It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Brian King, President of Marriott International Caribbean & Latin America, interviewed by Dorothy Dowling

• David Kong

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Brian King, President - Marriott International Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) thinks a great leader has more impact when leading from a position of influencing rather than authority. This is achieved by following the practice of listening and observing how others carry out their positions—from the front desk to finance: always being open to asking questions and learning from the experts. Listening and observing allows you to have a better understanding of the small and large things that impact your organization and allows for better decision making.

Dorothy Dowling:

Greetings. I am Dorothy Dowling, principal of d e I advisors. We are in a nonprofit organization dedicated to personal empowerment. I am delighted to welcome Brian King to our d e I show. Brian is the President, Marriott International, Caribbean and Latin America. Brian, welcome. It is truly an honor to have you with us today.

Brian King:

Thanks, Dorothy. It's so good to see you. It's good to be with all of you today as.

Dorothy Dowling:

Thank you, Brian. You've had a tremendous career with Marriott. You have risen through the ranks from the field in hotel operations to roles that have included digital officer, portfolio, brand leader and in some cases brand creator. You've been a marketer, the global sales leader and the distribution officer. So I'm wondering if you can share with us your career journey and how sales and marketing has really prepared you for the job you now have. Leading Marriott hotels in Latin America.

Brian King:

I'm one of those lifers, I guess you'd say. I started in the industry right out of college. I, studied communication and marketing was my background, educational background, but I didn't really know where I was gonna go or what I was going to do at that time. And I took a job at a residence in by merit at the front desk, and immediately fell in love with the business as. Hunting to be in the ad agency. That was kinda my plan at the time. And the general manager took me under his wings and said, listen, this is a really big interesting industry and you can do a lot of things here if you're willing to take some time and learn the basics. And the best way to do it is what I was doing, was working in a hotel. He always said to me, and he could do the night audit, you'll never really understand the business. So I, of course, learned the night audit, but his lesson behind that was, Understanding not just the service side of the industry, but the investment side of the industry as well too, and literally how our owners pay their mortgage. And as a young person coming outta school with a real estate background, it was really fascinating to me. And then the obvious other lesson is you can't have a great bottom line if you don't have a great top line. So how to generate demand, and especially in a brand like that at the time, which was really door-to-door selling because it was an unarmed brand with low awareness. You didn't have the kind of marketing prowess you have today in our industry at large, frankly with maybe the exception of Holiday Ann at the time. And obviously Merit was at the scene in Hilton, but it wasn't what we have today. The industry has gotten so large. So those relationships, those early lessons in relationship building, I think propelled me in the industry that how important that was to really listen to folks and, say, Hey, how'd I make the cash register ring at this hotel? And will you commit to putting your business here? Great lessons. I think the other thing I'd add too, that he was very strong about was career trajectory isn't straight up. It was zigzag and get different skills along the way. And I've taken that to heart my entire.

Dorothy Dowling:

I really appreciate you sharing. Brian cuz I fundamentally believe understanding a lot of the micro business activation at the unit level really allows senior leaders to connect dots in powerful ways. So hearing that was the beginning of your journey and also having that. Thought process about it. Being a real estate asset and really taking care of the investor, I think is a really important message. I also really like the way you talk about your personal growth and zigzagging along the way, cuz I think it really is that cumulative investment that we make in our careers and that learning journey. To support how we really can propel our careers forward. So thank you. I'm wondering if I can speak a little bit further because you have had to work. Marriott is obviously one of, if not the most powerful brand in the industry, which requires you to work with a lot of different owners, investors, asset managers, teammates that may not be directly in your line of control, as well as a broader hotel. Community. So I'd like to learn how you've honed your leadership relationship skills to be able to work with all of these stakeholders and to create the kind of impact that you have done through your career. Brian.

Brian King:

If you have to summarize it, I think any great leader has to learn how to manage through influence versus authority. Certainly there's moments where the senior level, you have authority to make decisions, to get things moving, but if you give the team there without having to be the decider, I think you've done a better job if they've landed in the same place. And sometimes that place is different than you might have thought, which is actually a better place than your perception wise. So I think it starts with always in, early, early messages from my college days is my communication professor always. Start with the audience in mind. So what is in the mind of the audience? What? What do they want to hear? What are they trying to do? What are you trying to communicate to them? And that's with an owner reit, an asset manager, a general manager, a customer. What is their core motivation and what are they trying to achieve, and can you find a win-win along the way? If you start immediately with this is the way it's gonna be, it's gonna be a long, painful conversation you probably won't get anywhere. But I really try to understand how they got to where they are today and what they're trying to accomplish. Sometimes their financial goals. Sometimes it's, family wealth, multiple generations who have opened some of the hotels in my part of the world, and what are they trying to do? I think if you start there, then we can figure out how to solve the problem. But always start with the receiver. Always start with the audience in mind first.

Dorothy Dowling:

And I do think that's a really important skill wherever you are on your leadership journey, is to really try to understand the other individual's perspective and frame up your approach to supporting them with them in mind. I'm wondering if you could even elaborate further on that, because you've had an amazing trajectory to go from a front desk agent at a Residence Inn to being a. President of a region for Marriott. So I'm wondering if there are specific skills that have really propelled your skill forward, yours career forward, that you might share with the audience?

Brian King:

I think at the end of the day it's l and o is what I like to say, listening and observation. And whether you're visiting a hotel and seeing how a team works, how they're thinking about things, what's happening in the kitchen, observing, prep or delivery and banquets to really listening as we're making big decisions regarding the balance sheet for the company and what our CFO is thinking about and how she's thinking about the future and making sure that always we have a great balance sheet, we can continue to invest and do shareholder returns. I think a lot, you can learn so much from people who are the experts just by listening, asking questions, and I've never, ever in my career, Ever have run into anyone where I've said, listen, can I sit down? I didn't quite understand that. Can you explain this complicated, financial method that we're using to value something. And people will always take the time. Experts do want to share willingly their knowledge, especially if you're an active learner. And I think that's one of the most important things in this industry or any industry, is being a lifelong learner. I never in my career thought at one point I'd. Running, reinventing a reservation system in the early nineties. At the time, I had no background in technology, but I spent time with our tech folks. I spent time not just with the opinion leaders. There's opinion and thought leaders, and then they're production leaders. Make sure you spend time in both camps, the people who actually know how to do the work and produce the tangible. It's fascinating and you learn so much. So I'm always looking at how you knit things together, and I've always had this kind of natural instinct to understand how things work, not just at face value, but deeper. So that's just my personal learning style, and for me, it has served you well, l and l, listening and observation.

Dorothy Dowling:

So I, I love that, Eleanor. I think that's a really great tip for everyone to embrace. I also was looking at your LinkedIn and the compliments that you were extending to the Marriott family in terms of the journey that they have Always looked at the back of the house and. Made time for a lot of the folks, the production folks, the folks that are really doing the work in the hotel to make sure that they understand some of their journey and their challenges. So I'm sure some of that has rubbed off on you in terms of the power of observation and learning through watching others. Brian, so thank you. Yes. Of course you and I got to know each other much more through the journey with us travel. And I've always admired Brian, those that give back to the industry in significant ways, cuz I've always believed that we win together. And just like you talked about your learning journey, that we all learn from each other. But I had great respect for the time, the effort, the energy, and also the way you brought so much of what Marriott could do to the industry through that journey, through Covid, because all of us were extraordinarily uncertain, but you stood up in a very powerful way. You were able to raise money and ask all of us to contribute to the cause, and also brought us together in a very powerful collabo. Teamwork in terms of supporting the repositioning of travel, and I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about the work that you've always done with the industry, the advocacy and offer. Again, anything you made to the audience in terms of how this has powered your career.

Brian King:

went to a Catholic university and our president, she was this amazing Franciscan. Show us that life is about fundraising and fundraising, which I love it. I always stick to heart actually, and there's a lot of truth in that. So I think about, US travel and here we are all at the table, all in a zoom cone call in the middle of a pandemic. The industry has really hit rock bottom. And there's no playbook. None of us have been through this before. And when you think about the core motivation at that moment, not just for us, but industry people at large was self-preservation. It was fear. Fear was driving emotional decisions, which made sense cuz this was the unknown. People's lives literally were at stake and travel certainly was not a critical lead when you think about it to get through the pandemic. But by the same token, we as leaders had an industry of associates and through no fault of their own, were suddenly finding themselves in hard times like the. And it was tough. If you could go to bed comfortable each night, I'm not sure you really were in touch with humanity. So I think we all took that to heart so deeply. So even though we were competitors, we had air, car destination, hotel, all this at the table, trying to figure this out. The common enemy is what united us. Every victim needs an oppressor and we weren't gonna let covid be our oppressor. I always felt that I know we could solve this. At least to get the message out there When you are ready, we're ready for you. And I think that was, the beauty of it is we brought people in from publishing, we brought in our ad agencies, we brought in, different folks who we re market researchers who said, we'll help, we'll do whatever we can. Because they cared about our. They cared about the industry. So those folks volunteered their time and resources as well, and that really led us to that core insight that, when you're ready to travel again, we'll be ready for you. And planning this idea of planning for something bright and hopeful in the future and travel was, that got people out of what they were thinking about to say, yeah, you know what, I'm gonna plan a trip, at least start planning. And that became, let's go. Let's start as a family. If we're locked in our house, let's think about that dream vacation and it united the industry. And it was because we all had a common enemy and there was no wall of being competitors at that point, in this industry. Always been friendly. We're, that's our nature. We're competitive Sure. But in a friendly sort of manner. It's not cutthroat. And I think that's served us well. Just the DNA of the industry at large. Whether it was that or other opportunities to give back, making time to help people grow their careers in this business, I feel so passionate about. I'm one of the, people who benefited from this industry as an hourly associate. And I see that, in our workforce, 53% of our management came from the hourly. It's an amazing place to start a career. So that passion of all the folks on the phone and our care for our industry and saving it literally against the oppressor, which was covid. We weren't victims. We were victorious.

Dorothy Dowling:

I just wanna thank you Brian, because I think you brought amazing humanity to that leadership rule. And I know it was really challenging because it was uncertain we had limited funds to invest. Yeah. And it was always, do we go now? Maybe the end is insight, but you just led the community of all of those marketing sales leaders in such a powerful way. So I just wanna thank you cuz I loved being part of that group with you and I really loved watching. And listening and observing your leadership in action. It was a great learning opportunity for me.

Brian King:

Thank you Dorothy. Thanks for your contribution. We all did it together. There's no doubt.

We

Dorothy Dowling:

did. I'm wondering if I could shift a little bit Brian, because over time you have always spoken about Arne Sorenson and. What an impactful person he was in your career journey. I'm sure there are a few mentors that have been important to you, but I'm wondering if you can share some of the learnings perhaps that Arne developed and shared with you and perhaps others. I'm sure our audience would love to hear.

Brian King:

There's no doubt. As somebody once then said, Arne was a once in a generational leader, and I agree with that. He had this just unique ability to connect with people at every level. Whether you were the president of a cunt of a country or whether you were a housekeeper who was getting walking down the hallway, his. Emotional connection to humanity at large. I've just never witnessed anything like it, and I think one of the reasons maybe we had bound the way we did, we both grew up in the Midwest, his. Grandparents, I believe from Madison and I was in Wisconsin, he was in Minnesota. So we always had this kind of Midwest connection and that kind of sense of family and being at the table and just really listening and enjoying each other is in our dna, I guess you might say. And the thing I always knew and was amazed by Arne, there was no doubt he was the smartest man in the room always. And but he was always the last to. He would really let the team or the organization try to make sure that the problem was solved. Now there were times he would certainly weigh in and have to make a decision like any c e o, but the way he did it, you knew that you had been heard along the way, whether you agreed or not with his decision. We all went on board, but you knew you were really listened to and deeply not at a surface level. And I guess when I first came into headquarters and I was asked to reinvent this, the Courtyard brand, he was there. He knew it was a high priority for the chairman and the company. And, basically it was like, whatever you need, let's get the job done. I'm here to support you. And it was a bit of a high stakes game, to be honest. A brand that was created by the company. And we take on a role like that, you certainly wanna make it better and not take it backwards. So knowing you had that support at the most senior level meant a lot. And he was okay with making mistakes. And I think the third thing about Arnie Was his constant quest for relevance in a gentle way, right? Some people just pound the fist of the table and we have to change. We have to change. He knew we had to change. We know we have to change, but he wanted to make sure the company was ready for the next a hundred years and he certainly did that. Because when you're a great operating company, sometimes you can get stuck in your ways cuz you're super efficient. But you've gotta push yourself out of that inefficiency to do something new that will actually make you better in the future. And he did that in the right way.

Dorothy Dowling:

I appreciate that. I think that really ties back to that listening, but being the last to speak I think is a very interesting. Perspective because clearly Arne had an extraordinarily powerful iq. So to hear that was the way he interacted with his teammates and peers, that is something we can all learn. Brian and I also do think this quest for relevancy, because I do myself struggle with people that are thinking 2019 is coming back. And it's like that is not the benchmark for our future and we've gotta be re-imagining all of the structural change that's occurred. Post Covid and ensure that we're gonna be relevant to today's and tomorrow's customer. So I really appreciate you sharing that with us about Arne and the impact that he had on your growth trajectory, cuz I know that you would bring that every day in your leadership to your teammates as well.

Brian King:

I think, Dorothy, I think that's, thank you for that. I think when you think about it in today's day and age, relevancy. And the speed of which something comes in and out of fashion, it's mind boggling. Yeah. You think about, the simple example, network TV to Netflix. Yeah. You think about taxis to Uber, the platforms that exist today that could scale that quickly are a bit scary if you're not ahead of the game. And I think that Arne had that vision of what might be ahead of us. He could really look around the corner and make sure that any threats on the horizon, we were.

Dorothy Dowling:

I'd like to ask a little bit more about that, Brian, because you were in a very powerful role with Marriott today, and all of us are on that learning journey all the time. Are there particular go-to sources that you go to keep yourself on top of the game and following Arne's footprints to see that future?

Brian King:

Yeah, I definitely follow, blogs and posts of tech leaders. I am interested in technology just naturally, and because what technology has become was more than just an enablement of a process. It's become so fundamental to the way we live and work. And it just doesn't enable process. It actually enables more time, hopefully to do other things. Or it can remove things that have been maybe anxiety ridden or just routine. And when the routine's gone, what are you doing? So if you look ahead with technology, and I'm not a technology futurist, and you listen to what, how people are piecing things together. You're gonna find a bullet in there or a grain that say, Ooh, how might this affect my industry? And I think that's what's important in any industry. Tech and digitalization. I still don't believe it's completely matured. I think there's more that's happening in that space. Obviously this late announcement with a chat coming out is interesting and ai, it's probably the first big pivotal moment in AI where people are really taking note in a meaningful way, pros and cons to that. So I think you've just gotta stay on it. As a leader, any industry you've got to know what's going on with technology and make sure you. You're using it, you're up to speed, you're educated, and you're always exploring that space. I just don't think there's anything that changes an industry more quickly that I've seen than what tech has done, at least certainly in ours.

Dorothy Dowling:

And I totally concur with what you've said, Brian, is in terms of understanding business transformation and those root causes that are really driving some of the change. And I agree that embracing it as a consumer so that you understand things like that generative AI through chat G P T and seeing how our customers might be using it, as well as staying informed in terms of reading. All of the various industry opportunities that we might have from a subscriber basis and others to try and connect the dots with how some of the professional communities see some of these things. But it truly is, I think we're on a path of business transformation that none of us have seen in our careers and really understanding. That whole element of digitization, generative ai and what's coming next it's exciting. I'm like you I love embracing all these opportunities to try and anticipate where we might go. With that in mind, I always like to ask about people's personal mantra. I hear that you're a constant learner or a continuous learner and that you embrace that. Are there other parts that you are sort that's part of your mantra in terms of who you are, Brian, that dictates or frames up your leadership?

Brian King:

I think. I've always been a long-term believer in, short-term sacrifice for long-term gratification. I really am. And in today's kind of instant gratification world that happens a lot. I think in some of these digital tools, you can get down a rabbit hole, so you've gotta step back from that. So that's one thing. Short-term sacrifice for gratification. Number two, context is everything. I think too many times I see leaders jump into a situation or a problem when they don't fully understand the context, and that can be very detrimental and get you in the wrong place or making the wrong decision. So I certainly believe in that. And then at the end of the day, it is really, I always say, faith, family, friends, and find the. Throughout life, you're gonna have moments that may not be fun, but if you lean into those things and every day look for something joyful, I think you're gonna be okay because there's a lot of joy in the world and sometimes it may not feel like it. But you've gotta make the time to look for something, that gives you a little chuckle or that's a great way to think about something. So even in rough times, I always find something funny. Just you have to, life is too short.

Dorothy Dowling:

There's two things that you've said there, Brian, that I think make you such a name. Press of global leader. One is that finding the joy because I do think leaders are contagious. So I think when you bring that joyful attitude, you bring it to your entire team and they all benefit. But that element of contextualization to me, because you leading Latin America, it's one of the things that I've really enjoyed in some of my global roles is really trying to understand context. Because bringing the frame that we have may not be the frame that the other person is bring. And so if we try to contextualize it from their perspective, it makes us so much more impactful in terms of finding solutions together. So thank you for sharing that. Absolutely. I'm also wondering, because, once I dug into your career, Brian, I did not realize how many different roles and really just the amazing trajectory and all of the new things that you were given, as you said, when you were given the role of transforming the reservation. Platform at Marriott. So I'm just wondering, because typically when a new leader takes on a role, they have to have their a hundred day plan. And I would love to hear about how you approached all of those different career transitions in your roles at Marriott and how, you framed up some of those a hundred days to make sure that you have, were creating impact as a new leader in that role.

Brian King:

Yeah, so I've always looked at my career and I do give this advice readily is not about positions and more about skills like a library. I look on the shelf and say, what books have I not read yet in my career and when I first came to Merit Headquarters in the early nineties, I had no technology background whatsoever. Again, I don't consider myself a tech person per se, but I had to learn how to be a business analyst and kind of translate the needs of the business. To our technical team who was building, updating our reservation system at the time. And it was a pretty big overhaul back then. And this is not, this is the green screen, old Reds systems we grew up yet, remember all the commands by hand by your head that nothing was like on a screen, fill in the blank. Way before Wizzywig. What is what you get was the emerging technology at the time. It was that kind of sitting back. And in that case it was a real, literally talking to the folks who were writing the code and saying, what do you need to be successful? What do you need from me? So I learned deeply what they did in their job and like how I could support them to make sure we met business objectives. I, worked in sales and marketing and I remember my first I really didn't have a marketing, agency background of. But being on the client side, how do you be a good client to an agency? And I went to a mentor of mine and said, you've seen this. Where has it worked, where it has not worked? And tell me why. And always asking when I enter a new role or position, what's worked well in the past and what has not. And then people usually stop. Then I ask why, right? Not just the what, but the why, and that's my natural tendency to just dig in and ask a lot of questions in the beginning. That helps me a lot because I think when a leader who's worked across a lot of disciplines like I have, you can start to piece everything together and see how it connects. How the network connects, because the hotel business does not operate in isolated silos. It's all interwoven, and I think that's the magic of it all. When a leader can do that, you can go through the organization and see how to connect the dots. So I always put a lot of effort around that and that relationships matter in that, who's the thought leader and who's the production leader, and. Pulling those people together to make sure we're moving in the right direction. So I've always taken on roles where sometimes I knew absolutely nothing about it and just took a leap of faith and it wasn't my own skills. I was more concerned about it was the people around me that I could learn from. So it's about the team. At the end of the day, it really is. It sounds trite, but it is true. Everyone can contribute, but as a leader, you just have to figure out how they can contribute to the problem, right? Have a clear problem or a clear vision, and then how do we build it together? People working together, building for something for the future. It's exciting and it's enjoyable, and they all want to con contribute. You just have to get the best out of everyone. And just getting to know them usually is the.

Dorothy Dowling:

That, that's powerful, Brian. And to me it's really when new leaders often start a role they start on these listening tours or listening journeys. And that's what I've heard from you is that it's really around listening and learning, which is that lan o frame that you gave us a little earlier. But I do think it is about empowering teams and great leaders do connect dots because they are that learner and. I just think the kind of opportunities that you have worked through at Marriott. I just can't even imagine the kind of dots that you're connecting to Propel Marriott forward in Latin America. They are very fortunate for the investment they've made in you, and certainly I'm sure the investments that you have really been so transformational for them. So I wanna ask about something else, if I may, because I've had the good fortune of working with some of the individuals that reported to you over time, and it's always been know, gratifying to me because obviously I've thought so highly of you, Brian, over the years. But when you hear about you as a leader through your teammate's eyes, What they think of you, how they value, how you have contributed to their career, and also how you've imparted so much of your leadership to them. I'm just wondering if there's anything that has propelled you to be this extraordinary people leader that you could share with others so that they may take some of that away in their day-to-day roles.

Brian King:

Thank you for that. But I've just worked with really magical people. I have. The company's attracted great talent and I'm just very fortunate to be in their presence, more so of them and mine, to be honest. And I think two things come to mind. I think one, just generally having a sense of humility. I do not take for granted a moment of what I do and why I do it, and how lucky I am to be here. I just don't secondly, I think a leader's job, and I think with Simon Sinek who once said this is to create safety. And certainly Covid taught us that. But in general, day-to-day if someone's walking into their work workplace of work every day feeling fearful, that's not good. So there has to be a cause of that. Is it the work environment, is the work they're doing, they don't feel capable or competent that there's like this imposter theory that's rattling around in their mind. So making sure that there is a sense of safety and now, sometimes people struggle and you try to help and coach and of course you do that and be honest and be specific. I think the biggest thing I see with leaders when I see an associate failing. Is they're not given direct, honest, specific feedback about a behavior and example. It's not a feeling, it can't be an instinct. It has to be based on something that's tangible. And any leader who can do that's listening and OB observing, can give someone feedback that they can really change the course of their career. And I think, again, having the sense of fun too, it's a fun business, right? It really. We've had some dark days, but in general it's a fun business cuz if you're in the business to serve, you really wanna work together, you wanna collaborate and I think that makes all the difference in the world. So I've been lucky to work with some amazing teams whether at industry events or in the company and we've been able to collaborate and of move things forward together. They're just some really talented folks. I've been blessed to be in their presence, to be honest.

Dorothy Dowling:

If I could frame that out, Brian, because I think with leaders you talk about humility and you talk about hubris. You definitely represent a leader that brings the humility to the table, which to me is I now fully appreciate and understand why you have the followership that you do, because you do bring up the best in others. And I also believe that feedback is a gift. And if it is done appropriately with teammates, it does empower them. Far more accessible in their career. And I do love the element of fun, which is something I always need to work on cuz I'm a very serious soul. But being bringing fun to the table always is contagious. So I'm wondering, with that being said, I know you talked about your transformation responsibilities with Courtyard, which of course is an incredibly important asset to Marriott. But I'm wondering what the proudest achievements are in your career. Is it some of that brand transformation or are there other pieces that you really have great pride in terms of your leadership?

Brian King:

I think there's the pragmatic side of seeing a business that you worked on, thrive and grow, be very successful. I remember the very early days of Moxie Hotels when we were in some negotiations with our partners and, actually getting that brand named. I'm passing all the trademarks around the world, that's we do know that But those are business moments which we all take pride in. And I think that's exciting cuz you're part of building something for the future that's gonna be around for a long time. Or taking something that needed to be dusted off and getting it ready for the next generation. That was exciting. Certainly in Courtyard or learning new countries and markets. I remember my first time going to Asia and just being completely. Immense overwhelmed at the moments, but also trying to immense myself, emerge myself in the culture and try to understand how people really think and how work gets done. I, those are experiences that have served me well in Alaskan a lifetime, but at the end it always came down to the people. It just did. And I think that's what I'm most proud of, to see so many colleagues around. Who their careers have just blossomed. It's their own work and at and drive that gets them there. But maybe a little coaching or tapping along the way that I've been able to help with, I feel great about. One day when you, we all move on cuz you wanna make room for others, right? Everyone needs a shot at these tons of opportunities. That's what always take the most pride in to see people who've really been able to lift themselves up by the bootstraps, create a greater future for themselves and their family. That's what it's all about, right? It really is. The rest is exciting and fun. But when you see individuals become completely self-sufficient, who may not have had the easiest start in life are obstacles that look like impossible to overcome, and this industry helps them establish a new way forward, that gives me the most gratification to be.

Dorothy Dowling:

I thank you for sharing that, Brian, and that's really the D n A of d e I advisors because it is empowering others to achieve their career success. So I thank you for all that you have done for others in that journey. And I'm wondering, we're coming up near the end of the interview, Brian, but I know you have a very important role that you represent Marriott on the board of immigration equality leading organization for LGBTQ plus rights for asylum seekers. And I'm just wondering if you can share a little bit about your role and the work that you do.

Brian King:

Yeah, I think, Marriott, we as executives, we spread ourselves rightly and a lot of causes of the company believes in and our associates believe in. And I think what's amazing about this industry is the diversity of the workforce around the globe. It's fascinating and it is truly. This amazing rainbow of humanity that works in our hotels. And I love that. The hotel recently, I think they had 15 different cultures represented in the back back of the house and how these folks all work together so well, sometimes our role leaders should, spend a day in housekeeping, but I think. Immigration equality is for folks who are literally being terrorized and their lives are in danger and are seeking a safe harbor. And that's one thing that I've always thought about with our hotels. A lot of our hotels in different parts of the world are really a safe harbor. It's where they come every day, where they're to get a great meal. A uniform, be able to work, be productive, and maybe not be able to go home to a place that is as enjoyable as the hotel. So I take that very seriously. And immigration equality. For example, during the Afghan challenges, was able to help get 30 refugees to Canada. And take care of folks who will really have been under some significant life-threatening duress. So a small organization that actually punches well above its weight and Marriott participates in many of these types of smaller, as well as large shareable or NGO organizations. So it's just part of what we do. We have to give back and so feel very passionately about the work that organization does. It's literally saving.

Dorothy Dowling:

Brian, thank you and I am just so gratified for all of the amazing contributions that make to our industry. But I loved hearing all of your stories about the great contributions that you and Marriott are making to humanity overall. So I sincerely appreciate you being with me today. And I really do appreciate all of the wisdom that you have imparted in terms of your leadership journey that we can all learn from. I also would like to thank our audience, and if you have enjoyed this interview, I hope you'll visit us on our website, d e i advisors.org, where you will see webcasts and podcasts from other indu industry leaders that will empower your knowledge and few years spirit. So Brian, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making time for us today, and I do hope that we'll see the audience with us on many other of the webcasts of leaders that have been impactful like you. So thank you, Brian. Thank

Brian King:

you, Dorothy. Great to be with you as well.