Karin Sheppard now leads more than 1,000 IHG hotels across Europe. Her career started with dishes in an Italian restaurant in Denmark, and the move that changed it began with a weekend of crying. From the restaurant came a year as an au pair in Geneva, IT sales in London and a move to Sydney. There she said yes to a promotion, went home, cried all weekend and quit. She had no plan, no money in the bank and a brother pointing out that there was no rich boyfriend or husband to fall back on. She called it a trust fall. A friend of a friend knew of a job at a hotel company, and on her first day she was pulled into a meeting about the cocktail menu. She called a girlfriend to say she had landed the best job. That was 25 years ago. Belinda Bradford asks Karin how she got from that first day to running a continent. The part that will sound familiar if you have ever talked yourself out of something: when she was offered a much bigger leadership role, Karin told her bosses not to give it to her. Her HR director's reply: if your boss, your boss's boss and I believe you can do it, maybe just trust us. What she did with that doubt is worth the listen. Karin switched off the little voice that lists why you can't and turned her attention to every reason she could, then took the top job in IHG's Australian business without ever having run a hotel. She explains how IHG went from 10 brands to 21, how a Kimpton and an InterContinental can sit across the same Paris street and both do well, and why her team meetings open with how are you feeling. She skipped it once. Her team noticed by the coffee break. Karin is direct about being the only woman at the leadership table, and about Rise, the program she helped build to put more women on the path to general manager. When COVID and the war in Ukraine left her team exhausted, a two-day reset gave them a goal of 1,000 brilliant hotels. They had 750. They hit 1,005. Her first boss told her on day one that the job came down to hot food hot and cold food cold. If you have ever talked yourself out of a job you wanted, this one is for you. Her one word for how she leads is wholeheartedly. Her answer to what Full Tilt means: "Go for it, go full speed." Connect with Karin Sheppard Linkedln Connect with Belinda Bradford and WEGroup Global Belinda Bradford on LinkedIn Our website: WEGroup Global Nominate someone to be our next guest: connect@wegroup-global.com Mentioned in this episode: Full Tilt with Belinda Bradford is brought to you by WEGroup Global. We design and run retreats, summits, and offsites for creators, growing businesses, associations, and enterprises. We build on a simple belief: human connection matters more now than ever. The world has never been more connected, and people have never felt more alone. As AI takes over the routine work, judgement, trust, and the ability to lead a room are what's left to compete on. That still only happens in person. That's why we do what we do. We handle the hotels, the venues, the bookings, the logistics, and all the risks, backed by a network of 8,000+ hotels and venues in over 100 countries, trusted vendors and tour partners, and access to VIP tickets and top speakers most people can't get on their own. All you have to do is show up and connect with the people in the room. One team, one plan, from first idea to final day. Learn more about us at wegroup-global.com Connect with us at connect@wegroup-global.com
