TRENDING
BEYOND a PLEDGE
ENSURING MORE DIVERSE , INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP REQUIRES MEASURABLE ACTIONS .
Contributed BY MEGAN ROWE
Longstanding pledges by major lodging companies to promote more diverse leadership have failed , a situation made more glaring by global demonstrations over racism throughout the past months .
A recent study by the Castell Project , a nonprofit that promotes women in leadership , provided an industry scorecard : 18.8 % of U . S . hospitality industry workers are black , but only 1.5 % of hospitality industry executives are . That low proportion not only falls well short of reflecting the overall racial makeup of the hospitality workforce , it lags far behind the national average of 5 % black executives found across industries .
Why this is so remains a matter of debate .
MORE THAN STATISTICS “ I think the reasons are not something you can put into statistics ,” says Peggy Berg , director of The Castell Project . “ There ’ s a gap between what you think is right , what you say and what you actually do . We think we need to say something , but actually doing it is much harder .”
When pressed as to why blacks or Latinos are so rare among their senior ranks , many companies respond , “ we just can ’ t find them ,” says Norman Jenkins , president of Chevy Chase , Marylandbased Capstone Development . He doesn ’ t buy that explanation . “ There is talent out there — they are probably working in other industries , but there is talent to be had .”
Jenkins thinks graduating college seniors don ’ t consider hospitality a viable career path , partly because the industry hasn ’ t marketed itself well to recruits .
“ When they think of hotels , they often think of service jobs ,” says Jenkins , who spent 16 years at Marriott International , eventually as a senior executive and corporate officer , in addition to heading its diversity ownership initiative . “ When I got into the business , all I knew about hotels was that I stayed in them and that my grandmother spent 20 years in New York cleaning hotel rooms .”
“ The issues that prevent lodging from making progress are no different from other industries ,” observes Leslie Hale , president , CEO of RLJ Lodging Trust , Bethesda , Maryland . “ Whether it ’ s lack of being deliberate , the lack of a pool of candidates that have been mentored or unconscious bias — it ’ s a layered cause and effect ,” says Hale , who worked outside hotels before being recruited to RLJ .
Regardless of the reasons , recent events have underscored why it ’ s crucial to revisit the issue now . “ The idea that we can make a difference is critical to the health of our industry ,” says Andy Ingraham , president and CEO of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners , Operators and Developers ( NABHOOD ). “ Our guests have changed and continue to change . They will continue to ask , ‘ How come nobody looks like me ?’”
Moving the needle toward more diverse , inclusive executive suites and management teams will take more than empty promises and the hiring of a chief diversity officer .
Ingraham suggests an effective first step is a commitment to change the complexion of leadership . NABHOOD recommends
10 hotelsmag . com September / October 2020