Insights on How Isadore Sharp Built the Four Seasons

Hi there friend, 

Great things don’t happen fast. 

They happen faithfully. 

That’s why I love coming back to this story of Isadore Sharp, founder of Four Seasons.  

His journey gives all of us permission to think bigger — and to live bigger. It’s comforting to see, in his story, just how hard it is to do great things. 

Great things simply take time. 

And Sharp’s life is a sterling lesson in embracing that truth. 

He built the most prestigious hotel brand in the world … with no hotel experience and very little financial backing. He once said, “When I built my first hotel, I knew nothing about the hotel business.” 

But he chose a harder road. 

Instead of chasing quick profits or building something disposable, Sharp committed to the pain — the real cost — of building something excellent. 

He wasn’t stacking straw. 

Isadore was laying bricks — slowly, carefully — to build something that would last. 

As he put it, “Excellence is … [the] capacity for taking pain.” 

You can tell that Sharp was thinking in centuries, because three timeless themes shine through everything he built: 

1. Stewardship 

Sharp understood that profits are a byproduct of principles, not the other way around. 

"The thought I was either wasting money or didn’t care about profit... I would tell them that profit was not a guide for a business decision but merely a confirmation of its results...” 

(He wasn’t running numbers. He was living values.) 

2. Humanity 

Sharp believed leadership started with self-leadership — and that culture started with how you treated your people. 

“We should be treating employees the way we expect them to treat our customers. Treat them with the same understanding we want them to give our guests.” 

(If you want a team to care for your customers, start by caring for your team.) 

3. Compounding 

Sharp didn’t chase every opportunity. He made patient, strategic decisions — and stayed consistent over decades. 

“Most of my senior people [did not agree]... we will no longer be all things to all people. We will specialize. We will offer only midsize hotels of exceptional quality, hotels that wherever located will be recognized as the best.” 

(He planted seeds others couldn’t even see yet. And he waited for the harvest others would never reap.) 

Isadore Sharp wasn’t thinking about flipping the business for a profit. 

He was thinking about people, about purpose — about building something that would stand the test of time. 

He didn’t let the pain of excellence slow him down. 

He let it sharpen him. 

He built for the long haul. 

And he trusted the quiet superpower of compounding to do what it always does over time. 

As we step into the week ahead, let’s take a page from Sharp’s playbook: 

Embrace the pain. 

Protect the standard. 

Play the long game. 

We are building something that lasts. 

And that’s worth doing during our short time on earth. 

Onward, 

Matt