It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Abhijit Patel, VP, Revenue Management & Commercial Strategy, Choice Hotels interviewed by Dorothy Dowling

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In this episode of 'It's Personal Stories,' Dorothy Dowling interviews Abhijit Patel, VP of Revenue Management at Choice Hotels International, discussing his diverse career journey. Abbat shares his experience of emigrating from India to the U.S., starting in hospitality by washing dishes, and his trajectory through various industries, including Geico and Mars, before finding his fit at Choice Hotels. He reflects on significant moments that shaped his career, strategies for fostering partnerships with franchisees, and the importance of problem-solving and continuous improvement. Abhijit also highlights the value of preparation for public speaking, managing work-life harmony, and the importance of learning from various industries to stay ahead. He emphasizes tolerance for failure and self-reflection as key components of personal and professional growth.

Dorothy Dowling:

Greetings. I am Dorothy Dowling and welcome to its Personal Stories, a hospitality podcast that highlights the inspiring journeys of leaders in the hospitality industry. We are an organization dedicated to personal empowerment. Today I am delighted to welcome Abhijit Patel, VP of Revenue Management for Choice Hotels International. Welcome, Abbott. I am so delighted to have the opportunity to speak with you today.

Abhijit Patel:

Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Dorothy Dowling:

Wonderful. Let's get right to it, Aja, because everyone is always interested in learning about your career story. So I'm wondering if you can walk us through your journey, how it started, the key moments that shape your path and what led you to where you are today. You've worked across multiple industries, including packaged goods. You've had amazing training, I know from that experience, and I'm wondering if you can highlight some of your early career experiences and your approach and how this is. Led to your leadership and business success.

Abhijit Patel:

Really appreciate you asking me a little bit about my background. I'm gonna start a little bit earlier in my career'cause I'm not, I was born in India. I was raised in India, and I immigrated to the United States right after high school. So when I came over, it was a huge cultural shock to me. I went from an outgoing person to someone who became very shellshocked and quiet. This will matter in, in my story in a second. But it set me back in terms of how I was gonna grow my career. But before I talk my professional career, I guess I, I do want to point out that I did start out in hospitality as my first job. I was washing dishes in, in my college, in the food hall. In some ways I'm proud to say that I did start in hospitality. Okay. But my professional career, those started at Geico right after college, I joined their leadership development program. And honestly, I just didn't know what I wanted to do. So it was a great starting point because they taught me a lot of different things. I, I focused on Six Sigma. I focused on product and pricing management. I did sales. I ran a contact center for a bit. So it really grounded me on, how the company operates, what are the different functions? But then, that just made me hungry. It made me hungry to grow in other areas. But that was a key moment for me as well, because as I wanted to grow and expand my role, I was told that, I'm not the right person for the role or I would be a better fit in another area. And getting to hear that was very demoralizing. While I tried internal movement, it wasn't working out. So I decided to take a break. And I went to grad school. Now keep in mind I was still a pretty shy guide at this point. So I was sitting in orientation. It's a big hall, about 300 students in there. And, they're doing q and A's. And I have these two twins sitting next to me and every time they an a question was asked, they would just jump up and answer. I felt very intimidated. I was surrounded by. A lot of smart folks who were driven and knew exactly what they wanted. They were outgoing, outspoken and it really became another sort of moment for me where I was like, if I'm gonna take a break for two years, give up my earnings, I better get something out of it. I made an intentional decision to, to fake it. I faked being probably the most outgoing person, the most gregarious, outspoken personality that you can imagine. And I faked it for a year before it became natural for me in year two. But that did change my career trajectory. I. So when I came out of business school, when actually when you're in business school, they somehow convinced you that, you need to go after a big name company. I was no different. I got motivated by it, somehow convinced that I needed to do the same thing. So I ended up joining Mars. For those of you don't know, Mars is known for their candies, but they have five different businesses, but I also Jo joined their leadership development program not knowing, how to navigate a company that big over there. I was fortunate enough to try a lot of different things I did. Supply chain, I need, I did new product development. But ultimately, over the course of those three years I figured out that I was a very small cog in a very big machine. And my growth aspirations wouldn't be met over there or I wouldn't be growing as fast as I wanted. Which I guess became another moment where I had some clarity, which was I need to find an organization that was the right size for me and the right cultural fit for me. So nothing against Mars, it was just about finding out where I would be the most successful. And that's what Lord led me to choice. One it's a great organization and I'll talk about it in a minute, but part of it was professional, part of it was personal. I was about to get married. My family was based in dc and Choice is also based in dc So became a win-win proposition for me. So now we're finally getting into hospitality. When I joined Choice I wanted to get into corporate strategy but I didn't get that role. I. However, when I was interviewing at that point, there was a leader who was hiring for a liaison between tech and business. And she noticed that, this guy seems to have a diverse background. I'm gonna take a chance on me, which is something that I'm very grateful for today because, you never know what's gonna come along, but just having that mindset of why not try something where I had no background in tech, I had no background in hospitality really just boosted my career at choice. And here it's been nothing short of an amazing journey. The early part of my career has allowed me to move from being a tech liaison to being a business owner to the pm MS and RMS. Then I've done commercial planning for the marketing distribution functions. And, in, in those early part of my choice years I noticed it was a great culture because we, choice really empowers associates. It's also rewarding to associates who raise their hands and say, I wanna do more or who show that they can overcome failures and continue to drive success. That kind of mentality allowed me to continue to grow. And then I finally took over distribution and maybe eight months into taking over distribution. I was a senior director at that point. I was thrust into. A VP role overseeing all the areas that I mentioned. And that was another learning moment for me.'cause going from a senior director to VP in a matter of eight months was a very steep learning curve. I did not handle it really well. I really wanted to prove that, that I could do the job. I put a lot of pressure on my team and I ended up being a jerk of a leader. It was I was very fortunate that the team around me understood and gave me space to grow, but it gave me such a valuable lesson in leading people, which is about, understanding what you're going through, but not necessarily pushing your anxiety or stress to other people around you. But I'm also very grateful for those who are next to me at that point. But since then, over the last few years, I've taken on commercial strategy really integrating how, sales distribution, revenue management, et cetera, all flow together. I've taken over revenue management as well and more recently I've taken on inside sales and sales op.

Dorothy Dowling:

So thank you for sharing all of that. Abba, you put forward a lot of really significant moments in your career development. I'm wondering if I can go back and unpack a few of those.'cause you talked about the culture shock of moving to a new country. How that really impacted you in terms of, if I may say, being a duck out of water. And I'm just wondering about all of these learning points that you had because you made some very. Intentional decisions, but all of these were major changes in your, life and in your career. So how, can you just tell, talk a little bit about, you said you, you made some decisions about to fake it till you made it in terms of when you went to graduate school, but it sounds like you had a lot of these milestones in your career where you had. Major shifts that you had to make some adjustments in terms of how you actually became a duck and started to swim in those waters. So I'm wondering if there's anything more you can share, because those are major milestones that, that you just shared with our audience.

Abhijit Patel:

I don't necessarily see them that way. I always have this philosophy of, reflecting on the past but not dwelling into it. So the way I've approached things and at that point in my life, I was always, and even today, I'm just forward looking, which is what's next. I. There are good parts and bad parts about it. The bad part, or I guess the part that I should pay a little bit more attention to is pausing and celebrating maybe. Which kind of reflects what you're saying, which is there are major milestones, but to me that was just one step in the journey of where I eventually wanted to be. And I didn't quite figure out where I wanted to be, until I probably got the choice. The best way I can answer your question is it's not so much that, instead of focusing on how big of a moment it is I kinda more focused on what do I need, what do I need to do and where do I need to go? I.

Dorothy Dowling:

Okay. I appreciate that because as an immigrant myself, I can share some of that when you step into that bigger pool and you've gotta figure it out in terms of the journey that you've gotta map forward. So I just give you a lot of credit Abbat, because all of those things that you've shared with our audience, in my mind, they're very significant. And the fact that you were able to figure it out. Make the adjustments and then be able to reflect back on what that opportunity was for you and then think about how to move forward, I think is lessons that we can all learn from you. I'm wondering if we can unpack a little bit about the Six Sigma, because that's something that fascinates me in terms of it's disciplined approach to problem solving and learning. I'm wondering if there's anything you can offer our audience in terms of how that helped you with your growth trajectory.

Abhijit Patel:

It was a great training ground. It was my first job outta college where I joined as a consultant on the Six Sigma team. And it, it really teaches you systematic problem solving. It taught me early on that, if you focus on data all the time, you can get to the challenge or the solution rather quickly. It taught me how to look at multiple business situations a little bit differently, even within, if we were taking on Six Sigma for a project you still were looking at situations that were either about being a turnaround or a realignment, or how do you accelerate growth? And just being in, in the company of other Six Sigma experts or black belts and how they look at problems on different dimensions. It has stuck with me. And probably the best thing that has stuck with me is always having this mindset of continuous improvement. And it has served me well even to today.

Dorothy Dowling:

Yeah. I do think having that discipline approach to problem solving, there's many obviously systems where people approach, but I do think it does help in terms of making sure you approach problems in a much more sy systematic way and consider all of the different data points that one has to really build the problem around or the solutions around. I'm wondering if we can talk a little about franchisees.'cause again, this is, an area that we share. But when we work in a franchise model, obviously it's an asset light. You're really building on alignment and commitment from franchisees to be able to take programs to success. I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about how you invest in fostering strong partnerships with your franchisee community and really build engagement with them.

Abhijit Patel:

I really do. To get inspired by our franchisees. They have the courage to do what I probably couldn't do, which is, step away from work or just dive into opening a business. And some of them have been scrappy to, to get there. They really inspire me quite a bit. Sometimes I'm jealous but the way I look at them is. Our franchisees is, they are our customers. Most importantly, and keeping their voice front and center always makes it easier to engage them. One of the few things that, that I focus on is when we're trying to engage them, that we highlight or we start with that we have their best interest in mind. And then outline what we are working towards and try, really try to get their input early on. So we are gaining their trust. I. I, I've also found that they're generally very eager to give back. Everybody, every one of us wants to succeed. And our franchisees are no different, right? They wanna do better, they wanna do things differently, wanna grow their business. Having this having either creating a core group of franchisees that you can always go back to and talk to and finding out people who really wanna collaborate be a sounding board or even test things for you, helps build. These really strong relationships and it really helps them foster innovation and it helps us foster innovation. And that is the key to driving engagement. Outside of that business part of it sometimes it's just about listening and taking genuine interest in them. I've had the privilege to. Sometimes for them to be a sounding board or for me to be a sounding board for them. And sometimes it's about personal challenges that they're going through and just being there for them in their time of need and talking about their own personal lives. It just goes a long way in, in building those partnerships.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think the way you've articulated that relationship journey, and I know because I have experience with some of the franchisees that are part of your network, Abbott, and I just know how highly they regard you. And I do think it is about how you listen. I. How you respect them and how you really want to drive that value creation for them. So I commend you for that. But I do think it is it's very difficult sometimes to work within the franchisee community'cause there's a lot of different voices and finding a way to really listen and learn from them. And then. Really build that community in terms of how to go to market together, I know is challenging. So with that, I'd like to talk about the new role that you've broadened in terms of your responsibilities at choice, where you've taken on consumer partnerships. So I would love to hear more about how you've really bridged some of the franchisee community with some of the new responsibilities and some of the partnerships that you are developing on behalf of Choice Hotels International and building their levels of commitment and engagement to some of those new partnerships.

Abhijit Patel:

Yeah, thank you about, thank you for asking about that. I've been very excited about taking on. Our affinity partnerships it is probably an area that requires more attention and something that our franchisees could probably engage more and better understand. But, before we talk about how that works I think establishing everything starts with your partner, like starting to make sure that when you go into a partnership with someone, you have a shared vision, a shared goal. Taking the time to understand, what they are trying to achieve, what happens they've faced and weaving it into, our own goals really builds that commitment from the partner early on. And that really is key because, there are a lot of partnerships that you get into, but you don't find, six months in that, hey, there's the same level of commitment, that's why I started there. Like your partner needs to be, having the same shared vision and goal and they need to be committed from day one. But, but once you have that a lot of it is about. Explaining to our franchisees, what is in it for them and why did we strike a partnership? As I think about my role in this process, I've focused on, on two or three key areas. One is improving our engagement with our hotels especially on, on this area around partnerships. A lot of our hotel owners are owner operators, so they are super busy. They have a ton on their plate. And getting their attention on something that might be two, three, 4% of their business becomes challenging. Part of what I'm focused on is, how do we communicate with them effectively? How do we get our core message out there, and how do we get them to engage early on? The second thing that I'm focusing on is building awareness internally. So these initiatives or partnerships, everyone gets excited about it. But then something new comes along and then you move on. But for any partnership to succeed one of the things that's really important is you have a change champion internally. So part of my role or at least what I'm trying to do is make sure that. We give everything we can, whether it be from my team or other teams within the organization to make sure this initiative succeeds. Just being a chain champion for the people that you are representing, whether it be the partners or the franchisees. And the last thing is probably very common across a lot of these initiatives is having a solid go-to market plan. Yeah. When you are going into a partnership for the first time. That go to market plan is very robust. Needs to be very robust, needs to be very granular. And really when be thinking outside of the box where, whether it's about the channels, whether it's about the services, whether it's about the pricing and understanding, where the partnership or product stands from a competitive environment. And ensuring that you are creating your own unique selling proposition. And I think that goes a long way. So my role is focused on all those three pieces.

Dorothy Dowling:

I would love to explore a little bit of some of those ideas in a little more detail, abt, because I do think consumer partnerships are enjoying another stage of relevancy because the earlier reference that you made around trust. I think winning consumers trust today is becoming even more difficult with just the myriad of pressure we have in the broader space today about messages and trust of the source, of the messages, et cetera. So consumer partnerships can really elevate trust in amplifying the source of where business might come from. But I also really liked your story about having internal change. Champion because I do think organizations are complicated. Everyone says 90% of success is around execution. So I do think that idea of having someone to continue to build and execute the plan internally is something we can all learn from because it does take an effort. To keep everybody aligned in terms of those opportunities and making sure that we're leveraging all of them as effectively as we can. So those are really important ideas that you shared, so I thank you for that. I'm wondering if we can talk a little bit about distribution because right now it's considered to be the nexus of so much change that's going on in our space. Having just come from a major event where people are talking about distribution as being in a revolutionary stage, no longer an evolutionary stage, given all of the change management that's going on with a lot of our traditional sourcing strategies of how we secure business. I'm just wondering how you think about, the tough challenges in distribution, the, and the volume and number of changes that are going and how you really balance a lot of the stakeholder relationships in the space of distribution.

Abhijit Patel:

You are right the space is evolving quite a bit and, if I think about. Where the, where hospitality is going. It is really all going to be a platform and distribution focused in terms of how companies differentiate. Between all of that though what you need to stay grounded or at least what I try to stay grounded on is still keeping in mind and trying to identify and understand what are the unique needs and priorities of each stakeholder. Sometimes it's so easy to get lost in all of the noise. But if you keep the, that focus that, hey, my priority for the stakeholder is x things just become easier. And your stakeholders can be multiple players, right? They can be hotel owners, they can be internal partners, they can be other distribution partners. Just thinking about, how do you tailor solutions to their concerns? With that comes also is communication. The more open and the more transparent we are with stakeholders, at least internally the better off growing these relationships works. I think with distribution specifically, there are internal stakeholders who have very high expectations of what they want out of let's say an OTA partnership, for example. Having some tough and early conversations about, what should be realistic expectations and in being clear about it and just having some honest feedback can build. And foster those conversations both internally and externally. And I'd say the last maybe two pieces that, that I think about is problem solving. When you're thinking about distribution, a lot of it is about, how do you work with a partner? And the thing is we like in distribution, like to think ourselves, Hey, we are a small group of distribution community and we know what's going on. But I've found it to be the opposite where there are so many smart folks in hospitality with such diverse experience. So oftentimes I find myself doing brainstorming sessions with stakeholders who have nothing to do with distribution. They could be in brand, they could be in marketing, and just picking their brain about, Hey, how do I overcome this challenge? Have you experienced something like that before? And that has helped me quite a bit. And last but not least, it is about mutually beneficial outcomes. All our partners they want you to be successful. They want themselves to be successful. And part of the big challenge in all of this really is about, how do you quickly figure out what's gonna work for both of you. I think if you do that in the long term, it will generally. Improve the overall performance and the trust factor, which you mentioned gets there and stays there as long as you focus on just that.

Dorothy Dowling:

Again, you've put down or identified a lot of very impactful considerations. I. For audience, so I'd like to just summarize some of the things that I heard that I think are particularly important. One was about the setting of priorities and making sure you stay true to what problem you're trying to solve and making sure you don't lose sight of that. I think just the weaving of communications, which I know we'll come back to, but really making sure you're being very clear with everyone. I think managing expectations for everyone is another message that you delivered in terms of making sure everyone has realistic expectations on what can be achieved and how to leverage those opportunities. And then this mutual value creation in terms of working with partners to make sure that everyone has a win-win in terms of the outcomes and that you're all clear on what those. Expectations are. I also loved your idea about broadening the community and bringing others that are maybe not in that lane into the conversations to be additive in terms of collaborating and really thinking about coating together, Abbott. So that was a very impactful answer. I just wanted to make sure our audience got all the pieces of the elements that, that you were sharing for us to learn from you. Hey,

Abhijit Patel:

I appreciate you summarizing. I hope I'm not rambling, it's just a. I think it's always multidimensional.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think it just really speaks to the power of how you are so thoughtful in how you really frame up how to solve problems and really drive commercial success. So again, I just thank you for bringing all of that to the table. I'm wondering if I can explore a little bit more because Choice Hotels International said. Very large company. You're one of the top five hotel companies around the world, and you have multiple teammates that are home based in North America, but you also have franchise leaders that you work with around the world. I have the privilege of knowing some of them, and I just know the high regard that they have for you and that your door is open, that you listen to them and that you're very responsive in terms of trying to understand the impact of. What you lead and how that may impact them and how they can leverage some of the opportunities to be part of the Broader Choice Hotels International Network. I'm wondering if there are specifics that you can offer to the audience in terms of how you really build alignment and collaboration with such a broad team all with different points of view and how you really support them and drive engagement.

Abhijit Patel:

I probably the most challenging aspect of my job is probably just that even though we went through Covid and we figured out remote work, I would say it's, we're still learning and we're still evolving. I. It is something that, that keeps us grounded or at least aligned is going back to that unified vision and goals, right? When our team members understand the bigger picture, how, what they do, and how that fits into what the organization is trying to achieve, or what we as a function are trying to achieve. They really stay tuned in and motivated. Now we can talk about, scheduling regular team meetings and, being on video, all of that helps. But probably the most impactful thing for me has been keeping an open door. I make myself available to anyone in the organization. And if somebody reaches out to me and says, I'd like to pick your brain. I. I'll give them a call back within the same day, regardless of what happens. And I think that helps quite a bit because people feel that they're heard regardless of where they are and you know how dispersed they are. And that also builds their commitment towards making sure that, we're trying to hit the same goals. But outside of that, we're doing some of the same things that people do, trying to disconnect from work. If one of the meetings ends early, we'll try to do a virtual game within Zoom, or sometimes we'll just talk about what life is throwing at us. And the funny thing is, when you start talking about what life is throwing at us, we have so much more in common. But, we always end up taking, we always end up taking time to talk about work, but never ourselves. Something intentional that I'm trying to do at least now is trying to submit some of the meetings early and just talk about, what is going on, right? How are you feeling? How are you doing? How are you happy? And you'll be surprised how much it allows virtual teams, remote teams to get engaged.

Dorothy Dowling:

I do think that element of humanity and bringing your whole self to your team is really important, David, because I do think the likability factor of a leader and them understanding you brings so much more to, to them in terms of building that level of engagement and support. So I commend you for that because. Like one of the big conversations and I think one of the big learnings that we've all come out of Covid in terms of understanding that. I also would like to suggest that potentially you being an immigrant to this country and working in a global community, the level of respect that you afford to many of your global teammates, I think is particularly meaningful because I think that level of understanding and having. Letting them contribute and bring their voice to the conversation and affording them so much more respect. I think that's a very meaningful gift that you give to them. So I just know personally how much some of them think of you, and that's the linkage that I would bring to the conversation is just that level of engagement that you support them with. So I thank you for that because I think that's part of leadership that we all need to embrace and I think you do that exceptionally well. So thank you.

Abhijit Patel:

Thank you.

Dorothy Dowling:

I'm wondering if we can talk a little about learning. I know you talked about all of these pivotal milestones as you made some of these choices around your career and what's next. And you also are at the forefront of being in a part of the industry that is changing at an extraordinarily rocket clip. So I'm wondering how you stay ahead and how you keep on top of your game. If you could share that with our audience.

Abhijit Patel:

Also probably one of the harder things to do, but I, I don't know if I do something extraordinary. My, I think the best insights that, that come to me usually always come from talking to other people in the industry. And it's not even about distribution or revenue management. It, it could be a partner, a vendor somebody on the brands team, somebody on the development team, hotelier. Everybody's getting bombarded with information, but there are nuggets of information that stick with people. And when you're talking to them, those nuggets come out and you're allowed, it helps you just connect the dots in different ways. There's also a lot of innovation happening out there so listening to these folks and what they're facing and how they're solving it. Is helpful to me because then I can apply some of the things that I'm that I'm hearing to my own problems. And probably the most impactful thing that I. That I think I do is keeping tabs at other industries. I love to read the newspaper. I probably will go to the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal for an hour every day just scouring, what's going on in the world and what's going on in the business world. There are probably a few industries that, that I follow the most airlines retail organizations, companies that have SaaS models that, that are doing a lot of interesting things that are very different. And they usually are the ones that are pulling in ai. That is quite inspiring. And learning from that is, is probably what helps me keep track of how things are evolving.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think you've said two things there that I heard. One is this diversity of really bridging into other industries and other teammates that bring a different perspective that really elevates your game. So I think. Yeah, that's an important lesson. And I also, what I heard is that you take an hour every day for your learning journey, abba, which again, I think represents a discipline that we all need to do so that we invest in continuing to evolve our best self. So I thank you for that. No,

Abhijit Patel:

I wanna take full credit for it being a learning journey that's just. Interest. I love reading the newspaper. It just ends up being helpful at the end of the day.

Dorothy Dowling:

Yeah, I, I think learning is always part of that. Keeping it top of mind though, that we have to invest in that time to continue to broaden our capabilities. I wonder if I could speak a little bit about public speaking'cause I have had the opportunity to see you on stage and one of the things I admire about you, Abba, is. How much time you invest in making sure that you bring value to the audience. So I'm wondering if you can talk a little about how you prepare for public speaking engagements.

Abhijit Patel:

I probably put in more effort to prepare for it just because of even though now I can be the outgoing person, just because I forced myself to be it, I'm still an introvert. At the end of the day. It's tough for me to get on the stage and. And shake those jitters. I guess best way to say it, I'm not a natural or eloquent speaker. What has usually helped me is preparing my talking points and often revising them two or three times. Even take this interview for example, I probably wrote out my talking points and looked at them a couple of times before I got in front of the camera. And just practicing. People have different ways of getting energized and for me it sometimes is just getting in front of a mirror or even when I'm driving to work, I'll have these notes that I'll be going through in my head. And, you just have to figure out what works for you. Everyone has a different routine and this may sound silly, the day off I either will try to go through a very rough workout. And I do work out or just before getting on the stage, I'll do what athletes do and they have their songs and I have my song that I just need to listen to get myself pumped up. I guess summary is everybody is unique, you just gotta figure out what works for you.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think the big message that you deliver to our audience today, abbat around this, is really just the preparation and that self-awareness of how do you bring your best self to the stage. So I, I do think those are important considerations that we all do and I do think that some people do not take sufficient time to. Preparing and I think that really affords a level of respect for the audience when you take that at time. So I thank you for sharing that as well. I'm wondering if I can move a little bit on to work life harmony, because you're a parent of three young children. You have a wife who has a very important career. So I'm wondering how you manage such of a high pressure role that you have at Choice Hotels and still bring your best to your family and to your wife.

Abhijit Patel:

It's tough. I will not lie. And I am no different than other parents when I work with a lot of coworkers who are in a similar situation. And we all have our good days and we all have our challenging days. What keeps me going is trying to be just present in the moment. You're right, I do have a lot going on at work, but when I'm at home I try to be present with what's going on with my family. So if I come back from work at six o'clock, I'll just tuck my phone away till 9:00 PM So even when people are texting me, they don't hear from me. And it, that's just me time for my family. And that helps create some balance. I have, at least at work. When I talk about being present, I've even gone as far as asking people to call me out if I'm distracted. Just because, you're giving them the respect that they deserve and your work life becomes a little bit more simpler if you're being present and being in the moment. And the last thing is, I'm ruthless about prioritizing, whether it be at home or at work. And it's annoying to a lot of people because I will say this is not important, it's important to them, but I'll tell them why. I don't think this is where I'm gonna focus. But at least they know where I stand. And, it helps me keep balance in my life. Not, that's not to say I do it perfectly. I'm far from perfect, at least those are the things that I aspire to do most of the time.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think that focus on prioritization and communication around those priorities. Ava, again, I think you've represented that very well, and I do love the idea that you have about focusing on and being present because children, I. I think are very good at calling parents out when they don't feel that you're giving them your full attention. So I think it's a great lesson that you've shared with all of us, and I appreciate you being so vulnerable and saying you're not perfect, but you're on that journey to do your best. We're coming up near the end of our interview and one of the questions that we often ask our advisor community is if you could go back in time, so if you could go back to that young boy who immigrated to the US or some of those career milestones that you had earlier in your career, is there any advice you would give to yourself that may be a little bit different than you might've experienced at the time?

Abhijit Patel:

Reflecting back on it, give my parents a lot of credit for immigrating in their middle age to the US'cause they wanted their kids to have a better life. I don't think I, I truly appreciated that probably until maybe 10 or 15 years ago. So I think one thing that, that I, one piece of advice I would probably give myself is trying to understand. Where you are and why you are there. And being more intentional in the actions that you take. When you're young it life is a little bit different. Sometimes there's lack of focus, maybe less ambition, more focused on just enjoying life which is all great. But now, 15 years from now, I guess I can look at it as just being more intentional with my time, my energy, who I. F interacted with would've made a big difference. I also think that one thing that I reflect on is I hung around some jobs too long when you figure out that, hey, you've maxed out your growth or your learning have the courage to move on.'cause I think you're just wasting your own time and you could be happier in another place.

Dorothy Dowling:

I think that again, is great advice, Abba. That's really speaks to one self-awareness and having the courage to, to take some of those bets on ourselves. So I thank you for that. We always ask one closing thought if there's anything you'd like to leave our audience with. I don't know if there's anything further in terms of advice that you would like to offer to them.

Abhijit Patel:

Maybe just one thing I would say is give yourself space give yourself permission to fail or to be okay if everything doesn't fall into place the way you want. Just reflecting on where we are today, there is so much going on out there. And it can get pretty overwhelming or it can become stressful. And just taking a few minutes to give yourself some space and just allowing yourself to. To reflect and even think about Hey, I could have done things differently, but I didn't. And that's okay. I think makes a big difference. It's a lesson that I've learned over the last two or three years and it's something that, that at least I try to share when people are struggling with some of the same challenges.

Dorothy Dowling:

Again, I think that's very impactful. It's about that forgiveness of ourselves Sometimes we are our own hardest critic, Apogen, and I think it just speaks to your maturity as a, as an executive, that you give yourself that kind of space and allow some time to reflect and to maybe not take it quite as seriously as we might critique ourselves with. I just have great admiration for Yaba. You're that next generation of leader that I just think. Brings so much to the workplace and so much to your team. So I just wanna express my gratitude for taking time to participate in this interview with us today.'cause I do think our audience needs to hear from that next generation of leadership and just the humanity and just the thoughtful journey that you have in terms of your own self-awareness and the learning that you brought, I think has been very impactful. So thank you for taking the time with our audience today.

Abhijit Patel:

Appreciate, I do appreciate. I do appreciate your time. One of the things I did mention that I would like to emphasize is, part of the success comes from listening to mentors like yourself. You among a lot of other leaders have so many admirable qualities. As I go through my own career journey, if just I just pick up one thing from you or other leaders, that just makes a big difference. But thank you for Thanks ab,

Dorothy Dowling:

I appreciate that. And if I may, I'd also like to thank our audience and say, if you've enjoyed this interview with abbat today, I hope you'll visit us on our website, it's personal stories.com, or you'll see webcasts and podcasts from other industry leaders that I know will empower your knowledge and feel your spirit. So we hope to see you there. Thank you.