, and we’re doing things like launching a short film called ‘Two Bellmen.’ There’s an art heist at the J.W. Marriott LA and the hotel is a character in the story, and two bellemen save the day. The idea is if we entertain and engage that will be a way to think about our brand differently.
You have a lot of insight into the business travel consumer. Any interesting changing habits?
One thing I’m seeing a ton more of is people are mixing work and play much more. You see that in our great rooms. They might be on their laptops working but listening to music on iphone and having a glass of wine. We call them the “master blenders.” There’s aren’t these lines in life anymore. And it’s not necessary an age thing—it’s a mindset.
Are there any interesting behavioral differences between the ways men and women business travel?
Not much… other than we [women] bring more shoes.
