Lisa shares how she earned her reputation as a "serial connector of people" in building her own relationships and expanding the networks of others. She discusses how being an advocate for the industry with elected officials and engaging with industry trade associations has developed several of her leadership skills and also how she intentionally sought out to strengthen her public speaking skills. Finally, Lisa talks about her very personal approach to taking risks and her advice to her younger self which is also perhaps her only life's regret.
Lisa shares how she earned her reputation as a "serial connector of people" in building her own relationships and expanding the networks of others. She discusses how being an advocate for the industry with elected officials and engaging with industry trade associations has developed several of her leadership skills and also how she intentionally sought out to strengthen her public speaking skills. Finally, Lisa talks about her very personal approach to taking risks and her advice to her younger self which is also perhaps her only life's regret.
Good afternoon. I am Rachel Humphrey on behalf of d e I advisors, and today I am delighted to, welcome to the show, Lisa Lombardo. Lisa, welcome.
Lisa Lombardo:Oh, thank you. Hi, Rachel. I'm thrilled to be here.
Rachel Humphrey:Lisa, we're gonna spend about 30 minutes together today covering a whole range of things from your path to leadership to some of the lessons that you've learned along the way. And at some point I will share with everyone how I know you and why I am inspired by you and admire you so much. But let's jump right in and start off with your journey to leadership. One of the things I really love about the hospitality industry is how incredibly different each of our.
Lisa Lombardo:Is, so tell us a little bit about you
Rachel Humphrey:and how you got to where you are today and where you are today.
Lisa Lombardo:So my journey to leadership probably hinges mostly on a mindset in the heart of. Wanting to be of service. So the title of leadership and it's not though as though I don't see myself as a leader but it's just been a calling and I think an expectation in the way that I was brought up that. you always have something to give and to be of service to others. So it comes very much so from the examples of my parents, my mom, who was an educator and my dad, who ended up as a local elected official, but they both started out in law enforcement. That's how they met. It's a really adorable story. And they stayed in service throughout the bulk of their career and And so whether it just is out of inspired by faith and feeling like what you have, what can you give back? But that mindset of service and as I was growing up and thinking about what did I wanna do and. And you and I Mo just recently had this conversation, but I ended up in the nonprofit world and I started out my career in fund development, so raising money for nonprofits, and I was very interested in matching people's capacity with their affinity or their passion for that particular cause. So I discovered. I'm a really good serial connector. Just self profound serial connector, both of people to one another or to causes, but also in encouraging them to maybe give beyond and exceed their own perceived expectations of what they're either capable of in life, which is where I've ended up now and helping people to develop professionally. But at the time it was. we have a goal as an organization we're trying to reach and how do we match people's capacity to help us with their passion for our cause and. That evolved into a lot of different things over the course of my career. But taking that particular skillset and the ability to do that has led me into some really amazing. Opportunities. So it started in fun development in higher education. I got approached by somebody who became one of my best friends in life helped him accomplish something really amazing for a friend of his in the entertainment space and memory of their son who had passed. And we established a scholarship and memory of his son. And that person came back to me two years later and said, I think you should come to work for. And I said, there's really nothing in your space that correlates to what I do. It was an event marketing space. I had a heart for nonprofits and he said, how are you different than you were when I met you two years ago? And I was like, Ugh. And I couldn't, I couldn't put a finger on professionally what I was doing. That was much. And so what I thought was a trajectory that I was going to be on he said, but what do you wanna do? I said I'm a teacher at heart. I love teaching people how to do things. And he said why don't you go and teach people how to do what you've done? And I had some really cool success relatively early on in my career. I Institutions, single largest gifts, seven figure gifts for organizations. You wouldn't think get seven figure gifts and. He said, if you can get some clients, then you could start a consulting division within my company and you could go on the road and do this. So I did. I took a crazy pay cut and went off and was working with boards of directors and again, matching what it is they were trying to accomplish with their capacity to do that. But then let's stretch and reach a little bit further. And when you're working with nonprofits, you're interfacing with boards of directors who are the heads of their companies. And so that led to them saying what you're doing here and helping us consolidate and refocus on an ROI and what our vision really is and how we're going to accomplish that. And then to just kick our tails into action and show us how to get it done and we could use that in my company. then I started working with for-profit. So it turned out that while my, my affinity for the nonprofit world I thought that was my mission was to be in that space. But my mission field was actually something beyond that. And now I've had an opportunity. To work with and lead incredible leaders toward achieving some ridiculous outcomes. Launching global brands, worked in manufacturing, construction companies, financial institutions, the arts, higher ed. I've been all over the place and. Then I came into the hospitality realm stumbled in trying, thinking I was gonna di diversify my portfolio. And it ended up with a job description being slid across the table and it gave me pause. And so I came in-house and. I'm the Chief Culture and strategy officer for H D G hotels, so that's my journey there. But it all comes from serving and just wanting people to again, exceed their own perceived expectations. that's an
Rachel Humphrey:incredible story and so many really great life lessons in there. I wanna talk on a couple of those. You just mentioned that you started off in the nonprofit world, but you are also known in the hospitality industry for your incredible passion and commitment for the trade associations who help lead the industry for your advocacy efforts. We talk. Advocating for ourselves, but also in this particular instance, we're talking about advocating for in the government affairs space at the Capitol Hill at in Florida, at your state and local communities as well. What are some of the leadership traits that you think help in your corporate world that you develop through those association experiences through your
Lisa Lombardo:advocacy efforts? Gosh, leadership traits I think with advocacy, a lot of times you have to be inclusive. meaning it's good to bring other people with you and have them at the table. One of the things I think that has helped me, whether it was in advocacy or in different times in my career, is that I'm not afraid to bring somebody else along so that their voice can be the one heard. It's when knowing you're not the best messenger, you may be able to share the message, and I may have confidence in my ability to tell the story, but am I. Messenger. And I think sometimes I think sometimes associations and I've been extremely humbled by how open folks have been to me being a. Part of telling the story because I do feel very passionately about what our industry means to so many, and I'm extremely connected to and protective of our people. I, I'm obsessed with our people But I think knowing when you are the right messenger and knowing when you're not and how to pass that baton and create an opportunity for somebody else to. Their story. So maybe that's having lack of ego in it. Because the goal is to make sure that people do understand. The other thing that I always make a point to do when we have one of those meetings is, When I go in, gratitude is a big thing with me. I sign all of my emails grateful, and it's not a part of my signature automatically. So every time you see an email and it ends with grateful, it's because I've just written those words. I think that's important, but carrying that into a meeting and thanking folks for their time, thanking them for their position on an issue that maybe we've been dealing with thanking them for remaining consistent. Rachel, these things do not happen in one, one year. Some of these things take years to move the needle and sometimes it just moves a little bit But but then at the end of it, always asking what's on their radar, being open to, it's not just about let me tell you what's going on in our world and what's you gonna do about it? And making me ask, but it's about, At least if the end is the perfect time to do it, to say what's on your radar. Is there anything that, that you could use our help with? What could we take out from here and be that, be a messenger for you? We do a lot of round tables here at H D G. When Covid started, we brought in a lot of industry leaders. From all over the state to just come here and have a conversation in that May of 2020 about what we were doing to be open. And when we got together, what I told the group was, the goal here is that when we leave, we are able to tell somebody else's story. And that's not gonna take away from us being advocates for ourself because if we all trust and ha have benefit of the doubt in. Me putting this out there, you're gonna leave and you're gonna tell our story to somebody else, and it's likely going to carry a little bit more weight because you're the CEO of a hospital talking about what's being done within the hospitality industry. And likewise, I'm in the hospitality industry telling specific stories about what you've shared in your, in the medical field. So I think g. Asking what it is that they need and knowing when you are and are not the best messenger.
Rachel Humphrey:Those are great lessons I think as well. Knowing whether you're the best messenger or not means knowing who your audience is. Yeah. So really thinking about what you're trying to accomplish. I think that actually ties in perfectly to relationship building and networking, and there's a couple of things here. One is of course, as you just mentioned on the advocacy side. relationships are a two-way street. It's not, what can you do for me, but what, how can we help each other? sometimes there's no help. It's just getting to know someone. And I mentioned early on that I would say one of the things that inspires me about you, and you know this cuz we just spoke about it within the last couple days out in la, but you have an incredible ability to make everybody feel good all the time. and I know that it is not it is not with a purpose in mind of getting anything out of it. I said, my heart is always happy after I get a chance to visit with you.
Lisa Lombardo:Same Tell me about, we
Rachel Humphrey:each network in different ways. We build relationships in ways that really work for our personality, for our interests. How, you say you're a connector of people. tell me a little bit about your strategies for relationship building and network.
Lisa Lombardo:I was listening to one of these interviews that you just recently did. So I'm gonna borrow from her. But Shruti was talking about how especially when you enter a new industry, you have to build a new network and I it goes back to what I said before about being inclusive. My building of a network has a lot to do with, and it also helps me to make sure that I am genuinely getting to know the person. Rachel, I love people. It is a part of who I am. I truly love people. I want to do well by them. I want to help them improve. I love making folks uncomfortable in the way of stretching them. But. I think in being inclusive if I meet you and you remind me of somebody and then I say, oh, I would love to connect you with this person. If nothing else, I just think you'd hit it off. But maybe there's some way that you can work together. Doing that and then making sure that you follow up and you can be trusted and that it's a genuine offer. But for me, it. I really wanna get to know the real person. No different than what you're doing, especially now on this platform. So that's probably why I'm smitten with it, but because you're really getting to the heart of the person. I've, I met just when we were in Alice with, there were folks who've been partners for decades, and as we were sitting there having breakfast, one of them actually turned to the other one and said, I never knew that about you. And just building that connection with people. authenticity goes a long way, especially when you do enter into a new industry because there's that sense of we can trust her in our circle, we can bring her in here. And it's that's a responsibility I think, especially when you come into a new indu industry. So for me, just not being afraid to say I've met this person, this would be a good person. And being a serial connector and being, just being inclusive I always feel like there's enough to go around for everyone. The more that you bring folks to the table together.
Rachel Humphrey:And I think that's why so many people then do the same thing back to you. Like I need you to know, Lisa, if you don't already. I know that came up when I was talking about actually doing this interview with you, and I mentioned Tomi, and then I had the chance to introduce them to you at Alice. In that same idea of if you don't know Lisa, you should, and here is why. And that takes us
Lisa Lombardo:perfectly to public speak,
Rachel Humphrey:The other reason that or the other impact that you have had on me is when I had was in a position to source speaking that I. Quite often turned to you and said I need you in this on this panel or at this event, and it's because I'm a hundred percent sure that anytime I hear you speak in on any topic you are going to provide. value and that doesn't come naturally. So tell me about how do you prepare for public speaking? How do you know which ones to select to say yes to? Have you, has public speaking always been a natural talent that you have? Is that from fundraising? Tell me a little bit more about, because for a lot of people, public speaking, they see as their
Lisa Lombardo:biggest barrier to leader. Yes. And I'll start with the last thing you just said. One of my favorite things to do now is to take people who tell me one of their greatest spirits is public speaking and turn them into public speakers. And I, and so much so that even with N H D G, I initiated that every once in a while. It's like pop quiz, but you just have to stop into your elevator And we huddle and discuss articles every Friday. And the reason we do it, yes, it's great to talk about cool. Sometimes industry, sometimes not. But it's really because there are time parameters set and everybody, regardless of your role within the management company, has to provide verbal feedback. And the improvements and gains I've seen in people in doing that just make me feel good because it is an incredible skillset to have, but for me, it did not necessarily come naturally. As a very quiet child, and not that I'm this boisterous person now, but I was very quiet to the point of, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but this is the effect you have. That there was, it was like kindergarten to first grade that my teacher said that they did not believe that I had the social skills with my peers to be able to advance and be successful. Moving on in school. I was fine. Got, did my work was fine, but my interactions with my peers, I was extremely quiet. And but my mom knew better and she's in that space as well, and she said, we're just, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna go ahead, move her to the first grade or whatever grade it was. And then I always admired people who. talk, whether it was in a church setting, but just they could talk and deliver a message and watching the effect that it would have around people. And I think one of the things I do to myself is when I know there's something that I can do, I feel like I can do, I pursue it and I wanna learn it, and I wanna get good at it. And I wasn't afraid to be on a stage. I've been in dance my entire life. My mom did it because I was so shy and quiet, and she just wanted me to see if there was a space where I felt I could express myself. I was 10 years old, fifth grade, went to my elementary school principal and told her in a very business manner that I felt that a student should deliver the remarks at our. Like red ribbon week assembly, so I can still remember standing there in my red corduroy jumper dress with a white turtle neck paper shaking microphone and saying, so I dare you to say no to drugs, and yes to life. I convinced her that I should be like the keynote at a fifth grade assembly. And from there I again, I wanted to become, Good at this. It just was in me, like I could see the effect that it could have, and I knew I struggled with the one-on-one that was very hard for me. I started doing rhetorical contests and I would work on different speech topics and I would go and I would present. So I got very comfortable in that space. And there's an interesting thing that happens when you do speak. If you can create a sense of relatability that after the fact, then it does encourage folks to approach you. And so at that point I got really good at the follow up to a conversation about why'd you pick that topic? And so funny that speaking to hundreds, if not thousands of people is what also helped to improve my interpersonal skills because I knew I had this heart for service and this heart and love for people. I just needed. Better at articulating it to my, especially within my peer group at that time. So it started very young and then I just, I kept at it. I stayed practiced. I always put myself forward. When I was 11, I went to the priest, the pastor, at my church and said, I wanna be a reader. And he chuckled and said, you're 11. And I was like, I can read. So we So he put me through, I'm probably Rachel, the longest standing reader at our church is because I did start when I was 11. But I just, I wanted to be better and I guess I felt there was a calling and I've used it ever since and and I've used it ever since. But that's how it started. It was a very deliberate, intentional pursuit of. I wanna be someone that people feel re that I'm relatable to them when I deliver a message. And there you have it.
Rachel Humphrey:Again, the lessons both from being self-aware enough at a young age to see that it could be a weakness for you at least at that moment, or a challenge for you to overcome, but also that you could be intentional in overcoming it and now having it be, quite frankly, what you are really well known for in this industry that's such a great thing to see. because of that. You showed that this passion for continuous growth, there's something I don't know how to do or perhaps something I should know how to do, and so I'm going to go out and I'm gonna find the resources to make it happen. You are also very well known for. being very active at conferences, whether you're speaking or not, talk about some of the resources that you rely on, and it doesn't have to be the conferences, but how as you are looking to expand your leadership skills, your people skills, your management style, or even your substantive content, where are you looking for those
Lisa Lombardo:resources? So I'm a big believer in borrowing from that, which is not. your every day to day world. So I tend to look, as I look to grow H D G and our folks within it I watch and borrow and meet and spend time with folks who are in other industries. And maybe that's because it was also my pathway here I there, there's nothing about me that is afraid to reach out and say, Hey, can I come and spend time? I saw that you're working toward this. How is this going? What are you doing? And so just watching and borrowing from folks who aren't within our industry. I also follow a couple of folks. Deliberately, just because they are people that I admire. So I'll follow their content. And one of the reasons I pick that handful is because it keeps me disciplined. and I'm not all over the place. I'm able to hone in and. but I think it's important to, to look outside of our own industry. If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've always got. So I I borrow a lot of what I challenge us to consider and even like little things that we do within our organization. That they don't come from the hospitality world at all. The conferences for me are still a great source of an education for me. I'm six years into this industry and with as much as it changes all the time, I'm sure there are folks who've been in it for 26 years who are still learning when they attend those conferences. So you can imagine for me in terms of industry specific the conferences provide a tremendous value in expediting my understanding of the nuts and bolts of hospitality.
Rachel Humphrey:I feel the same way. And I have been in this industry in different aspects for 26 plus years, and I still learn things. At Alice this week and at the other conferences there are different takeaways, substantive and others that are so important. I wanna go back to your journey to leadership for a minute. You mentioned having left a comfortable role that you were very successful at for something completely. For a cut and pay completely outside of your background and maybe even your goals at the time. all leaders take risks and some we choose not to take. How do you evaluate or assess risk and what have those risks meant as you continue to grow throughout your
Lisa Lombardo:career? So one of my mantras is be bold and I feel that I need to live up to that. And now with my kids, it's something that they hear me say all the time, to put yourself out there. And especially when it comes to decisions, Rachel, there's so much that is not eternal. So you're gonna go after it and it could work. It could not work. Whether it does or doesn't work, it doesn't keep, that is not what's gonna keep someone in or out of heaven. Is it eternal so you can try it? And then if that doesn't work out, guess what? You can try something else. And it doesn't mean that I am flippant or reckless in my decision making. I definitely deliberate and I pray. Believe very much in just that like feeling that you get. And usually it's just like you, I can feel it and then I'm like, okay, that means it's time for me to consider doing this, or this is something I need to say yes to. Or this is something that I need to decline, which I've learned over the years to get. Much better at doing. I think that's just a rite of passage, right? When you're growing up as a professional, but it goes a lot on feel. Thankfully I have a great support system, when I have those opportunities, I don't make them in a vacuum. I definitely consult with others especially on the home front, but I also wanna be a good example for my kids and just putting yourself out there and practicing what I preach. Yeah, and I like fun stuff too. Like I'll be the one that's. Oh, you're trying to put on a fundraiser that people raise money to go repelling off the side of a building? We are opening a new hotel, so that would be a great way to open up and launch the hotel. So we're gonna raise money for charity, we're gonna get people to go repelling down our hotel. It'll draw attention to the hotel and let's just go and I'm sure as even never, were like, what the heck are we allowing? This woman to do. I think I'd been with them for two years and I'm saying, it'll be awesome. We're gonna do this. And sure enough. But I think too in my life, because I have come from the arts world, a lot of what I do, everything feels like a production and, but I'm able to put all the pieces together very quickly to evaluate and say, all right, I know it's gonna take this, and this. This is going to be the final outcome. But I'm a big, I'm a big feel person. I like that so
Rachel Humphrey:much because I in the opposite way, very data driven, very analytical, but the last moment of the decision is always my gut So even if all the data, all the analytics go in one way, if my gut doesn't. That is the right move, then I won't do it that way. And so the fact that you start there yeah, I think is a really
Lisa Lombardo:powerful approach. But the cool thing about it is that, so when people talk to me about culture and how do you do that? And I'll say, first you have to define it. What's it gonna mean? You've gotta be specific, then you need to program it. and you've gotta be disciplined about programming it and then growing it. Don't just keep doing the same thing year after year, either add to it or change it and then you have to measure it. So I'm not, it's not that I'm not without the metrics, but I think what's cool about the feeling is that you can make the decision, then you can explore it, and then you don't have to still do it. If I go into it and I say, this is gonna be awesome, and then I get into it and I'm like, no, it is not I am, I'm allowed to not jump off that. and I'm allowed to say I was wrong. That was not where we should have gone. But along the way, I did this and now we're gonna go do this. You just, there's, so I, that would just be the one thing I would say about. about that. Yeah. And I really like too, how as
Rachel Humphrey:we progress in our career, those of us who have children become very motivated, like you said, of wanting to be a good role model, inspirational to them. My daughters are 21 and 17 and they're behind a lot of the decisions that I make, especially at this stage of my career because I want them to see mom a certain way. But I also want to. Live up to what I say, I want to practice what I preach and all of those other things. Yeah. Lisa, one of my favorite questions always is when I am asked of it, is my advice to my younger self. And the reason I love it so much is I think reflection is critically important, continuous growth. And I'm gonna laugh a little bit on the insight since we just had this conversation two days ago. About different ways that we look. Who we thought we'd be, what we thought we'd be doing, what have we learned along the way? But what would you tell 21 year old Lisa about where you are today that maybe you didn't know or didn't think about at
Lisa Lombardo:that point? So I would tell my 21 year old self go to New York and try out to be a raquette. That would be what I would tell my 21 year old selfie. Someday you're gonna be in your forties and you're gonna look back, but I. That is one thing that, still to this day, people talk about if you have any regrets and I think that would be my only one. But for my younger self I think that, and I knew you were gonna ask this question and I thought about it. I was like, just whatever comes out. You heard what just came out. So I think that is your advice, Lisa. I don't think it has I just would have, cause some of, you're not always gonna be 21 and that would be one of the things I would. I love that.
Rachel Humphrey:Before we get into your final piece of advice where today in 2023 is Lisa's happy place. Where is that? Electric smile? Flashing the broadest Ah,
Lisa Lombardo:Probably has a lot to do with watching what my kids are up to these days. I would tell you, if you're really talking about a physical space, my happy place is in an empty theater. There's nothing like it to me in walking into an empty theater. Because I know it's really happening there, just given other life experience. But with my kids and just seeing what they're doing and that they're such good humans and, their ideas and helping them to move forward with their ideas, but loving that, it's not like they're like, wouldn't this be great to do and putting it on my plate, like they wanna know how to do it themselves. So yeah, probably just watching who it is that they're becoming is a very happy place for. That's
Rachel Humphrey:fantastic. As I predicted, we are running short on time. There's still so many things that I want to ask you about. So I will get you back here at some point to finish going through. You have so many things about culture and developing talent and building great teams around you and just so many of the things that professionally are. For, but what is one piece of final advice, maybe as our audience is sitting there today, whether they are young careerists or established in their careers that you would want to leave for
Lisa Lombardo:everyone? So I don't believe in balance. So for me, I feel that if you're balanced, it means all things are equal, right? And that means and so I think that feeling centered is extremely important. And just knowing who you are, who's you are and keeping that focus and carrying that with you, whether it's into your professional space or your personal space, and being consistent with that, that it, there's more. It's not about being balanced, it is about being centered. And then my mom always said to me, work hard, do the right thing and be gracious. And I added to it and said, and have a sense of humor. So that would be, just make sure that along the way you are laughing. It's extremely important I think to life.
Rachel Humphrey:I love that so much. Lisa Lombardo, on behalf of an entire industry, but also for myself. Thank you so much for all you do. Thank you for your leadership and for always being willing to share and spend time in service to others and in giving back. We are incredibly
Lisa Lombardo:grateful. Rachel, I love you. Thank you so much for this time with.
Rachel Humphrey:And if you liked the content that you heard today, we hope you'll go over to d e i advisors.org or find us on any of your favorite streaming channels. But thank you for tuning in to d e I advisors, and Lisa, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.