#427 Leading with Hospitality -Taylor Scott interviewed by Niels Brabandt

Leading with Hospitality - Taylor Scott interviewed by Niels Brabandt

Taylor Scott worked for international hospitality corporations in very challenging circumstances. Today, he shares his experience, expertise and insights about how to lead with hospitality. How can this approach be a fit for your organisation?

Taylor Scott answers the question in this interview with Niels Brabandt.

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More on this topic in this week's podcast: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify

For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.

Is excellent leadership important to you?

Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com

Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn

Website: www.NB-Networks.biz

Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.

Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, moderator.

Podcast Transcript

Niels Brabandt

When it comes to hospitality, many people say they know how to do it. The question is, are there people who really walk the talk and who have a career, a proven track record, maybe even the scientific background, all of that together, and I have one of these experts with me here today. Hello and welcome. Taylor Scott. Hi, Taylor.

Taylor Scott

Hi, good morning. Thanks for having me on.

Niels Brabandt

Hello. How are you doing? You good?

Taylor Scott

I'm great, I'm great. It's summertime in Las Vegas. It's hot, so I'm glad to be in the air conditioning right now.

Niels Brabandt

Yeah, I can fully understand that. So you talk about leading with hospitality and let's get straight into it. Many people say hospitality is a challenging environment. It's extremely competitive, it's long working hours, it's usually unsocial working hours. And on top of that, you usually, especially when you enter the industry, you do not get rich overnight by working in hospitality. So how on earth do you want to make people leading by hospitality and being a positive example when these are the circumstances and in which they actually start?

Taylor Scott

Yeah, there's a lot going on there in your question, and there's a lot going on in our business and there's a lot going on in leadership, as we all know. So really, the core and the root of this message, this project that we started over five years ago with Lead with Hospitality, was, what if leaders like you and me and all of our folks that are listening here, what if leaders approached leadership from a place of hospitality, with their people, on their teams, the guest, customers and clients that their teams serve? So it was just taking all of the principles and all the things that we know and love about how we practise hospitality in our business with our guests. But can we direct that energy to the people that we lead and how the game might change? And we have four, we have four values. Connect on a human level, Serve people before you ask them to serve anybody else. Engage purposefully in conversation.

Conversations make good company, we believe. And then the last one is inspire, connect, serve, engage, inspire your people in that order. Preferably the same way that some of our favourite brands in hospitality approach guest service and guest experience.

Niels Brabandt

Very good answer. And I know that you work. So first, of course, you come from Cornell, so you have the scientific background about all of that. And also you work for Disney, is, as we all know, an employer which is not shy to take countermeasures if you do not perform on the promises you actually give. Let's talk about the first part. You say connect. Let's say a leader says something like, and of course I did research before and some people said, look, connecting is really difficult because many people see this as a temporary stage, a temporary job.

It pays the rent, it pays maybe the mortgage, but mostly pays the rent. And they just see it as some job to do and then they move on from there. So how should leaders connect when they have the impression many people are only here for a limited time?

Taylor Scott

Yeah, that's a good question. And these are things, excuse me, these are things that we believe not only help you become a better leader, but these principles are really, are really rooted in sort of like, they also work in our personal lives as well. So these things will not only make you better at life, whether it's outside of work or inside of work, it just makes life better. So I know we're out here in this business, in this, in this space, if you will, of leadership development and human behaviour. So there's a lot of human psychology that goes along with it. I just believe you mentioned the science part of it. I just believe that if we're, as leaders, if we're, if we are tasked with leading, inspiring and motivating humans, then it behoves us to understand human psychology and human behaviour.

So what we do know about the science, what we do know about human beings like you, me, and everybody listening and everybody on our teams, is that we are all wired to not only want and love connection, but we need it to survive. That's just a fact. We are social beings. And that's where this gets tough for a lot of people because they're like, oh, I'm not a touchy feely person, I'm not a fluffy person. But what I'm trying to just inspire people to step back and take consideration and just consider if and when you do have a personal human connection with the people on your team, how that might open them up to be more open to receiving your coaching and receiving your inspiration.

Niels Brabandt

Yeah, let's get a bit deeper in and let's move to the second part, which is the serve part. Let's say I never fully agree with you, serve your people, get them motivated, et cetera. But let's just say you are one of the leaders who want to serve your people. And you tell your management about that and your management says, yeah, serving all nights, by the way, Here are your 21 KPIs. You have to meet by the end of the quarter and please fulfil all of them.

So how does that work together? That we want to serve people, but on the other hand, we have A very KPI numbers driven management who simply says, look, satisfaction needs to be here, profitability needs to be here, transactions here, contact points there. All of that gets measured today. How does that work together when you say, I actually want to serve on a human level, but on the other hand, I get measured and my job gets evaluated based on cold numbers?

Taylor Scott

Yeah, that's the challenge. That is the tension. And yeah, leadership is, Leadership is very much a tension game. It's managing the tension of things. Like exactly what you just said. So here's what I recommend. If you wake up one morning and you're like, how am I going to serve today?

How am I going to serve this week? How am I going to serve my team? How am I going to serve my organisation? This month, this quarter, this year, four things. It's an acronym that spells lead, Ready, listen, educate, act and deliver. So, listening. So before we can listen, we got to ask the right questions.

So, sure, you might have 21 KPIs and the boss is breathing down your neck here. That other key stakeholder across the aisle is breathing down your neck over here. The customer base is breathing down your neck over here. Pause. As the leader, we got to be the ones that remain calm, stay even keel when we ask the right questions, such as, hey, boss, hey, customer, hey, stakeholder, help me understand the priority here. We have this, this, this, this and this. Which one is the priority?

Or we can ask our partners, we can ask our team to come have some conversations with us and maybe we get to collaborate a little bit and decide, hey, which one of these things deserves our attention first, deserves our energy first. So prioritisation, you can do that when you listen attentively and you listen with intention to really understand where you do want to start and then educating, educating along the way. Most of us, we, we, we got to be in a leadership role. Some people got there because it was luck. Some people got there because they were, they, they, they, they, they knew the right person, but chances are they have learned some things along the way. So, so those of us in leadership roles, it's incumbent upon us to teach people and pass along the lessons that we have learned from other people and then act so like that. By that, I mean be out there with your team, be present, taking action.

Few things will inspire and motivate people on any given team more than when they see their leader out there in the mix with them. I love the Brene Brown quote that says, unless you're in the arena with me getting your ass kicked, I'm not Interested in your feedback. I love that. And then the final one is to deliver L E A D, listen, educate, act and deliver.

Deliver on what? Well, deliver the tools, information, resources that your team needs to be successful and deliver on your promise as a leader. Most of us know when we get the leadership position, when we get into the leadership role, there's this underlying, underlying, almost unspoken rule that says we are there to solve all of your problems. And so we got to just that and we got to deliver on that unspoken promise that we're there to help people solve their problems.

Niels Brabandt

Excellent. When we now get to the point, let's say people, okay, someone is in the arena getting their. Yeah, you know, kicked. And then someone says, look, your third part says engage. And then some people will tell you, look, I would love to engage. However, I have to fill out that compliance report. I have to onboard these people.

And then there is the operational safety and hazard thing I have to fulfil. There's so much paperwork going on which is around my leadership job, that pretty much 60% of my job is me sitting in the office doing this paperwork. I can't be in the arena without dropping that ball. However, when I am not in the arena, I drop the other ball. So how can I get all of this done? And probably when you work for a large corporation, you know how much regulation is in place now, you know how much legal stuff is happening right now and it's changing constantly, one training after another. How can I juggle all of that at the same time and then engage with people without appearing, without appearing totally burned out?

Taylor Scott

Yeah, that's a great question. I would say off the top, first and foremost, leadership is not a solo sport. Leadership is a team sport. And the greatest leaders, the best coaches, the best teachers, the best professors, the best leaders, no matter what the industry is, no matter how old they are or how long they've been out here doing this, the best leaders involve other people. So that's number one. The second thing I would say is so. So a.

Don't try to do it all on your own. Who can you? So if you connect on a human level with your, with your people, if you've actually been out there having conversations and connecting with them, you're going to find out who's willing to jump in and help you. You're going to find out whose strengths might align best with this or that initiative, programme, tactic, strategy for which you may need some assistance. The other thing I would say is a guy told me a long time ago, he's like, if you want to be a leader, if you want to grow and become a senior leader and lead other leaders and continue up the ranks, you got to understand that this is not about you. Leadership is not about us. It's about everybody else.

That's where I like to say, in terms of engaging, it really comes from a place of generosity. So three things we got to get in this mindset as a leader to give our time.

Niels Brabandt

So when people now say, yeah, give.

Taylor Scott

Our time, give our talent, and give our heart. And the reason I like to go there, to your point, yes, there will be competing agendas. Yes, it's way too much on your question than there are hours in the day. So we have to get in the right mindset to understand that, nope, this is not fair. Yes, I would rather go to the basketball game. Yes, I would rather watch the Netflix show. But this leadership game has to come from a place of generosity.

If you want to be respected, if you want to have credibility, and frankly, if you want to get. Get noticed and get selected by your own leaders or the other corporation that you're applying to, we got to be the people that come in and don't make it about ourselves, but we make it about other people. And it comes from that place of genuine kindness to give to time, talent, and our heart.

Niels Brabandt

Excellent. And when we now get to the fourth point to the final here, which is about inspiring people, what do you tell people? Let's say someone says, look, I don't have much extraversion. I am more the numbers person. I'm very good doing this and that. I'm more the transactional person. This whole inspire thing for me is a bit like motivational, inspirational Chumbawamba.

And I'm just not that person. So maybe this is not for me. Do you think that inspiring people is something that people can learn? Or how can these people adapt to a situation where they say, I feel a bit lost. I just don't know what to do, and I can't deliver a motivational speech every Monday morning.

Taylor Scott

Yeah, I would say a couple things on this. Number one is we got to stay filled up as leaders. We got to stay filled up so we can pour into other people. I often make the analogy where I'll be on a stage somewhere and I'll hold up an empty cup and I'll be like, I'll try to pour it out. There's nothing in there. It's impossible to pour from an empty cup. So what we got to do is we got to fill up.

We got to fill up Feed our mind, feed our body, feed our soul. So whatever that looks like for you, so whatever you like to read, that will get the juices flowing, whatever type of exercise, taking a walk outside, doing weightlifting, swimming, whatever that looks like to keep your body and mind sort of nourished and then also feeding your soul. We don't talk about that enough. By that I mean have a higher power. You don't have to have the same higher power as I do, but I recommend having one because we can't do this on our own. So we also need community, we need groups of people, we need support systems. So, so that's the other thing I would say is feed your mind, feed your body, feed your soul so that you can pour into other people.

And if you're sitting here and if you're somebody that says, yep, that really isn't me, I'm not the person to inspire and do rah rah and to get people well, then I highly recommend for finding something else to do, then maybe you're not the, you're not in the right role. That's not a problem. That's okay. In fact, that is a great thing to realise at any stage of our lives or our careers. It just means that you've realised about yourself and you can be self aware now. And even better, that's kind of a, a team player thing when you raise your hand and go, hey, I think I'm on the wrong seat of this bus. I'm passionate about that over there.

My strengths are that over there. And then those types of conversations may lead to you being able to transition to, to an individual contributor role where you get to do your passions, you get to do your strengths more often than when you're having to go through the frustration of the inspiration thing. See, leadership and sales are, I believe, very much the same thing. Why? In order to do either of those relatively well, we have to do two things. We have to get people to like us and trust us relatively quickly. And the second thing is, whether you're a leader or a salesperson, it's kind of our role in the show to inspire behaviour change, to inspire people to make a certain decision, to inspire people as a leader, to do more, become more and give their best to inspire people as a, as a salesperson, I'm trying to inspire guests, customers and clients to take action, to buy in or to jump on board, to be loyal to our brand.

And so that's the thing I would recommend looking in the mirror for people that might be struggling with it and go you know what? Maybe there's something else I could do to bring my value and my magic to life within the organisation.

Niels Brabandt

Brilliant. When someone now says, okay, I'm listening to this and I want to implement all of that in my organisation. However, when I talk to my leader that I have at the moment, that leader says, look, we're a business, it's all about profit.

It's about numbers. Your thing with Inspire, connecting way, way too much effort.

People will leave anyway. People aren't grateful, People will come and go. People will see this as a temporary job. So they want to implement what you just said, but they say I'm reaching a glass ceiling where just someone on a high level says, I just don't think I should do this. How can I make them listen to actually get this implemented in our organisation.

Taylor Scott

To that leader that's giving that feedback to the person, I would ask, how's that working out for you? Let's look at it. If you want to get transactional, if you want to get analytical about it, how's that working out for? It's what we say in the south, how's that working out for you? How's your turnover rate, how's your guest retention rate? How's your repeat business? How's your profit margin?

How's your revenue growth? And if it's perfect, then great, but.

Niels Brabandt

Most likely it's not. When they behave like that, most likely it's not.

Taylor Scott

I live in Las Vegas and I'd be willing to bet it's not.

Niels Brabandt

Yeah, the second, very, very good point.

Taylor Scott

The second thing is, if it is, and yet that still is your leader stance, then, hey, man, it's 2025. We're halfway through 2025. And the reality is there's a lot of organisations out there that are in need of talented people, they are in need of passionate people, they are in need of people that are willing to go back to the office, that are willing to put in the extra hours. So my guess is, if you are not happy, if your organization's values do not align with your values, there's nothing wrong with dusting the resume off, updating it, taking a look at LinkedIn, networking with people like you, networking with other people that you might know from outside your organisation and see what else is out there. Life is way too short to be trapped in a place, whether it's in our own minds or physically. In an organisation where you're not respected, you're not valued and. And they don't want to listen to your feedback.

Life's Too short?

Niels Brabandt

Yeah, absolutely. I think these are the perfect final words. You've written a book about all of this, Lead With Hospitality. Can you tell us something for the final of this interview about your book and of course, where to get it?

Taylor Scott

Yeah. Lead With Hospitality came out in April of 2021. Amazon, Barnes and Noble Books, a million. Wherever books are sold, it's available there. Really? Again, it's just taking all of those things we know and love about our favourite hospitality brands, the Marriotts, the Disney's, the Hyatt's and can we take that same approach in terms of how we approach leadership? And it's being human, emotionally connecting with people so that we on a human level, so that we can take them to the next level and then serving people selflessly without expectation of anything in return.

So that is the book that came out in April of 2021. We have a brand new book that just came out on July 8th. It's a leadership fable, this time called Give Hospitality, about a comer who leaves a toxic job, like you mentioned, a toxic boss, like you mentioned, and she goes to work at a more magical place called Ka Resorts. And Kawa means summertime in Hawaiian. So what I've done is I've written a story about her first two weeks on the job when all they do is they dive in and have conversations about the things that matter. So I encourage everybody to go to Amazon, Barnes and Noble Books, a million Indigo Books, wherever you like to get your books. That book, Give Hospitality as well as Lead With Hospitality, are out there and available now.

Niels Brabandt

Perfect. I think now people have two more books on their list to read and I think these are the perfect final words. At the end of the interview. There's only one thing left for me to say.

Taylor, thank you very much for your time.

Taylor Scott

Thank you very much. Come to leadwithhospitality.com, we'd love to connect with you.

Niels Brabandt

Perfect.