It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Patricia Huska, Chief People Officer, AMEX GBT, interviewed by Dorothy Dowling

• David Kong

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Patricia believes it is important that you know yourself, your values, and beliefs so that you can always be your authentic self.  . A career driven by a meaningful mission, purpose and values has a strong foundation.  To advance in any career path you must always be open to honest advice and take an interest in the people around you and be mindful of the impact of cultural differences.

Dorothy Dowling:

Greetings. I am Dorothy Dowling, a principal of D E I advisors. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to personal empowerment. I am delighted to welcome Patricia Huska, Patty Huska, C H R O. From Amex G b t to our d e I show Patty, welcome to our show. It is such an honor to have you with us today. Thank

Patricia Huska:

you. It's an absolute pleasure to be here.

Dorothy Dowling:

So Patty, I'm hoping we can just get to it because you've just had this amazing career. I have loved following you over the years, but you are someone who is driving people and culture at Amex, G B T, and Amex Travel, and now with Genia and you have thousands of employees all around the world. You have executive team leaders that use support. And they rely on you to really help them navigate this very challenging environment of people leadership today. So I'm wondering if you would mind sharing your career journey with us and all the learnings you've had in really advancing your career to become such a distinguished C H R O of a publicly traded company. Great. I

Patricia Huska:

thank you and yes, I have been blessed and if I look at for the role that I'm in today, We have just under 20,000 colleagues around the world, and it does all come down to the people. So leading the HR function is is pretty exciting. So when I think about my career I can tell you honestly, I think it's been a mix of. Hard work, really knowing myself, staying really true to my values and what was important to me, and those things shift over time and the years start to fly. And then some things have been like a bit of luck quite candidly. So if I think about when I got out of school, it was a really tough job market. I went to work for, I was supposed to be, The front desk secretary at a temp help agency, but I couldn't tape type to save my life. So they asked me to start interviewing candidates and then I realized wow, I like being a recruiter. And fast forward, I got hired as a a recruiter at Thomas Cook Travel, and about eight weeks after I was hired, American Express acquired them. And that ended up being the most pivotal thing in my career. I was in my early twenties, I was living at home, didn't have. Care in the world. And I was just, I was, I would say I was a hard worker, but I was really inquisitive. I. A lot of people and if you think about it, and certainly for people who had been with the company longer, further in their career, that's scary to go through that kind of transition. But for me, I was so excited and they took a chance at me and put me on the integration team. And I can remember saying my parents, I'm gonna get out and see the world, and I got to go to New Jersey in Atlanta and all these places. Like I'd been on a plane I think twice in my life before then. So anyways, So huge enthusiasm. And then I worked on that and it gave me exposure to senior folks. They offered me a job. American Express offered me a job on the compensation team. In New York, but I knew I never wanted to leave Boston, and they said I could be a temp for six months and I'll celebrate my 30th anniversary with the company next month. So the temp experience worked well, but anyways, but to make a long story, bit faster. I just started with just signing up for really hard assignments and I ended up working on a couple of integrations. I took a number of lateral moves because it was really interesting work, and then I ended up finding my sweet spot in being an HR business partner, which I absolutely loved. I spent a good portion of my career in travel, and then I had, I. When I came back from one of my maternity leaves, I moved to the corporate card side, but I continued to just get involved in a lot of acquisition activity and again, take on more meaty, tougher assignments. And then when they were creating the joint venture separating American G B T from American Express I was asked to come back to the travel organization, which I did. Enthusiastically and I had the most amazing experience. I got to go out on the road shows with investors, which is certainly an area I don't have experience in. And over time. Then in 2018 I moved into my current job. But when I think back on it, again, some luck, but what I would say is it's about Seizing opportunities. I've been blessed. I think I'm a very positive person. I think some of that, like you, it's ingrained in you, but take on hard assignment, be self-aware and know what you're good at and what you're not. So you surround yourself with good people. And I think the, it's the other thing would just be being authentic. But again, I can't ize enough. Hire good people, celebrate and. Promote good people around you and the rest takes care of

Dorothy Dowling:

itself. Patty, when just hearing you speak about that career journey for me is quite extraordinary because as we think of young people entering their career journeys today, the advice that you're giving in terms of taking. Measured risks, taking lateral moves, taking hard assignments to drive your personal growth, and really becoming a very trusted individual that people count on. Those are really strong tips for people to really think about as they, they build that roadmap. For their career and I have always, there's two things that I just really have great respect for you, Patty. One is your just overwhelming positivity, but you're a truth teller. And I, you always give people what they need to hear and I think that I'm sure has powered your career as an hr. Leader because sometimes we have to hear things that we don't wanna hear. And I'm sure the blend of your positivity and your authenticity is something that is truly valued in with the people that you work with.

Patricia Huska:

No I appreciate that, and I think about that in terms of telling the truth. I can just think of, and if you'd I can ex expand on certain mentors, allies in my life who have just. It had been invested enough in me to tell me the truth and not it took the time to understand me and only follow me has made such a difference. And again, I go back to, and you know me, I'm very open about I've got great family, but I've also had, family and friends who've always taken sort of an an interest. But if you, having people take the time and have the courage to tell you what you need to hear at different points in your life makes all the difference in the world.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think you're tremendously skilled at giving feedback, Patty, because the other part that I have had the great joy of watching you is that you do it with such diplomacy so that you manage people very well through listening to obviously sometimes some hard messages that you have to deliver. But I'm wondering if you would expand a little bit on mentors and allies, because I know you. Have shared with me that you've had some pretty important people Yeah. Over the years that have taken an interest in you. So I'm wondering how you can, if you can share how they have shaped that journey for you. Yeah I can,

Patricia Huska:

and actually I was thinking about that in advance of us speaking, and there's a, it's really nice, and again, I go back to, I'm very grateful for for folks that have played. A role and I would say just my life. So it's not just your career. Cause I mean your career is so much a part of your life. It's your life and how I've tried to do that also for other folks. But if I go back and if I think about really early in my career, And I was married a couple years and then we found out we were expecting Tommy. So my oldest is 19. He'll be, I can't believe he'll be 20 in December. He just finished his freshman year of college. But when I found out that I was expecting I was fortunate enough that I had been set up through a program in hr, that I had this mentor and this mentor, Mary Kay Feld, amazing woman. Okay. I still keep in touch with her today. And she did not have children, but she was so invested in saying, how do you feel about this? And she knew that being not only remote, but my work style and some of my development areas that I'd need to really have to work on this. And we spent really the next two trimesters getting me ready for what Was Patty gonna come back to work? What was I thinking about in terms of how was I gonna handle childcare? How was I gonna handle the hours? How was I gonna handle, like not apologizing for having to, Wanna go to the baby's check-in appointment because I've all, that's been one of my gaps in one of my areas, has always been very apologetic or oversharing where a lot of people might just say, I can't make that meeting. I'm gonna tell you the appointment's at this and the traffic is this. Here's how much time I'm gonna be away from my desk. All that stuff that nobody really cares about. So Mary Kay really helped me with that. And when I think about, she just, I felt such like love and care from her. She helped me so much in going to be a working mom. Then if I fast forward in probably mid-career, I was a director, and again, it was, I only have, think, I only have two kids. So the story's not too long, like I out of a dozen. But when I was on maternity leave with Kathleen and she'll be 17 in August, the. Executive vice president of hr. Gabby called me at home. I can remember Kathleen was co colicky baby, still love her to death, but she did nothing but cry for nine months. And Gabby called me and she said, when you come back from maternity leave, we want you out of travel. We want you to go to another business unit cuz she said, you know what Patty? Everyone in travel thinks you're great, but you're a one trick pony and you're going to actually not have any future in your career if you don't go do something else. And I'm like holding a baby. And she told me to get on a plane and go for an interview. So I changed business units and went to work in the card division. I got promoted. And then had a colicky baby, a toddler, and it all worked out. But I went back to what did Mary Kay and I work on? And again, like she gave me the hard truth. And what she also said was, you'll never get promoted in travel because you've been, everyone knows you since you were in your early twenties, and they think of you a certain way. I want you to come back. I want you to go on the first day of the job and walk in as. I was, yeah, I was already married then so Patty Huska, the vp, the HR for corporate card and just come in the new you. So get rid of some of the old habits and it made, it was so terrifying at the time, but it was so wonderful. So there is something to be said about taking risks, doing something different, and just come in as the new you, cuz you get to do that. If you go work at a different company, it is hard to reinvent yourself in the same place. Then when I moved on to. I promise I'm coming to a close. When I came on to this job was open. I was quietly waiting for the CEO at the time to ask me to move into to this role. I was in the seconding command job and it turns out that he just thought that I had no desire for it and I was just so happy in the job I'm in and a couple of the executives that were all men on the team. Called me and said, why haven't you just asked for the job? And I'm like if they want me, they'll ask me. And they're like, you're crazy. Nobody's gonna ask you. And this one gentleman, David Reamer, sat down with me and helped me write out the script of how I would ask our CEO for the job, and other ones did, and they helped me prepare for the job. They made such a difference. And then when I was getting the job, the c e o of, oh, excuse me, the head of HR at amex, the gentleman by the name of Kevin Cox. Who was the one who interviewed me for my first VP job when I was on maternity leave was on the MX board, and he was the final same in getting the role. And he sat down with me and he said, you know what, Patty, I remember you from when you came in on your maternity leave, and he said, you're the hometown hero. In travel. Everyone wants you for this, but I think you get a 50 50 shot of being successful. And he pulled out his interview notes that he had for me from 12 years prior and he said, I've been following your career. Here's what I think you do really well. Here's where I think you might have some challenges. And he said, let's talk about how you're gonna overcome those challenges. And he pulled out his own development plan for when he became the head of. HR at Amex, probably 10 years before that. He invested so much time in me and I'm happy to say it's almost five years later. So it did work out. But. He gave me like the generosity at times. So there's this thing about like when people, and like I will never forget those certain people and the things that they did for me. And it's about just that like real honest investment. So I apologize, that was probably a very long answer. People can, you can make a huge difference in somebody's life if you may take the time.

Dorothy Dowling:

Patty, I'm sure you earned all those opportunities that people decided to invest in you, but I do think it's an amazing story of giving and receiving feedback because as much as people chose to invest in you and give you that feedback, the fact that you listened. We're open to it and we're so courageous in accepting and moving into some of those opportunities to me speaks a lot of why you are the C H R O of such an important company today. So I do think those lessons that we can all learn just from the stories that you've shared about accepting feedback and being open to it is important.

Patricia Huska:

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I do think it's important. As leaders and as you get more senior in an organization to take the time and tell the people who work for you, your own stories and where you have gaps. And I tell I'm very open with who my development Aries are. People wanna know that you're a real human

Dorothy Dowling:

being. Yeah. And I think that whole story of how soft skills now are being reframed as human skills. I think that. Humanity that you bring to your role. I've only seen it in some of the industry opportunities of working with you, Patty, but that is why I think people have such great followership with you because you do bring that humanity and people like you and they do wanna hear and learn from you. So anyways, thank you for sharing that with us. This gives me an opportunity to speak about. Just your advocacy for women in general, because I know you have recently accepted an important role with G B T A to co-chair Winnet, which is GTA's dedicated Division in terms of supporting women in the business travel space. And I'm just wondering if you can speak about why volunteer service matters to you, how that has been important to you over your career and how champion women really shapes your purpose. Yes. Ab absolutely.

Patricia Huska:

So I do firmly believe you get back. Even more than you give in whatever it is, whether it's involved in women advocacy in your community, whatever the topic is. But as I just shared, I have had the amazing benefit of having various women and men take an interest in me, follow my career, be helpful, and I do think I just I I owe it and I get great pleasure already giving back in that. But there's other things too that I get out of it as well. If I think about, I. In my career, one of, again, my development areas is I tend to be very internally focused, and some of that's also the reality of trying to quote unquote balance being a mom and working in a global job and a traveling job. I don't always do a great job about an external network making a commitment and saying that you're in committing to something that you're passionate about and it follows your purpose. And I do think you need to make sure that you get involved in things that really do connect at the heart, cuz there are lots of things that might be the issue, but. People have different passions. So mentoring, advancement of women, very important to me. But it has given me such a broader network. And I think from a diversity perspective too, like I have most of the people that I've had the benefit of meeting through. Some of the, some of the work that I've done with women with Winnet, they're not in hr, but whether it's sales, procurement, all different types of roles. I've learned more about people's industries. I've met people of all backgrounds. It's been absolutely absolutely fantastic. And I think the, when I think about also mentoring women and. And giving back, volunteering, it's important to me. What I try to emphasize with people is about being really kind to yourself and not setting success up for what's important to you. And I think it's really important to create those opportunities for people to come together. I was fortunate. Earlier in my career, I was involved in a program called Women Unlimited, and that was when I was at a manager level and I had an opportunity to go to this program for about a year, once a quarter. And there were other women who were more senior who would come in and literally would just take you to lunch and talk about what their experiences were. And that just give, giving back and creating just a space where people can talk about either their j just give people a space to talk about their. E experiences their concerns, help them think a little bit about what might be possible for them that they don't hear from their current leader. It's just, it's incredibly rewarding and I think it's important.

Dorothy Dowling:

Patty, there's a few things I'd like to really speak to because what I heard is it's about, again, a measured risk, but it is being very intentional about some of your volunteer commitments. And for you it was, there was some real value. Creation for you personally in terms of making that commitment. But what I would also offer back to you, I was so thrilled when you joined Winnet because that was how we came to know each other. Because you brought a different voice and you brought diversity of thought that we needed to hear because most of us were in that commercial leadership space. So having your perspective, I think, empowered all of us to think differently, and I think really added a lot to. How we approached a lot of the opportunities that we were building for women. So I think it was truly a win-win. Yeah. And it taught me, because I think we went a little bit out of our comfort zone because G B T A is a commercial organization, so bringing in people that are part of. The sponsors that, that are associated with the organization, but bring other perspectives was incredibly valuable. So I thank you for that and I thank you for stepping up because Thank you. It is, I know a time commitment and you bring so much value to the organization as a whole. So I am looking forward to your continued leadership. Thank you. I've

Patricia Huska:

loved it. Yeah, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dorothy Dowling:

So I'm wondering if I could move a little bit onto global because Sure. There's a couple things around the global mindset that I know sometimes individuals don't fully appreciate in terms of their growth, in terms of how to relate to people around the world. And I also think that post pandemic, there's a lot of challenges that we as leaders are I. Thinking about in the talent space that is challenging all of us. So I'm wondering, cuz you are the top consultant to so many leaders in the MGT space globally, if there's anything that you can share with us that you think is important for us to consider?

Patricia Huska:

Sure. That's something that we grapple with every day. Cause again, we are in, we're all around the world and we also pride ourselves in delivering. A consistent global framework, but we're all individuals and you've got languages, you've got time zones, you've got everything. So what I would offer is, I think it's important, and if I think about this, even for us as a in my instance for G B T as a company, or for me leading, if I even just focus on leading the HR function, it's important that you start still with what's your purpose? So what's your purpose? What are your values? Because to me that transcends no matter where you are. In terms of what's your mission? What kind of people do we want? Like good people are good people. No matter what language you speak, know the color of your skin, whatever, right? So tho those types of things that you just need to stand on your values, and I think you need to create, I try to say, okay, what's this global framework? What does the, how does the HR function. Help drive success for our company. And then what are those like just couple of key priorities. It's not a laundry list, but it's probably four. That would be a whole other conver conversation. But here's just a couple of priorities. And then giving people the freedom to make those work in the areas that they're in. So I think it's a balance of here's the framework and then people need to know like they're accountable, but they need to make it work in different areas because. What I found is, and particularly back in my prior role was the I had the field HR organization for, close to 10 years. But I had to learn that, the employment practices are very different in different countries. There are countries where if you do a global town hall, People are fighting over each other to speak. And then there are other countries where you open it up and you're so sad cuz you put so much effort into your lovely presentation and you try to be personable. But

Dorothy Dowling:

there's no

Patricia Huska:

way on earth that somebody's gonna ask a question. But that's not a reflect, but that's their cul, that's culture. Like I've had to learn. I'm probably not doing a great job of this today, like how to speak slow. But there are other things around that I just think are signs of respect of. Making sure do you do I do my town halls or my skip levels in their town time zone versus mine? There's, there are some little things you can do that you can drive, like absolute connection with people on the other side of the world. So it's do things in their own time zone. Understand what holidays are important to them. I've got a ca, I'm not in my home office right now, but of. What's, when is Chinese New Year? When's this, when's Ramadan? There's stuff all the time, but just showing a level of sensitivity and also knowing I. When to know to, it's okay. Like just to seek to understand and say, does this work in your culture? Does it not? So some of those things I think are really important. But I think from a leadership perspective, as you said, people are demanding and want authentic leadership. They want people who like lean in and really listen. When I do even like whether it's town halls or one-on-ones, and particularly for people who are not. Actually, I have very few people who were co-located with me. Hopefully not since I'm virtual, right? Most of my folks, most of my direct reports don't even live in my country. But whether you're talking to somebody one-on-one or in bigger groups, people can read things in a deck, you can send them an email. Spend the time when you have opportunities to connect with people, to connect with people on a really personal level, to either just talk about something in depth or get to know them on a personal level, because that's when. The going gets tough. People are there for you when they think that you've understood them and you get to know them.

Dorothy Dowling:

You packed in a lot of advice in that answer. And I just would like to reaffirm a couple of things because some of the things I heard that I really liked Patty, was having that mission and purpose at the forefront. Having that framework of three or four things, but also giving people the space to be able to take those and shape it within. Their own world, their own culture, and as long as they're really driving the accountability metrics and they have the freedom to actually execute based on those guardrails. So I think that was great advice. And the other piece that I think is really just a characteristic of Patty Huska is you're just one of the most likable people that I have met in my life. But I think that really speaks to, again, the humanity and the commitment you have to relationship engagement. So you are a great listener. You really do connect with people at a very personal level, and that likability factor carries you in ways that are pretty amazing. Again, I just wanna frame up Patty, that I think those are important career elements that we can all learn about is the importance of humanity and human connection, the importance of really being a great listener, the importance of investing in relationship. I know we're coming to the close of our interview now. So the one question that we try to ask every d e i advisor that participates with us is really this concept of coming to the end. Is there one final piece of advice that you would like to share with the audience from your amazing career, your amazing life experience, and of course the life that you have balanced as a very senior experience. Consecutive and a parent of two remarkable children.

Patricia Huska:

Thank you. So I think that gosh, you asked me that and I could get like very filled up, but I think, it's like something my dad used to always say too, that, the days along and the years are short. So you've gotta really, love what you do, you gotta make the ma best of what you do. And when I think about back in, in my career or just my life, like no one's ever gonna judge or remember whether or not all the laundry was done or if your house was clean. Like it, it goes back to we didn't have an opportunity to really talk too much about balance. I think the thing is of trying to just be the best you and what you're doing. At any given time and being able to, I think people appreciate, again, I go back to the authenticity, like you don't wanna always say you need help or you don't know what you're doing, but I do think that I've also been lucky in my career of people who have given me a pass or have extended extra help because I've also been comfortable enough in my own skin to say when I needed a hand. And I think from a diversity perspective, To really, and particularly in such a remote world to invest in getting to know the people who work for you is you gotta assume that if they have a frontline leader, whether or not they're, their skills or they're delivering against their deliverables, I take for granted that's either done or it's taken care of. Get to know your people and know what makes people tick. So when you have something like a pandemic come up, if you have created a space where people feel cared for, They'll walk to the end of the earth for you. But you can't come in and say, hi, guess what? Great, I now care about you. I need you to do this. You need to demonstrate that for the long haul. And that would probably be my advice.

Dorothy Dowling:

Patty, I think you've spoken to one of the most important tenants of leadership. It's building followership and followership is earned by the investment that you make in people. Yeah. So I am just so incredibly grateful for all of the wonderful human skills that you have shared with us as a leader. I'm grateful for all that you contribute to our industry. And I am grateful to have you in my network. So thank you for being part DEI advisors. And if I may just close with thinking of our tagline, d e i advisors, tagline, empowering personal success. If you have enjoyed this interview with Patty, I hope you'll go to our website, dei advisors.org where there are other leaders, not quite in the same areas as Patty, but I know that many of them can empower your knowledge and feel your spirit. So I hope to see you there. And Patty, thank you again for offering us so

Patricia Huska:

much. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Care.

Dorothy Dowling:

Thank you, Patty. Thank you. Thank you.