DEI Advisors Podcast

Tina Burnett, Chief Development Officer, G6 Hospitality Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey

March 15, 2023 David Kong
DEI Advisors Podcast
Tina Burnett, Chief Development Officer, G6 Hospitality Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey
Show Notes Transcript

Tina shares her path from assistant at G6 to the c-suite at the same company 24 years later.  She discusses the mentors and champions who supported her along the way, how she advocates for herself, and the strategies she uses to approach her public speaking.  Tina also shares the intentionality she uses in networking situations, why it's important to celebrate your successes, and how executive coaching has impacted her leadership style. Finally, as final advice, she encourages everyone to support each other and empower yourselves in the process.

Rachel Humphrey:

Good afternoon. I am Rachel Humphrey with d e I advisors, and I am incredibly excited to have with me today. Tina Burnett, the Chief Development Officer for G six Hospitality. Tina, welcome to the show.

Tina Burnett:

Hey, Rachel, thank you so much for including me. How are

Rachel Humphrey:

you today? Fantastic, Tina, we're gonna spend about 30 minutes together today, and I wanna jump right in because I know that you and I could visit for hours on end and still not cover everything we wanna talk about. But I wanted to mention with your permission that each of the advisors that I have interviewed has had a tremendous impact. In some way on me, on my career, and I'm extremely excited for yours because one of the things that's a little different about it is I've actually gotten to watch it happen along the way. And so for others that have had the chance to interview, they were very established in the industry in C-Suite seats when I entered the industry seven or eight years ago. But I have gotten to. See your growth and your progress, and so I wanna really thank you for sharing with us today and with everybody else what that looks like. And so I'm gonna start with a softball. Tell us a little bit about your path to leadership. One of the unique things about the hospitality industry is that everybody has a different path to where they are today. So tell us a little bit about yours.

Tina Burnett:

Sure. Yeah. It's interesting. You've been very instrumental in it, so thank you. You've always been a huge advocate for women and really pulled me along in, in some situations, but honestly, I originally in hospitality, started in the restaurant business. But after I got married my husband and I actually relocated to Dallas. And I took a job just as an assistant in the franchise team. When we first got here we had lived in Dallas a week and. the rest is history So I've been here like 24 years, so I've done a lot of things, but always en franchise. I loved the part of franchising even though we were a really small part of what Motel six was back when I started. There were only 23 franchises when I took my job, so now there's over 1400. So we've really grown that side of the business, but. I've done a lot of different things inside of, the franchise side, but probably the most instrumental that got me to where I was today was when I took the jump to go out into the field and start selling franchises to people. Took me way outta my comfort zone and but I had supported that team for so long. The only thing I didn't know how to do was actually close the deal. Luckily I've had people all along the way, which is a lot of what we wanna talk about that have pulled me up. And positioned me in different situations and given me training and access to a lot of things that I might not have been given access to had we not been such a really small part of the organization and growing so much over the course, my career. So, For after I was in the field, I came, I obviously came back in and started overseeing the teams and that's when the trajectory kind of really took off. And then also just obviously over the last five years under Rob's leadership he really pushed me and got me outta my comfort zone in a couple of different situations to really guide me into where I am today.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's incredible. I did not know that actually, that's how you got your start with Motel six. But such a familiar story of so many in hospitality, starting with entry level positions and working their way up, and there's a lot of ways that you can continue to develop skills. What have some of yours been, and I wanna talk about executive coaching a little bit separately in a minute. what have some of the resources been or the opportunities you've had to really develop your skillset as you were transitioning to each of these new roles or to be ready to accept a new role when it was presented?

Tina Burnett:

I was always the person that asked if there was anything else I could do. It was just, that was innate as to who I was, just my parents taught me that if you're doing things and you wanna learn more about something than, offer to help in a different situation. So I did that very early on. I learned. how to write the property improvement plans, Dean Savis, which you know very well, would sit down and at the time, they used to carry camcorders around properties, So we would watch videos, which is really kinda frightening. And we'd watch videos and literally he would teach me how to look at, oh, there's this crack in the wall, or this could be this, or, we need to pay attention to things. I think there's been a lot of situations. Where I've taken on new roles, that has given me just a broader perspective of how, the whole organization went together. And just the lodging, the lodging industry in general. I think that's been a real a real eye-opening experience as well because, I've grown in, grown up in Motel six and Studio six, I didn't have a broader knowledge of hospitality until, I got a little further on in my career and. And was given access to conferences and things like that.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's one thing we hear a lot from people is how important attending the conferences are, going to the sessions, networking with people there. And certainly that is where you and I have gotten to spend a lot of our time together. I wanna talk a little bit about the executive coaching because the first time I learned that you were working with an executive coach was when she actually called. To ask me about you and your leadership and skills and developing other things, and I was blown away. It was the first time somebody had reached out to me for that. I became. Probably obsessed with it, not just for you, but for myself then and for recommending it for others. Tell me a little bit about how executive coaching has played a role in your development and maybe things that you've learned in that path that you might not have learned through other channels.

Tina Burnett:

Yeah. There's been three different situations, or whether it was an executive coach or just coaching in general that the company provided along the way. So the first one, we did a whole leadership program inside of our organization. We had to go meet with Korn Ferry. We got put through a ton of like real life examples that. Peace probably taught me the most about myself because they threw me into situations and then we interacted. But, and even though it was, all set up, you didn't realize it that it was happening and what you were saying and things that you like constantly. You lean back in on what you know best and how to really grow from that. But then there was also when I took over, managing our whole team, I was really going from being one of them to managing my peers. And so the organization brought in a coach in that situation, just really how to distinguish yourself, not above, but leading your teams versus being them. But the executive coach that I got that you're speaking of was my favorite. She was fantastic and she really taught me. That because I have been in this organization for so long, one of the biggest things she said to me was, you've got to unpack your backpack because you just keep taking things with you, right? Because it's what you know and you've done the job and and those type of things. So it's very easy for you to keep those with you. But if you don't empty it, you're never gonna be able to get. The C-suite or in that, really large role because you're gonna be so down here in the weeds that you know, you're not gonna be able to really succeed in that situation. She was also really good at holding. All executive coaches are, but she had a really innate way of holding me accountable and being like, are you sure you should have done that in that situation? Or how could you have done it differently? And it just really made me take a step back. I'm do, and then think about it sometimes, because we're always moving so fast, right? Just in the world we live in. And she really taught me to of go, wait a minute, and I'll catch myself because it's very easy for me to do that. That she was really good at just really, of saying Stop and call on me. Calling me out when I needed to be called out. But it really developed me so differently than I thought and it taught me so much more about some of the roles I was headed into, because you think, oh, I'm going on this path. My boss does the same thing I do, just at a different level. And it's so different when you get in, especially into the C-suite of just what you're really dealing with around the company versus just your groups and your organization. The organization underneath you.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's incredible advice too, and I think that I have experience like you have as you continue to. Grow that career. Your relationship with your team members may also change, and that's a big adjustment to make. And having help both in that sense and holding yourself accountable is great. You talk about being in a company that has tremendous mentors and champions of all, but especially of women and that you have had many of them. And now I've also seen. On the other side where you are championing and mentoring others? Some at my specific request, actually. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about the role that mentors and champions have played in your career and why it's so important for you to find time to do that for others now.

Tina Burnett:

Mentors and champions can really open the doors and real, and get you where you wanna be. they see strengths in you that you don't see yourself. They help you build on those strengths. and I didn't have it when I was young in my career. It wasn't a big deal then. Back then there wasn't a lot of mentoring. There wasn't a lot of things that just in the general, 24 years ago, it just wasn't as big a push as it is today. And I remember sitting in my very first review and. my boss going where do you wanna be in five years, And I was like, I don't know. Where do you want me to be? Like, it was literally one of those kind of oh my gosh. And I was like, like I started stressing out, just sitting there talking about it. But when you have mentors and champions, they help you they help guide you through a lot of those, navigation points in your career. And I try so hard now to ensure especially our younger, team members that are just coming outta college and some of those things, that they have those connections to create those mentors and champions, even if it's not specifically assigned. Organic mentors to me, are priced some of the best because they're not like, oh, I have to help you. I have to sit down, but when you connect with someone, I see something about myself in them. It's so much easier for me to be like, Hey, let me help you get to where you wanna be. But it's also good to have those that are assigned because like the, like the lady that you asked me to meet with, I wouldn't have ever really gotten to know her in that way. And so it also helped just give back and help young people who have really great ideas that maybe just need a little molding from, not necessarily inside their organization, but outside. It's just something that you can't get anywhere else, in my opinion. It's so critical to let someone help you and know that you don't have to do it all on your own, but you've also got someone in your corner, right? And that's, sometimes you need that, especially when things are getting really chaotic, is to know that you've got people in your corner that are fighting for you and helping you. One

Rachel Humphrey:

of the things that I think is really special about the hospitality industry as well is people say yes when asked either picking up the phone and calling and saying, I have a question, or wanting to know how to do something or may help make a decision. Evaluating risks and other things. You rarely hear about anybody picking up the phone and calling someone and that person not wanting to help or not offering to help. And I'd love to hear. You have both accepted it and passed it on as well. One of the other areas that I have delighted in watching your career takeoff is with public speaking. From, I remember early on the first panels and certainly at your conference having a much larger role as your career was going up your corporate ladder with T six. Yeah. But talk a little bit about public speaking how you prepare for it, how do you feel doing Highs and lows. What do you think about the importance of it? And public speaking can certainly mean more than just your conference in front of thousands of people. It can also mean in a boardroom or in a department meeting. So how do you prepare for it? And tell us a little bit about your strategies for public speaking.

Tina Burnett:

Yeah. Gosh I still get nervous. I think if you don't, then you know, you lose some of. the fun in doing it. But you're right. Public speaking can be very different. It can be on a panel at a conference in a room full of 20 people. It can be on a panel in front of thousands, or it can be you and I even today. We got ready to get on. I'm like, okay, I don't wanna, for me, the hardest part is I'm so much better off the cuff, but I, you get into that, you get to that point, like in your career, right? You're always representing not just yourself you're representing your company and so you're always like, okay, I've gotta hit this key highlighter. I've gotta hit this point. And once I start getting into that, I. I get really nervous that I'm gonna miss oh, there was something I wanted to say. And obviously it's easier when you're public speaking, when you're talking on something that you're very familiar with and very comfortable with. You get q and a and when you're in those situations, it teaches you to be very thoughtful and intentional on what you're saying. And whether that's in the boardroom or at a panel and in front of the hundred, hundreds of people. you still have to be intentional and understand, what the question is and answer it. We all, none of us like politicians when they don't answer the question it's always like they didn't answer the question and I don't ever wanna be that person. But sometimes you're like oh gosh, I missed that point and you don't wanna do it. But I think being prepared is a big thing. If you're not prepared I can go down bunny trails and people get nervous in silence. It's okay for silence as well. And you hear people, they keep talking and talking cuz it's, they're silence. And so understanding when to just stop and then when to actually interject and be comfortable with what you're talking about.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's great advice. And I love the idea too of speaking off the cuff. I think it's really important for all of us to only accept opportunities where we know we can speak comfortably. I agree a hundred percent of the time. When I'm done, I think of the millions of things that I wanted to say and probably will at the end of our time together You spoke a few minutes ago about going to conferences and learning a lot through that process. I actually remember a long time ago, you and I were on a panel together about networking, women and networking. Tell us how you have built relationships in the industry that are maybe particularly suited to your personality. How you network might be very different. How I do or how I relationship build. So what are the strengths of yours that you have really adapted into your relationship building process?

Tina Burnett:

gosh, I, networking for me is, I like to get comfortable with people. I can talk to everyone in the room. I don't really, have a problem with that. But getting really comfortable in, in learning about having a reason to be connected or networked with someone because it can get overwhelming, right? You can belong to a lot of different networking groups, but you need to figure out. Where do you wanna spend your time? How do you want to use this networking event, situation, person at the end of the day and really watering that relationship, for lack of a better word, right? So a lot of people think, oh, I'm just gonna go network and I'm gonna, hi, how are you? And that's great. But when you start, especially in our industry, we see each other at all the different conferences, and you could spend your entire day. With, maybe with people that aren't really going to influence or, they do something so completely different that you do need to learn about what they do. So understanding how that builds the relationship for you yourself. Cuz obviously they teach you that networking is to help, to help grow yourself or grow your network and things like that. But understanding that you don't have to network with everyone, but making them very intentional. For me was what I found was most successful in my networking because a lot of times I'd get through a room and be like, okay, I don't even know who I talked to, right? Where when I really took a step back and said, okay, I want to meet with these five people. I know they're here. That was my reason for being But it's interesting because other people who do that are, some of the people I probably wouldn't have spoken with that sought me out in those relationships have been even more influential I've moved in my careers. I just think it's, I think it's understanding what you want from networking, because it's critical, but it doesn't always have to be in a huge room. It can be one-on-one. It can be, over Zoom, it can be a phone call, coffee anything that just, helps build and support, where you are and what you need in your career. At the time, I love

Rachel Humphrey:

the intentionality and having a strategy behind it as well. I think that's great advice. In, in keeping with the theme of continuing to grow, one of my favorite panel questions is always, what advice would you give to your younger self? And the reason I like it so much is because I think we are all constantly reflecting and evolving. And so it's interesting to look back and see what we would tell ourselves. And because of that's why I love hearing it from everybody else. So tell me, what would you tell. 22

Tina Burnett:

year old Tina. Oh goodness. Not to take myself so seriously. I think, when you first start growing your career, you feel like everything you do is gonna hinge your next step. Right? Rob says something all the time, it's okay to fail, just fail fast and move on. Yeah. and I don't, I think people get so caught up in the failure that they forget that, we all make mistakes. It's okay. And honestly, have a lot more fun. I think the younger generation is so good at this, they celebrate everything, right? And so learning that you've gotta celebrate your successes. As well as understand, where you're falling short. But I think especially us as women, we're really hard on ourselves. And especially when you're starting a career or start and starting a family or getting married and there's so much going on, not to take yourself so seriously and understand that, your growth is not gonna be exponential all at one time. But it's okay if you of level out for a while and move on. But, Yeah, that's probably what I tell myself. Don't take yourself so seriously and have a little more fun along the way. It's a great industry and yeah,

Rachel Humphrey:

I love the idea of celebrating successes too. I think you're right. We're the first to jump on ourselves if something doesn't go exactly like we want it to, and probably the last to celebrate the good successes. So that's great advice. When you do face those challenges though, what are some of the strategies that you use or the personality traits that you rely on to overcome those

Tina Burnett:

challenges? In my personal life, I have dealt with my fair share of just a lot, right? And that has innately made me a fighter. I'm an only child, my, both my parents are deceased, right? Already but while I say that I am a fight or flight person, and so my initial. Thing when a challenge or an obstacle comes up in front of me is I'm like, yeah, you know what? We're gonna take the easy road. I'm out. And I have to really sit down and manage myself. My mentor or coaches or board of directors, for lack of a better word, my own internal people are usually best at helping me with this. Because I can, in a safe space, I can say, oh my God, I can't do this. I can't, do whatever is in front of me and we can break it down in chunks and we can, by the time you get off of that phone call, or even breaking it down into small little bite size pieces to get through the obstacle. Once I figure out my plan, I'm usually like, okay, I got this. Let's go do it. But you've gotta get yourself there, right? You've gotta challenge yourself to say, okay, stop. take a deep breath, this challenge and forge a plan instead of just running the other way, which is always seems easier. It never is, but But but you've gotta find your fight inside of you, right? You've gotta figure out what gets you to that place instead of. being like, yeah, somebody else can do this. Or, I'm not gonna handle this situation, I'm gonna get someone else to do it. I think you've just gotta understand personally how you get there and what's the best path for you to do it. For me, it's breaking it down and getting a plan and a lot of times bouncing that on off of someone else before you go into, the whole challenge or obstacle ahead.

Rachel Humphrey:

Let's talk a little bit then about support systems and how you identify. I also use the phrase a personal board of directors, and it may be people in my social network, professional network, family members, colleagues, others who, depending on the situation, how do you identify you can really rely on for that support system. And then under what circumstances might you reach out to them,

Tina Burnett:

It's interesting cuz when I first heard, there was a Wall Street Journal article, I think LA late last year or whatever, about this whole personal board of directors concept. And at fir, I heard it, I was actually driving down the road and I was like, that seems weird, but it made me pause and I was like, wait a minute. And as they started like identifying all these people that are in your life, I was like, oh yeah, I got that person. Oh yeah. And you think about it. But. For me it's, it varies. I've been fortunate enough that I've worked at the same company for a long time, so some of my. support system is internal and sometimes other people aren't as, lucky to have that, especially when you're first starting at a company. But I've worked with some of these people for 24 years. If I, if I can't walk into a room and go, ah, you gotta help me, I need your honest opinion. We've been fortunate around that. So I do lean into that. It's interesting it's so critical for us to seek out support systems from women. But it is even more critical to seek out a support system for men because there are a lot of men in this industry that want to pull women up with them. And if and when you find those they have such a different perspective, a lot of things aren't very emotional with them. It's very business and, women bring the emotion to the boardroom. That's what they like. But having that joint support system and just. What that brings to me individually. I've reached out to them for all sorts of things. Especially when I was getting ready to take the chance and go into the field and be, as, a salesperson. I, that was not me. And I taught to several people that were in my board of directors, just around, okay, can I really do this? Am I really gonna be able to pull this off and. not one person said no, but I know that there were a couple that if they had, they would've said it to me. And that's what you need. You need those people that are willing to call you on it and say, this probably isn't a good idea. This isn't your, this isn't your strength.

Rachel Humphrey:

It's interesting how similar that is to the executive coach that you found most successful as well. It's just people being honest with you in return. And I think that's a great thing to have. I also think the idea on the support system of when you fall of people, if we allow our support system voices to be louder than those in our head, then we're gonna come out. Okay. At the end of the day. Yeah. We let the voices in our head control. Oftentimes that's where, we are less successful. One of the things that I'm gonna switch gears for a minute cause I know we're gonna run out of time, but there's a generalization of course, that women are not good at advocating for ourselves. Yeah. Have you you have been in a, in an environment, For a couple of decades now that's been incredibly supportive of women where you have been able to find your voice and use it well. What would you tell people who might be struggling to advocate for themselves and what does that phrase really mean for you?

Tina Burnett:

It's funny cuz you one of the questions you had asked me to think about was how, how do you rate yourself? I don't rate myself that well. I, I encourage everyone on my team if you wanna take on new roles, if you wanna do those things. There is always an open door to do that. I typically try to cross my team as well. So they get out of their comfort zone of just what they were hired to do and things like that. And I think it helps them learn how to advocate for themselves. Like I was put here for a reason Okay, let's figure out what that really means to me. But a lot of women shy away from it. It's really hard. It's hard for us to say, Hey, I'm really good at that. And I should get this position, or I should, get to work on this project or whatever. It's really hard for us to do that. And so I think the biggest thing. Encouraging that type of open culture inside of your teams and the people that you're working with and those type of things. But I think also they have to see us do it right. They have to see us advocating or. Being very vocal about advocating for them because it gives them that voice. They may not have, like you're saying, their voice in their head is probably telling them no. But sometimes when we as leaders vocalize it for them in a setting that's not embarrassing, but just, oh, Michelle's got that. Like she's absolutely, whoever that you're talking about gives them also that voice and that ability to truly Yeah. Yeah. I do have this, but I think that, over, for me personally, I'm my advocate, my advocacy for myself ebbs and flows. It sometimes, once you get really comfortable, it's always harder in a new position or in a new company or anything like that. But, once you know you really have it, I think. You do more advocating than you have in the past. But I think sometimes it's really just knowing in your heart of hearts that it's okay for me to say I'm good at this. That's not a bad thing to do. Yeah. And so many of us don't see that as a, as a skill.

Rachel Humphrey:

I think this, in addition to self-care, are the two that I'm really good about coaching others on and really bad following my absolutely advice. So yeah, I think those are the top two for me. All right. We have time for just two quick final questions. One is, in this day and age they talk about the importance of having a personal brand. What do you wanna be known for? What is Tina Burnett's personal brand?

Tina Burnett:

For those that know me and know me I don't have a lot of filters, so I'm probably open and honest, which is probably why I like all of my mentors and my, my support system to be that same way. I'm results driven, but not only for our company, honestly, for our owners. It's, that our brands bring to them. So I think it's just really that core. open, honest, integrity, and just having that sense of family, whether it's in our organization or with our customers as well. I love that.

Rachel Humphrey:

Certainly know you as each of those things for sure. Keeping in mind, d e i advisor's motto of empowering personal success. We've touched on a lot of things and could cover all of them in much greater detail as well as some others. Tell me what would be one thing we haven't talked about so far that you would tell people as they begin to contemplate and empower themselves for their own career journeys?

Tina Burnett:

Yeah, I think. mostly that to understand that ongoing career advancement, and success is a long game, right? I think we have it, it's a career and whether it's with the same company or not you need to un you need to figure out where you want to grow and develop. and position yourself for that. And while it's really good to own and know that you're really good at your own work and be really responsible, it's also really important to learn how to collaborate with each other and really hold each other up not only in your own organization success shouldn't be a competition. And I think that's so much more evident now than it ever has been. And I think you guys are doing a great job at just. Really pushing that message and that, we all need to help each other be successful and lift each other up and empower yourself for your continued success.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's a fantastic way to close it out. Tina Burnett, thank you so much for joining d e i advisors, thank you for your industry leadership and all that I have learned from you and for our friendship as well. But thank you so much for being a part of the show today.

Tina Burnett:

Yeah. The honor's mine you're so dear to me. So thank you for including us. Thank you. Yep.