How to Plan an Effective Executive Retreat

Regular Resets
With extensive hands-on experience in planning and leading strategy off-sites for large-scale enterprises, Eric Korman is a Frisch client well “aligned” with best retreat practices. As senior vice president, mergers and acquisitions for global media and e-commerce giant IAC (InterActiveCorp.), Korman helped organize annual retreats attended by top executives from IAC’s holding company (Barry Diller among them), portfolio companies and strategy group.

In subsequent roles as president of Ticketmaster Entertainment and then as president of digital and global e-commerce for Ralph Lauren, Korman took full charge of strategic off-sites. “Like IAC, these summits typically involved between 150 and 200 senior leaders flying in from around the globe,” relates Korman, who “owned the meetings from top to bottom.”

Today, his team retreats are significantly scaled down. Passionate about consumer brands and interacting with consumers online, Korman left Ralph Lauren in 2014 to found Austin, Texas-based Phlur, his innovative “reimagining” of how to market and distribute fine fragrances.

“Presently at 12 people, we see each other every day, are in the same information cycle and innately get what we are doing,” he says. “Nevertheless, retreats, following the same fundamental principles around alignment, decision-making and closure, are critical for developing the business strategically and culturally.”

In fact, Korman organizes a local off-site each quarter, using conference space affordably provided by a business partner. “Offering a moment in time to physically separate from daily routine and pressures, retreats help us reset as an organization every 12 weeks,” he says. “Agenda-wise, the primary focus is on clarifying the strategies that will carry us forward and defining why they are priorities, so that people have the contextual framework to make decisions and execute their part of the business plan without repeatedly checking in with me.”

In terms of “owning” the off-site as CEO, Korman believes in balancing “non-negotiables” with “the collective voice.” In his view, “while corporations are not democracies, and generally will not function on a purely consensus-driven basis, the off-site optimizes shared discussion and discovery around what is working, and what may require pivot and change.” Plus, he adds, “there’s the intrinsic value of a communal, ritualized event—people look forward to coming and contributing.”

Reaching Deeper Levels
Headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, just north of Houston, Benchmark is a leading global hospitality company founded in 1980 by Cuban émigré Burt Cabañas. Taking over as CEO in 2013, his son Alex has continued to expand Benchmark’s worldwide portfolio of managed hotels, resorts and conference centers through a series of mergers and acquisitions, while adding asset management, an owner’s
advisory group and other services under the company’s umbrella.

Presently also global president of IACC (formerly, the International Association of Conference Centers), which counts 385 member venues in 22 countries in the Americas, Europe and Australia, Alex Cabañas is front and center in all Benchmark strategy and other meetings—including his annual executive retreat. When interviewed for this story, in fact, he was in the midst of planning the 2017 edition, at luxurious Benchmark-managed Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii.