Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain: Retaining Talent Is About Fit, Not Fitness

Shipboard work is tough: long hours, demanding jobs, months away from loved ones. Shoreside work is also difficult. Regardless of where you work, excellence is the floor expectation, not the ceiling. The culture of continuous improvement means your boss is never satisfied. Constantly trying to do everything better, faster, smarter is demanding. These are not conventional 9-to-5 jobs; they’re roles for people who thrive on making an impact.

This was brought home to me in a very tangible way when two different employees on separate occasions spoke to me about their experience. Both had worked previously in the public sector, one in a charitable organization and one in government. Both said that they left their public jobs reluctantly, driven by a need for better compensation. They felt good about their public service but were willing to give up that sense of purpose for a bigger paycheck. Now, to their surprise, they felt they had the best of both worlds. They felt a sense of purpose and still got a nice paycheck.

Of course, not everyone feels that way. Retaining top talent means keeping those who excel, but it also means parting ways with those who aren’t the right fit. I use the word fit rather than performance intentionally. In many organizations, a termination is a bit like a traditional divorce—structured in a manner that forces people to find fault until they hate each other. Too often, the result is a vicious circle where both the senior person and the junior person feel compelled to highlight the other’s failures. Protecting employees from bad bosses is important, but at leadership levels, no-fault separation is usually more constructive than an adversarial process.

The real issue is usually fit, not fitness.

I saw a vivid example of this when we shifted two senior executives to new roles. In the morning, one of them came to me and said his new second-in-command, Sam, was useless and that he would like to replace him with Kevin, his former number two. In the afternoon, the other executive said exactly the opposite: Kevin was useless, and she wanted to replace him with Sam. Obviously, Kevin and Sam couldn’t simultaneously be useless and fantastic. The issue wasn’t their ability; it was their chemistry with new leaders. Sam and Kevin swapped positions, and it worked out very well. The issue wasn’t performance; it was fit.

Even with the best people, supporting and encouraging a culture of WOW requires constant effort. The real education takes place outside the classroom, through everyday osmosis. There is no simple list of rules, no how-to manual, no formula. Instead, there are habits, practices and styles of communication that are constantly reinforced. There is experience. And there is the power of WOW.

One way we encourage that is cross-fertilization. As part of a normal career path, we actively move employees from department to department to broaden their perspective and deepen their understanding of the business. Michael Bayley, now president and CEO of the Royal Caribbean brand, started on board as a purser. He later moved ashore and had stints in human resources, marketing, onboard revenue and hotel operations. Laura Hodges Bethge, president of the Celebrity Cruises brand, started as an accessibility expert and later spent time in sales, finance, purchasing, operations and investor relations. Jason Liberty, Royal Caribbean’s CEO, started as our internal auditor but later was responsible for finance, technology, supply chain and the Silversea brand.

Across the organization, we make a deliberate effort to rotate talent across functions to break down silos and hopefully inspire fresh thinking. This kind of broad experience not only adds to their skill sets, but it also encourages everyone to weigh in on virtually any topic because the mystique of specialized knowledge isn’t there. Because of this cross-fertilization, the person across the table from you is more likely to challenge you (or at least argue with you) because they are likely to have been in your seat previously. It makes the discussion more constructive, because more voices are empowered and qualified to challenge.

With over 100,000 employees, we are also conscious that there will, unfortunately, be those who abuse the system and violate our policies. There is no perfect answer to this, but working to ensure that every employee has a reliable way to voice concerns is key. Like many companies, we implemented an employee hotline where people can report problems anonymously. Most importantly, we make sure that every call is treated with the importance it deserves, engaging people from outside the chain of command and across the organization—an all-hands-on-deck effort. We also provide updates to the caller using a code that enables them to get an update on their report while maintaining anonymity.

Listening—really listening—is essential at every level of the organization. Whether it’s creating safe, anonymous channels for employees to report misconduct or understanding what our guests need before they ever step on board, the ability to tune in and respond thoughtfully makes all the difference.

Reprinted by permission of Fast Company Press. Excerpted from DELIVERING THE WOW: Culture As a Catalyst for Lasting Success by Richard Fain. Copyright 2025 Fast Company Press. All rights reserved.