Michelle shares her career journey and the personal mantra that guides her. We discuss her general approach to challenges, taking risks, as well as imposter syndrome. She offers networking and communication tips. Finally, she shares her thoughts on personal empowerment.
Michelle shares her career journey and the personal mantra that guides her. We discuss her general approach to challenges, taking risks, as well as imposter syndrome. She offers networking and communication tips. Finally, she shares her thoughts on personal empowerment.
Greetings. I'm David Kong, the founder and principal of DEI Advisors. We are a non profit organization dedicated to personal empowerment. Today, I'm delighted to welcome Michelle Jensen Session. She is the co founder of Aquarius Hospitality Solutions. Michelle is well known in industry as an innovative thinker and strategic leader. It's a great pleasure to welcome you, Michelle.
Michelle Jensen Session:Thank you, David. I'm so excited to be here.
David Kong:It's wonderful to have you. Michelle, you have a very interesting career journey. I can't wait to hear more details about it. Can you share that with us? And tell us about some of the factors that contributed to your success.
Michelle Jensen Session:Yep. My journey into hospitality is similar to a lot of people my age. Growing up in hospitality, my parents were hoteliers. We've actually been a part of the Best Western family for over 35 years. So we were talking about career highlights and actually for me, This is very full circle because to be interviewed by David Kong, who I had been watching my entire young adulthood it's really an honor. So thank you for having me. I did start in hotels grew up working on my parents properties, but my journey took me out of hospitality and then back to hospitality, and I think that's probably going to be my life path. Is in and out of hospitality, bringing what I've learned from other industries back into this industry that I love. So it probably started when I was young and I grew up in a beautiful place, the Monterey Bay, which is really into environmental protectionism. And I went to school learning about biodiversity, learning about sustainability. When I was five or six years old and after going to school for a degree in environmental science, I worked in nonprofits. I worked in higher education. And some of the highlights of my career are from those days. One of my favorite memories is I was coordinating an international conference on climate change and its impact on water availability with Nobel prize winning scientists from all over the world. Another career highlight, though, is coming back to the family business, acting as the chief operating officer for about 10 years and surviving COVID. There was this point, everybody remembers March 2020, where we looked at each other, And the situation on the ground was changing daily. And we were following the news. What are the regulations? What would we need to do as business owners? And in the 40 years of our family's business, we had never had to furlough employees ever. And in the beginning of April, We were looking at five to 10 percent occupancy rates, which we've never had that before. That is unheard of. So we did do a furlough and it was a voluntary furlough. But what I'm most proud of is we were able to bring everybody back after a month. And we were also able to go after PPP funding and do hazard pay. Do bonuses. We kept all of our managers on and we put together some really great programs to take care of our staff during a really incredible time. Incredible time, but very challenging time unheard of, right? So that's a couple of my career highlights. Another one. After that, of course, is launching Aquarius which is our own business and some of the key factors in this, launching your own business is always a risk, but when you grow up in an entrepreneurial family, I've worked for all size organizations and I got to a certain place where I really wanted to try to do this on my own. And the last year and a half of launching Aquarius has brought out so many different skill sets that I did either forgotten about or didn't know that I had. And it's forced me to grow in a lot of ways that I never would have anticipated. I think in all of my previous jobs, I never had to do sales. I had to learn sales. And the last 10 years, The chief operating officer for the family business. Most of my networking was internal. I really didn't work on a lot of external relationships. So in the last year and a half, I've really had to do that. So when I think about key characteristics or tools for success for my career, I think the ability to learn. To pivot, to build relationships soft skills, which we talk about a lot. All of those things have allowed me to move in and out of each different opportunity and continue to grow and bring those things to whatever I do next.
David Kong:No doubt. like everything that you just said, and I want to drill down into the experience and founding of Aquarius, because that involves taking a tremendous risk and risk taking is one of the necessary attributes of any leader. So I was wondering if you can share some more details about the risk that you talk on and how you convince yourself that's the right thing to do and how you found the strength to continue.
Michelle Jensen Session:They say that the first one to two years is the toughest for any new business. And I think that the hardest part about starting a new business is really the uncertainty. And I remember looking back, if I know, if I knew now, then what I know now, I don't know. I know that we would have approached this differently. I don't know if I would have done it, but at the same time, I am so glad that I did. And I think that Is the case with any new opportunity is you focus on what are the positives of the situation? And what if I don't do it, right? And you weigh those two things. And for me, I look at it as, starting a business was a risk, but for myself personally, not starting the business was a risk also. And it was something I got some great advice actually from John Kelly, who's the, was chairman of the board for Best Western. I came to him and I told him what I was thinking about for Aquarius. And I asked him, am I crazy? Is this a good idea? And he said, no, you're not crazy. It's a good idea. And I said the timing is weird, the economy, this, that, and the other. And John said, there's never a good time. You have to start now. And it reminds me, there's a saying the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago. The second best time is today. And so it's the same thing with starting a business. There's not going to be a perfect opportunity to start a business, but if this is something that you're interested in, that you're passionate about, there's a lot of reasons that I wanted to do it. I have young children I think I believed I had the skill sets to make this happen. And I had the desire. So if not now, when, and I'm also at an age where I've got a lot of runway. that if this didn't work out, I still have plenty of time in my career, but at the same time why not now?
David Kong:So true. And I really two things that you mentioned. The first one is there's never a good time. If it's not now, then when I really liked that because sometimes we just have a way to procrastinate and hesitate to take on that risk, but there's really no perfect time. And the second thing is there's a risk in pursuing whatever opportunity you are after. And there's also a risk for not pursuing it. Sometimes we just think about the downside of doing something, but we don't think about the upside of doing something. Like that very much. You alluded to the challenges of COVID earlier, and we all went through that horrible period when we have to lay off a lot of people, and there was so much uncertainty. I was wondering if you can share your general approach to challenges and how you find strength and resilience when you are encountering that seemingly unsurpassable challenge.
Michelle Jensen Session:There is a saying that your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. And one of my strengths is that I tend to look at the positive of everything, sometimes too much. And one of the things that's been said to me, you always find the gold in a situation, but what if that gold is covered in a ton of mud? Is it still worth it? And when it comes to challenges Dorothy Dowling, who is a friend and mentor said that I'm very academic in a lot of ways. And so when I'm encountering a challenge, I do research and I try to find out as much information as I can. Whether it's the political environment in which we're operating, the players involved in making the decision or just the rules and regulations, the history, what is everybody's interest? And then I usually consult a wide range of experts no matter what I'm doing. So there was a point, especially with Kensington, where I had to take over the accounting department and I led a forensic accounting research project And I had no experience in this. And the first person that I brought on to help me was a CPA at a firm who was a trusted advisor, but it's finding the experts, right? Who's done this before. Whose brain can I pick and getting knowledge from a community rather than just relying on this by myself. All of those things, right? It's looking at history, what's happened before, what are the other options? Is there a way for me to improve on what somebody else did? There's no reason to reinvent the wheel. The wheel exists. Can I make the wheel better? And then who are the people have done this before? Let me talk to them.
David Kong:Thanks for sharing that very thoughtful approach. I like it very much, especially the part about consulting with other people because two heads are always better than one. Now, I was wondering if we can share the best advice that you received from your mentors. No doubt you've benefited from having people in your lives that have affected your journey in a positive way. You mentioned Dorothy Dowling, who's a mentor to many people. A great fan of hers.
Michelle Jensen Session:I have had mentors, I think, my entire life. And I thought a lot about this question because the thing that all of these mentors did for me specifically was hold up a mirror to myself to see things that I could not see. And I remember some of my most influential mentors came from my time at UC San Diego. When I was working with the Sustainability Solutions Institute, I was looking to transition to DEI work and I had no formal training but I grew up in a multicultural family. My mom is Japanese and my dad is Danish German. And I had a couple of people that I worked with who When I told them what I wanted to do helped me with the language on my resume, they had seen my work in action and they gave me an entire new vocabulary to describe the things that I was doing. And really, it was an upgrade to my vocabulary, because for me, sometimes when we have certain skill sets that we're really good at that are natural abilities. We take them for granted and we think that everybody can do this because it's easy to me. It must be easy to other people. And sometimes what a really great mentor will do is they will point out no, that's special. And actually it's called XYZ. So there are times that mentors are just able to look at you, look at a situation, provide some insight from a completely different point of view. And oftentimes for many years of experience that. We often take for granted. And so I think the best mentors are the ones who are generous with those thoughts and those insights and who lift you up to help you be at the best version of yourself. So the mentors that I've had in my life, I am. So thankful. And I have taken what I've learned from them and try to give that to other people as well. So whenever I see a particular skill set, sometimes people just do things naturally and they really don't realize that what they're doing is quite extraordinary until you point it out. And for me, that's been such a great gift.
David Kong:So true. Thanks for sharing that experience. Do you have a personal mantra that guides your decisions?
Michelle Jensen Session:So I thought about this question a lot as well. And part of what I have been working on a lot in the last couple of years, especially is being very intentional about the way that I want to show up in the world. And for me, the biggest, most, it's funny. I grew up in an Asian household with my mom, who's Buddhist, and it's about being present, be present. No matter where you are, what you're doing, we're all juggling 10 million different things, but being able to be. In the moment for the moment is really effective. And it's just, when you're with somebody be with that person, or if you're doing a task, focus on that task, give it your all, there's something about being present that is so powerful. And it's a big part of my life these days.
David Kong:I love that being intentional and being present. It is so true because life is so hectic. Sometimes we don't think about things, but just go through the motion. And it is important to be intentional and to be present. Now I've seen you at industry conferences. You seem to have a vast network, you seem to know so many people. And I know that a lot of people that are listening will struggle with networking. They realize how important it is, but they just find it difficult. Can you share your tips on networking?
Michelle Jensen Session:So I always share this story for anyone who has trouble with networking. If you ever take Myers Briggs or any of those personality tests, I am an introvert and almost everyone I meet. Doesn't believe that. And part of that is I grew up in a family with a bunch of extroverts. And so you learn, this is an extroverted world. And as an introvert, you have to operate in this world. And how do you do it? So for me, as an introvert, when I go into these situations, it's about conserving my energy and being as strategic as possible when I go into a networking event and what I focus on is quality over quantity. I am not ever going to be a person who will have the energy to talk to every single person in the room, nor would I want to. It's being really, again, it's being present with whoever you're talking to, but it's, there's so much more. There's a couple of books that I wanted to recommend that's really impacted my life. The first one is called Never Eat Alone. It's by Keith Ferrari and What is really interesting about this book, it was written by someone who grew up in a disadvantaged family. And in high school, he worked as a caddy at a golf club. And so he spent a lot of time with some really successful people. And what he learned was that successful people are not necessarily smarter. They're not necessarily harder working. They're part of a And so his question was, how do you become a part of that club? For him, it was creating relationships through meals, sharing a meal. And he used every opportunity to have a meal with someone new and learn something new. And he gives a lot of tips. Nobody wants to spend time with a used oily car salesman, right? Nor do they want to spend some time with someone who's only looking out for themselves. I think there's something about being invested in other people showing up, wanting to be helpful. These are all mantras that he shares. And when I was starting out my career at UC San Diego, 25, 000 employees, I read the book, I actually read the first chapter of the book and I decided I'm going to use every single lunch opportunity to meet somebody new. And so for a year, every single lunch, I didn't eat alone. And by the end of that year, I got a five level jump promotion, partly because I had networked so well and built these relationships that when I got to the interview panel, I knew everybody on the interview panel. And so that's book number one. Book number two is a classic 1937 Dale Carnegie's How to Influence People and Win Friends. And I lean on this book all the time because he talks about be interested, not interesting. And he also talks about showing up, doing what you say you're going to do. And I think so much of this is about follow through. So we go to these conferences, we spend all this money, we spend all this time, all this energy, you meet people at a conference and then you never see them again. And I think the trick, if there is a trick, is being very intentional to, once you've made a relationship, you have to keep that relationship alive. It's not something one and done. It doesn't work that way. If there's people that you connect with, you're not going to connect with everybody and that's okay. You don't have to. But when you do connect with somebody, it's having those follow through conversations, days, weeks afterwards, and then staying in touch. And it's also about remembering the small details. I remember I connected with someone in November. Really liked her. And we talked a few weeks later, she was getting married in January and we were texting back and forth. And I said, it's 10 days until your wedding. And she couldn't believe that I remembered her wedding day. Not just that she was getting married, but the day itself. And I think sometimes it's about those little details and this is great for hospitality. Hospitality is all about the little details. If you can be intentional about remembering those little details about the people that you meet. It's always about how people feel. They won't remember what you said, they will remember how you made them feel. And if you actually take the time and the mental energy to really remember and listen to what they said, they will remember that. And I think that's a big part of being able to build the network that I have. Because again, The network that you've seen, David, I did that in a year and a half. This is not a lifetime. I really was not networking for a lot of my career. I put that off for 10 years. And when we launched Aquarius, I started all over again. So everything that you've been saying that is the work of a year and a half.
David Kong:That's phenomenal. You just gave a very comprehensive set of tips on networking. And by the way, I'm a big fan of Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. I still have it. My son actually kept this copy. I gave it to him when he graduated from high school. I was visiting him the other day and he pulled it out from his library. And It's got all these yellow highlighters and sticky notes on it. He still refers to it. And you are so right. One of the tips he gave, as you mentioned, is be interested, not interesting, because so often we are busy talking about ourselves. But when you're interested in other people, that would impress them. You would connect with them. So true. Thanks for sharing those wonderful tips. Now I heard that you have this article that you wrote for today's Hotelier, the truth about robots in hospitality. Can you share some highlights?
Michelle Jensen Session:I loved that you picked up on this. One of the early clients for Aquarius was a robotics company. And so pretty early on in the Aquarius journey, We did a deep dive into robotics and it's just something that's captured our attention that we will continue to play. And I think for the rest of our careers robotics, there's so many movies. It, there's so many preconceived notions about robotics. And what we learned is That this is a technology that's very exciting. We're probably three to five years out from it really taking over the industry, but there's a couple important factors to consider. And one of the factors is that what makes hospitality so wonderful is it's the human connection. And it's the human touch and that will never be placed, replaced by robotics. Now they're going to try. There are certain robots one in particular called Pepper that they did an amazing job studying human psychology. And that robot was designed to be a companion robot. But at the end of the day, it will never replace a human. It just can't. And so when we think about robotics and hospitality, it's about supplementing the task so that people can do their jobs better. And as a hotelier, what I would love to see, and I told this to all of the developers that we met, is I really want A robot in laundry, because every time that my laundry attendants call out, you end up folding a bunch of towels and I would love to have that particular task taken over by a robot so that when they call out, I don't have to worry about it. But that's one of the things is that I do not think that robots are going to be competing for human jobs. I just don't. And I think that companies that are able to utilize these technologies, especially as they advance there's going to be some tremendous benefits. Right now we're at a place where a lot of robotics is about novelty. It's exciting to walk into a place and see a robot, especially if it's, doing a little song and dance or it's delivering your drink, but it's So much of hospitality is also unexpected surprises. And so something like a robot delivering your drink when you didn't expect it is quite wonderful. That's going to get old after a time. So how do those robots become more useful? It's going to be a really interesting journey and I can't wait to see where it goes.
David Kong:Yeah, I can think of a lot of applications for robots. For example, you can order from your phone in the restaurant, and then the robot would bring you the food or drinks. I can see that happening, but you are right. I do believe that hospitality is not virtual. You require the personal connection to create that experience.
Michelle Jensen Session:Yeah, and I will just add, One little thing on that is, when I say three to five years, it's because the technology still has limitations that make it not useful. And for example, they've got some really great cleaning robots that will vacuum or mop and f mop your entire floor. But the problem is it takes 11 steps to clean the cleaning robot. And at that point, you might as well just have mopped the floor, right? Or, it doesn't do corners. And so you're going to have to go back and do the corner. So the technology is going to get there. I think that it's close. But until they can make up for these limitations, humans are never going to have to worry about this. Someone's going to have to fix the robot. It's just like the Willy Wonka movie, right?
David Kong:I won't be surprised if within our lifetime we see robots cleaning rooms, but that's somewhere in the future. Now, you also wrote an article for hotelier. com. About work life harmony and self care from an interview that you did with Heather Koleser of Gecko Hospitality. Would you mind to share some details?
Michelle Jensen Session:Yes. That article with Heather was really special and I'm glad I get to talk about it because some things were cut out of the interview that didn't make it to the final print. And Heather gave me permission to share some of this, but when we talk about self care, a lot of times you'll read these articles and they're all about little things like get more sleep, drink more water, take breaks. In Heather's case. She was looking at a big life change was the best form of self care for her. So like many of us, as we age, she started to come into some health problems and was basically told by her doctor, you need to make a change or something bad is going to happen. And at that point she was doing operations and operations is a 24 seven type of thing. And it really was just wearing on her body. And she made a decision to pivot her career. into recruiting which gave her the flexibility to be a mom to be a better partner and to take care of her health. And so for Heather, she wanted to share this story because we give so much of ourselves to our trade and they say you cannot pour from an empty cup. That's absolutely true. I heard this saying actually last week Instead of pouring from a full cup, make your cup so full that it's overfilled with excess and then give from the excess, right? The cup is yours. Let it be full. Whatever overflows is what you can give to other people. And I think Heather's tips on when you look at your life. It's sometimes the small things that they add up, right? But sometimes you have to make a big change. And how do you make a big change that's going to best serve you in the long run? And I think COVID was one of those moments where a lot of people paused and looked at their lives and thought, this isn't working. How can I do this differently? And that's what Heather's story was for me.
David Kong:That's great. Can't wait to actually read about the details of this interview. Where can one find more details on this?
Michelle Jensen Session:So Heather's articles on Hertelier and a big thanks to Emily Goldfisher, who partnered with us pretty early on allowing us to share some of these stories about women in hospitality and their amazing journeys.
David Kong:Okay. Hertelier. All right. Now I have seen you communicate with other people. You just have a way to connect with people around you. I haven't seen you speak in public, but I would imagine you're a very good speaker as well. Can you share some tips on how one can do a better job in connecting with the audience or in being more persuasive?
Michelle Jensen Session:When I was 16 years old, I had to take a public speaking class, and one of the first things that they did was they recorded you on stage speaking. And at 16, I don't think, at any age, Sometimes it's horrifying to see yourself on stage, especially in a recording, but it is so incredibly helpful. You learn about these nervous twitches that you have. You may notice that you say a lot or whatever it is. And at the end of the day, public speaking is just like any other skill. Which takes practice and the more that you practice, the better you will be. And there's a couple of things that I would recommend, especially if you're starting to do this more. One is I think you have to organize your thoughts first and think about what is the message I am trying to deliver? Who am I speaking to? And ultimately, what am I trying to achieve? That's number one. It's having a game plan. Number two is the practice. Once you've practiced and you become comfortable, this is where I think personality is really important. Some of the most boring speakers that you ever listen to are incredibly monotone and it's just, the same tone and it just drones on. I think we all had college professors who were like this, right? When you become more comfortable, you can include personality. You can include humor. And I think intonation is really important too, right? Pace is important. Intonation is important. All of these things are just skill sets that you practice as you're doing public speaking. And Part of what happens, even when you do this a lot it's still really valuable to go back and hear recordings of yourself. There are times where I was really nervous and I thought that I was speaking really quickly. And I figured out over time, as I listened to my recordings, when I'm nervous, I actually speak slower, which is great. That must have been something that I practiced. So just anything else, public speaking is about, really perfecting art. And then it is an art.
David Kong:Yeah, so true. It is an art. And your tips are just wonderful. Being prepared and practice and all that is very good. And I also found that videotaping myself and watching it afterwards is a tremendous learning tool and I encourage anyone who wants to be better at public speaking to do that. Now, you are of Asian descent, have you experienced imposter syndrome? Because I certainly have, especially early on in my career. And if so, how do you overcome that negative self talk?
Michelle Jensen Session:It seems that every single person has experienced imposter syndrome. I don't think anybody is immune, especially when you're coming in as a minority. One of the things that happens when you are a part of a minority group is that each culture has different values and upbringings and all these different, we know about this, right? There's this thing called like the iceberg culture where so much of culture on the top, but there's so much below and some things that show up, especially in the workplace that are cultural. is how we approach the world and how we view ourselves versus others. There's this whole spectrum based on which culture you're a part of, where the importance of self versus the importance of group it varies based on where you're from. And so when we're showing up in the workplace, sometimes, especially as leaders, these things look like personality traits, but a lot of times they're really cultural, but you don't know that as a minority so much until you start talking to people who are from the same background. And this is the tip that I was going to give for anyone who feels like they are part of a underrepresented group is there's strength in numbers. And they say that for a reason, right? What happens when a group of immigrants come to a new country? The first thing they do is they try to find people with similar experiences. They try to find their people. And I think that's an incredibly powerful tip, not just in a personal way, but also in business, because there are certain things, certain values, certain ways that you approach the world, especially as a minority that don't resonate and issues that may come up for you, trauma that may come up for you that is not understood by someone who's never experienced it. But when you find other people who have had a similar experience, it's very validating, but it also gives you the strength of, what my experience is real. This is not just something that I experienced myself. This is something that an entire group of people have experienced. And all of a sudden, you have a voice that is unique, but also valid and very powerful. And so the more that you find your people, whoever they look like, whatever they sound like, wherever they are, The more that you find your people, the more confidence you get in your unique experience, I think the more successful you end up being. So for imposter syndrome, first of all, everybody has it, right? But it's about learning to be confident in your authentic self and also what you bring to the table. And the more you talk about it, the more you experience it, the more you come out of your shell, the more you defeat that imposter syndrome.
David Kong:Yeah, that is true. For me personally, I have suffered from imposter syndrome for a long time. It wasn't until towards the end of my career that it doesn't occur as regularly. And I think it's because I gained so much more confidence over time. And you become more aware of these negative thoughts and you know how to deal with them. And there is an art in dealing with them. You have to find a way to switch the way that you think about things. Instead of saying to myself that I'm not good enough, or I don't belong. You think about what do I bring to the table? How can I differentiate? How can I stand out? How can I bring value to the conversation and all those things would help you and then it's just practicing that over time. I think it would affect you less.
Michelle Jensen Session:I think there's so much power, David, in you sharing your experience, because from my perspective, you are David Kong. You are one of the longest standing CEO of any major hotel chain. And so to hear that someone like you has had imposter syndrome is really quite extraordinary, right? Because for me, I grew up as a young woman, seeing you on the stage, speaking in front of thousands of people all over the world. And you were always so polished. You're always so well put together, but inside each of us has these little voices, these insecurities, we're all human, right? And I think that's part of the power of connection is when you're able to have these real conversations, you understand that, Oh They're dealing with a lot of the same things as me and I think that's actually part of my networking tips that I didn't include that I would include is just remembering that every single person you come across is another human and it doesn't matter how well established they are. They're still human. And so I've been able to go up to some people. Actually, this is how I met Dorothy. The way that I did is she was a keynote speaker and I went up to her and I told her, I've been watching you since I was a young woman. I just wanted to come say hi. Cause I'm a huge fan. And in my mind, Dorothy Dowling was this rock star who I had seen my whole life. And she, she looked at me and she said, don't go anywhere. And it was just a reminder. Dorothy's human, just like the rest of us. And so if there's someone that you admire, there's someone you've always wanted to speak to, chances are they probably will, maybe they won't talk to you, but a lot of times they will because they're human. Like the rest of us,
David Kong:most people will, they just have to ask.
Michelle Jensen Session:That's right.
David Kong:As I was afraid, we are running low on time. So I'm going to ask you one last question. Our show is about self empowerment. Can you share a final piece of advice on personal empowerment?
Michelle Jensen Session:Final piece of advice. I think you've talked about this a lot, and I know that Dorothy talks about this as well. Your network is your net worth, right? And whether you are part of an underrepresented group or not, this remains true. And I think it carries for the rest of your life and it's not just in business. I think the bigger your network, people crave connection and in order to grow and learn, you can do a lot on your own. There's a saying, this is another one of those mantras that I love. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together and finding your people, creating a network that you can rely, trust really lean on. I think that's the golden life. So that's a big part of the reason that I focus on relationships as much as they do is I've found so much joy and satisfaction from them. And I think if people were well connected, that would be a huge combat against loneliness.
David Kong:That's wonderful advice. I love that. Michelle, thank you so much for being on our show. Your insight and your wisdom are just tremendous. I'm sure the audience would find it most beneficial. Thanks for taking the time.
Michelle Jensen Session:Thank you for having me.
David Kong:And for our audience, if you enjoyed this interview, we hope that you would join us on our website, deiadvisors. org. Hope to see you there. Thanks again, Michelle.