Let's do this. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Coffee with Cagnetta. I am joined today by someone who needs no introduction, but of course I have to give a few highlights from her amazing career. Lisa Lutoff-Perlo has been an amazing leader in the global travel industry, particularly recognized for her transformative work in the cruise industry. She served as President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises from 2014 to 2023, becoming the first woman to lead one of Royal Caribbean Group's brands, and she's been breaking barriers for years. As leader of that company, she oversaw the creation and launch of Celebrity Edge in 2018, one of the most innovative and luxurious cruise ships of its time. And most notably, under her leadership, she's brought up others, which I think is one of the great things about you, Lisa, is that you bring people up. And of course, if you're out there on social media, you know Captain Kate — she was the first American woman to command a major cruise ship, and she had the first 100% women bridge March 8, 2020, which was another interesting time in the cruise line, which we'll talk about. And Lisa, you know, is now not currently as CEO, and she's moved on and she's doing other projects, which we have her here to talk about. But I also want to talk about her amazing book, Making Waves. It's a great read for anybody who's in leadership, who wants to be a leader. I think that's one of the greatest things about you, is you're constantly taking on the challenge of being a leader. And most notably, I think you followed — no, you didn't follow me, I think you were after me — of being the leader of the United Way as Chairman of the Board for the United Way of Broward County, which of course you do so many things in the community as well. So with that, Lisa, welcome. Cheers.
It's an honor and a pleasure to be here with you.
Well, I usually do this in kind of like three phases. One phase is just kind of talking about how you got here in life. The next one is kind of talking about what maybe some future plans are. And then of course, kind of giving advice to folks out there in the world who want to follow in your footsteps. And I know you're great about that, so I definitely want to spend a lot of time on that. So let's just talk about your amazing career at Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Like, you started in the marketing department, sales, door to door, 1985, and spent 40 years — just about 40 years — in the company. Wow. Grew up in a small fishing town in Massachusetts, Gloucester, Massachusetts. That's right. You're a Tom Brady fan. Yes, I am. I used to think I was a Patriots fan until they let him go, then I realized my sisters and I were top rack.
There you go. And I never dreamed that I would end up in the cruise business, certainly never dreamed I'd become President and CEO of a brand as big and amazing as Celebrity. And my life was just full of amazing and interesting opportunities. Some I welcomed, some I didn't, but that's in my book because it's all part of my journey. And I think the basic premise of the book is you never know where you can end up, and if I can do it, you can do it. So that's how my career unfolded, and I never imagined it growing up as a little girl. I never even imagined it for probably 25 years being in the company. It was much later in my time. It took me 30 years to go from the bottom to the top, and it probably took me 25 to even realize I wanted to go to the top and that I had the opportunity to go to the top. So an interesting career, and my book tries to help people learn lessons from me that they probably shouldn't underestimate themselves and where they can ultimately end up.
You know, I find that leaders and people who wind up in top positions who have a lot of people under them — how many people did you have? 20,000. And I find that those people are number one, usually humble, and always curious, and always giving of others, and not expecting that. You know, when people ask me, 'Did you ever expect the transcript to be as big as you thought?' It's like, no, never expected that. So you not expecting it, but you do write in the book later on that you had some mentors that saw that promise in you that wanted to take you to the next level.
Well, right. Yes, so I had advocates who saw something in me — obviously I didn't see myself — saw potential in me I didn't see in myself, and moved me out of sales where I spent 17 years in progressive sales positions with the sole ambition of being the head of sales. And all of a sudden, this gentleman decided that I had more potential than just sales, and he moved me — my first career move was from sales into marketing — and I was really upset about it because in my view, he was taking away the only plan I really ever had in my career. I think that's Chapter 4: Not Everyone Has a Plan. When I finally had my plan, it was destroyed by this gentleman who moved me out of sales and into marketing. And that was one of my first of many moves that ultimately got me the experience and exposure that I needed to ultimately become President and CEO of one of the brands. And today, when I see him, he reminds me of that first move. He was actually the person who did the first and second time, and he said, 'Remember when I moved you from sales to marketing and how bad you were and how miserable you were?' I said, 'Oh yeah, I remember quite well.' And then he just looks at me and says, 'How'd that work out for you?' So part of what I say to people, even when people in my company come and ask me for career advice: be open, be flexible, be willing to learn, be able to try something new, be willing to take yourself out of your comfort zone, even if you know that where you're going you're not a subject matter expert. You can learn a lot, but there are other qualities that are going to really take you to the top other than knowing everything you need to know about the job you're going to be doing.
And if I remember correctly, because I read the book when it first came out a little while ago, but yeah, if I remember correctly, you didn't get the top job right away.
No, somebody else got it. Yeah, three times I didn't get the job. Yeah, I had to ask three times. But I think I've just been the type of person, whether it's my marriage or my career, where if you tell me no, that's just pure motivation for me to turn it into a yes and prove you're wrong. And it's another chapter in my book: Watch Me Prove You Wrong. Because I did that throughout my entire career, especially as I moved into positions and I was the boss of people who wondered why I was their boss and how I got to be their boss when I never did their job. So yeah, no is — and maybe it's my sales background, which you probably know quite well, Andy — if you tell me no, I'm gonna take a deep breath, take a step back, process it, think about it, and figure out what it's going to take.
Yeah. And in the book, you also talk about that you got put in the position eventually, the top position, not knowing much about maritime.
Myself. And so all of a sudden, all these captains and all these people who were fixing the ships were underneath you. Like you said, they were questioning, 'Why are you in charge?' So in the company that I was seeing for 40 years, I had three roles throughout that time where I was the first woman to ever hold those positions. The position you're referring to is the Executive Vice President of all of operations for Royal Caribbean. I was put in that role in 2012, and I was there for a couple of years. And that's the first time that marine reported to me. That's when I was in charge of all of the captains, the chief engineers, security, safety, environment, all of those things that are the technical side of our business, not just the guest and hospitality side of our business. And that was — I was once again met with a tremendous amount of skepticism by all of these men. And it's only a fact, it's not a criticism, it's a fact, that you know, 'You've never driven a ship, you've never fixed an engine, you've never done anything that I have to do. I'm responsible for so what makes you qualified to be us?'
So where did that kind of gumption come from? I mean, we all grew up, and you said you grew up in a fishing town. Gloucester, Massachusetts, the oldest seaport in the United States. Yes, it is. And some very famous stories out of Gloucester, famous tragedies and things like that. But so what in your childhood perhaps kind of gave you that — I would call a toughness or that resilience — that you couldn't tell you know?
