Transcript: Episode 142: Chris Green Spills All
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[00:00:00] Susan Barry: This is Top Floor episode 142. You can find the show notes at topfloorpodcast.com/episode/142.
[00:00:13] Narrator: Welcome to Top Floor with Susan Barry. This weekly podcast ride up to the top floor features tangible tips and excellent stories from the experts and characters who elevate hospitality. And now your host and elevator operator, Susan Barry.
[00:00:32] Susan Barry: Welcome to the show. Chris Green is the former president of Remington Hotels, a top five hotel management company with a portfolio of more than a hundred properties across the U. S. Chris joined Remington when Chesapeake Hospitality, of which he was president and CEO, merged with Remington in 2022. And before his 17 years with Chesapeake, Chris was in the restaurant business.
[00:01:00] I learned all this when I interviewed Chris in episode 89 Prime Rib River, which you should definitely check out if you missed it. And he is back today as the first ever repeat guest on Top Floor, because He has agreed to do his exit interview with us. Today. Chris is going to spill all of the secrets he wished he could have said in his past jobs and dish the dirt on some competitive hotel company CEOs.
[00:01:37] But before we jump in, we need to answer the call button. (Emergency call button rings) The emergency call button is our hotline for hospitality professionals who have burning questions. If you would like to submit a question, you can call or text me at 850-404-9630. Today's question was submitted by Casey and Casey asks, is it really important to conduct exit interviews? Is anyone ever honest about it? What is the best way to get the real story? Okay, Chris, so aside from having someone on your podcast and asking incredibly intrusive and nosy questions, what is the second best way to get the real story out of an exit interview?
[00:02:24] Chris Green: I think it's a great question and I'm right there with Casey. I've always wondered if people you know, give the full answers. But here's the thing. It starts with trust in your organization. If you've built an organization that has trust and leadership, trust and integrity and leadership, integrity of decision making, and doesn't just pay lip service to the open door policy, but actually lives it and breathes it and takes action on it, then you will get real data in your exit interviews.
[00:02:52] Um, and, and I can tell you that I've had a lot of real data in ours and some that's, that's made me proud. People said, you know, I'm just getting a new opportunity and I'm excited about this or some that have made me embarrassed of things that have gone on in my organization, but we took action. So I would encourage you if you're leaving a company is not asking you to get one last dig at you. They want to know how they can get better. And losing valuable associates is incredibly difficult. So I, I would encourage you to be honest and, uh, make sure you build that trust so when the time comes that your people will talk to you.
[00:03:23] Susan Barry: Okay. So do you think this has changed because I remember, I don't know if I was taught this Chris or just learned it by example, that you don't ever say like, I'm leaving because my boss is an idiot. You say like, Oh, I'm just so lucky to have received this new opportunity. Like, I would never have said the truth, which is like, this person's getting my nerves or, you know what I mean?
[00:03:51] Chris Green: No, I think that uh, in today's world. And I see it a lot with the incoming generations. They are a lot more forceful with opinions. And to some of us old schoolers, right, that have been around a long time that were raised on what you kind of said, Susan, about, Oh, no, everything's fine. No, no, no. They will tell you. And I think they should, like, maybe not in such blunt terms, but listen, I'm just not getting led.
[00:04:12] Well, I don't feel like anybody's pouring into my career. I want to grow my career. And yet I do not hear from my boss. You guys say we have annual reviews or quarterly reviews, but I've never received one. You need to share that stuff because organizations today, if they're any good at all, want to get better. And the only way they get better - and I hate to say it - is through feedback. They should be getting it while you're there. Not when you're leaving. It's a little too late then, but they still should get it.
[00:04:39] Susan Barry: Have you ever had the experience where somebody like drops a bomb in their exit interview and then it results in action being taken? Or is it usually like that person's disgruntled, peace?
[00:04:52] Chris Green: You know, what I mean? No, I've definitely had that happen. I've, I've definitely had, I've definitely had exit interviews where I've said, “Wow, I wish you would have told us this when that occurred.” Right? Instead of waiting till now, right. Let's don't let a problem fester, but there's definitely been, and I can tell you that people who know me know that we're going to take action on stuff. And, and, and listen, it also, you have to understand the source. I've had lots of exit interviews where stuff was made up to, right. It's just disgruntled associates, but you know, that's that to me though, Susan, and I don't want to get too sidetracked in the beginning, but all those with your leadership of your organization, if you are leading your people well, and you're talking to.
[00:05:33] You know, if I'm talking to you and I'm like, Susan, you're here's where your career is at. And here's where you're going. And here's where the challenges are. And here's where we need to get you better. Then there's this back and forth conversation. So you don't get surprised by all of a sudden one day Susan's quitting. You're never surprised by that because you have this great relationship, this employer employee relationship. Um, so I think that's where organizations go wrong is they get thrown a curve by somebody that they thought was doing great being unhappy, but they're not really paying intent, close intent to what's happening in our organization.
[00:06:03] Susan Barry: It's a perfect segue into the next thing I want to ask you about. You recently announced your retirement from Remington while almost at the same time publishing your book, The River Guide to Leadership. I have a very hard time imagining you as a retired guy playing tennis and like going out to lunch and stuff. What are you doing now?
[00:06:27] Chris Green: So I'm actually am playing a good bit of tennis. It's something that I love. Uh, and I, I'm trying to get better at it. It's a very, very hard game. And so if you know me at all, I'm a competitor and I want to win. And so I'm very hard on myself. So I'm spending some time with coaches trying to get better.
[00:06:43] And I'm spending a lot of time with my family, which for a president or CEO of a management firm, it's been a challenge, right? I spent a lot of years on the road, and I really felt like the time was right for me to take a breather. I don't think that you're done seeing me somewhere doing something in and around hospitality, but I do think that I needed a breather.
[00:07:04] We did, we did, you know, we went through a lot of, growing Chesapeake. And then we went through the pandemic and then the merger and Remington has a skilled CEO and leadership team. And, um, I just, it was a good time for me to take a little bit of a rest break, which I've been doing, as you can tell from my glorious tan.
[00:07:24] Susan Barry: Are you doing consulting or anything like that? Or are you really just focused on your tennis game?
[00:07:30] Chris Green: No, I mean, I've already had, of course, a lot of interest from the industry. I'm really interested in ensuring that whatever I do is a creative to the business. And what I mean by that is, you know, I have a passion for young and upcoming leaders. And obviously with my book, The River Guide to Leadership, I want people to see what I believe is possible for them. So I am doing some adjacent consulting, some, some services that sell into the hospitality industry, uh, and provide goods or services to hospitality. So I'm doing a lot of advisory stuff like that. Because anybody who knows me knows that A, my wife would probably kill me if I was just sitting around and, uh, B, I like to stay busy and I do love our business. I just wanted to change kind of the cadence a little bit.
[00:08:13] Susan Barry: Got it. I joked about you spilling your career secrets in this exit interview with me, but you really did spill your leadership secrets in your book. Why was now the right time? Like wha - why did you feel like it was time to put pen to paper asking for a friend?
[00:08:36] Chris Green: I actually had been working on it for a couple years. So I've had the outline shuffling around my inbox. So to back up a few steps. Uh, the book takes us on a journey that happened 20 plus years ago. And I can't say that the day of that journey, that I, everything was crystal clear about how my management career would go, but as I've navigated the waters of my career, I was able to look back on that journey and see, Oh my gosh, this is irrelevant. This is the way I thought. And I've used this river banks theory and kind of theology as I've kind of coached and led teams. And it resonated with people. Everybody that ever heard it said, "Oh, I get it. Oh, it makes sense. Oh, I understand. And it's very simple. And so I thought, you know what, before, before I, you know, go play tennis, I need to write all this down.
[00:09:23] Cause people are asking me, you know, write it down, write down some of these things. And so I took the time and I really worked hard on it the past, 16, 18 months while I was on planes, while I was up at 2 AM out at Alice Conference when nobody else is awake from an East coast person. And I was just really proud to accomplish that and get it out and see what it's done so far.
[00:09:45] Susan Barry: What was the process like? And I mean, from a very tactical, specific perspective, again, asking for a friend. Did you make an outline and then fill in the blanks or did you just start going and hope for the best? How'd you do it?
[00:10:01] Chris Green: Uh, I started with, I think the originally I wrote down 10 things that I thought were important about leadership. Like I actually remember doing that my book someday. And then I started thinking about the river banks and then what were the portions of, or what were the key segments of each discussion part in the riverbank speech. And then I broke those out even further. And then as I did that, I thought, okay, what would chapters be?
[00:10:24] You basically like how the outline grew. And then what I did was I would, and it was hard. I got to tell you, there'd be times I'd be on a late flight and I'd look at the outline of the book on my laptop and I'd say, okay, the chapter on who's in your, but it matters who's in your boat. And I'd be like, okay, just write for 30 minutes. And I would, I would just stream of consciousness and I, and it wasn't written well. It was just what I believed about those people, what I believe mattered about the people in the boat, why that kind of analogy works and who doesn't belong in your boat and how to get rid of the ones that don't. And I just would write all that down.
[00:11:00] And then I would go back and read it. And then sometimes it was really bad and sometimes it was good. I would share a story. I made sure to try and share a story that was topical. Um, you know, before we came on, you talked about one of the stories and that, that story, I share that with people because it resonates with people. So I tried to, with each point I make share something real about me or my, my background or my journey. So it wasn't just some kind of to-do manual that they picked up. It was literally a heartfelt display of what I believe about being a leader.
[00:11:33] Susan Barry: There were a lot of moving and insightful parts of the book, but the thing that stuck with me the most is the metaphor of the riverbanks. In fact, when I was visiting with my family this weekend, I was telling my sister about it. Will you describe the riverbanks and talk about what your riverbanks are?
[00:11:54] Chris Green: Yeah, that's a, that really is the underlying basis for the whole book is, uh, I believe that in life and in business and in, you know, in your personal life, everybody has a set of riverbanks. Mine are guided by personal integrity, commitment to excellence, commitment to people and seeing others. Others before self, right. That's just kind of my personal riverbanks. If you were to codify those around Chesapeake hospitality or Remington hospitality, it's, it's, you know, our guiding principles or our riverbanks are seeing people thrive or people seeing their possibilities, being incredible operators and stewards of our clients assets, being best in class with the brands.
[00:12:37] And, you know, just, just ensuring that, that if we're going to be in hospitality, we're the best we can be. So those are your riverbanks. And everybody has them, whatever your personal riverbanks are. And what I believe is that there's got to be freedom inside those riverbanks. And if you just imagine in your mind, everybody that's listening, you close your eyes and you picture a river. Every river has banks and the water is flowing one direction and a team that is well organized and believes in the mission will all be generally paddling in the same direction. With different people in all their canoes and they might be one over to one side and one over to the other but they're all going in the same direction. And what I've seen over years is when organizations are broken, there's only really two things that happen.
[00:13:18] And it's so simple. Either there's no riverbanks, which is what? A flood. Or you've got people paddling upstream or in different directions and nobody is holding those river banks firm. So I used to tell people whenever we took over a new hotel, I'd give the riverbank speech and I would say, me, I'm the CEO of Chesapeake, or I'm the president of Remington. I, I'm, I'm your vision of the river banks. So if we say we're going to be incredibly clean in every one of our hotels or incredibly well maintained, or we're going to be the best in class and commercial marketing. Then that is the river and you get in there and you bring your expertise and you lead your boat and you go.
[00:13:59] Now, if you get too close to the banks or you run into the banks, I'm going to, my job is to gently direct you back to the middle. And as I gently direct my boats back to the middle is eventually, everyone will be paddling together in unison faster. And when that happens, I call it riding the rush. And that's when your business is thriving. And I've experienced it years and years of my career. And it's really through these little simple strategies of this river philosophy. Um, and people, like I said, people get it, they can visualize it and they remember it. So, and I even tell people, I'll say, Uh, Susan, you appear to be paddling the wrong direction and they will laugh, you know, they're like, Oh, I get it.
[00:14:40] Susan Barry: Well, that's such a more gentle way to correct people than like, you're terrible at your job. Thanks.
[00:14:46] Chris Green: Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, people can get it. Like, can you imagine sharing with somebody that's on a team and saying, imagine you're in a boat with four people. And three people are paddling one way and you're paddling the other. How's that boat going to, how's it going to look, how's it going to work? People get that, you know, and listen, there's lots of other analogies. This is just the one I've kind of lived by. And that's why I ended up calling it The River Guide to Leadership, which I think confuses people.
[00:15:09] Susan Barry: And no, it's such a great analogy. I think you talk about effective communication in the book, and I'm curious about how you would define ineffective communication. Like, what does it look like when a leader does a bad job of communicating? And I'm not necessarily referring to like, Oh, I forgot to tell you, or I did a bad job of communicating because I forgot to send you your questions or whatever. I'm not talking about that, like just, you know, core pieces of information, but big picture. What do you think is a bad example of communication?
[00:15:47] Chris Green: I mean, that's an amazing question. And I will tell you that to me, bad communication is unclear, undirect and unattached to a outcome that the person is working towards.
[00:16:01] So really, I'm very against saying things like, you know, “Susan, I feel like you're not.” it doesn't matter how I feel, you know, you and I, you take it back and people are just scared of these conversations. And I really don't know why I do talk about this in the book. It is kind to be clear, that is, I mean, that's somebody else's quote, but, but, but if I've told you what I hired you, what I expect of you, and I've invested in training you, then it doesn't make any sense for me to say, I feel like you're not trying hard.
[00:16:34] It's, it's more like Susan, these are the outline guides. You were told you need to enroll a hundred honors members this month on average every month, and you're only doing 30. So you're well below the goal. Can you see how that's hurting the team? That's a whole different conversation than you suck at your job.
[00:16:52] Susan Barry: I feel like you hate me.
[00:16:53] Chris Green: Right? Or I just, I feel like I'm disappointed that you're, you know, not taking whatever none of that matters. It's, we do, we attach. It's really hard though. It's just like being married. You know, you, every conversation you're in, you bring yourself to it too. So you got to make sure that the person that you are is you're bringing your best self to that conversation to. That's that's a leadership lesson in itself is leading yourself.
[00:17:19] Susan Barry: That's really interesting. When you're talking about this ineffective communication, I'm thinking about this time at my first hotel, I had the best boss. She taught me everything. Like I used to take reports home and write down questions that I had and she would spend all this time explaining everything to me. So nice. But she was kind of like someone who would beat around the bush in terms of feedback. And so one day we're having this conversation and she is saying to me what I think is like absolute gibberish. And finally I was like, can you just cut to the chase? And the next day was my performance review. I was like, Oh my God, why did I do that? What is wrong with me? Like bad at reading between the lines. Here she is right here. But I think being clear and direct, at least for idiots like me who are not very intuitive is so important.
[00:18:17] Chris Green: People always confused the fact that being clear and direct can be that that means to be harsh. Not at all. You can be incredibly kind and be incredibly direct at the same time. I mean, it's an art, right? And it's something you need to and you need to have a high level EQ, which I talk about in the book. I think that's one of the skills. And you can increase your EQ, your emotional intelligence. And if people would work on that one thing they would see tremendous growth in their careers.
[00:18:46] Susan Barry: I think that men and women are perceived differently when they're being direct. Do you think? I should have said, I think that, question mark. I maybe, I think that I often think that women have a tendency to beat around the bush more and it's because they're afraid of being seen as a bad lady. You know?
[00:19:10] Chris Green: You know, that's that's an interesting thought. And here's what I would tell you is. And I think it's - boy, we could go down a rabbit hole here, but, and I'll try not to, but I, I believe that because of poor equitability in business for a long time, that for whatever, for, for lots of good reasons that, that women feel a little bit nervous of asserting themselves. And I think they should not feel that way. I had incredibly powerful strong women on my teams with incredibly strong opinions and I loved it. Um, they learned how to deliver it tactfully. But but yeah, I mean, you know, we're all better because of the diversity of our workforce.
[00:20:03] And hospitality you know, we weren't perfect, we had a lot to grow about but we're working hard to do it. And I think we're seeing like you saw the uh, The Now Platform that they had in Chicago the the women, women's conference and leadership and they're just doing a lot of great things. I think don't be don't be shy deliver your message. Because honestly if your leaders or your peers are too are offended by it, as long as you're not delivering in a harsh manner, then I mean, that's on them.
[00:20:29] Susan Barry: Well, and I think that has certainly changed, like, in the course of my career, you know, it's, it's much better now, for sure.
[00:20:36] Chris Green: Yeah.
[00:20:36] Susan Barry: You talk about preparing contingency plans for setbacks, and I'm curious about what kind of setbacks you see around the bend in the river coming up for hotel companies? Which should hotel companies be preparing for now?
[00:20:53] Chris Green: That's a great question. So, when you're sitting up on the back of the raft, you can see a little further down river and that comes with experience. I talk about that in the book. The, the river guide has that seat where they're elevated. And you as a river guide should be, you can't be heads down in your, in your daily P and L and you've got to spend some time in your daily P and L, but you do need to be looking down river and remembering that, you know, that when the water flow is not strong or whatever's happening around the corner, that there can be jagged rocks.
[00:21:20] Well, if you've been around our industry at any, for any period of time, you know, that we, it's cyclical and you know, that what those, those kinds of changes look like. I think that we're for sure facing… and I don't think we're even quite there yet, or even everybody's grasping it. A real A real kind of nexus with the employment of our, of our business, because we saw a run up right after 22. And then things have really leveled out 23, 24 businesses been okay, but not gangbusters. Like we had hoped it to come back. And at the same time, the banks and all the PE firms have been aggressively pursuing investment in our business. And also hotels have been trying to trade, which creates this pressure on hotel performance.
[00:22:07] And when that occurs marginal performance, I mean, bottom line. And when that occurs, you've got the managers that have got to work hard to drive a certain target in a YF hotel. Then you've got the owners or the PE firms or whoever owns the assets trying to drive up asset value. And then you've got interest rates and lending community holding down value. So it's like a pressurized bubble and something's going to have to give here. And it's not going to be labor costs, right? That, that, that ship has sailed. Um, and so people are talking about trying to leverage technology at a greater level. The problem is, and, and maybe I'm, maybe sometimes I'm not as free thinker as I would like to be, but there's some things in hospitality you're just not going to replace with technology. You're just not because people. Hospitality is people and you need people in hospitality.
[00:22:58] Susan Barry: I agree. I, you know, this comes up on this show all the time where people talk about like automating the cleaning process or robots delivering room service. I don't believe that. I believe that the future of our industry in terms of automation and AI integration is at the top. It's compressing high barrier to entry jobs that rely on spreadsheets and math problems. You know, a lot of like rote work or data entry into a Delphi database, like so much of that can compress with technology.
[00:23:34] I don't believe that it makes sense to get rid of frontline staff. Like, what's the point of that? 1st of all, they're the least expensive, lowest barrier to entry and secondly, what are guests doing there? Then like, stay home or go, you know, for a ride in a rocket ship.
[00:23:51] Chris Green: I don't know. And maybe I'm a different breed, but the whole, um, the Amazon stores, right. The ones they have in there where you don't talk to anybody or see anything, or it's just not a, I don't know that I necessarily love going into the shops in the airport, but I do, I make it my mission to make them smile when I talk to the person at the checkout counter. Hey, how are you? Do you know? Cause I know that they have a tough job, but that interaction feeds me. And, and the, the Amazon store, while it's efficient, and I'm sure they have exactly what it does not feed me at all. And so I can't imagine going to a resort and seeing nobody. That would be just miserable.
[00:24:26] Susan Barry: You know what I just thought of? This actually might be the answer. Okay, you know how for like, 7 million years, people continuously talk about personalization is the next thing in hotels. And yet nobody knows what that means. This is it. People like you and I who are extroverts and get our energy from interacting with other people get that experience and people who are like, “No, thank you. I would prefer less interaction, conserve my energy.” Get check in kiosk. That is the answer to personalization, right?
[00:25:01] Chris Green: Yeah, yeah. You can go to a hotel and not talk to anybody. Now you can go to a health center or Marriott with digital key or, and really not see anybody at all. If you choose not to, which sounds miserable to me, but I mean, maybe it's, I mean, frankly, my wife would like that if she could stay in the room and read a book, she would. She would love it.
[00:25:18] Susan Barry: Yes. Totally the same. Okay. If this was really an exit interview, I would probably ask this question, which is, um, tell me a couple of your favorite things I would say about your past job, but I'll just say the hotel business. So what are a couple of your favorite things about the hotel business and a couple of your least favorite things about the hotel business? How would you answer that?
[00:25:42] Chris Green: For sure. My favorite thing about the hotel business is being with my teams. That's my favorite thing. I I'm never more lit up or alive. Even my wife would say if I was getting on a plane to go to a meeting with attorneys about insurance in New York, I'd be, you know, just getting up and putting a suit on. But if I was going to visit hotels, my wife would say, “Oh my gosh, you're so full of energy.” I just knew it was going to be a good day, no matter what was happening at the hotels. Cause I was with people that were like-minded that were excited. And it was just, it was just incredibly fun. So I love that. I love the puzzle that hospitality is, especially the hotel business.
[00:26:17] You know, you stated that I started in restaurants, which is it’s a great start. It's one of the hardest businesses, but I love the puzzle that hotels are with all the different departments, all the different potential revenue streams, all the different underlying asset values and real estate propositions and capital programs. I mean, it's just a very complex problem and I love solving complex things. So that keeps me super energized.
[00:26:42] Uh, what don't I like about hospitality? I mean, it's hard because when, when you thrive in the, in the, in the, the excitement, so then some of the things that people might think are bad, like working weekends or nights or busy banquets or those things are thrilling to me. I'm there's nothing more exciting to me. I used to, like I said, I worked at a big resort hotel in Florida where we could have two, three thousand people out on the pool decks on the weekend and at the beach. And I, there was nothing that made me happier than walking out there and seeing everybody doing their job and people jumping in the pools and on the beach and having fun and knowing that there was just madness going on behind the walls.
[00:27:23] Like laundry was turning a thousand miles an hour. But that, that just was thrilling. So, so I guess the biggest thing I would, I would say is the, the fragmentation and then the pressure put on by as investments continue to grow more complex investments, it puts tremendous operating pressure on the hotels. And because we have been through two generations of um, hospitality investment groups, I would say, I don't know the best way to put that. And I'm not, I'm not putting down on them. I'm just saying you've had, you've had the, the, the investment and asset managers that were trained after 9/11 and then after the financial crisis. They're very, they're very much trained on mathematical pressure or formulaic based outcomes where hospitality is at its heart and art. And great financial returns come with great delivery of that art. And if you squeeze the life out of the artist, you're going to have a pretty bad painting.
[00:28:30] Susan Barry: That is so well put. I love the way that you said that.
Elevator bell rings
[00:28:34] Susan Barry: Top Floor is sponsored in part by HITECH, the world's largest, longest running hospitality technology event. HITECH 2024 takes place June 24th through 27th at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit HITECH. org. That's HITEC.org. Okay, back to Chris.
Elevator bell rings
[00:29:00] Susan Barry: We have reached the part that everyone has been waiting for, especially me. When you tell us the real story, the real skinny on some of your fellow hotel company presidents and CEOs. So we have to -
[00:29:18] Chris Green: Oh boy.
[00:29:20] Susan Barry: I know we have to start with our mutual friend. This is someone who seriously told me one of the best loading dock stories that I've ever heard of all time. That was an episode 81. This is Charles Oswald, who is president and CEO of Aperture Hotels. In full disclosure, Charles and I worked together professionally through my day job, but that is not why he's coming up in this conversation. I'm nervous. Chris, what do you have to say about Charles?
[00:29:50] Chris Green: I love Charles. Uh, you know, Charles is Charles is always got that huge smile on his face and he's a learner. That's what I love about it. He's curious about what's happening in the industry. That's how he and I became friends is every time I would see him at lodging or Hunter or wherever we would share war stories about what was happening. And he, he always, he's one of those people that makes you feel seen. He listens intently. He doesn't talk over you. He is interested in what you have to say. And, and then he, and then you see, quite frankly, if you, if you are a student of what he's doing and the growth, he's having at Aperture, he takes pieces that he's learned from a lot of people. He's not too proud to say, I learned this here. I learned this here and he's having huge success. So, and he's a friend and I just really like Charles, smart guy.
[00:30:36] Susan Barry: Speaking of learning, I learn so much from Charles. I know that he is like, wait, I'm paying you to work for us. You should be paying me because I teach you something new every week. Like it's for sure for real. He is a very smart man. And I, he, for whatever reason, the way he explains things is exactly the way that I learn. So it's a good pairing from that. Okay. Next on the gossip list is Ben Seidel, founder, president, and CEO of Real Hospitality Group. How do you know Ben and what would you say about him?
[00:31:12] Chris Green: So Ben, I love Ben too. Ben, uh, is a bulldog. He, his firm was in Maryland. Um, Chesapeake was in Maryland. So we were, we competed on a few opportunities back then, but I just have so much respect for Ben because you know, I talked earlier in this episode about being transparent and being authentic in your speech. And Ben is a guy who, who I learned a lot of that from, I watched him in important meetings with either brands or with, uh, AHLA or the government affairs. And Ben was so well spoken in such a deep knowledge of our industry that he could speak confidently and authoritatively. But also not offensively and get his point across. And so he's just a bulldog and he obviously he's seen great success and he's a really good friend. He can seem, if you're not prepared, abrasive, but he's not. He always has your best intent at heart, but he's not afraid to say the tough things.
[00:32:09] Susan Barry: That's what I hope people remember me for. What about Brad Rahinski? Brad is president and CEO at Hotel Equities. This is a company that has more strategic partners than you and I have fingers and toes. And I'm so interested in your take.
[00:32:27] Chris Green: So Brad is first and foremost, an incredible human being. Uh, one of the kindest, most authentic gentlemen that I've ever met, uh, when he was growing Hotel Equities and I was still a very young COO and even maybe SVP at Chesapeake. And I was running around the shows trying to meet the big dogs. Brad was very kind to me. He would ya know introduce me to people and he's just been a good friend. He's someone who's who I trust and who has done an incredible job of creating a business model that's different and unique to our industry that's seen great success. And he's somebody that I know I can call on the phone and ask that he would be right there to do anything. Just a good human. I know his people feel that way too.
[00:33:11] Susan Barry: Well, it wouldn't be a thorough exit interview if we didn't discuss your former partner in crime, Sloan Dean, #RoomToThrive. What do you want to share about Sloan, who is CEO of Remington?
[00:33:28] Chris Green: Sloan's an incredible guy. Super, super smart. Super committed to being a leader of a place where people thrive so much. So that, you know, as you kind of joked, #RoomToThrive, that's, that's his like patented, uh, response on all social media. And actually during my farewell speech at the leadership conference, I was making a joke about that I had received reviews on my book and I wrote a couple of funny reviews by some other senior leaders.
[00:33:55] And I said, and then I got this one and it said, “Room to thrive, from me.” I got a good chuckle out of him. No, he is incredibly committed and incredibly smart. And, um, he, he also thinks at a different level about our industry, about growth and about customer care and support. So I'm sure that. Remington is going to continue to thrive under his leadership. And, um, I was really confident stepping out of the way, um, and letting him do his thing.
[00:34:24] Susan Barry: Okay, Chris, before we say goodbye, instead of heading down to the loading dock, since you've already been there, we are going to take a seat in the frequent travelers lounge and ask one final question. What was the most memorable part of your recent trip to Italy?
[00:34:44] Chris Green: We, oh my gosh, it's so simple. So we went to a family farm. So, so we go on what our trip is kind of curated by a lady that we know. So it's very local experiences. It's not go to Rome and visit the Colosseum. We did a little bit of that, but mostly it's go to the Italian countryside and do things that are just incredible. And one of the things we did is we went to a local family farm and vineyard. It was a, um, lavender farm. They also have a small winery. And so we sat in their, um, villa overlooking the farm and the small winery and their grandma Nona taught us to make pasta. We made pasta and then we ate it. And it was, and we drank their wine. And so it was, uh, incredibly relaxing and fun. And it really fed me. I, I just love that country and their people, their, their hospital, their hospital by nature. So,
[00:35:43] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh, it's my favorite place to go. I couldn't agree more. Chris Green. Thank you so much for being here. I highly encourage everyone listening to read The River Guide to Leadership and I really appreciate you riding up to the top floor with me.
[00:35:59] Chris Green: Thank you so much, Susan.
[00:36:01] Susan Barry: Thanks so much for listening. You can find the show notes at topfloorpodcast.com/episode/142. Jonathan Albano is our editor, producer, and all around genius. He even wrote and performed our theme song with vocals by Cameron Albano. You can subscribe to Top Floor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And your rating or review will go a long way in helping us give you more of what you like.
[00:36:37] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Top Floor Podcast at www.topfloorpodcast.com. Have a hospitality marketing question? Reach us at 850-404-9630 to be featured in a future episode.