Companiesandme

People often ask me why I named my company Joie de Vivre. It's an unusual name for an American company, to say the least. It's French. It's hard to spell and to pronounce. 

The name came to me when I was 26 and working as a real estate developer, my first job when I graduated from Stanford Business School. I was young and my future by all external indicators was bright, but I wasn't happy. While I was good at my job, I realized it engaged my mind but didn't nurture my soul. I won't say I didn't care about financial success, but I cared more having joy in my life and sharing it with others. I was looking for my calling instead of just a job, and I knew that finding it would mean making choices with real intention. That included choosing a name for my new company that would ground me daily in what was important to me.

Once I landed on what I wanted to do – develop boutique hotels that reflected our guests' personalities and created opportunities for them to experience joy, I needed a name that expressed that mission. I'd long admired the San Francisco-based clothing brand Esprit de Corps. Their name conjured a state of mind – and a way of being in the world. I wanted my fledgling company's name to make the same kind of connection, and Joie de Vivre, "joy of life" in French, was born. We started with one hotel in 1987, the iconoclastic Phoenix in San Francisco's gritty Tenderloin neighborhood. Since then, we've become the largest boutique hotel collection in California, with nearly 40 hotels and more than 25 restaurants and spas. Looking back, I'm grateful that as a young man I had the confidence to ask myself what would bring me joy and create a business around it. It hasn't always been easy, but the choice has made all the difference.

I'd love to hear what you have to say on creating joy in your life and work. What choices have you made to find your true calling?