DEI Advisors Podcast

Lisa Checchio, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, interviewed by Rachel Humphrey, DEI Advisors

January 15, 2023 David Kong
DEI Advisors Podcast
Lisa Checchio, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, interviewed by Rachel Humphrey, DEI Advisors
Show Notes Transcript

Lisa discusses how she pivoted from a planned career as a doctor to a fulfilling career as a hospitality industry executive.  She shares how champions behind the scenes and a well-selected support system have helped her as she has progressed through her career and how she guides the next generation of leaders in a similar way. Lisa talks about how being present in whatever she is doing at the time helps her manage her day and how hope and optimism played a key role in her leadership during the pandemic. Lastly, she shares what she'd tell her younger self and why she encourages everyone to BYOC (bring your own chair) in an effort to advocate for yourself.

Rachel Humphrey:

/Good morning. I am Rachel Humphrey with DEI Advisors, and I am delighted to invite to the show today. Lisa Checko. Lisa, welcome.

Lisa Checchio:

Hi Rachel. How are you?

Rachel Humphrey:

Doing well. We are gonna spend about 30 minutes together today. Talk a little bit about. Your path to leadership and some of the insights that you've learned along the way. One of the things that I like to share is how I select leaders that I like to sit down and spend a few minutes with. And one of the things that I have always been an admirer of yours about is how you always come across so poised. I know that you are pulled in so many directions at all times, yet when we are at conferences, when we are on calls, I am incredibly impressed how, at least externally, publicly you come across. So very well put together and it's something I admire a lot about. You and I have tried to emulate in my own career as well. So thank you for that aspect. I'm sure it's impacted other people in the same way that it has impacted.

Lisa Checchio:

You're too kind, Rachel. What you can't see is the feet always moving underneath and the mind always spinning on did I pack the right things for my kids meal? And am I in the right am I in the right meeting? But absolutely

Rachel Humphrey:

very much. Absolutely. One of the things that I love about the hospitality industry is how different each of our journeys to leadership has been. And I think it really serves a great lesson to show people. You don't have to take a traditional path, or there isn't only one way to get from point A to point B. So tell us a little bit about your journey to leadership, your path, and how you got to where you are today.

Lisa Checchio:

Sure, I'd be happy to. I think I started. Probably the furthest away from hospitality. When I first started out, I was pre-med and and I was always gonna be pre-med growing up. That was always going to be my path was to be a doctor. And when I started at the George Washington University, which is where I went to school at gw I started in a pre-med program and I finished that first year. And realized that being a doctor was my father's path and my father's passion not mine. And the hardest conversation I ever had with him was that freshman summer, after having the same initials as him and being named for him after birth and going my whole life up until that point, going to be a doctor, and then telling him that I didn't think it was for me. And, hi, in that moment of, I find that to be like the first critical conversation I ever had of telling someone that it was just wasn't gonna be the way we thought it was. And his comment to me, Exactly right for the moment, which was, I completely understand. And, if I could have done it over, I would've gone into business too. if that's where your heart is, I think you should try something else. And that kind of started a different path for me. And so that was the first ball that jumped, that kind of bounced off and took me on a different path. And I switched into an economics major, which is what I graduated with, which again is. Necessarily also a traditional path for hospitality and I was playing tennis at GW and so tennis and athletics and sports was such a big part of my identity then, and I went down into a sports management path and that's really where I got introduced to live events and hospitality, the beginnings of hospitality. I just didn't know it then. I started working in professional tennis after I graduated in event management. And. From there is where I was introduced to a new startup in the airline space named JetBlue, which of course now is one of the a very well known brand in the world and one of the largest airlines in the us. But at the time, in those early days, it was just a, it was just a startup. And that's really what led me into travel. And then from there, just a number of different roles. It was such an accelerated, Experience because it was a startup and they were trying to do something contrarian and starting to do something new, and the brand was at the heart of it. And I, and that's really where I started in events, in brand, in marketing and when. When the opportunity to be able to leave an airline, but stay in hotels and stay in hospitality and be able to join the team at Wyndham came about it. It just was another kind of, again, not a necessarily a traditional path to leave one into the other, but. One blue company for another blue company and one that really took me into hospitality. Which, was the path. It was a path that I didn't know that I wanted to be on, but a path that I'm so happy that I wound up on. That's

Rachel Humphrey:

incredible. And something that we've heard so often from so many of the leaders is how. Loving or wanting to do what you do is so important. So having the knowledge and the courage really as a college student to say that this path isn't for me. And to find another one is really remarkable. I did not know that. As I told you, I'm gonna learn a lot about you today as well, that I did not know. One of the things we hear a lot about today is the importance of mentors and champions. And I know. You feel strongly both in those who have mentored and championed you, and also in being able to return that to others. Talk a little bit about the impact of mentors and champions in your career and how you see yourself playing that role at this stage of your career. I do. I feel

Lisa Checchio:

very strongly about it. I think that you know your individual. Career and the path that it takes on is so much a part of you, right? The decisions you make, your passions, your love, as you were just saying. What energizes you, what makes you wanna go to work every day. But I do truly believe that my career and the opportunities that have been afforded me have been shaped by hidden sponsors along the way who have helped in those side conversations or in the rooms that I was not in to help. To be a part of projects or to potentially step into a new role or to be considered, nothing is given, but I think just being given the opportunity. To try to prove yourself to work on something, to take on more to lead teams. To lead people. I think all of those decisions, I do believe I, the that hidden force that has helped to guide me and then taking advantage of the opportunity while I had it, and I think that, It really does lead me to wanna pay that forward for other people. I think there are, I love when people knock on my door and say, Do you have a minute? When they take the, they self-power themselves to come in and ask for mentorship, ask for advice, ask for, what do you think about this, if this would be my next step in the path of my career, and those I welcome. Anytime I can get them. But at the same time, it's thinking about that same person who may not be ready to come forth and ask for the mentorship as a leader, being paying attention to those who may need some sponsorship and giving people the opportunity to really prove themselves and to grow in their careers.

Rachel Humphrey:

You just said three things in one nugget of wisdom that I wanted to touch on. One is that oftentimes you can have champions that you don't even know are championing for you. And I think that's both so great to remember, but also shows that if you show up and you work hard and you do things that others are going to notice that. The second is just the other day actually, I was talking to someone and I used the phrase so and so gave. The chance or the opportunity to do something. And he actually corrected me and he said, I didn't give you anything. And I've heard you say that in other environments. I recognized something that you had and I wanted to develop and promote that, but I didn't give you opportunities. And so the fact that you just worded it how you did, I love hearing that because I think as women sometimes we do use that phrase and even the vocabulary can. Self-fulfilling. And then the last thing you said is about people knocking on your door and saying, Do you have a second? One of the things I really love about this industry is I never hear people say no to that. I never hear people say, I picked up the phone and I called someone, or I reached out on LinkedIn because I saw Lisa speak at a conference and I wanted to ask her a question. And so while I might. Be terrified to reach out to people. I don't know. I think encouraging others to be willing to, whether it's someone you do or don't know, seek out that advice is such a great lesson to learn. Along the same lines as mentors and champions is having support systems and there's been a lot of talk recently about women having a personal board of directors that is comprised of a wide cross section of people. Talk about your personal support system, the types of things maybe that you rely on your support system for, and how do you identify the people that you wanna bring on that personal board of directors?

Lisa Checchio:

I. Rachel, I'm so glad that we're talking about this because I get this question asked all the. I have three young children, as three boys my wolf pack as well as as well as a very heavy travel schedule as well as the responsibilities here. And then my interests outside of my day to day work in some of the philanthropic efforts that that my family and I are part of that are very important to me to make time. But in order to be able to have. Of that be a part of my life. There is a constant community that's, that surrounds me and they also are the community that I rely on for perspective. I think sometimes, people find themselves in echo chambers where there might be people around them who are telling them either what they wanna hear or are, in positions within the workplace where they feel like they have to do that. And I think it's really important to have people around you that are with you, for you. That reminds you of who you are as a person, what you care about in your life, why you. Career that you have, why you work the way you do, why your role in the community, your role in your family. And I think that helps to ground me on a daily basis. My, my kids will joke that, the m in my title is for mom. They don't really care how busy I am, or that I'm traveling or not. They care that I'm. I'm there to go to their soccer games or to, find lost sneakers all over the house. They are, and that really helps me. It was critical for me during Covid, it just helped me to keep even on those really difficult days that we all went through. Particularly. I know you've talked a lot about that even in these interviews about. of What we all went through as an industry, but just having that perspective on a daily basis, I think helps to ground. And then I think professionally, there are people in my daily professional life that keep me in check. I constantly am asking their opinions. I trust them to the end. And I know that their advice back to me is going to make me. Successful. And those are the same people that I actually, some of the tough conversations that I need to have, sometimes I'll even have those conversations first with those people, right? To make sure that I thought through what the reaction would be, the tone that I'm using, is it coming off the way that I intended to be? And it helps me actually to adjust it in real. Prior to, it's almost like preparing for a presentation. But even more important because a lot of those conversations are being had with, personal interaction interactions. And and so I can't stress it enough that having those people in part of your life, we, we cannot do it alone. And I think those that have learned that are really the most.

Rachel Humphrey:

I think that's incredible and leads into something else that's so important to both of us is the role that we play as mom or household manager or whatever it is. And you mentioned having a very demanding travel schedule, a very demanding job leading during the pandemic. What is, what advice do you have for people who are trying to figure it out, who don't think that they're able to figure it out? What are some of the maybe ways that you've. Evolved or pivoted or reflected over time to adjust how you manage the balance between work and non-work

Lisa Checchio:

life. For me, it's presence more than balance. Rachel. I think when you, when I try to balance a day, I'm always out of whack. It, it's impossible really to try to do the balancing that many leaders do. Many women leaders do, many women leaders with families do, or, just broader responsibilities. I've really been practicing this philosophy and this concept of being present where. Right now you and I are together. This is time that I wanna ensure that is valuable for you, valuable for me, and and we've made this choice to spend our time together. And it's the same thing, when I'm at an event or I'm presenting, I am there. If I'm at work, I am here 100%. If I, in every meeting through the day I look at the day. And I think about where my time will be spent, I ensure that is the way that I wanna give my time in that day. And if I've chosen to give my time in that day, then I'm going to give a hundred percent of myself and that presence in that time. And then the same can be said of course, on uh, on the personal side as well. But I find that it helps me to. Think about all the places I'm not. It helps me to not think about tomorrow or next week. It helps me to stay in the moment and to give myself in the.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that so much. And as part of that one of the things I have talked a lot about over the last year is redefining the way that I take care of myself, putting myself into the equation. Not

Lisa Checchio:

first. So great about that. I know. I'm, you've given me so much good advice. Yeah, it's

Rachel Humphrey:

not, I, it's not me alone, it's certainly not me as a priority. It is just me also. And I think that is something where I probably lost sight of along the way in trying to. Being present at home, being present at work, doing all of these other things, how do you find time to take care of you and how do you make that? I was talking to someone the other day on one of these interviews and they said, Oh, I have non-negotiables every day I'm going to do these couple of things. And I thought, God, I wish you had been in my ear 25 years ago. Cuz I would've loved to have had someone say to me, have non-negotiables to take care of yourself. How do you do?

Lisa Checchio:

This is my biggest area of opportunity. That's why I'm always asking you for advice on how to get more in it. And every time I see you and you look so healthy and rested in, and that you've gone for a run in this morning or you've gone for a walk this is where I need more of it. I think for me, right now, my self care is, Going back to the conversation we just had about time, if I only have, if I have time during a day with people that energize me with work, that makes, that gets me excited. It's almost, the fins are the same as if I went for a five mile run, which I've actually never gone on, but if I ever went for a five mile run just as good as I do in some of those conversations and. And being around people being here in the office, being with my team, that energizes me. I actually think about that in the same way as I do. Also, choosing to spend time having dinner with my kids or putting them to bed, or helping them with their homework, that is self care for me. It helps my, I feel like it helps. My stress levels, it helps the cortisone, it helps the love of the fins come through. I, that right now for me is the time that I have I know I need more real self care of exercising and making the time. But for now that's what I'm gonna do.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's an important point though, because self care means different things to each of us. You said that you've seen me coming back from a run that would be maybe twice a year. So you caught me on a day where I was like,

Lisa Checchio:

You've gotta be doing

Rachel Humphrey:

something. But I think you're right, because I have defined it much more broadly. It might be going for a walk with friends and just having. Camaraderie or that support system out for walk. It might be getting fresh air. I've said this before. I would go from house to office to house and never see the light of day. Yeah. It, it can take so many different forms. It can be sleep, hydration, whatever it is. It isn't always going to be exercise, but finding whatever it is. That helps fill your lantern, as I like to say. I love that light. So I think that's great advice. I wanna talk a little bit about advocating for ourselves. I know that this is one of my greatest areas of opportunity and that some do it very well, but there is certainly a generalization that women don't do well, advocating for ourselves. What would you tell people? Listening if they are struggling to find their voice or really. Be heard in a way that they want to be heard or to advocate for what they.

Lisa Checchio:

I think a lot about this one, Rachel. Cause this is not something I always have done. Even as I think back to very early in my career, there were always times where I felt maybe I couldn't show my whole self or, I would just keep my head down and just work. And hope that people would see it and hope that if I did the right thing and I was consistent and I was where I needed to be, that it would just come for. It would just come. And I found that, I now subscribe to the concept of B Y O C, of bringing your own chair. There's that saying of, how do you get into the room? What's it like to be in the room? There have actually been times where I've walked into rooms and there hasn't been a chair for me and I have physically gone and gotten a. And come back. But I think this concept of B Y O C works even not in, in just a kind of, as a philosophy. Just ask, the worst thing that can happen is that the answer is not right now. Or ask me again, or Here's why, and then ask again. I think many times, people who do ask to be included or asked to sit in a meeting or asked to be added to a project or ask for a mentor those are the people who get it many times. And it doesn't have to be a hu it doesn't have to be asking for a promotion. It doesn't have to be the home run. It can be just little asks at a time that then, Two bigger asks in the future. You are the CEO of your own career. I heard that very early on. There are there are places, going back to the sponsorship conversation, the mentorship conversation. There will be times along the way where people will help you. but they'll also help you if you ask. And so I think having confidence it's hard though. I'm not, this is one that took me a long time to feel that I even could ask, but I think again, if you, if for someone who hasn't asked before, if you take it in a small one can I join that meeting or can I present? In front because there's certain things that you really only can learn how to do by doing. You can read it in textbooks, you can watch somebody else do it, but unless you do it yourself you can't really do it. And so I say B Y O C, Rachel. I've seen it, You do it all the time. I, you're, and I think even having the platform that you've created to empower other women to just allow the conversations to happen, that's part of it. That's part of it too. And I applaud you for the alliance and everything you're doing there too, because, just giving a forum for people to bring their own chairs and to be together and figure out how we. Do more as an industry when it comes to diversity and inclusion and equity programs. It's because of you and I applaud you for allowing us to bring our chairs.

Rachel Humphrey:

I appreciate that. I am so grateful that your chair is part of the alliance and that you are both offering insights, not just to the alliance in general, but to me, when I ask for your leadership guidance, what would you tell people though? Who the voice in their head, that's the loudest is their own. And it is. Helping them how do they, how can they help or at least start to overcome some of that negative self-talk? I know you talked about support systems and the importance of mentors and champions. Are there other strategies that you recommend to people when their own voice is one of their biggest obstacles?

Lisa Checchio:

Yeah, this is, again I think one of the hardest things that we can be is ourselves, I think particularly in, potentially corporate environments where we're constantly looking at other people and maybe wondering, have I done enough? To your point, those voices in your head start to creep in. Am I good enough? Am I smart enough to I belong here? And I, you can't measure yourself using somebody else's measuring. Your goals, what you want, Rachel, what you've done in your career are your own. Mine are my own. My, my peers are their own, my teams are their own. And I think, having. Knowing you, and you only know yourself in terms of what you put into any given day. And I think if you have confidence that you've done the work, you have confidence in yourself that you are constantly learning and asking when you don't know. I think that's also something that, we can never stop doing regardless of where we are in our careers, is, when you stop learning, you almost start to go backwards because people are starting to move ahead of you. And I think admitting. if you need help or you don't know the answer, I think is part of that learning, and I think actually helps other people to do the same. I find that a lot that people will say to me, I heard. You talk about this, or I heard you, you showed some vulnerability, or you talk and now it's okay. And I feel like I can do the same. And so I think, being mindful that everyone around you feels the same way. Their voices are just as loud. And they're measuring six or different. And you have to, going back to some of the things we've talked about already, knowing what's important to you, knowing where you wanna be in your career. Knowing what you love to do and knowing where you wanna give your time, I think helps you to quiet the voices.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that. Only measuring according to your own stick. I think that's so important too, because I'm a big believer in sliding doors. I think that opportunities are gonna come and you've gotta be willing to take chances or be open to them and not have this very direct route. But as you continue to grow, as you continue to learn, curiosity is another word that so many of the advisors have shared, that's what allows you to overcome some of that negativity. Seeing the progress you're making by doing so. That's fantastic. I started off our conversation talking about you and how I see you publicly and you mentioned leading during the pandemic, which obviously for all of us was a first. It was terrifying in every way. Learning from each other, relying on each other, you. So many constituents. You've got your teams, your customers, your owners, your family and yet to be successful during the pandemic, we each leaned into character traits that we already had that helped us be successful. Then what are some of your character traits, or what did you lean into about yourself that helped you be a successful leader during times of incredible uncertainty?

Lisa Checchio:

I think the only thing that led so many of us through was was hope. What I love about our industry and everyone who works in it are that it's full of optimists, it's full of people who whose glasses are so full, they're overflowing about what could be and what the potential could be. And just the love of our industry. And the love of travel and the love, what it affords. It affords not only connecting our guests, of course, but such an opportunity for our owners and our small business and our entrepreneurs who are really making a life for themselves here. And so I think it was hope Rachel always is this will, this too will end. We've been through hard times before as an industry. We've been through hard times before as a company and we are an industry of. And I think by keeping that at the center of everything that we did in terms of ensuring that our franchisees had what they need to keep their doors open. I Almost 90% of our hotels in the US remained open even during those very early days when we were sheltering in place, our hotels were open and our small business owners needed us there for them in that moment to ensure. They had whatever it is that we could give them, if that was ppe, if that was fee relief, if that was just someone on the other end of the phone when they called, if they needed some help. And the same for our team members, just being all in a complete remote environment and all of the things that came with that. Everyone being in a unique situation, but at the end still wanting to show up for Windham and show up for our guests and show up for our franchisees. And I think the way that we led through that was to communicate often to be transparent. When we knew things we shared them and we shared them quickly. And we knew that there would be a future. And that when we came out the other side, we wanted to be stronger. And and that sense of hope and optimism carried us all through.

Rachel Humphrey:

That idea that hope and optimism are so powerful is such a great lesson because it's very easy to lose hope or to not feel optimistic during such unprecedented and transitional times. And so I love that as just a general observation that you can get through anything and then taking a deep breath and saying, Okay, now what? To get to that other.

Lisa Checchio:

That's right. I love that.

Rachel Humphrey:

One of my favorite questions to ask is because I like to be asked it, is, what advice would you give to your younger self? And I think it's so important because reflection, I personally believe is such an incredible part of our growth. And I've mentioned some things to you that I wish I had heard people say. And it might be different than the advice I would give to my younger self, but talk to me. What would you today tell 24 year old Lisa? Other than good choice not becoming a doctor? Yeah, I was gonna

Lisa Checchio:

say, my advice would be to work and travel. You made the right to trust the process. You, I'll wind up there in the right place. You gotta work and travel. I love that. Other than that I think I, I'd tell my younger self that the hustle will be worth it. I think that when you are, when you're that age and you're not sure, and you're just trying to find your footing and believe me, there were some days where or some weeks or months or years where I was just going, and And, you're not you're hopeful that the work will lead to the right path, but sometimes you're just in the barrel going over Niagara Falls and you don't even know it, and you're like getting carried away by it, and the time is passing and it's it. It will be worth it. I think when you really, to what we've talked about, I when you really love the work that you're doing and you find yourself, I think the other advice is to find yourself in a place where the people you surround yourself with share your values. The work you're doing energizes you and makes you want to be better and makes you wanna learn more and makes you wanna do more. That is the best scenario that you can be in. When I look back on my 2020 year old self, there's no way I would've thought that this, I would be sitting here today speaking to you. The path does happen when you follow your passions and you follow your values and you prioritize the things that are most important to you. And then you get to talk to Rachel Humphreys here on, on a Tuesday morning. I it would all be.

Rachel Humphrey:

It's incredible, Lisa, too, cuz even as you were telling your younger self, you were becoming more passionate in your plea to your younger self. And I love to see that as expected. Cuz I could sit and talk with you and learn from you all day long. We are running short on time, so I wanna talk just for a minute. You've given some great advice and some great lessons that you have learned along the way. Keeping in. The mission of DEI advisors to empower personal success. What is something that we haven't talked about so far that you would want those listening regardless of what stage they are in their career to really think about in terms of reaching that self-empowerment?

Lisa Checchio:

Yeah, I think one thing we haven't talked about is, particularly when it comes to d and i, is the intention behind it. You and I have spent hours talking about this and the importance of it, but. Empowering diversity in our, in ourselves. If that's just, challenging ourselves to be curious and to be more open minded or, surrounding ourselves with teams that have different backgrounds that think differently, that act differently to bring diversity of thought or as organizations to be intentional in the opportunities for diverse can. And I think it's one thing to talk about it, and I think we all have, the best of intentions when we say it. We know that it's important. But I think, really being specific in the work, being specific in the hiring practices when you are sponsoring or mentoring thinking about giving people an opportunity. May not otherwise have it as a way to just, help to create more diverse workplaces. Know travel is the most diverse industry in the world and it connects the most diverse group of people in the world. And I think being able to. Celebrate your own diversity, understand the value that it brings to an organization, and then looking for others to, to make sure that we're all just as diverse. I think is the way that we really ensure that that we have one of the most diverse industries

Rachel Humphrey:

that we can. I love that. And while I don't want our time to end, that is a perfect way for it to end. So on behalf of DEI advisors and really on behalf of the entire hospitality industry, thank you so much for your leadership, what you do every day for sharing your story and your insights today, and for how you continue to impact not just me. But others like me. So thank you very much, Lisa, for joining us. Thank you,

Lisa Checchio:

Rachel. And I'm counting on you for my my wellness tips. So won't.