Lisa Lutoff-Perlo made history in the maritime industry as the first woman to take the helm as president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, and as one of the few women in the world to be leading a multi-billion-dollar brand. But it wasn’t her only first. During her 38-year long career with Royal Caribbean, she experienced many firsts as a woman. Lisa credits the male managers who mentored her, supported her, sponsored her, and promoted her with directing her career path toward the C-Suite. She says that not once did she feel that they looked at her gender as being a barrier to the opportunities she was given. In fact, when she finally became CEO, everyone cheered her because it had taken so long to achieve. Being first, however, carries with it a lot of pressure. Lisa says, “I remember thinking when I was the first, don’t screw this up. Because you don’t want to be the last.”
Now Lisa has moved on to Vice Chairman External Affairs for the Royal Caribbean Group, the corporate mothership of the fleet, which consists of 64 ships sailing for three award-winning cruise brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silver Sea Cruises. For the next year she will work to improve corporate communications with governments and other organizations while helping the new Celebrity Cruises CEO, (also a woman) Laura Hodges-Bethke–to be equally successful. Women only make up 2% of mariners in the world, and when Lisa first became CEO of Celebrity Cruises, women mariners made up only 3% of the company and now they number 33%. She says that the men who run the Marine Division believed in gender equality as much as she did and recruited women to join them. One of her greatest achievements was to assemble the first all-female bridge crew for a major ocean liner, headed by Captain Kate, who Lisa calls a “rock star.”
Point of View on Advancement and Leadership
Lisa considers it a privilege that she was able to start at the bottom of the company – in sales calling door-to-door on their travel partners in New England. She says that her path wasn’t linear, and she wasn’t comfortable with all the moves, but she left herself open to learning and growing, changing, and trying new things. One thing that changed as she grew professionally was her attitude about vulnerability. At first, she didn’t want to be vulnerable or to appear like she didn’t know everything. She soon learned that it’s impossible to know everything and vulnerability is actually a strength. She says that the smartest thing she ever did as a manager was to hire people smarter than she is, listen to them and ask for their help. Finally, she says being a good leader is about the people and what you can do for them. She says, “You can’t be the only one that cares about your success because if you are, you won’t be successful. The only way you get other people to care about your success is if you prove that you care about theirs. When you invest in their success, they invest in yours.”
The Next Chapter—Available February 2024
Lisa retires next year, marking the completion of a 39 year career and starting her new one as an author. The story of her journey is a leadership book called, Making Waves: A Woman’s Rise to the Top Using Smarts, Heart, and Courage. Many of the ideas in this conversation are being shared in the book, including stories about the challenges along the way. She says that the first chapter is about COVID, titled, “The Best of Times—The Worst of Times” which is appropriate since Celebrity Cruises came out of the pandemic in one piece and stronger than ever. She loves to talk to young women, especially college students, who have so much optimism and hope, so much life in front of them. When she talks about her story, she tells them that “it wasn’t easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.” The response to her speeches is what convinced her to write the book, which she sees as her way of paying it forward – sharing what has made her better, stronger, and smarter, and how your actions can return to support or haunt you. Lisa says, “I call it the boomerang theory—and the more whatever you put out there in the universe is going to come back. So, you want it to be good because it will come back good or it will come back bad. It’s your choice.”
Listen to or watch this conversation for more of Lisa’s story and great insights. Mark your calendar for February 2024 for the launch of Making Waves. Check out this link, celebritycruises.com/about-us/celebrity-cares, to watch the film about the all-female bridge crew and messages recorded about diversity among mariners on International Women’s Day.
Listen on Red Circle | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Watch on YouTube