It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Michele Allen, Chief Financial Officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey

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Michele shares why it's so important to have a positive voice in your head as you tackle challenges and self-doubt. She discusses how her leadership has evolved over time and the role communication has played in that process. Michele talks about the intentionality of setting non-negotiables for your self-care and family priorities and the need to be aligned with a company which supports those needs.

Rachel Humphrey:

I am Rachel Humphrey with DEI Advisors. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering personal success in the hospitality industry. And I am excited to welcome to the show today, Michelle Allen, the CFO of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Michelle. Welcome. Hi, Rachel. Thank you for having me. Michelle, we're going to jump right in, spend about 30 minutes together today, just talking about your path to leadership and some of the lessons that you've learned along the way. And I want to start off right away with your journey. One of the things that I think is most exciting about the hospitality industry is that people can really carve their own path. You don't have to be on a specific road to get to where you want to go. So tell us a little bit about how you got started in hospitality and maybe some of the pivotal moments that led to the career that you have today.

Michele Allen:

Great great place to start. I began my career actually in accounting, specifically audit. So pretty far away from hospitality, but I'd say that provided a solid foundation and paved the way For other roles where I could direct and move to private industry. I deliberately sought out opportunities that would expose me to different industries and eventually was introduced to the hotel space and the idea of putting people on vacation and helping them create great memory memories, whether that's through experience or or just through travel that all really resonated with me. And then the hotel franchising space specifically held a special appeal because It caters to small business owners and my parents were small business owners. So I found that in hospitality, I could make a a tangible difference. Not just in guests that were staying in the hotels, but also in supporting entrepreneurs like like my parents. So it really was a perfect fit where it married my skills and and my passions.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that. You mentioned that you started off with in accounting, I think that was at Deloitte, if I remember correctly, and then pivoted to the predecessors of Wyndham. And for a lot of people making that kind of leap would be an enormous risk. Do you consider yourself. A risk taker. How do you evaluate risk before deciding whether to jump or not?

Michele Allen:

Yeah I don't think I would label myself a traditional risk taker. I think probably most people that go into accounting would not say that about themselves but I'm certainly not risk averse either. I am very data driven and it's my love language. And so when I'm faced with potential risk and do this. All across my life in the workplace and in my non-work life, I just get myself into the data and I start, I gather everything that I can. I dissect it, and I'm just looking to reduce the uncertainties. And it's important to be thorough, but it's equally important to give yourself a time limit. So you're not paralyzing yourself through analysis. And so I think that really helps steer clear of major pitfalls. Yeah.

Rachel Humphrey:

Do you think when you are evaluating those risks, have you thought about it that you lean more toward evaluating and taking or evaluating and maybe pausing or waiting for more information?

Michele Allen:

I think evaluating and taking, I think in leadership at some version of taking risk is inherent probably. And and even as you go to advance your career stepping into a new role has inherent risk in it. And and. Part of that is knowing what you're getting into, making sure that your expectations marry your reality and then preparing for for what you're concerned about, like making sure that you are you are really able to understand what what's freaking you out and and Make sure you're lining up whatever's necessary to be able to overcome that specific risk or concern.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love the combination of awareness and preparation. So if you know what you're getting into, or the step that you're taking, and you can actually take steps to prepare for it of settling things down. As you. there's inherent risk with every new role. And as we change roles, sometimes we realize that there might be a skill that we either have not developed through a prior role or didn't know would be so important in our new role. Have you experienced that? And if so, what was the skill and how did you set out about to master it?

Michele Allen:

Yeah, absolutely. There's a there are always areas that we need to grow in. And throughout my career, there have been many, but it even holds true today. I think one of the common pitfalls For leaders is the tendency to hire people to mirror their own strengths and weaknesses. Instead, I think the key really is to recognize and acknowledge your own gaps. And then back to your point, Rachel, about self awareness, it's crucial here being able to understand what skills you lack and then Taking deliberate steps to to acquire them. And so that's really important, but as a leader, but if you're younger in your career and you're just coming up or you need to add skills, there's so many resources available today that are free to you, so many great online courses, whether they're college courses or specific YouTube skillset, technical type podcast and things like that, where you can really, You can self learn. You just need to be able to take some initiative. And I read a ton. I do read a lot.

Rachel Humphrey:

What types of things do you like to read?

Michele Allen:

I read everything. I read everything from from leadership books to technical books to politics to fiction. Yeah, like literally everything I can get my hands on anything that I think is remotely interesting. I'll start to read and I'm not afraid to not finish it if I don't find it interesting.

Rachel Humphrey:

You and I do not have that in common. I know. I'm like, I'm going to finish this. I like what you said too, about there are so many resources out there that really comes down to investing in yourself. So taking the time. to learn something new. I think you're right. There are so many more ways that are available to us, especially without cost now than there used to be. One of the things that I find really interesting in talking to leaders is some say I was born in to leadership. I knew it's what I wanted to do. I recognize skills in myself at a very young age, or I sought out opportunities to lead. Others to this day would say, I'm not even sure I consider myself a leader today. Where do you fall on that? spectrum of realizing that you are a leader within your company, a leader within the industry. And was that a ultimate goal for you? Or did you find yourself there maybe accidentally?

Michele Allen:

I don't know that it was an ultimate goal. I don't think that there was like a specific moment where I was like, Oh, look, I'm a leader. I've always been An avid learner and my goals were always pretty simple just to stay challenged to stay engaged and always be better tomorrow than yesterday. And I would see opportunity and say you know what? I think I can make an impact there. And. Through that, I was able to add additional responsibilities. And I think that's how that's how I grew into a leadership role. But leadership is so much more than than just the breadth and scope of your direct responsibilities. It's how you're engaging with other people and and how you nurture talent. I but I think in general, I think all of us have Some greatness within us and there's really no cap to your potential. The only cap is the ones that you're putting on On yourself. And then I'd also say for anyone aspiring to a leadership role, feedback. My boss says it all the time. Feedback is a gift. And I truly do subscribe to that. You should seek it out. Be deliberate about it. Really reflect and and integrate it. And if someone cares enough about you to give you that feedback it's your responsibility to make sure that you're incorporating it.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love what you said about the only cap being those we place on ourselves. And I want to talk about that in a minute, but I want to follow up on a couple of leadership thoughts beforehand. One is that I know that you have said that you are very drawn to. People first environments, values driven companies, joining leadership teams where that's important. Why is that a focal point for you? And how do you think that has shaped your leadership style?

Michele Allen:

I've always believed that you can't truly excel in a place that doesn't resonate with your core values. And and it's just draining. It's draining to be in an environment like that. We spend a lot of time in the workplace and and you don't want to be. somewhere. That's unnatural. You end up compromising probably not just your effectiveness but your happiness too. So for me being my best self is, it's a non negotiable and a people first environment is is a must in that case.

Rachel Humphrey:

Do you think when you look at your leadership and the evolution of it, that there are things that you have gotten better at over time or something from the last year or two, maybe that was a pivotal moment for you in your career? transforming your leadership in some way? Oh, sure.

Michele Allen:

Yeah. They're always improving. I say what have what have I gotten better at? Certainly relationship building being able to lean. That's probably if I had One thing that I would've wanted to focus on earlier in my career was was maybe the soft skills, that type of relationship communicating, consensus building. I learned that a little later in my career and it's so very very important. And I think in the last year our year at Windham has been a little different than anything but normal. But, I think in the last year I've been very impressed with with. Our prioritization of communication. So whether that's not just yeah, it's team member communication, franchisee communication, investor communications, you can't over communicate. And even even at home, we had a lot going on this year at work and I had a lot going on at home with, Freshman in high school. So she's starting a new school. A senior in high school. So he's going through the college process. And we just had a bunch of things as a family that were just new and different. And communication there was super important as well to make sure we're all on the same page. So I think when we think about the last year, that's probably. The one thing I would focus on.

Rachel Humphrey:

I like to that skill of communication carries so many different avenues, like you mentioned at home. And then for the company of so many different stakeholders and how you communicate to each of those might be very different. I wanted to go back to the comment you made about the only cap sometimes we have are those we place on ourselves. And while. I'm going to generalize and talking about women for a minute, although I know lots of people are faced with self doubt. We hear the generalization a lot that the head trash people experience or the self doubt that people experience can often be louder than those of their support systems. Do you experience in your daily corporate and professional personal life this idea of self doubt? And do you have strategies that you turn to overcome those?

Michele Allen:

So I think I've been pretty fortunate not to doubt my capabilities too much. I do I do really believe that we have, we all have this greatness within us. It's just a matter of being willing to work hard to bring it out requires a good deal of. Perseverance and disciplines. Sure. There are certainly barriers. Not every opportunity is open to everyone, depending on factors like your background, your education, who you know. I faced that too. I wasn't given access to the best resources from the start and in finance, as a woman, you're predominantly in a male environment. But I remember going back to high school, my guidance counselor, Suggested that I settle for a two year booking bookkeeping degree from a local community college. That was the path she saw for me, but I knew I could do better think that voice inside your head is a really powerful one. What's that quote? It's a henry ford. What whether you think you can or you think you can't you're right? so self talk is Very important and not to be downplayed, I tell my kids the minute those negative thoughts creep into your mind, shut them down and be intentional about the contra talk. Build yourself up right before, before a big presentation. Tell yourself you're gonna kill it. And. And then prepare. Nothing beats preparation to build confidence. And if it feels daunting, I say, just start. Take that first step because no matter how small it seems, they, those small steps, they accumulate over time and they can profoundly shift to. Your perspective over, over a period of time.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love the self talk too, because I think that can go a long way. And like I said, sometimes I think that self talk, the more negative that it is, that ends up being the path that we choose. And if we could change that narrative to be a much more uplifting. positive narrative than people's past would be different. You talked a second ago about oftentimes being the only female in a traditionally male oriented career. And I wanted to mention that because I love to share with our why I have asked certain guests to join me because everybody has had an impact in some way for me personally on my career journey or my personal journey. And I remember as I was coming up through hospitality, I used to hear a lot that women in hospitality tended to only have leadership roles in HR or in marketing or in some branding, some of these other areas. And I was like, wait, Do you know, Michelle, like I could see from all of our interactions that I had with Wyndham. And so I do think that's a really important, we hear all the time. I hear from my daughters, I need to see it, to know that I'm be it. And for people to see you in finance, I think as the CFO of a public company, so incredibly important to those who are rising up, how do you, what would you tell Rising leaders about advocating for themselves if they see an opportunity in whatever field it may be, and whether it's traditionally a male focused field or not in making sure that opportunities aren't passing them by because they're not raising their hand and saying that they're interested.

Michele Allen:

Such a great question. I think, women are culturally conditioned. To some extent to prioritize the needs of others, whether our families or teams over our own. And and that certainly carries that mindset certainly carries into. The workplace, and it does hinder our ability to claim credit where it's due. It's unfortunate, but it's an unfortunate truth. And when we do step up, sometimes it can be. Miss misunderstood or perceived as, as some something unflattering. I've seen it firsthand how these dynamics play out across the gender lines. Years ago, a colleague of mine many years ago despite being a top performer, she received a very small raise. And when she asked about it advocating for herself it was explained to her that the male employees in the department needed to feed their families. And so that's why her raise was not as high as or not reflective necessarily of her performance. We've come a long way since then, but but there's definitely more work to do. You asked about advice. And so I think it's, when we think about navigating this specific challenge it's maybe maybe twofold. First, like this, you have to take responsibility for it. So you need to. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable because advocating for yourself. It's essential. No one is going to Remember what you did or when you did it. There's people leaders are doing a lot of different things so so the second piece of that twofold is to Never assume that your contributions are automatically recognized or remembered. I maintain an excel spreadsheet where I log all my achievements. I have a Transcription by ESO. I'm in finance, so I have spreadsheets for everything. I have a tab for each year at the bottom, and it usually always starts as a brain dump. And then I regularly organize it to align with my annual goals. So this is the document, the sole document I use when I do my self assessments and I take my self assessments. Very seriously. I make sure it highlights my accomplishments. I quantify my impact wherever possible, which is going to be the majority of the time. By the way, it's also incredibly useful when you're updating a resume. But I think that's really important because then that self assessment is the one document that your manager has to look at your performance that year and be reminded. Of everything you contributed to the organization. And it's a nice way of advocating for yourself without having to actually put your stuff out there. And so those are my two pieces of advice, get on, get comfortable with being uncomfortable and. Maintain some sort of a brain dump where you log all your achievements and use it in your self assessment.

Rachel Humphrey:

I think that's really important. I also think you made a great point about societally, we tend to celebrate everybody but ourselves. And so it is very easy for those accomplishments to get lost for whatever reason we're not. And so I love the idea of doing it, especially as you go, because as we go back to try to Recreate them. It's both harder to do and we tend to be under time crunches where we throw a couple things down and we're like, okay, that'll suffice as opposed to being as broad based as you are doing it. So I love that for sure. You mentioned earlier the wanting to be better every day than the day before, which was interesting because I have not heard you say that before. before, but that's actually part of my personal mantra and a lot of what is my guiding star. I'm wondering if you have a personal mantra or a personal brand that you that guides you, whether it's in moments that you're trying to push forward or when you're looking to see what your guiding star is.

Michele Allen:

I do own everything in, on your mission that affects your mission. And Be excellent in everything that you do. Those are my kids would probably say maybe I'm a little overboard about that second one. But but if you're going, if you're going to make a commitment, you should make a commitment to excellence and And so those are my two personal mantras.

Rachel Humphrey:

Love that. When you talked about taking care of everybody around you, you mentioned your family, your team, others in a work environment, there has been such a renewed focus on self care and wellness over the last several years. I'm curious if that is something that plays a role in your life today. Is it something that you've always been committed to? And for those who Are rising in their businesses or even new to the corporate world who might be struggling to prioritize that if you would have any advice for them.

Michele Allen:

So self care has has become a priority for me, but it wasn't always the case earlier in my career. I would often pull all nighters and. And still find myself working late into the evening more than more than I'd like. But I've learned if you don't prioritize your physical and mental health, your body's going to do it for you. It'll force you into it. And everyone's approach to self care, I think it is different, but I'll share some strategies that have worked for me. First it's not about achieving a perfect equilibrium every day. Some days are dominated by work and others by non work. And you need to embrace that ebb and flow and you need to not feel guilty. When when you have the opportunity to not focus on work to focus on the life piece of that equation. Second self care is your responsibility. No one's doing it for you. You have to do it and you have to be intentional about it in your life. In your routines, or you're going to fall into patterns that don't serve you that don't serve you well. And then I would say another key practices to define your non negotiables. Those are the activities that ground you. And those can be as simple as a morning run. I know people that do that. I'm not one of them, but I know that's really important for some people and their mental and physical health. Or it could be even something that I say I don't travel on my kids' birthdays. I have two kids. Those are two days a year that I don't travel. I wanna be home with them. They're, I only have 18 years with them in the home, and I wanna spend their birthdays with them. So everyone has like. Something specific about their non negotiables and identifying what matters most to you. And and, putting that at the center of your kind of work life balance strategy and then reassessing Your family dynamics regularly. There was a time when my daughter needed me more at home and I had to adjust my work schedule pretty significantly to be able to meet her needs. But I needed to do it because that was a non negotiable for me. So I made those adjustments willingly and obviously Wyndham being a people first environment was more than happy to work with me. And that meant, that maybe we had to push some meetings into later in the evening or earlier in the day or for the pocket of time that I needed to be with her. But that was really important to me. And so I had to prioritize it.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love hearing when companies accommodate. I think that's an important part of selecting your employer. I like to. Some of the things that you said to, I like the intentionality of self care. I like the non negotiables and the fact that you mentioned some that aren't what we traditionally think about. When you talked about your children's birthdays, for me, it was always spring break and that was one week a year. And I might have to work after everyone went to bed or before everyone got up in the morning, but I needed to make sure for me that I was present with the girls as they were coming up. Because as an empty nester, now I can understand the, yep. The vantage point that you have of saying you have limited time and wanting to make sure that you're using it in a way. That you really like. So I love that advice. As we are wrapping up one of my favorite questions to ask of others because I like it to be asked of me is this idea of each of us being a work in progress that we evolve over time and that a lot of that is because of reflection that we do of our paths or our growth. What would you tell 21 year old Michelle either about how things end up working out for you or something you wish you knew then that might have made your journey, I don't want to say easier, but maybe easier along the way.

Michele Allen:

I think I would tell myself don't sleep on the soft skills. The technical skills were always something I think, especially in finance that I tend to be, you tend to be very focused on younger in your career but things like communication, being able to give a good presentation, empathy nurturing talent, all these soft skills are really important especially in today's environment. But even even when I was younger in my career and those strong relationships that, that you build through soft schools, they can be a defining factor in In achieving success. And so I think focus on soft skills earlier. And then, and I would also say, leadership isn't about always climbing ladders. Sometimes Oftentimes it's just about incremental ads, right? So just adding to your to your job description or increasing your responsibilities or the impact that you're having on the organization. A lot of times it could be influencing without specific authority. And so don't sleep on those opportunities either. I think are a bit too two pieces of advice I would give to my younger self and anyone else earlier in their career.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that. As we are wrapping up today, keeping in mind the motto of DEI advisors, which is empowering personal success. Is there any final advice you'd like to leave our audience with?

Michele Allen:

I think, just be, don't be afraid to bring your whole self to to your workplace. Don't be afraid to take risks. I finding a mentor can be really powerful and and. And definitely seek feedback and and be really intentional about incorporating it if you're looking to continue to grow your leadership impact on an organization.

Rachel Humphrey:

That is a great way for us to wrap up. Michelle, on behalf of myself, the hospitality industry, so incredibly grateful for your leadership and all you do to advance the teams around you to advance the industry and really appreciate your joining us on the program today. Thank you, Rachel. Have a lovely day. Thanks so much. And for those who are listening, thank you so much for joining us today. We hope you'll head over to DEI advisors. org to hear from nearly 200 industry leaders who have also shared their journeys and the lessons they've learned along the way. And thank you again for joining us.