Amit Sripathi, Chief Financial Officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey

Amit discusses his path from engineer to CFO of Wyndham with the pivotal reset and opportunities in between. He shares his leadership evolution and the skills he's focused on developing in his own leadership style. Amit also discusses the role of mentors, his style of relationship building, and why the hustle and the grind are so important in career development.

Transcript

Copy

Rachel Humphrey 0:02

I am Rachel Humphrey with It's Personal Stories. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering personal success. And I'm really excited to welcome to the program today, Amit Shoupathi, the chief development officer of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. Amit, welcome to the show.

Amit Sripathi 0:19

Thank you, Rachel, for having me. It's my pleasure to be here.

Rachel Humphrey 0:23

We are going to jump right in and cover a whole broad range of topics from leadership aspects in your journey. One of the reasons that I love the hospitality industry is that we can all have incredibly different paths, very unique to us, and yet all end up in roles of leadership, tell us a little bit about you, your background and how you got to where you are today. And with that, if there were any pivotal moments. Moments along the way that you really think shaped the direction of your career.

Amit Sripathi 0:52

Rachel, that's what's really remarkable about the hospitality industry. I was recently on a panel of chief development officers for various brands, and I don't believe any of us had started our careers with the hospitality industry in mind. But all of us felt fortunate to have ended up here. I myself my personal story. I wanted to be an engineer and was studying computer, I'd studied computer science and technology in undergrad. And but shortly after taking my first job working for like a large telecommunications company, I realized pretty early on that it didn't really give me a sense of fulfillment or purpose. I didn't really feel any connection to it other than, and really looking back on it, I realized, I was following the career path of my dad and others in my extended family. Who were all, many of whom were engineers and worked in technology and stuff, and it wasn't one that I necessarily enjoyed. And so I was really fortunate enough to be able to go to business school and hit the reset button. And that's what, and that's where I really got my first exposure to the real estate and hospitality industry. And I really fell in love with it. It was think the one, what resonated with me the most was, How tangible it is, right? Just real estate and hospitality generally can touch it. You can feel it. It's all around you. You work in it, you live in it. And compared to the technology or telecom, and even when I sweep into what's funny enough is, Even after I made, so I went into business school, then I decided to make a transition towards the investment banking side. And I was fortunate where I had met some people alums who happened to be working in the real estate hospitality and advisory group. And, but I still like you had an option to rotate through two groups. And my first choice still was I'm going to do technology and media telecom investment banking. The second choice was real estate and hospitality and just because I love to travel and I was like, Hey, that sounds cool. But I was like, Oh, I'm going to go into media and telecom investment banking. And that's what I'm going to do. But when I really joined, I just felt a, I finished my first five weeks of the internship in media, telecom investment bank. It was a good experience. But when I really immerse myself in the real estate and the hospitality side, I just felt a sense of like purpose. It was really both the culture and the group, the clients and everything else. And that was really what made me gravitate towards the hospitality industry and I initially started on the investment banking side, then switched into the corporate side, working for a hotel re and eventually into my current position at Windham Hotels and Resorts. I guess I have been in the hospitality industry my entire career, but I touched very different aspects of it. One was advisory capital raising. One was on the hotel ownership side. And now finally on the brain side.

Rachel Humphrey 3:55

That's incredible. And I love what you mentioned about hitting the reset button, because that is a great reminder too, that we can all choose different paths along the way that feel more fulfilling to us and having the different aspects of involvement in the industry, as you mentioned, I'm really interested in talking about hitting that reset button for a minute, because. There are some people think that they are driven by risk, others who would describe themselves as very risk averse, but switching and pivoting careers, switching companies switching fields within the industry can definitely all be seen as taking significant risk and all, which it sounds like from your story have really continued to propel you forward. Do you consider yourself more of a risk taker, risk averse, and how do you tackle risk? How do you really evaluate them to decide which ones are right for you? for you and how you approach them.

Amit Sripathi 4:47

Yeah, it's a great question. I do take risks. I'll be at calculated risks and in my current and previous roles for me, I think taking a risk does not like taking a risk means you cannot control the outcome, but are still prepared for all the possibilities. And so I don't like when I think about risk, winging, it is not taking a risk. It's you're prepared for it, but you are taking, you're going down the path of the unknown. You don't know where it's going to lead, but you've thought through some of the possibilities you've thought through what ifs and stuff. And while I've taken risks within my career, my job functions, I'd say, honestly, I have been somewhat reticent about Taking risks in my career, in my personal life. And that is something that is like an ongoing journey for me. Yeah. And a lot of the times you feel comfortable in the trajectory that you're on and you feel something new or unknown could disrupt the momentum, right? It's like I'm doing this and you also may have a career goal in mind and think you're on the right path and something unexpected pops up. It could be the organization asking you to do something. It could be a new role pops up somewhere. And it's always it is changes hard. And do you, do I want to take the risk? And what I found is really my natural instinct is, especially in my personal life and some of these it's to say, Oh, do I really want to do that? But then thinking through it, talking to people who may have faced similar scenarios and get people who really know you and understand you and how to look how what their thoughts are someone who you trust that is, has the your best interest in mind. That's all. And also, more importantly, It's been about trusting yourself like when I took when I was about the, and I was fortunate when I hit the reset button, I was pretty early on in my career. And, I was just, I graduated a couple of years after I was like, I'm going to take the team out. I'm going to study. I had parents who were supportive of that. And so the circumstances were all I worked in my favor, but it was. There, there was a part of me that felt unsure, but I had to say, look, I'm going to put in the work. I'm going to study. I'm going to this and I'm going to do what is required of me in those in that new scenario. So I know I had to. And even in my current role as a chief development officer of window motels and resorts. It is a, it's a role that's a different role than what I've done before. And, I was more on the M& A advisory capital markets and the finance side and going from there to development, including franchise sales. It is a time. So I questioned myself, is it the right path for me? Can I do this? And what I've learned to appreciate is when I, someone offers you that opportunities because they believe in you, they believe that you can do it. And you have to reach out your hand and let them when they extend it and do that. And so that's really, I think how I have approached taking risk. It doesn't come naturally to me. I actually do a, I think folks who know me work with me say, I'm very good at taking risks within my job function and things like that. I have to do that and I navigate it well. But when it comes to personally. I think I could, I still, I could learn a lot.

Rachel Humphrey 8:19

I appreciate you've shared so many great things in there. I love the self awareness of this as an area I'm still working on developing professionally and personally, and also knowing and having a support system. We're going to talk in a minute about that is able to help you make some of those important decisions, but also the vulnerability and sharing that sometimes I have doubts. Am I good enough for this? Am I capable of this? Is this the right move for me and how you really have to navigate this? Every time I hear someone say. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable that terrifies me So I think that there's there is a lot to be said for when we get comfortable risk can feel very scary or very overwhelming. You mentioned having people that you rely upon in the ability to maybe run some ideas past you or to think about the way others perceive you as, okay they think that I'm capable of this or they wouldn't be offering it. So I want to talk about two aspects of that. One is mentors, allies and champions. You're surrounded by an incredible team at Wyndham. We've had many of them as guests. You may have mentors and champions outside of the company to how do you how have mentors or champions really influenced your career? And then in the giving backstage, when you talk to others who are looking to establish those relationships, what type of advice do you give to them about identifying mentors and champions?

Amit Sripathi 9:40

Yeah, Rachel, I have been incredibly fortunate to have had both, mentors and champions in my career, and a lot of my success can be attributed to the advice or support, I've received from them. And, when usually most of us think about mentors or champions, we typically equate it to someone who's older, more experienced, or has a senior, more senior title than you and mine. And what I found that they could also be your peers or friends, as I was telling you, it's someone that really knows you and can offer a sounding board and unbiased feedback. That's really what a mentor or an ally needs to be. And it also doesn't have to be a formal relationship. I think, and what I mean by it is. Many of the folks who have influenced me over the years and I've never actually asked them to mentor me or will you take me under the wing? It just happened naturally. It wasn't like an apprentice, formal apprenticeship model sorts. It just happened naturally by me asking them for advice or learning from them or emulating them. And it is that support system. And that is, it's incredible in terms of how, when you're advancing in your career, especially as you get to the senior especially as you get to like senior levels, having. All three of you mentors, allies, and champions are super, super important. And I, the, when I, in my prior before I joined Wyndham like our former CF or CFO there, Sean Mahoney, who's been a guest on this podcast he, he's one, someone who's, who had always talked about integrity and transparency. And he really lived that. And when I. When just watching him and learn, like he never told me like, Hey, I'm taking you under my wing to teach you this, but just the way he approached a, any given things and the level of preparedness and what he did and how seeing that success is not just a fluke, but it's all the work that gets put into it beforehand. And that's, that, that's a I consider him a mentor, but we never it's not Hey, we had a formal mentorship. So it's really, I tell myself and I tell others it's really surround yourself with people that you look up to and ask them, Hey, can I sit in on this meeting? Hey, what would you do? Almost no one turns down giving advice to someone. And also at the same time. Be aware of who you're asking for advice. It's someone you actually trust. You've seen them and they have your interests in mind, not just, asking advice for the sake of advice. And equally important I think is What I have, and this is something that I have learned over the state over the course of my career, maybe early on, I wasn't good at it, which is you're an individual contributor. And you're like, as long as I am really good at my job, I'm going to, I should succeed. I should be able to, rise up the ranks. I should be able to do that. But what I've learned is, Building allies within your peers, above you, below you, it is so important. It's often ignored. Everyone wants to, work up and manage upwards, but managing laterally is probably the most important skill set because You need the people around you to root for your success. You need to root for their success. And that's where I like, I'm like, we have a great culture at Wyndham. Jeff who, has it's all about count on me. That's both our internal and external culture. And it's really like we, everyone lives that. And. I want to be accountable to my peers. I want to be accountable to people I report to. I want to be accountable to people who reported to be and having that mindset and culture really, I think, allowed me to build a lot of great relationships across my peers who have all been instrumental in my success. And that's not just that window. That's even before. And that was something I'd say. One of the big learnings for me is Managing laterally and building those allies.

Rachel Humphrey 13:58

That's such an important message too. I think you're right. When people think of the word mentors, they tend to think of people that are more senior or more experienced, and that can really encompass a much bigger group. I also believe in more of the informal. mentorship programs can be very successful and have a role. I actually have mentors who are surprised to hear that they're my mentors because I was watching and learning and. Like a sponge absorbing everything I could in, in ways that I wanted to lead or ways that I wanted to learn things, maybe that I didn't know. And so that idea that you can have these very informal relationships, but you're right. The advice you got about integrity or choosing the people. Or the honesty or looking at the right people. To emulate or to learn from can be a really big step in that. You mentioned also those relationships with your colleagues with your same level of management with others. The hospitality industry is really interesting to me because while it. It is very big by definition of labor force. It's actually very small. You never know where you're going to come in contact with someone again, but also it's such a relationship built industry from the deals you do to the places that you'll go. But you and I are very different and we're going to build our networks in very different ways that are really suitable to our personality or our skillsets. Talk a little bit about your process for building relationships, how you go about them. And if there's any pieces of that you think Or you can identify as, this really suits my personality in ways that it might not suit everybody else's.

Amit Sripathi 15:34

Yeah. As relationships are, very important really at every stage of your career when you're starting out, they get your foot in the door or expose you to some, new skill and as you progress in your career, it helps you elevate and get into, get exposure to roles that you may have not had. And really for me, and I can say this, which is every single one of my jobs that I've had, I'm fortunate to only have worked for three companies during my career, but all three of them have been through relationships. And it was someone who I knew who thought I would make a fit for that role or referred to me, including Wyndham, including RLJ before that, including my Deutsche Bank for that. They were all through folks that knew me and introduced me. And and what I. What's really important about that is these, the relationships that you build, it's not like for me, you ask, what is your personal way? And what do you do for me? Building networks? It's not about working the room at every event. I attend. It's about meaningful relationships. You get to know the person and and those are, that's what works for me and that has served me well and I know networking and building relationships, it's not easy. It's not easy for me. I'm a, I'm an introvert and many people who work with me probably don't know that about me because. I am usually, they usually see me interacting with them or others most of the time, but I get my energy when I'm by myself, sometimes I need to recharge, but I have made a conscious, I make a conscious effort to, whether it's stopping by someone's office to say hello, whether it's instead of exchanging emails, calling them or talking to them over zoom. So you can actually see them in person. And it it's always, it's very easy to just go back home or to your hotel room as soon as like the meetings done. But I've realized over the years that extra bit of time you spend building that relationship and building that goes a really long way. And even if it's, even if it doesn't come naturally, and believe me, I, like I said, I, Real networking and things like that don't come to me naturally. It's not something I gets me energized, but it's also, I've learned to say it's a critical part of what we do. It is a very small industry. And even if it's, even if it's not hospitality, even it's any other industry, the, what you get out of it is what what you put into it is what you're going to get out of it. And so make small. If you go into a group full of 50 people, talk to three people, talk to two people, maybe even talk to one person and you just make that a habit. You will, and you'll never, maybe not everyone will, we'll ever get to working all 50 people, but you don't have to, it's worked for me where I have built a lot of meaningful relationships, which have then led me to expand my circle. And and paid forward to when you get, it's not just about building relationships. Cause you want, you have an end goal in mind. It's just you get to know the person, they get to know you. And it's just staying in touch with them.

Rachel Humphrey 18:46

I appreciate your sharing that because not only do you say, Hey, it doesn't come naturally to me, but you recognize that by investing in yourself, by investing in building those relationships, you've not only. Gotten your career advice and other things along the way, but you actually mentioned that you've changed roles because of those relationships. So putting yourself out of your comfort zone again, to realize the importance of building those relationships, you mentioned a second ago when you are starting a new role and that can be a new role within the same company or switching over to companies along the way, we all realize that, you know what, there were skills that I maybe haven't developed either in school or through prior roles, but I know. I'm going to need it this time and it's incumbent on us to set out to develop those. Have you had that experience where you've identified something that you're like, wow, this is not something in my wheelhouse, but I need to set out and master it. And if so, how have you gone about doing that?

Amit Sripathi 19:40

Yeah, no, it's a, I think there's many that I think I've had to learn, but I think one of the things I, yeah, as I mentioned to you, I started my career in like the hospitality real estate on the investment banking side, the advisory side. And there, the formula there was you hire a lot of successful, you hire a lot of smart people, you incentivize them through, your bonuses, things like that. So you're as a manager and as you're managing, as you're progressing up the ranks, that it was, Leadership skills and your ability to lead wasn't necessarily a criteria for advancing in your career. It was, you're good at your individual. Okay. You can manage this team, get them to deliver the work product. You can manage expectations, but a lot of the people that you were managing were already had incentives in place to self motivate, self manage. So for me, I thought, coming out of banking, Hey, I'm a pretty good leader. I've had a pretty good success and track record here that, but when I switched it to the corporate side, I, it was for me, initially I struggled with like, how do you manage, how do you motivate people? A very different set of incent, very different structure, very different set. How do you motivate them? How do you get them to. Really believe in the cause or to work towards the company's goal. And for me it was a graph, it was a gradual experience. It was learning. It was some, mentors that I've, again, people who probably don't necessarily think of, I, they think they're a formal mentor to me, but the folks who have told like learning them how they motivate their teams. And it was really, what I learned was. Figuring out the individual at the other end, what motivates them. It doesn't have necessarily have to be compensation, right? It could be their personal development, it could be this. They wanna learn a skillset and ha and that I think was a skillset that I had to develop and learn and. When one that has served me really well in my current role, as well as going forward, it's a skill I probably have to use the most often. It's not just about saying, Hey, go out and do this. It's about how do you work with the team member to what really drives them? they're going through? Ho to believe that there is sunlight at the ot just be going through a d that was those, we call i like touchy feely skills, and it wasn't something I For the my during my early stage of the career. But it's something that I've developed and I still continue to refine and develop over the years.

Rachel Humphrey 22:23

I love that. And that actually tells perfectly about leadership evolution because as you said, in one role. Leadership might have meant one thing, but then as you pivoted roles, leadership meant something different. I've been really interested over the last couple of years of doing these interviews that there seem to be two groups of people. The people who say I was born to lead. I knew from very early on. I wanted to have a leadership role. I wanted to whatever it was. And then there are other people that sit and say, I don't even know that I consider myself a leader today in the sense of leadership as opposed to leading. I'm wondering where you fall in that. Do you think that, leadership is always something you saw in your future when you entered hospitality? Did you envision or hope for a leadership role in it? And if not, was there a pivotal moment that you recognized? You know what? In this role that I have now, I am both by definition and by need a leader.

Amit Sripathi 23:16

It's for me to answer your question, like I didn't necessarily. Say I wanted to be in a leadership position or anything that was, it was, and I always equated like early on leadership with someone just like an authority figure who like gives orders and then everyone like follows. And you, that, that's what I always did. Thought was necessarily a leader and you have to be like the most outspoken person in the room and you have to command the room and you have to command presence. And that's not my style. That's not how it is. So I wouldn't say leadership was something that I was like, Oh, I'm going to be a leader. I'm going to lead a company. I'm going to do that for me. What I found about leadership was Who motivated me, who inspired me to do things and who got me going? And they may not have necessarily been the senior host person in the room. They could have been someone who was just maybe a level above me. I didn't even directly report it to them, but it's about how do you getting people to, Believe in a cause and working towards that goal or a cause. And that's where I think, as I observed that, and then when you had, like newer folks joining the firm and when they're coming asking for questions or asking me for something about and helping them, that's where I thought, that's eventually okay, that clicked. It's that's what leadership is. It's not, And necessarily a formal authority or formal things over anyone. It's about how you can get people to believe in a goal and a cause. And we, over the course of my career, I've had, I've been fortunate to be exposed to many great leaders and great leaders who really just inspire you and get you to do things and they could be like a great speech or it could be a motivational things, or it could be action oriented. I am not a rah motivational speaker. Like I could never be a chef who can just, it can just get everyone. But my style has been, it's more action oriented, right? It's about I am a strong believer in processes. I'm a strong believer in if you lay the groundwork, if you lay the foundation, thanks again. So it's what my team that I manage, it's about, Hey, how can I help you be more efficient at your job? How can I clear the roadblocks for you? And some of, and that, so that's really what I try to do is. I am showing you that I am in your court. I'm in your corner. I want to help you be more successful. And so that's been my style. That's worked for me. And so for me, everyone has their own leadership style. Everyone has their own opinion about leader. But for me, it's someone who gets me up at in the morning to want to be a little bit better, or want to advance towards a goal.

Rachel Humphrey 26:11

I love that. And I don't think there's anybody in the universe that doesn't know who Jeff is, but for those listening, if you don't know, he's referenced Jeff twice. It's Jeff Pilati, the CEO of Wyndham, who was actually the first guest on the podcast two years ago. So people can tune in and listen to that one.

Amit Sripathi 26:26

I didn't know he was the first guest. I've watched the interview with him. He was. He was the first guest.

Rachel Humphrey 26:32

Anyone who has listened to other interviews I've done knows that the advice to our younger selves is my favorite question to both be asked and to ask. I think that we are all works in progress personally and professionally and that part of that is reflection. And so as you reflect back to your 21 year old self, is there any advice you would give to yourself that might help you along the way or might Have made things a little bit easier for you as you went.

Amit Sripathi 27:02

It's I'd say, really try to get as broad of a learning experience as you can. I was somewhat myopic in my, as I mentioned, as I told you earlier in what I thought I wanted to be and focus mostly on learning those skills that I thought would get me there. And when I got there, it turned out that's how I wanted to do in my career. And so for me, I was fortunate to be able to hit the reset button and figure out I go to business school, change course. But I think This is different for everyone, but learning more about whether it's, marketing or business analytics, taking a couple of classes or courses, even if you want to go down a technology or a finance track will really serve you well. And we often, we're often here. Don't be jack of all trades. And there is some truth to that. But I also think if you ask a lot of successful executives, They will say that they touched a lot of different areas, which they had no business touching, but they had, they were either thrust into it or they had some sort of curiosity that got them there that ultimately prepared them for the role that they're on. Like in my in my role currently as chief development officer, I have to it's about marketing. It's about leveraging the tools. It's about the incentives. It's all about. A whole slew of things that I was able to pick up along the way. And I think, so if you get an opportunity and this is really important early on in your career, cause that's when you actually can touch a lot of different things. You can go sit on this meeting. You can go do that really seize that opportunity because as you get more and more, as you get more further along in your career, you tend to become more specialized. But then when you get Really senior. You got to be very broad. So it's you got to build it while you're down here because it gets like this and then it gets ghost like this.

Rachel Humphrey 28:55

Yeah, that's such a great observation. I love that. We are out of time before I ask you for a piece of final advice. If I don't share with guests why I asked someone to join us, I always hear from people afterwards. Why did you pick that person? You didn't share it this time. So I wanted to just share very quickly that when you received your current opportunity as chief development officer, it occurred to me that we had never met before, and that's unusual for me, I've spent 27 of my 30 years of my career has had something to do with franchising, Wyndham has been a huge part of that. And so I wanted to immediately get. to know you better and to learn your story and some of the things that you've learned. And this gives me the perfect opportunity to do that. And now to grow my relationships in my network as well, because since reaching out to you, we've had an opportunity now to see each other several times and get to talk a little bit. So I appreciate very much you're joining us And taking the chance with me since you didn't know me either. With that, I would just turn to a piece of final advice. If you think about our motto of empowering personal success, is there one final thing you'd like to leave our audience with?

Amit Sripathi 30:00

I'd say the, it's at the end of the day, what I've noticed working with a lot of a lot of people throughout by my career journey is it's not about how smart you are. It's not about, it's really about the hustle. It's about. Sticking. It's about the grind. And really that's what determines like your success. You really control your success. And I'll share a funny I guess story, which is you get these, fortune cookies and half the time it's like you'll become rich on Tuesday or you'll whatever it is, but I, I. I opened one maybe like last year. And I think I've kept that in my car just to remind me. And what it said is if you develop the habits of success will become a habit. And I really, and I thought it was so well put and it's so true for me. It's, you gotta put in the work, you gotta put in that. And then if you do that, luck will come to you. It may not be next day. It may not be next week. It may not be next year, but over the longterm, You will be successful. People will recognize you. So I'd say that's probably, you got to put in the hard work. You got to put in the grind.

Rachel Humphrey 31:11

I love that fortune cookie. I hope you have that still somewhere in your car, on your desk or something. I

Amit Sripathi 31:17

do. It's still in my car. I love that. Thank you for having me and thank you for having me on, Rachel. I know we had, it is, yes, we've, I was fortunate we were both able to get acquainted and meet, so it's it's been great to it's been great to join you on the show.

Rachel Humphrey 31:32

I appreciate it very much and thank you for all you do for the hospitality industry and for sharing. Your journey and your insights with us today. And for our audience, we know you have a lot of choices in how you spend your time. So thank you so much for spending your time with us. If you liked what you heard today, we hope you'll check out the stories of the nearly 200 other industry leaders who have shared their personal journey and their insights as well. Thank you so much.

Amit Sripathi 31:56

Thank you, Rachel.