DeShaun Wise Porter, Vice President, Strategic Pathways and Recognition, Hilton interviewed

DeShaun shares the story behind a role that inspired her to taken on every challenge that provides an opportunity to grow and hone a new skill.  She also shares how she builds high-performing teams and offers tips for managing diverse teams.  DeShaun delves into two inspiring initiatives that Hilton recently implemented and describes how she and her father published The Book of Daddyisms, which is filled with inspiring career and life advice from DeShaun’s father.

Transcript

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Lan Elliott 0:01

Hello and welcome to D E I Advisors. My name is Lan Elliott on behalf of D e I advisors and today's guest advisor is Deshaun Wise Porter, who is the global head of diversity, equity, inclusion, and recognition at Hilton, and is someone I've admired from afar for a long time. So I'm really glad you are here. Welcome to Shawn.

DeShaun Wise Porter 0:22

Thank you so much for

Lan Elliott 0:23

having me. Absolutely. I've been looking forward to this. So I wanted to start a little bit with your career journey, cuz it's so interesting. I know you've had stints overseas, you've worked in other industries. Can you share with us some of the inflection points in your career journey and perhaps a skill or a factor that you think contributed to your success?

DeShaun Wise Porter 0:48

Yeah. Definitely. So listen I've en enjoyed every minute of my journey and I think it's taught me so much, but it really chooses back to who I am. I am a person who is flexible. I love a new challenge and I love to meet people, which really gave way to me working in a global capacity and being able to engage with so many different culture and people around the world in which to be able to make a difference. I will say since the very top of my career, I have literally worked in so many different industries. So I started in financial services and banking. I then moved into manufacturing. I spent some time in educational services and now I'm in hospitality. But I'll say for me, It's been consistent in that all of my work has been grounded in my desire to help people reach their fullest potential. And so lot of focus in the HR space, doing a lot of HR strategy, workforce strategy and then of course the talent and development space, which is so near and dear to my heart. And then now, Having the opportunity to be in a D E I role. So I'm taking all of that previous experience and lending it to the D E I and to the recognition space. And the amazing part of my role today is my world, like literally collide in where people feel recognized and where they feel included, they are more likely to be engaged and have better performance. And so I get to live in both of those worlds. That many people might seem as different, but I literally see them as a nice melting pot of each other.

Lan Elliott 2:26

That's wonderful and I wanted to talk a little bit about a book that you just wrote with your dad. Lemme see if I can get it so the people can read it. The Book of Dadism written by Deshaun and her father. And I started reading this book outside and it was a beautiful day and I realized very quickly I needed to go back in and get a highlighter cuz there was so much great information in here that I wanted to highlight just so I could go back and reference. Because a lot of them are things that maybe people know, but you don't think about it. And also the way your father has put his advice is so wonderful. Can you share some of the. The story behind this book, a

DeShaun Wise Porter 3:10

hundred percent. So I'll be honest with you, when I started to compile all of the things he was saying, it was so many years ago, there was lots of change that was going on in my life and I was like, I. Oh, Dey. That's a good one. Let me, and I wrote that down and then I continued to write things down, whether it was in a journal by my bed, or he would send me text messages and I would do a cut and paste into a document. And so I was able to really go back and draw on that. Wisdom and that knowledge, and a lot of that is my father, because he is just poetic and verbose in that way. And then some of it has been stuff that was passed down to him by his village, right? So my grandparents, I get to hear their words. His uncles, his aunts, all of those things. So people that really poured into him and then he's continued to pour that into me. And I had thought, he used to always say, you should write this down and if you do, you know you'll be a millionaire one day. And I'm like, oh, dad whatever and not really thinking about it. And so I said, I. I wanna give this to him as a gift. I think so many times I've heard me, I'm a new mom. My oldest is two years old, my youngest is eight months. And so people have asked multiple times like, are my kids listening to me when I talk? And I've heard that and I sit back and I'm like, I definitely listen. I might not always apply the knowledge in the moment, but I'm definitely listening. And so much so not only did I listen, I captured and so I reached out to one of my friends who's a publisher and said, Listen I wanna do a gift for my father. Can I just use your print company, whoever bounds your books so I can give him a copy? I might keep a copy for like my two boys so they can read it when they get older. And she came back to me and she was like, oh, I talk with my publishing team and we're publishing your book. This needs to be a book. It needs to be sold. She's there's a whole market for this. And so I will say I didn't set out as my intention to become an author. I tend to be a little bit behind the scenes and so on and so forth, but I. The more that a few people read, like the manuscript and shared their feedback and how influential it was. I just don't wanna sit on that knowledge. And I think, my dad and I definitely agree that to the extent that we can help people through offering them some words of encouragement through different challenges that you might face in life, that we wanted to do that. And so there you go. The book of Dadism and a word from the Wise, which is a nice play on my maiden name.

Lan Elliott 5:45

Absolutely. And there's so much that I loved in this book and I'm gonna actually probably reference, I'm gonna quote a few of my favorite bits from the book as we go through the interview today. So I hope that's okay because there's some really amazing themes. And I wanted to start actually with one of my favorites, which. Is around overcoming obstacles because Deshaun, you don't get to where you are today without some setbacks and disappointments. And along those lines, one of the themes that recurs in the book that your dad refers to a lot is around eagles. And I'm gonna read this quote to make sure I get it right. It says Eagles fail in their hunt for game more often than they succeed. The key is that each attempt makes their wings stronger and their bodies more muscular, and I really loved that idea that even when you don't succeed, it is preparing you for the next thing and will make you better for the next. Challenge that you need to overcome, but can you share, having the all this wealth of knowledge that your father has been giving you throughout your life, can you share an example of when things didn't go your way and how you mustered up the courage and perseverance to eventually prevail? Oh

DeShaun Wise Porter 7:01

wow. That's a long laundry list of things. I will tell you life is a journey and so we are constantly met with obstacles and it's all in our ability in which to be able to respond to them and keep going. On the professional side I can share one. There was a time where I was doing a lot of project based work as an HR professional. Absolutely loved it, and there came an opportunity for there to be a few short term assignments. I ended up getting one eventually. I didn't take the first one, but they needed to deploy me against a project around market-based compensation, and I'm like, Guys, I am not a comp and ben person. That is not my thing. I don't have the appetite, don't have the desire, and my mentor challenged me, said, what? Wait a second. But you are not, you don't have robust knowledge in this skillset yet, and you're still, you still have a lot, many more years in your career to go. And so she challenged me and she says, but why don't you want this is something new. And ever since that moment, I have literally taken it just about every challenge that has been presented to me. If it's given me an opportunity to hone a skill or learn something new But was that an obstacle for me? A hundred percent. Because I would've rather taken this nice, glorious, internship, not an internship, but a short term assignment and just enjoyed myself and continue to grow in that capacity. But even to this day, I true back on that knowledge from that one project. And I learned so, so much. In that time period too. Am I still a Cu Bend person? I wouldn't say that might be overzealous, but I have such an amazing appreciation for it and I can understand the intricacies of it now. For me, there's gonna continue to be obstacles. That was a project team that I had never worked with before, so it was learning some really new individuals. I also, for a strong minute, felt that imposter syndrome. I was like, wait a second. I'm the youngest person at this table. I am the only one who does not have a senior director or VP title. How am I gonna navigate this space? And really show that I actually have something to lend when I initially didn't even want a seat at that table. So that, that taught me more about myself and also the idea that regardless of who's at the table, everybody has something to contribute everybody at every level with every background. And so it's learning to value that. And I became literally I got all sorts of recognition throughout that entire project, and so it was amazing experience.

9:39

Such

Lan Elliott 9:39

an incredible. Journey in that one project that you had, and you mentioned so many wonderful themes in there, imposter syndrome, having to work through that but also this idea that it pushed you out of your comfort zone and you could have stayed where you were really happy and you were really good and you knew you were good at it. Then to step outside of your comfort zone to meet all these new people, to learn a new group of people, how to work with them, new skill sets and also developing that growth mindset, right? To say, you know what, I can tackle things I haven't done before that are hard. I think that's such a wonderful story to, to share. I wanted to move over to this concept of an assertiveness double bind, because there's. A challenge that a lot of women leaders face is that you can either be really nice or you can be really good at your job. And I'm not sure why you can't be both, but it is a balancing act to be both, because there is this idea that if you're really nice, you're maybe not strong enough to be a good leader, can't make the tough calls. And also on the other side, if you are really competent, hard charging, aggressive, these are labels that aren't usually. Applied in a complimentary way towards women. And so then you get the other side of it. If you're a little bit too hard charging and too competent, if there's such a thing and you've managed to balance this, how do you balance this these two factors that I think women struggle with and maybe men don't have to face quite as much.

DeShaun Wise Porter 11:16

Yeah. Listen, I think there, there's definitely some double standards in here and I can. Take this apart in two ways. I think first and foremost for me, and I hope my team would attest to this, is that I do think that you can be both. I think you can be kind and you can be competent, and there's also a time for you to be assertive. But if your assert assertiveness is wrapped in competency and kindness, Then there shouldn't be a problem, right? So for me I can be pretty relaxed. I truly have an open door policy. I am not hierarchical. Have I been and worked in countries where hierarchy was a thing? Yes. And I still made sure I was able to maintain some level of an open door policy within the construct that was allowed. I've always been one personally and professionally to create a safe space for people to share their perspectives without being judged. And, but I also have established those boundaries. I think there's a time and a place for everything. My team knows. If I get on the call and I say, listen, all right, we have a robust agenda. It's time to get down to business. It's not that I don't care about your weekend. I'm gonna circle back to that a hundred percent, but we're gonna knock out all of this stuff. And so some might say that's a. Being too assertive. It's not building the relationship enough. No. For me, I think the relationship, I do spend a good amount of time trying to establish and build a relationship on the front end because then I think it allows you to get and jump right into business when you need to, and it not necessarily be seen as assertive. I think it's important to have a high level of competency, but also be humble enough to say, Hey, listen, this is not my forte. I don't have enough, but I wanna learn from you. And giving somebody else that. And so that to me is not a weakness. It is a reality that we are not going to all be great at everything. And the idea and what you want as a leader is to not be great at everything. It's to sa surround yourself with greatness and encourage other people to shine as well. And I hope that I am doing that. I think I've definitely received that, that feedback and that accolade. So that's been big. The other layer that I want to tap into on this question is that not only do we have some double standards that are between men and women, but also as me being a woman of color. There are several times that obviously the microaggressions are endless and have I faced them? I've faced them in every level of my career, a hundred percent. So do being duly diverse to me, I think is a benefit to some, it might be it intimidating to others. It could be like, listen, just a platform to try to completely denounce what somebody is saying or try to find ways to ca to catch them up and trip them up and I just, I don't lean into that. I think that, again we're all human and we all have something to essentially offer, and so I see my kindness as an asset and not as a weakness, and I can only hope that others will see that as well.

Lan Elliott 14:26

Yeah, I love those themes, especially developing the relationship first that you mentioned at the beginning, but also being cognizant that there are different layers of. Things that you navigate right as being a woman and also being a person of color so it can get a little more complicated. You touched on this idea about building teams, and I wanted to go a little bit deeper into that because building high performance teams is such a big part of leadership, and another one of my favorite dadism in your book is, Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Your awareness of those will make you an outstanding leader because you will always ask people to do what they do best and they will respond, and I think that's such great advice. Can you share a little bit about how you build and motivate your teams?

DeShaun Wise Porter 15:22

Yeah, so I, I think picking up off the last question, the very first thing is to establish a relationship. For me it's really getting to know my team, getting to know and understand what are their strengths and weaknesses. What are the areas of opportunity that they see for themselves? What are their interests, right? Ensuring if I have a project and they have an interest in it, can I get them on that project? Is now the time. Now is not always the time, so we have to leave ways and space for that. But making sure I can understand the variances in terms of what they are doing, their roles and responsibilities, and also how they would like to grow and evolve their career and keeping that in mind, I think I try to do a lot of listening in terms of what motivates them. Understanding that everybody is not motivated by the same thing. And even if you are motivated by the common things, whether it be money or prestige or whatever knowing that those can change throughout your life, right? There's different things that you might face and maybe travel is not what you can do a lot of right now. So understanding what motivates them and then continuing to check in. I think the listening and the check-in have been my greatest tools for success. In terms of leading. High performing teams and I really quote the performing because that's what we're after. I think, so many of us are on teams. The question there is, are they high performing? Are we getting the most out of each other? And having the opportunity to really lean in and do some really phenomenal work. I think where you're energized, you put forth maximum effort and that comes easily. I think also skip level conversations, so being a leader of leaders, I. Making sure that I am deeping, reaching deeper down into my organization and meeting with individuals that might not have a direct line to me, but even those that have a dotted line. Because the more I can open up the aperture to understand what is taking place from the various perspectives, it's just gonna be the stronger I'm gonna be able to lead my team, but then also be able to remove obstacles for them to continue to do great

Lan Elliott 17:30

work. Yeah. I love the idea of listening, not just to your direct reports, but the next level down, but I think something that has been discussed, I think more recently is around treating people as individuals and each person has having individual needs, but, and recognizing that and treating people differently based on what they need more, the, what is it called? The platinum rule rather than the Golden Rule and. The other piece though, you layered on that I really loved was this idea that even when you think, you know what someone needs, their needs change over time and their life evolves and it might be different over time. So I love the idea about continuing to check in a

DeShaun Wise Porter 18:11

hundred percent. It's so powerful. Things are happening in people's lives every day. And so I believe in giving grace and kindness because you just never know. You never know what somebody is going home to or what phone call they may get on their way into work or the way, leaving work. And so making sure that we are definitely supportive of the whole person. If we're saying we want people to bring their full selves to work, you have to think of all aspects of what makes them their full selves. Absolutely.

Lan Elliott 18:39

I love that. Gonna switch gears a little bit to talk about Hilton's d e I initiatives, but I know for you personally in your role, obviously you're focused, D e I. At work, but you're also very involved in efforts beyond just your work role, because that's how I got to know you as a wonderful panelist for Castel at college, where you volunteered your time to help inspire the next generation of hopefully diverse hospitality leaders. And I know you're also an advisory board member for women leading travel and hospitality. But for your. Regular day job at Hilton. Could you perhaps share one or two of Hilton's d e i initiatives that you're excited about? Ones that you think are gonna make a significant difference?

DeShaun Wise Porter 19:32

A hundred percent. So let me take one that I think has already made a huge impact on our overall culture. So back in 2020, following the unfortunate. Murder of George Floyd. I was li I started listening to the conversations to people that, were coming through my open door to just talk. And what I realized is there was no better time for us to start having some of these conversations in the workplace that were once considered taboo. And so with the full support of our amazing c e o, as well as our chief HR officer, we launched a courageous conversation series. Within that Courageous Conversation series and since 2020, we have talked about everything from systemic racism to what's taking place in the immigration landscape to mental health and mental wellness. We've even gone into substance use disorder. In these most recent conversations, we've talked about caregiving. A lot of us are caregivers to someone, even if you don't have, your own children. And so all of those again, play a part in how can we show up as our best selves? And understanding that we're also multifaceted. But you are bringing a lot to work that you then sometimes feel like you have to turn off. And I know back in 2020, a lot of us were just struggling. I. To say, okay, we're just gonna turn in this next page. We just witnessed a murder on tv. Yeah. Can we stop and breathe on that one? And not just as individuals, but have that collective support system. And so that's how that Courageous Conversation series was born. And the tremendous impact from all across the globe. It is a global series. Okay. We have, we're in over 120 something countries and. We've got people in every country that's joining in and tapping into these conversations, and then they're going off and in within their smaller teams, they are actually deep digging in even deeper. And so that's been a phenomenal one that we just know we're gonna continue. But it's been amazing. The other one is a more recent ad to our portfolio of greatness, and that's something called Mentor Click. And so that is giving us a platform where we are able to take individuals who want to be mentors. Across our company and as, and align them with individuals who are looking for a mentor. Maybe you want somebody in your own particular discipline. Maybe you're wanting, you're seeking to learn about another discipline. And so that platform is helping us tie those two together and make those connections so we can just see people blossom and flourish and learn more about our holistic business.

Lan Elliott 22:15

That, those are both really wonderful ones and I applaud you for doing them. The courageous conversations is, you're right, something that I think people would not have been so willing to do before 2020. So I think it's wonderful that you have go, gone in that direction and started to reveal some of those stories and let people bring their whole selves to work by being able to share things that they're struggling with. We

DeShaun Wise Porter 22:41

seize the moment. Most definitely. Yes. And it's paid off dividends.

Lan Elliott 22:46

Absolutely. You referenced. That you have a global team. And I wanted to dig into that a little bit more. And it brought to mind this idea a Dadism, which says, we learn how to understand differences so we can build bridges that you unite. And I really loved that quote. I think it was actually built, it was actually referencing family, but I think we spend so much time with our work colleagues that it also. Probably works really well in the workplace as well. And you've worked overseas in the past. You currently oversee a global team. What advice would you have for leaders that are managing a very diverse team for the first time? How does one create an inclusive environment? What's the right way to do it?

DeShaun Wise Porter 23:33

Some tips. A hundred percent. Invest some time on the front end. Again, I think I said this is get to know your people and explore beyond the surface, right? Obviously you have to create an environment that they're willing to really open up and share, but think of things beyond what mis I understand their culture I think that's important. When you have a global team, you have to recognize that you're gonna have individuals from every different region and what they're facing, how they approach things, and make space for that and acknowledge it, right? You can earn so much credibility if you were even able to acknowledge some of their holidays that they might be celebrating. And you don't have to celebrate it too, but you can say, I see you. And that I see you turns into, I respect you. So I think that's huge. That also be open to different ideas and recognizing that they might come with ideas that are different from the way that you might have done stuff. But leave space cuz that's where you're gonna get the greatness. And it might op, also open you up to learning something new, which I think is amazing. Yes, I think that should sum it up, but that's advice. Yeah. We just don't always think about it in that

Lan Elliott 24:42

way. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm gonna switch over to self-care. Ooh. And I know since the pandemic, it seems that there's a more renewed focus on self-care or wellness, and it could be lots of different things. And I know you mentioned your eight month old, so you're a new mom again of a. Of a wonderful eight month old boy, so congratulations on that. Thank you. But I know that means that you have a lot on your plate, and one of the things I loved was this reference that your father would send you emails all the time reminding you that it's lunchtime and that it's time for a mental break, which I think of all the lunches that I worked through at my desk. But I'm curious, how do you recharge to ensure you're at your best so that you can be there for your family and your colleagues, your team?

DeShaun Wise Porter 25:42

Yeah. My dad knows me so well and when I am dedicated to a vision or to the work, I will grind through and I will just keep plugging away at it. And so that has lent itself to. Terrible eating habits and not enough breaks, and we can't sit at this computer all day. And so even scheduling five minute stress session or just taking a quick walk, whether it's in the morning or right after lunch, or the reminder to even eat lunch, I'm just one of those people that have needed that. And I now have built that time in and I really do my very best to hold it sacred. I'm not perfect at it, so I don't wanna give that illusion. My team still laughs at me and be like, de, you didn't need lunch yet. And it's three o'clock. It's sitting right here though. I'm gonna get to it. And so I don't encourage people to be me. I don't. But if you need reminders, make sure that you're building that in cuz it's so critically important. We can't be our best selves unless we are truly taking care of ourselves. Even the airlines, they tell you, if the mask deploys from your ceiling, make sure you put on yours first before helping somebody else take that with you. I think also one of the things I've done is when I am flooded and there's high stress periods of everybody's job, there are times that you are challenged and you have all of these obstacles in front of you and you're trying to figure out the best way to navigate it. And in those times, I become flooded and I actually can't remember what I need to do to take care of myself. Vulnerable alert, right? And so I wrote a list. I wrote a list down. So in those moments where I'm like freaking out. I don't know what's going on. I just need a moment. And I'm like, I don't really know what I even, what I should be doing to help myself recharge right now. And so I'll go to my list and it's oh, here's something. You've got five minutes if you got 30 minutes. Because being a mom of two young boys, my time is not my own. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but my time's not my own. And being able to go to that list and just say, okay, I've got 20 minutes. Ooh, I can take my favorite Peloton class and be excited about that. And so I have that written on the list and just different things. And then of course I schedule bigger self-care moments, like my spa days. I am a spa girl I love good massage and, just to zen, zen out and have some good food and all of that. So I will schedule some of those in.

Lan Elliott 28:06

I definitely sense the theme of you writing down things. Not only just the dadism, but I love the list of things of how to recharge and to, to. To reset, right? Because I think we get so busy, and you're right, sometimes you forget and you're just like casting around going, I need to do something, but I can't think what, and I'm a list maker too. So I love that you just made a list that you can go to and you go, okay, today this one's gonna work for me. Cuz sometimes it's not gonna just appear in your brain even when you know you need the moment. Agreed. Agreed. I love that list. We are getting short on time. Deshaun, as I thought we might, but if we have time for one more question and you have so much amazing advice that has come from your father that you have put in the book and I recommend anyone who is interested, please go on Amazon and check it out. I I bought it and I thought, oh, I'll read a few pages and then I read the whole thing and it's really wonderful. But could you perhaps offer one additional final nugget of advice for women and underrepresented groups who might be watching our show that are trying to advance their career?

DeShaun Wise Porter 29:21

A hundred percent. I would say e establish your board of directors. Have your own personal board of directors. You need a mentor. A mentor is somebody who is guiding you through like some of the day-to-day challenges, right? You're giving them some of the nitty gritty. You run into an obstacle. They are there in which to, to talk to and help you think through solutions. A sponsor. A sponsor should be somebody that is at a higher level, not ingrained into your day-to-day, but is sitting at tables for which you are not currently sitting at, and can serve as your advocate and your sponsor. They can speak to your accomplishments and some of the key projects that you are working on that is hitting that bottom line. Then think about an advocate and mentors for the various dimensions of us. I spoke earlier on, none of us are one dimensional. I'm a woman. I'm a woman of color. I'm one who leads a global team. I love to dance, like figure out different mentors that are able to lean into that. I also serve on an anti-human trafficking board and organization, and they focus on human trafficking survivors. And so even finding a mentor for, to learn that space even more as I joined that, that capacity. And so think about who your network is, think about establishing your board of directors, and then continue to learn as much as you can be open to when somebody is guiding you to take on a different project. Be open to that. Be open to learning and keep that aperture of learning as well as guidance. Keep that very broad cuz there's so many opportunities out there. You just have to be prepared for when they come.

Lan Elliott 31:09

Wonderful advice. I love that. Thank you so much, Deshaun. Really appreciate you being on the show and sharing your advice, your dadism and your own experiences with our audience and for our audience. If you'd like to see more interviews, I hope you'll go to our website, dei advisors.org to see more interviews with other industry leaders. And Deshaun, thank you so much for being on. It's been wonderful speaking with you.

DeShaun Wise Porter 31:40

Thank you so very much for this time. You're wonderful.

Lan Elliott 31:44

Thanks. Thanks so much. Great to speak with you.