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Sloan Dean on walking away from success and taking risks to level up
Josiah Mackenzie
August 17, 2025
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How do you know when it’s time to do something new? How do you figure out what’s next in a time of transition?
I’ve always been curious about how to manage change, especially from hospitality leaders who have a track record of doing this well.
Sloan Dean is one of the best I’ve met at this. We have 14 episodes (!!) with him in our library, and his bold approach to rethinking leadership at Remington Hospitality moved the company from an also-ran to an employer of choice. It was a multi-year journey, but critical in the world of hotel management, where the ability to attract, recruit, and retain talent makes or breaks the business. You can read the backstory of how they did this here (or listen here).
“We really did upend and reinvent the culture of the company. When I left, I felt with complete conviction that we had improved the company both optically externally and also actually internally for associates. I wanted us to be the place that you hire to retire. We started that and that journey is still going now.”
The change he drove shows up in the numbers. Moving employee satisfaction from 2.5 to 4.4/5 on Glassdoor. Expanding the portfolio from 80 to 150 hotels. Growing revenues from $600M to $1.5 Billion.
I share this as context for today’s story because it shows the context - what he walked away from when he stepped down as CEO earlier this year: Momentum. Reputation. Prestige of the top job at a top company in hospitality.
Today, he shares why he did it…