Donte Johnson, Author, The Hospitality Impact Handbook, Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey

Donte discusses the importance of community on his leadership style and how social impact and business success can go hand in hand. He shares his strategies for overcoming self doubt, building great teams, overcoming challenges, and developing new skills. He also talks about why representation matters, his public speaking journey, and what drives his curiosity.

Transcript

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Rachel Humphrey 0:01

I am Rachel Humphrey with its Personal Stories, a hospitality podcast. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering personal success in the hospitality industry, and I am very excited to be joined today by Dante Johnson, the author of the Impact Hospitality Handbook. Dante, welcome to the show.

Donte Johnson 0:20

Thank you for having me, Rachel. I appreciate it.

Rachel Humphrey 0:22

So for those listening, we are gonna do things a little bit differently today. Dante has written an incredible book, co-authored an incredible book, the Impact Hospitality Handbook. And so we are going to talk about his journey to leadership and some of his life's lessons, but we're gonna tie it into the really impactful chapters of that book today. So I hope you all enjoy the new format or today's format. But before we get started, I did just wanna give a definition of impact hospitality. It is a significant. Positive influence on guests, visitors, and the community created as the result of a deliberate set of activities with the goal of addressing a pressing social challenge. This can be achieved through the creation of space for conversation, connections, and cultural exchanges. So with that in mind Dante, one of the most. Impressive things. I think about the hospitality industry is that no two leadership journeys are the same. You can carve whatever unique path you want to and still assume roles of leadership within the industry. So spend a couple minutes telling us about you, your background, and your journey, and how you ended up where you are today.

Donte Johnson 1:30

Sure. And I love this question because I think you're spot on. Everyone I talk to has a different path but many of us fell into the industry, fell in love with it, and then and then took it from there. So I originally studied journalism in school. I. And was gonna be a sports writer. Moved home from Jersey City, New Jersey to Washington, DC had no connections whatsoever in the world of journalism. And after a few months of unsuccessfully trying to find a job in that field, and aunt who worked at a hotel said, why don't you get a job at the front desk? You're smart enough people like you, just get a job at the front desk of a hotel and then you can, figure out a way to find your way into journalism. After a few months working at the front desk at the first Kimpton Hotel east of Chicago I realized, I wanted to be a gm and I said this to any and everybody who would listen. I told everybody in the building that it was their job to teach me something every day until I knew everything that they all knew. And I went person by person. And. Burned through the entire team that way, but I was a very curious a very curious early career hotelier. After six months in that front desk role Kempton essentially opened a hotel or two a year for the next several years in Washington dc So I had the opportunity to bounce around, to try different things without having to relocate. Found my way into revenue management for a while. And then got back into operations after about a year and a half of that. Spent a years in a GM and then at 29 was a first time gm, so you know, very much ahead of schedule. For most of my career, I've spent a lot of time being I. Sort of the youngest person in the room, the outlier from a career perspective, but moved up quickly. And now I am in Atlanta at the Thompson Atlanta Buckethead my seventh GM job. So I've now been a GM for longer than I've been anything else in the industry. And. I've loved every minute of it.

Rachel Humphrey 3:30

That's really incredible. And one of the pieces that I pull away from that the most is the asking people to teach you something new every day. Such an important way to really learn the industry, learn the different roles, learn how they all interact with each other, and I think that's such an important and insightful way for you to end up where you are today. I. Segue over to the topic of community. The deep sense of community you had growing up is really something that, when I was reading the book, really hit home for me. And community is something we talk about so much nowadays. I wanted to read this. It says, these brave leaders coalesced around the idea that treating others with grace and compassion is not only the noble thing to do, but it's the only way to behave in a world that needs and deserves community. I would love for you to share a little bit about why you think community is so important and how that really impacts your leadership style today.

Donte Johnson 4:28

Yeah. I think, to go back to my personal origin story I come from very humble beginnings. Grew up, in Washington DC at a very crazy time, in a very crazy part of the city. And I think there were points where community was all it felt like we had. And I'm only sitting here right now because of community that was built around me as a young kid navigating, some really dangerous spaces. And so I'm deeply grateful for all the people along the way who took an interest and, even at times may have, saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. So now, I feel like. There's a reason for everything. I don't believe in coincidence and I think, being in this industry for my entire adult life. One of the things that I've always said is, for us to operate healthy businesses in unhealthy communities has to be an outcome that we see as unacceptable. And I think hospitality as an industry is uniquely positioned to be able to, offer inside the buildings the best of what's happening outside the buildings. And I think that's where travel really becomes a connector for people. I know people who spend, months of the year. On the road who, who barely ever leave the hotel. And I think there's ways that we can bring the local community into the building where you wouldn't necessarily have to have a uniquely local experience in every city where you travel. And I think the other thing that does when we localize experiences, when we localize programming and initiatives, is, it becomes a transformative opportunity creator. In the communities immediately surrounding the hotels. Whenever I travel internationally, I'm always blown away at how much hospitality creates upward mobility in a lot of the communities that I travel to. And, it's not unlike my own story for, in, in the us. And so I think the more that we can amplify that idea and that responsibility I think the healthier these communities become.

Rachel Humphrey 6:20

I love that you were able to lean so much into something that's such a part of you, your childhood, your upbringing, and figure out how to apply that in the leadership roles that you have today, but also then in instilling that same sense of community in the neighborhoods around you. I think that. For me, I've shared a lot about the self-doubt, some of the negative voices that have been in my head throughout my career, and oftentimes I know that those are louder than my own support systems voices in getting to me. In the book you say, be a fearless innovator. Break the rules that no one has dared to write. Acknowledge the barriers, but don't feel them. Fear them, go straight into the headwind and solve problems with the loyal teammates around you. They are there to lift you up in your journey, both in your GM journey, but also in writing the book. I imagine there were probably some times that self-doubt crept in. How do you navigate that and what would you tell others who might experience that same type of negative talk in their own mind?

Donte Johnson 7:22

Yeah. I saw a quote somewhere that said, be afraid and do it anyway. And that's very much the way I approach self-doubt. And I think it's a very natural thing. I mentioned earlier, oftentimes being the youngest person in a space certainly, my background is unique to a lot of the rooms that I'm in from an industry perspective. But I think, achievement's not optional. Like it's what I have to do. And so I've never looked at any of the challenges in front of me as as things that, that I had the option of opting out of solving. So for me, it's really not, there's no choice. I think overcoming the self-doubt piece can be challenging for sure. And I think, a lot of times the self-doubt is environmental. There's nothing within me that makes imposter syndrome, something that, that I bring into the room. I think, if you ask a fish to climb a tree, then it's easy to make that fish feel incompetent. And so oftentimes the environments aren't curated to receive the gifts that you uniquely are able to bring to the situation. And as much as I hate to admit it, oftentimes reconciling that. Falls in, in the lap of the individual. The advice that I would give to people is to, going back to the, to previous point, find community find people who've navigated the waters that you're trying to you're trying to sort through seek out the advice of smart people in the space. I think mentorship and sponsorship are incredibly important. But I think it also does you no good to surround yourself with smart people and not actually listen to them. And so while their journeys might not be yours there's so much value in the environment around you. I talked about asking people to teach me the things that they knew that I didn't. And I wish I could say that I was polite about that, but I was incredibly demanding because in my mind, if you're my supervisor, then your job is to enrich me. And so I approached curiosity almost with a degree of entitlement that I'm sure was annoying to people around me. But I think people. People forgave the annoyance because they appreciated the ambition. And I think that's something that's served me well over the years. And so there's not a day that I walk through the industry where at some point I don't second guess a decision. I'm my own. Toughest critic, and I think that's also served me well over the years. I think a healthy amount of introspection and reflection is critical to be a good leader because otherwise how do you grow and how do you course correct when maybe you didn't handle a situation in the best possible way? But I think all of that is the vulnerability of leadership. And if you're not at the, in these moments, willing to be vulnerable, then I would argue that you're not tapping into your highest potential as a leader.

Rachel Humphrey 9:59

Congratulations to you both for advocating for yourself, again, by asking people and as you say, maybe urging people strongly to help you along the way, but such an interesting perspective on some of that self-doubt actually coming from outside or external sources as opposed to our end, because I think. Sometimes our biggest obstacles are ourselves and we don't need anybody else creating additional obstacles for us. Which actually segues into talking about obstacles specifically. I actually don't love the word failures. I think it implies that we all have to be perfect at all times and tremendous amount of pressure. But one of the things you say in the book, it says, celebrate the successes and quickly pivot off of failed. Experiments taken careful not to, no. To laugh, cry, and learn about what did not work out. Can you think of different obstacles or setbacks that you've had and the lessons that you've learned? Keeping that idea about laughing, crying and learning about what did not work out in mind.

Donte Johnson 11:00

I can, I think one of the biggest things when I think whenever you're doing something that's unique or innovative is is the culture that you curate around that uniqueness. So for us, I. There everyone's adoption curve is a little different. So if you're rolling out a unique philosophy where you feel like, hey, we can really leverage hospitality as a power for good in the community. My assumption on the front end of that was that everybody would be all about this 'cause because who's not all about making communities healthier? And then what I came to realize is that there's people who just wanna do their eight and skate and. Reasonably, they should be allowed to just show up every day, be great at their job, and not have to wanna save the world. And so it was an interesting sort of aha moment when we realized that there were some people in the building who said, Hey, who cares about which small vendor we're supporting with our purchases? Who cares about what toilet paper's in the room? Who cares about what coffee's in the room? And over time. When it started to, when that started to be a rising tide, when that culture that was created in the building started to make their jobs easier or make it easier to convert a piece of business if you're a salesperson, or make it easier to recruit a colleague if you're in hr. Then you started to see people develop an emotional connection to the philosophy. Because the what's in it for me was an easy sort of direct line correlation. And so it was, I wouldn't say that it was a failure necessarily, or even an obstacle in the beginning, but it was certainly a discovery and something that, I took for granted. And part of it was that you had people in the building who right away, day one said, this is why I'm here. Because this means so much to me and I love what you, what we're doing. I love the fact that, me as a housekeeping supervisor in this building makes it possible for this business to support this community in this way. And it became really difficult not to assume that for the broader group. And you really had to start to unpack how to. How to lead people as individuals and respect everybody's journey and respect everybody's process. And so that's the one that, that sticks out the most because, now I'm in Atlanta, so second hotel since, since deploying this philosophy. And the immediate thought that I had was, okay, it's year five for me, but it's day one for somebody in this building and I gotta make sure that, we don't go. Too far, too fast, but at the same time, we don't fail to challenge ourselves to really lean in and it's threading a needle for sure. Because, you don't wanna, you don't wanna underreact to what's happening in the environment. And I think the reality is if everybody's got a different opinion, if everybody's on a different page, then you don't really have a culture and you don't have a direction and it becomes impossible to accomplish anything. So there, there's a lot of the alignment work. Is how I would describe that. And I think if you're looking to advance any culture or initiative in the industry that's meant to have an impact, then you cannot underestimate the value of the alignment work. I.

Rachel Humphrey 14:02

That's so interesting that you say that because the book talks a lot about building consensus, but you're also saying that while you build consensus, you also have to understand the individual and the individual's perspective as part of that, and that's such, it seems so opposite sides, but yet at the same time, you've made it work building together. When you think about building great teams as you've done at the various properties that you've managed and then developing that talent from within. Have you found either a consistent theme or that it factor, or what is that thing that you see in people where you're like, I recognize that whether you had it or whether you've seen it in other great hires that you have. What is that secret for you to building those great teams and then developing the talent once you bring them on board? Yeah

Donte Johnson 14:48

it's a great question. I think especially for this moment in the industry that's uniquely challenging from a, from a team building and talent acquisition perspective because the labor pool is as difficult as I've ever seen it. And, I do talk a lot about building consensus. I think consensus is aspirational. I think at the very least, alignment gets you to where you can start to, to get some work done. When I'm talking about individuals or when I'm looking to bring people onto the team, I think the number one thing that I see as a cultural fit for what we are doing and the way that we do it is adaptability. And I think that's also never been not true for my entire time in the industry. Has adaptability not been a key asset for someone to have in their character in order for them to have success? I think. The industry is changing and the world is changing more rapidly than it ever has. And so the solutions that best serve us today are not the solutions that best served us a year or even six months ago. So being able to go to someone and say, yes, I know that originally, this was the objective, or this is, this was the to-do list. And now our priorities have shifted as the environment has changed. Only works if you've got people on the team. Who have that sort of intellectual and udal elasticity to be able to modify what they're doing in a given day to accommodate that. And then as far as teams go, I think, I look to, to build teams in our industry, the way that coaches build teams in competitive sports. 'cause at the end of the day, none of this matters if we don't win. And I'm very honest with the team about that. It's just a bunch of cute ideas. If this building isn't having demonstrable success, that separates our performance from the performance of the people around us. And so that means that there's gonna be people who on the team who may over index in creativity, but who may struggle with some other things. And as long as their performance in the things that aren't their strong suit is adequate, then they get to stay. And we'll find someone on the team who. Who over indexes in the analytical side. And I think if we can build a strong culture, then those people will have the, both the confidence and the humility to connect with one another and say, Hey, I can help you with your presentation deck and you help me with my spreadsheet and then everybody wins. I think if we create. These sort of top structures in the industry, which I've seen a lot where everything goes through a like one leader, nothing can happen. A decision can't get made in the building without my approval. Then it's an inefficient way to do business. It also doesn't empower and develop leaders. And I think the, the number one building block for culture in my experience is that people feel like they're being enriched every day. They feel like I'm better off than I was six months ago, because some of these days are gonna be tough no matter what. I have to feel like when I look back and reflect on it that, that I'm stronger for having been here.

Rachel Humphrey 17:41

It's so interesting because we think about the industry as being adaptable. We think about businesses needing to be adaptable, but really applying that to each individual on our team as a character trait that you're looking for is a great way to look at it. And I love the idea where. Everybody doesn't have to be a 10 outta 10 in every skillset. You can really lean into their stronger skills and then supplement through others who have the stronger skills that maybe compliment that. So that is great. As we keep talking a little bit, I love to share with our audience why I am especially interested in sharing somebody's story or in inviting you on the show. And while we have been. In many of the same rooms and same conferences over a long period of time. We actually have only just recently met for the first time on a panel about public speaking, and I was really fascinated by a couple things. One by the very vulnerable share that you don't like it. So welcome and thank you for being here. But also that you and I both feel very strongly that representation matters and that there is an opportunity for each one of us to. Uniquely make sure that we are continuing to advocate for something that we believe strongly about, which is representation on stages and other public platforms visibility. So talk to me for a second, if you would, about why it's so important, this aspect of representation generally, or. Specifically to you, and then knowing that you don't love public speaking. Talk a little bit for a minute or two about your public speaking journey. Maybe how you prepare your thoughts about it, anything that, that our audience might find interesting.

Donte Johnson 19:22

Yeah. And I have no I have no issue with admitting that I don't enjoy public speaking because I think that's something that people need to hear. Because I think there's lots of people whose voices we would benefit from that we never otherwise be are exposed to. And so for me, this goes back to the conversation we were having about the environment and how that can impose imposter syndrome onto people. In, in ways that's unfair and unproductive. But if we look at representation. Through the lens of what does the absence of that look like? And if we are all only hearing one set of ideas one set of values one set of principles, then I think we miss out. I think we, we fail to optimize the environment and I think the industry and many industries for a long time have have been slow to to evolve out of that. And I think they've suffered as a result. And so for me, if you are not on that stage, if I am not on that stage then we're doing the environment, the industry, the audience, a disservice. And that's not because I think, I'm God's gift to an audience. It's just that I recognize that there aren't many people who are making that contribution to the dialogue. And you know what I hope. I'm modeling by saying I really don't enjoy this, but I'm doing it anyway. Is the fact that, and this is why I draw distinction between public speaking and public talking. It's like I just get up and talk all day long. Speaking to me feels like a professionalized version of a thing that involves skill, that involves practice and and so I think. For me, what I encourage people to do is get over the need to be perfect and bias to the action of actually contributing to the conversation. But the other thing that I would add to this is for years, like my public speaking journey starts as a kid. I was always, one of the top kids in the class. I, I was always, on stage for Black History Month doing an MLK speech. I was the kid who you sent down to the city council to talk about how transformative the programs were to make sure that the purse strings were aligned with the needs in underserved communities. I was just speaking for a long time. It wasn't until I started speaking in professional environments that I became uncomfortable with it. So even, as a college student, I was an orientation leader, I was a resident assistant. I was constantly in front of groups of my peers speaking. And I felt very comfortable and very confident. It was not until I got into corporate spaces that I felt any sense of inadequacy around being in front of people, which, goes back to and reinforces the point of, this is an environmental thing. There was nothing that fundamentally changed about me as a human or what I'm capable of doing. It was. And the feeling and the environment, and I don't think it's intentional. I don't think it's malicious. I don't think anybody wants me to fail. I just believe that that there's a curation gap that, that we need to solve. I.

Rachel Humphrey 22:24

It's so interesting too. You bring up so many great points. And first, I do appreciate your vulnerability sharing how you feel about it, because I think a lot of people feel that way. But stepping outside of your comfort zone knowing that you have value to add in any of those rooms that you take the stage in or on this podcast, similar thanks to it, but I also love the concept. People think about public speaking just as stepping on that. 5,000 person room stage at a conference. But you've just given so many incredible examples of public speaking to your team, to a city council person in front of a class. As a captain of a sports team, there are so many ways that we can do that. At nonprofit boards standing up and giving a toast, I say all the time in a room full of friends. That really work that muscle a little bit and knowing. That you have value in what you have to add? I think that a lot of times we hear that people don't accept speaking opportunities 'cause they don't think they're quote unquote ready. I'm just not sure what that means. We're never gonna be ready. We just need to do it. And then with each time we're not only going to get better or more confident, but realize after the first one that we absolutely knew what we were doing and what we had to add the value on. So I appreciate your sharing that. As we get ready to wrap up a little bit, I do wanna talk about the book, the Impact Hospitality Handbook, because we hear this thing all the time that you have to choose between social impact and corporate success for a business. You and I both know that's not true. Talk a little bit about how you get people to truly understand instead of shying away from the concept of impact leadership. Yeah

Donte Johnson 24:00

I think thing number one is we we very much wanted to take a, an open source approach to this long before there was a, was an Impact hospitality handbook. We were. Publishing the playbook as we went and we were publishing it through media. We were publishing it on social media, we were blogging about it. We were talking about it every step of the way. Not just what we were doing but how we were doing it in the hopes that it would be replicated. And so we went into this idea with the thought that if one hotel just. Leveraged a series of very intentional decisions to, to better the community around it. That'd be great If a thousand hotels did it, or 10,000 hotels did it, then you know, now you're cooking and that's when you start to change the world. So the impetus behind the book was that, this is just one other way that we can amplify the idea, amplify the philosophy and tell philosophy, excuse me, and tell the story of how we did a thing with measurable. Results that, that speak to both positive outcomes in the community, but also positive outcomes in the business. And there is no way that success is measured in our business that wasn't noticeably and dramatically improved in a way that. Draws a direct correlation to something that we did from an impact perspective during the time that's written about in the book. And so I think that's thing number one. Thing number two, there's a lot of people who are guided by data. And I'm one of those people. And so we approach this work through a lens of let's. Let's do all of this for the right reasons, but let's understand that it's only scalable if it passes the smell test of pure capitalists. So knowing that this is something that's gonna have to cross somebody's desk, who only cares about the bottom line, because there's a lot of people in every industry who only care about the bottom line and who are answerable to investors and so on. We wanted to make it easy for people to say yes. And so in that way, we were very meticulous in how we tracked things. We were very strategic in how we implemented and rolled out strategies. We worked with, very limited resources and only took risks that were calculated. And that's why the track record is so meaningful and so successful. So I think from that standpoint, we wanted to create a model and an example. That people who wanted to build consensus and alignment around the idea of impact leadership could point to and say there's at least one example of where this works. And anyone who's skeptical, anyone who has doubts about it. Can can read the book and it's a quick read. We also very intentionally respecting the attention span of today's audience. Made this a book that you can get through easily in a weekend. There's a lot of incredible photography in the book by Ryan Rose. The book is, contributed to co-authored, designed by, Jason Bass. These are guys who were on the team and who were present for every day of this while we were doing the work. And so I think we've. In our opinion, made it very easy to consume process and understand what we did and roll out a version of that's relevant to you if that's something that that you're interested in.

Rachel Humphrey 27:10

As I said, as I was reading it, I kept finding all of these pieces that were so relatable, not just to our content here, but to leadership in general. And I do love the idea of doing what's right for the right thing. Certainly is a great driver, but when you are able to combine that with the data, with the business and profit successes, you're gonna have a home run for sure. As we are winding down, I wanna do this in a little bit of a quick fire. People to hear from you, but I know we're gonna run out of time. As you continued your journey, you mentioned reaching out and telling everybody, teach you everything. So this one may be too big a too big an ask. But tell me one new skill that you realized when you got your first GM role. You know what? This is something I haven't flexed yet, but I'm really gonna need to learn how to do it to be successful in this role.

Donte Johnson 27:55

Like intentional networking. And I think, I've just always known a lot of people, so I never had to go into a room and build a reputation. I never had to build a personal brand. And the idea really wasn't. Something that crystallized for me as a first time gm. I was in the city that I grew up in, working with the team at the first hotel I'd ever worked at. So everything around me felt like home. Everything around me felt like family. When I got to a point where I realized I need to relocate, work in a different market and prove to me and anyone who would ask. That I can do this building from scratch. Then I realized the power of networking and and how you build community in that way. And so to me, just generating the energy to walk into a room and, and meet 10 or 15 new people follow up on those relationships and, chase down a coffee appointment or a lunch or what have you, was something that, you know. Maybe it's not the, the most sophisticated answer to the question, but it's something that I strongly recommend, not just for GMs, but for all leaders. And I think there's some people that it comes very natural to. I think there's some people who have to actually be intentional about it, and I would encourage 'em to do that.

Rachel Humphrey 29:09

I love the difference between just having a network and then doing intentional networking. I think that's great advice. One of the things we hear from so many of our guests is this overwhelming sense of curiosity they feel and how that really drives their journey. Again, you mentioned asking everybody to teach you everything that they knew, but tell me one thing you're curious about today.

Donte Johnson 29:33

I would say the near term future, and I think, I've made this joke on the team a couple of times. I feel like Pivot was the probably dictionary.com word of the year for 2022. I think uncertainty is probably the word of the year for 2025, which I think gives us an opportunity to, if we're studious enough and curious enough about the environment. To be dynamic and potentially out maneuver the people that we compete with for business, for talent for brand cachet. And so to me, right now, I am, and I'm generally constantly consuming data. But usually it's probably. 30% industry data, 70% everything else that I'm interested in. Like I went on a, I went down a marketing rabbit hole of a couple of years, just constantly reading marketing books. Which the marketing team at the hotel here probably hates, but but right now it's probably, I probably. Swung the pendulum back to 50% industry things and 50% outside industry things. And I will always have a deep sense of curiosity for how the entire rest of the universe does business. And I think if we allow whatever industry we work in to become an echo chamber, then I think we do the industry a disservice. And so if. If the people who market iPhones are better at marketing than the people who market hotels, then I should learn how they're marketing iPhones. And that's not an opinion, it's just an example. But I think this is why we have to constantly pull whatever is new and advanced and innovative into the space versus waiting for it to organically find its way here. Because historically our industry has been slow to adapt. And there's a number of reasons that we don't have time to unpack about that. But I think it gives you an opportunity to to compete differently when when you're that way. So I love the curiosity question.

Rachel Humphrey 31:20

I love it too, of looking outside our own industry. I think sometimes we tend to be very tunnel visioned on what hospitality is doing, but there's so much we can learn from others. You and I have both talked about this. Reflection on our journeys and learning from a lot of that evolution of ourselves. What would you tell 21-year-old Dante today, the journalism degree in hand, going back to Washington, DC Either something about how things turn out for you or something you wish you knew then that might have shaped who you are today.

Donte Johnson 31:52

Ironic response. I would say talk less and listen more. But also trust your instincts. And, I would say this to older Dante, because there's still times today where. Where intuitively, I know what's right. I know the decision, I know the direction. And and for whatever reason, some of which we've discussed today it takes me longer to get to the decisive moment than it probably should. And I think that creates a lot of opportunity for people to surprise you in a positive way when maybe the conclusion that you're drawing is one. That's of under performance. But I think. Oftentimes it the opportunity for a pleasant surprise of an outcome is drastically outweighed by the number of times where something in your gut's telling you a thing and it's telling you that for a reason. And I think you've gotta trust that. And over time, the track record suggests that we must trust that.

Rachel Humphrey 32:45

I love that so much coming from a data-driven person who is very interested in the data and in the numbers. Dante, as we wrap up today, thinking about the motto of its personal stories, empowering personal success do you have any final words of advice or insights for our audience?

Donte Johnson 33:05

Yeah, I think we've covered a lot of it today with respect to and I feel like the audience for this pod is very much aligned with the philosophy of impact leadership and I think we talked a bit about the voices either in the room or even in your own head, who might I. Who might offer skepticism, who might be doubtful of those outcomes? I would say what we've tried to build here is at least one model where we can point to draw inspiration from and do whatever version of this might work in your environment, in your industry in the moment that you're in. And that could be, maybe you're in an environment where you've got significantly more runway and an infinite capital, in which case I would say let's challenge ourselves to. To push all the way up to the guardrail. And maybe you're in an environment where it's, we've talked about 10 different things and you can roll out one, be proud of that too and tell those stories because I believe that the more voices that we have that are rowing in a direction of creating positive outcomes the better off the world is. And isn't that what hospitality is supposed to be about anyway?

Rachel Humphrey 34:06

I love that. Such a great way to wrap up. Dante, I'm so happy that we are no longer just two people in the same room that actually part of each other's intentional networks. On behalf of both what I am continuing to learn from you, but also the opportunities the industry has, thank you so much for your industry leadership and for sharing your story today. And for our audience who has a choice about how to spend their time, we appreciate you sharing it with us. Hopefully you've enjoyed everything that Dante has had to share. You can also hear from other incredible industry leaders@itspersonalstories.com. But Dante, thank you so much for joining us on the show and sharing.

Donte Johnson 34:41

Oh, thank you so much, Rachel. I appreciate it.

Rachel Humphrey 34:43

Bye-bye.

34:44

Bye.