April 20, 2023 • 33 mins
Michael shares the factors that contributed to his success plus the importance of intellectual curiosity. He talks about the value of getting involved in industry groups and how public speaking helps to build your personal brand. Michael shares his 3 steps for leading teams – and while the concepts are simple, he admits executing them is harder. Finally, he shares advice for having a long and successful career.
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Episode Transcript
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Lan Elliott (00:00):
Hello and welcome to D E I Advisors.
My name is Lan Elliot on behalfof D e I advisors, and today's
guest advisor is Michael Evans,who is the president of Marcus
Hotels and Resorts.
Welcome Michael.
Michael Evans (00:14):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Lan Elliott (00:16):
Absolutely.
For those of you who don't knowMarcus Hotels, they are a
publicly traded owner operatorof hotels and they've actually
been around for 87 years, whichis something I didn't know
about.
So thank you for sharing that,Michael.
Yeah.
Michael, we've actually beenfriends for a while, so I happen
to know, you have a reallyinteresting career journey.
(00:38):
Could you share with us some ofthe inflection points in your
career and if there was aparticular factor or something
that you think contributed toyour success?
Michael Evans (00:49):
Sure, sure.
So, okay.
So starting with the inflectionpoints, I mean, I think, uh,
there's been a number of them.
Uh, most of them relate to sortof big career moves that I, that
I.
Um, you know, beginning with,um, when I left the practice of
law, so, you know, I went to lawschool to, um, knowing I did not
wanna be an attorney.
Uh, but I, when I got out, Ifigured I should get some real
world experience in that.
(01:10):
And so I, I practiced law forthree years.
I was always interested in realestate and development
generally, not specificallyhotels at that time.
And, um, and, and spent a lot oftime looking and talking to
people about differentopportunities in, in real
estate.
And the opportunity came up, uh,to join Marietta up at their
headquarters.
They had, uh, just formed, andthis is in the late nineties,
(01:31):
had just formed a group to workon restructurings and things
like that.
And so, um, so I joined Marriottand that was, you know, the
beginning of my, uh, career inhospitality.
And then, um, you know, kind ofthe next inflection point I, I
would say was when, so I waswith Marriott.
Um, I'd been at headquarters sixyears and had the opportunity to
move overseas with Marri.
(01:53):
Moved to Hong Kong, uh, to dodevelopment throughout Asia, and
then eventually moved to, uh,London where I did development
for Marriott in Europe and theMiddle East.
And, um, that internationalexperience was, was a true
turning point, I think, in mycareer.
And, um, it's something that,that, you know, I think really
helped me, um, advance mycareer.
(02:14):
So, you know, those were twomajor inflection points.
And then, you know, I, Ieventually, I, I went to, um, I
left Marion after 10.
Went to Las Vegas, joined mgmand this is in, um, early 2008.
And we were really focused onexperiential hospitality.
And that was before, um, uh, youknow, it was a buzzword.
It was before we had as theproliferation of lifestyle
(02:38):
hotels and soft brands.
And I really think of MGM asbeing one of the leaders in
experiential hospitality and,and being able to be a part of
that, um, you know, I thinkreally, really helped me a lot
and helped my.
And then, you know, then the,the last inflection point would
be when I joined a little morethan three years ago, uh, Marcus
Hotels and resorts and, and hadthe opportunity to, um, you
(02:58):
know, pull together kind ofeverything that I'd learned
throughout my career and, andthe ability to, uh, to lead and,
and um, uh, continue to developthis hotel and lead is some
really amazing teams.
So, yeah, those were kind of themain inflection points I would
say throughout, throughout my.
Um, I think you asked, sorry, goahead.
(03:18):
Yeah, did, so, um, I think youasked about, um, what
contributed to my success.
So, you know, a number ofthings.
I mean, one, um, and I, I reallythink being passionate about
whatever I've been doing, um, Ithink it's critical for anyone,
whatever you're gonna do, youhave to be passionate about it.
We spend so much time, you know,in our careers and work that if
(03:39):
that, if you're not passionateabout it, um, you won't excel at
it and you won't be great.
So I think that that's numberone.
You know, I think also, um,being a strategic thinker, um,
knowing how to analyzesituations and develop and
execute a sound plan, I think, Ithink that was really helpful.
Um, I'd say, you know, anotherpoint, and I think my family
(04:00):
would probably take issue with,with this, but, um, having a
reasonable amount of emotionalintelligence.
Right.
Really, you know, the, theability to.
Effectively manage people andto, and to work with people both
inside and, uh, outside of theorganization.
And so, um, I think, I thinkthat's been helpful.
I'll, I'll tell you a quickstory.
So when I first joined Marriott,you, I was in my, in my kinda
(04:24):
late twenties, um, relativelyjunior position.
Then I was a manager, but I wasworking on some pretty big
projects and I, um, I had toinfluence a lot of people that
were much more senior than me.
And, and I think the ability todo that effectively, um, really
led to, um, you know, a fairamount of success that I had at
Marriott, which of course then,then led on to, to other
(04:48):
opportunities within, within mycareer.
So I say those things combinedwith a really strong work ethic
are kind of the, some of thekeys.
Uh, to, to my success.
Lan Elliott (04:58):
Really great points and things that people don't
always talk about, right?
They talk about getting skills,but they don't really talk about
the eq, they don't talk aboutbeing able to influence people
around in the organization andmight not be people that report
to you.
You really still have to haveinfluence across the
organization, and that's a skillthat's really important to
develop.
So I love that you shared.
(05:20):
So, Michael, you don't get towhere you are without overcoming
a few obstacles.
Can you share a little bit abouthow you process obstacles?
Like what do you look for first?
What do you do first when youcome across something like that?
Michael Evans (05:36):
Well, first of all, I think it's really
critical when you're facingobstacles and challenges to, to
stay common level-headed, right?
Um, I have this saying that, youknow, we can only do what we can
do.
We can only control what we cancontrol.
I must have said that a milliontimes to the team, you know,
throughout the pandemic andcertainly the early days of the
pandemic, right?
And so, yeah.
Um, getting excited.
It doesn't help.
We don't, we don't do our bestthinking, um, when, when we're
(05:59):
excited.
So staying calm I think isreally critical, uh, to start
with.
And then I think really thinkingabout, you know, what's, what's
the root cause of, of thechallenge that we're facing, the
issues.
Um, I have another expression,which is sort of the bottom line
is, right.
I like just zeroing in andgetting to what's, what's the
bottom line of something andunderstanding what's causing a
challenge.
(06:19):
Uh, you know, from there, um,put together, you develop a
plan, right?
And so, Um, you understand whatthe issue is, you put a plan
together and then, then I thinkit's just a matter of working to
execute on that while at thesame time being kind of mindful
that, you know, your plan maynot address the challenge, you
may have to pivot and, and tohave sort of a, a plan B, so to
(06:40):
speak.
Right.
But, um, that's sort of how Iwould say that I, I process, um,
you know, challenges that I'mfacing.
Lan Elliott (06:49):
Any, any advice on motivating your team when
they're tackling a challenge?
Michael Evans (06:55):
Well, I think, I mean, well one is, and it's not
easy to do, but to get people tofocus on staying calm, right?
Not everyone's nature to, to dothat.
So starting there as I said, butthen, um, really ensuring, um,
and getting people to worktogether as a team, right?
And knowing that we're gonnawork in a collaborative manner
and that, um, ensuring thateveryone sort of, it feels like
(07:15):
we're like, you know, we're partof the team and that we have
each other's.
And, and, um, when, when there'sa challenging situation, working
in that type of environment, um,I find always proves to be much
more, uh, successful.
Lan Elliott (07:30):
That's great.
Thank you.
Moving on to a related topic,but it's around taking risks and
you've taken a number of risksthroughout your career and you,
you've mentioned a few of them,but could you share an example
of where you've successfullytaken a risk and, and how, how
(07:51):
you mentally prepare yourself totake a chance on.
Michael Evans (07:54):
Yeah.
Well, I, I, first of all, Ithink as, as you know, I'm, I'm
a little bit predisposed to riskta taking probably more than,
than, than a lot of people,right?
I mean, I, I spent a good partof my twenties jumping off
airplanes for fun, and I lovedeepwater scuba diving.
And, and as you know,motorcycling has, uh, has been
my lifelong passion and hobby.
So I'm, yes, I, I
Lan Elliott (08:14):
remember you telling me that sports are no
fun if you can't potentially diedoing them.
So did I
say
Michael Evans (08:19):
that?
Oh, I, I may have, but, um, no,but.
Uh, but, you know, butseriously, I, I, I really
approach, um, calculated risksin business.
It's kind of the same way thatI, um, approach those related to
my hobbies, right?
And that is to start off byeducating myself.
You, uh, you don't just jump outof a plane or go scuba diving
(08:40):
or, or jump on a motorcyclewithout proper training.
And the same thing reallyapplies when it comes to
business.
Right.
You have to educate yourself andyou have to research the issue
and, and, um, get as muchinformation as you possibly can.
Um, about, about the issue athand, you know, and that
includes, um, you know,evaluating all the risks and the
(09:00):
rewards, um, considering, um,you know, worst case scenario.
And, um, and then evaluating allthat and, and, and coming up and
making an informed decision.
And, and I think, I think that'sreally critical.
And then, and then again, at asimilar to what I said earlier,
having a contingency plan,right?
If things don't go as planned,um, when you take this risk, you
(09:24):
know, have a plan B and knowing,you know, how, how to pivot and
being, you know, uh, prepared todo so.
So,
Lan Elliott (09:32):
Yeah, things don't always go the way that you
think, so sometimes you can comeup with the best plan and then
the world turns left like it dida few years ago, and, uh, and
you have to adapt,
Michael Evans (09:40):
right?
Absolutely.
It that happened, you know, Ijoined, I joined Marcus in
January of 20 and, uh, so I, Iliterally finished touring our
last, um, hotel on March 10th of20, and then three days later,
the world shut down.
So big pivot for sure.
Lan Elliott (09:56):
Well, you got in all the hotel tours at the right
moment so that you could leadthe company from from Milwaukee.
Michael Evans (10:02):
I did.
I did.
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (10:05):
I wanted to talk a little bit about developing a
network, because that'ssomething that people aren't
always comfortable digging intobecause it's not something that
maybe their personality doesn'tlend themselves to it.
Walking into a cocktail partywhere you don't know anybody
seems really scary, buthospitality is really, A
business that is veryrelationship based.
(10:28):
Um, we actually met negotiatingacross the table from one
another is how we first met, andwe ended up becoming great
friends.
And can you share a little bitabout how you've built your
network and maybe how do younetwork in a way that suits your
personality?
Michael Evans (10:44):
Sure.
Yeah.
So I'm gonna start by saying, Imean the, the major foundation
for my network was honestlybuilt back in, um, my early days
at.
Right.
Some of my closestrelationships, including, you
know, you and your husband Mike,are from, from those early days.
Right.
I mean, I think there wassomething about all of us, even
though you and I worked fordifferent, two different
(11:05):
companies, we worked prettyclosely together in deals.
Um, there's something aboutbeing in the trenches together,
I think while we're building ourcareers, that that made people a
lot closer.
Uh, you know, when I look back,it's, gosh, it's, you know, I
think it's over 25 years now,around 25 years that, um, Since
those relationships wereestablished and, and honestly,
those relationships that Iestablished back in those days
(11:27):
really remained some of my, um,most trusted and valued
connections and, andrelationships.
So, um, I think that's reallyimportant.
And, and it's, and I don't wannaget on too much of a soapbox
here, but it's, it's actuallyleads to kind of one of my
concerns that I.
About work today and the, thedesire for many people, uh, to
(11:47):
that wanna work remotely.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, I think there's alot of discussion about negative
impact on culture and impact oncollaboration around that.
But I also think one of theimpacts of remote work and what
that can have is on longpeople's long-term relationships
because you just can't buildthat same level of relationship
with people.
If, if, if you're not.
(12:09):
And, and so, um, you know, whenI look back on, on, you know,
the relationships that I'vebuilt, as I said, they were
built sort of in the trenchestogether.
And, and I think it's importantto, to do that.
I'll get off my soapbox nowabout that issue.
But, um, you know, so, so youasked about how, um, how do I
(12:30):
network and, and kind of whatsuits my personality, right?
So I, um, You know, I, I lovemeeting new people.
I do, I truly do.
But at the same time, I havereally a, I'd say a relatively
low tolerance for kind ofrepetitive BS conversations,
right?
I mean, we've, we've all, we'veall been to, uh, industry
conferences where by the end ofthe two or three days, uh, you
(12:53):
know, we feel like we've, we've,it's gone through Groundhog Day,
right?
And, and had the sameconversations over and over.
Um, I don't think anybodyenjoys, enjoys that, and, For
me, when I am meeting newpeople, I always try to find,
um, some level of personalconnection to the person, right?
I mean, that could be a commonplace that we worked.
Fortunately, you know, there arethousands and thousands of
(13:15):
married alumnis.
Um, it could be a common friend,it could be a place where we've
lived or traveled.
Or even better a shared hobby orpassion, right?
So try and find some sort ofpersonal connection, uh, to the
person.
I think that that makes adifference.
It makes you, makes them standout to you and, and makes you
more memorable to them as well.
Um, so I think that's important.
(13:36):
And then, you know, kind of twoother points around networking
that, that would, that I wouldmake.
You know, one, um, it's, I thinkit's really important to get
involved and be active in allthe various industry groups, um,
and organizations.
Obviously there's big ones likeA H L A, which leads our
industry, but there's a lot ofother subgroups and smaller
(13:57):
groups that are focused onparticular segments of the
business.
Um, many, many of the largercompanies have, uh, internal
groups that people can join.
So I think that's really, reallycritical.
It's a great way to meet peopleand it's a great way to.
You know, build up your, yourreputation.
And then, um, and the secondwould be speaking engagements,
right?
And I think try and try and dowhat you can to secure speaking
(14:20):
engagements and, and, um, sopeople, you know, hear your
name.
And over time you do enough ofthose and, and you, you become
more of a known, known quantityin the industry, right?
So, um, so those are kind of thetwo things I'd say.
Lan Elliott (14:35):
That's such great advice because I think a lot of
people will shy away from publicspeaking and it is such an
important component of buildingyour personal brand and getting
exposure out there.
Um, so I think it's worthwhileand it does take, it does take
time and practice and, but themore you do it, the more
comfortable you get with it.
So I, I love that you mentionedthat.
(14:56):
Yeah.
Switching gears over to mentorsand champions, cuz I know you've
had a few in your, in youramazing career.
How have your mentors or yourchampions helped advance your
career?
Michael Evans (15:11):
So, it's interesting.
You know, I, I don't know that Ihave any real formal mentors.
There's a lot of people that Iactually learned a lot from,
right?
I mean, beginning with kinda theattorneys that I worked for,
right outta law school, Ilearned a tremendous amount from
them.
I learned.
Um, and how to be an effectivecommunicator, both, you know,
orally and in writing, which isreally important.
(15:31):
Um, I learned, you know, earlyon in my career at Marriott,
right?
I, uh, had had the opportunityto learn a lot from the late Jim
Sullivan, right?
I mean, anyone that was, uh,either worked in development and
did deals at Marriott or, uh,You know, was what's, you know,
developer of hotels during thattime?
(15:52):
Kind of from the, what Jim wasthere, I think mid eighties to,
I think he retired in oh eightor oh nine.
Right.
And, and, uh, Jim was so focusedon thinking about deals from,
from every single angle, right?
You, uh, you had to reallystrategize and think about, um,
every aspect of deal, um, howbest to position something, how
(16:12):
best to negoti.
And, and lots of differentalternatives.
And, and so thinking about dealsholistically, I've really
learned a lot from Jim.
Now, Jim, um, Jim had a heart ofgold that he tried to hide, I
think behind his, like, gruffexterior.
And so it was a lot ofself-preservation, right?
Learning from him.
Um, and so, um, while, while hewasn't an official mentor of
(16:34):
mine, I learned a tremendous,tremendous amount from him, um,
as I know so many people in theindustry did as well.
Um, I'd also say, you know, cuzyou used the word champions.
I, I, I, um, I did have a numberof champions that, that really
played a major role in, inadvancing my career.
Um, one of those champions issomeone that, that both you and
(16:54):
I have worked for.
So Joel Eisman, right?
I worked for Joel early on in mydays at Marriott.
Um, you worked for him morerecently at I H G.
But Joel had, um, come back fromAsia.
He was, he was, uh, the firstperson to head of development in
Asia for Marriott.
And he was there, I'm not sureexactly how long.
I think it was over a decade, Ibelieve.
(17:15):
And when he came back to, uh,Bethesda, he, um, headed up the
global asset management team,which I was part of.
So I worked for Joel and he wasa big supporter of mine and, and
was really instrumental inhelping, um, make happen.
Uh, moved to to Hong Konginitially.
And um, as I mentioned earlier,that was a major inflection
(17:36):
point in my career.
And so, um, certainly Joel was,was one of the bigger champions
that had a big effect on mycareer.
And there's been others alongthe way, people that have seen
some level of promise in me andhave provided me with
opportunities to, uh, to advancemy career.
Lan Elliott (17:52):
That's great.
So let me ask you this.
How important do you.
Is it to find mentors andchampions, even if they're not
formal mentors or what have you,how important is that and how,
how can people go about it?
Because we've heard there's aright way and there's a wrong
way to do it.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Evans (18:08):
Yeah.
Well, I do think it's veryimportant.
Um, we need to have people thatbelieve in us and help, help
advance our careers.
Right?
Um, I also believe that thatleaders today naturally want to
help more junior people, right?
You want to, you wanna helppeople that show promise and
show commitment, and so, Ireally think that, you know,
the, the best way to findchampions and mentors is to
(18:30):
start by, you know, demonstratethis, demonstrate your passion.
Demonstrate your, you know, yourhard work, your commitment, and,
and quite frankly, some level ofpromise that, that, that you can
one day be a strong leader.
I think, um, if you do that,people will wanna help, will
wanna help you.
Um, So that, that, I mean, Ithink that's sort of table
stakes, right?
(18:50):
I then think you, you can beproactive about it as well.
And I, and I honestly wasn't,uh, very good about this in my
career.
But looking back on it, um, Irealized I probably should have
been more proactive aboutactually asking people for, for
help and mentorship and, and I,and I think it's good for people
to do that.
I do think you have to be, um,I'll say, you know, specific
(19:11):
about what it is that you'relooking for in, from the
mentorship and from therelationship.
Um, I think you need to bereally open about, you know, the
feedback that you're going toget.
But, but I, if, if you canidentify someone that, um, that
you really want to learn from, Ithink that.
You know, approaching them andasking them for, um, some
guidance or mentorship, um, youknow, is certainly something
(19:33):
that you should do.
And I think you'll find that,that most leaders will be more
than happy to, uh, to do, to,you know, provide mentorship.
Lan Elliott (19:43):
Yeah, I think that's true.
I think it's one of thewonderful things about our, our
industry is that peoplenaturally wanna help one
another.
So doing a great job is a, is agood way to do that.
Right.
Start that convers.
One of the things I wanted talkabout was leadership style,
because in, in looking at ourindustry, we don't have as many
women leaders as at the top aswe have women employees at the
(20:07):
bottom of our industry.
If you think of it as a pyramid,and women leaders tend to have a
different style than men is whatI've noticed, but what
characteristics or leadershipstyle do you look for in your
leaders?
Michael Evans (20:21):
Um, well, look, I, I think it's really important
for, for leaders to be sort ofaction oriented and, you know,
results driven, right?
I mean, and so, um, you know, inthe, in you've heard in the past
and people talking about being,you know, people need to be
aggressive or assertive and,and.
I kind of, sometimes, sometimesI can, can be equated to sort of
(20:44):
acting like a jerk, right?
Which I'm gonna use a nice, nicelanguage here since we're being
videoed.
But, um, and I don't thinkthat's, that's the right
approach, right?
I mean, I think it's, um, Ithink leading by fear and, uh,
is a really outdated concept,and I think it's much more
effective to take sort of a, um,an affiliative leadership
(21:06):
approach, right?
Whereby, you know, you'rebuilding trust within the group
and create emotional bonds andpromote a sense of belonging
within the organization.
I think that's how you, you, youreally lead and.
You know, I'll, I'll tell you,the approach I take is sort of,
I've always thought of it asthree simple steps, or maybe
simple to say, a little harderto execute.
(21:26):
But I think of, I think ofleadership sort of this way,
right?
I, you start off by, uh,building a team of not only
talented people, but passionatepeople.
Um, that's one.
You know, two, you know, youknow, create an environment that
encourages collaboration andopen communication among the.
And then, and then third, um,empowering people to do their
(21:48):
jobs, right?
So you empower them whileholding them accountable, uh, to
clearly establish goals andmilestones.
So that's, that's really what Ifind to be the most effective
formula leadership.
Um, not, you know, anaggressive.
Uh, in your face, you know,again, acting like a jerk type
approach.
Lan Elliott (22:09):
Yeah.
That pound on the tableapproaches really, I think that
it's time has passed, so it hasfor sure.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
I love that.
Thank you.
Thank you for the three points.
Switching over to leadingdiverse teams.
As you mentioned, you've livedin a lot of places in Hong Kong,
in Europe, uh, but also workingin, in throughout Europe and the
(22:31):
Middle East when you were there,and then going over to gaming,
which is kind of a differentenvironment than the hospitality
world that we had been in.
So, Thinking about diversity canbe so much more than race and
gender.
It can be diversity of thoughtor of different cultures or
backgrounds.
Given your work experienceworking around the world, you
(22:51):
know, managing diverse teams canactually be more challenging
than working with a homogeneousteam that all think the same way
and, and have the samebackground.
What's, what's been yourexperience working with people
from diverse cultures anddifferent, different ways of
thinking and how do you managethat?
Michael Evans (23:09):
Well, I, first of all lemme say that, you know,
working with people from diversecultures, it really has been one
of the highlights of my career.
Um, you know, you know, withouta doubt, learning to work and
partner with people from variouscultures made me a, a much more
effective leader.
Again, that, that really startedwhen, you know, when I moved,
moved to Hong Kong, um, youknow, there's.
(23:30):
There's a real, um, differencein the way people do business
around the world, right?
In the US we tend to start, wework on deals, we get stuff
done, and then through thatprocess, sometimes you build a
friendship or relationship withthe people in, in Asia, in the
Middle East, right?
It's the exact opposite.
So you, you don't get a dealdone with somebody in Asia or
the, or the Middle East, unlessyou've built a relationship with
(23:50):
them first, and there's a levelof trust.
Um, so, you know, real, reallyvery different approach to, to
how we do things.
In the West, right?
Um, even, and then, and theneven, you know, within Asia for
example, and within certainmarkets there's, there's
differences.
How, how you do business inJapan is very different from how
you do business in, in, uh, inChina versus how you do business
(24:13):
in Vietnam or, or any of theother countries, right?
So, um, so you, you really haveto be very focused on, on the
cultural differences and then,Something that I learned by
doing business over there and,and working with teams, right?
I went over there and, and my,my colleagues were, were almost
all from different cultures.
And, um, you learn how importantit's to really to, to stop and
(24:37):
listen, um, you know, try andread people's body language and,
and really try and, um,understand and appreciate the
diverse perspectives that theybring from their culture.
And, um, Doing that is, I think,really critical to having
success in, in leading a diverseteam, right?
Understanding people, kind ofwhere, where they're coming from
(24:58):
and their perspective, and notjust, not just through, you
know, your lens.
Lan Elliott (25:03):
Um, yeah, that's that's so true, and especially
now as.
Inclusive cultures have becomemuch more part of the common
conversation and you're meetingpeople where they are.
I think this idea just to divein and just start going into the
business side, which is whatwe've done mostly in the, in the
us, that approach is not gonnawork.
(25:24):
It doesn't work in everyculture, as you mentioned, but
it also.
Maybe doesn't work with everyperson, even here in the United
States.
So I love the idea of stoppingand taking the time to get to
know people that you're gonna beworking closely
Michael Evans (25:36):
with.
Yeah, absolutely.
Lan Elliott (25:39):
Yeah.
One of our favorite questions atDEI, d e i advisors is what
advice would you give to youryounger.
And I think it, it does lead toa bit of self-reflection to
think about where you are nowversus where you were then.
So yeah.
Michael, what, what advice wouldyou give to your younger self?
Michael Evans (25:58):
So, it's interesting.
I actually, I actually had achance to think about this type
of question about a year and ahalf ago.
So when my oldest son, Gavin,was heading off to college for
his freshman year.
Um, at that time I wrote him avery long letter with kind of
all my thoughts about life andthe things I wish I knew when I
went off to college.
So, um, so I gave it, I gavethis actually a lot of thought
(26:18):
then, um, you know, there were alot of personal things in, in
that, in that letter, but someof the key themes and things
that I touched on, um, you know,one was the importance of
intellectual curiosity.
And, you know, the importance oflearning things, not just
because you have to for a testor for your diploma or a work
requirement, but simply betteryourself, right?
(26:41):
And become more knowledgeableand be more educated.
So I think that's, that'ssomething that's, that's really
important that I, I wish I knew,um, and folks on a little bit
more back in my, you know,freshman year in college.
Lan Elliott (26:53):
I think you were busy then.
Michael Evans (26:56):
I was.
Um, you know, second I think is,is importance of balance in your
life.
I mean, I, and I've, I'vealways, I've always, uh, found
that balance, you know, to bereally important.
And I knew this back then, but,um, I think I had a, a difficult
time perhaps finding that rightbalance.
Right.
And, and particularly early onin my career, I was, I was so
driven and, um, I'm not surethat I, that I had.
(27:22):
The right level of balancebetween my professional career
and, and personal life.
Although, you know, I stillfound time to do things with my
family and share a lot of commoninterests and, you know, we have
a great relationship with, with,uh, my wife and kids.
I wish in those early years oftheir life I had a little bit
more balance.
Um, so that's one.
(27:42):
And then, you know, last thingI'll, I'll touch on is just the
importance of patie.
Um, patience, patient
Lan Elliott (27:49):
patience.
I mean, Michael, most of yourhobbies, racing motorcycles has
nothing to do with patience.
Right.
You're, you're
Michael Evans (27:55):
right.
And so, and, and, and that thisis something that I wish, I wish
I, I knew back then is thatpatience.
And I'm, and I'm really thinkingabout from the standpoint of
kind of, um, career choices,right?
And, and there were, there weredefinitely times where I made
decisions around my careerbecause, um, I wasn't as patient
as perhaps I should have been.
And, you know, look, I'm.
Very happy with the way mycareer has turned out, and I, I
(28:18):
never look backwards, but, um,but I, that being said, I have
thought about, you know, when Imade certain de decisions to
make moves, um, some of that wasdriven by impatience, and it's
not necessarily, you never knowhow life would've turned out or
what I, what path that, youknow, would've gone down.
But, um, I really do think it'simportant to, to, uh, to not be
(28:39):
too impatient with your career.
You know, learn as much as youcan.
Get as much as you can out ofeach opportunity while you're
there.
And appreciate that.
And you know, usually when youdo good work and do good things,
it leads to, it leads tosuccess.
Lan Elliott (28:53):
That's great.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Gavin is lucky to have thatletter.
So I wanted to ask you one funquestion because one of the
things that we enjoy doing withour spouses when we get together
is go out for great meals.
And you recently moved toMilwaukee.
And for anyone who lives inMilwaukee or is visiting
(29:17):
Milwaukee, did have you found afavorite restaurant that you and
your wife like to go to?
Michael Evans (29:22):
Uh, I have so, so there's lots of great
restaurants in Milwaukeeactually.
You know, I moved here fromVegas, as you know, and, and
Vegas is, you know, capital.
Some people might argue NewYork, but in the US Vegas has
pretty amazing restaurants,right?
And.
But they're not as authentic as,as you know, they're all
replicas of someplace else.
And one thing we really lovedwhen we moved to Milwaukee was
(29:44):
how authentic our restaurantsare.
We have very few chains,actually downtown.
There's almost no chains,restaurants, um, so a lot of
great restaurants here.
We, uh, we operate a lot ofgreat restaurants, but one, one
of our favorites actually is arestaurant called Old
Germantown.
It's a, uh, it's a restauranton, on 125 acre.
And it's owned by family.
(30:05):
They've lived on the farm for 35years.
They, they raised their kidsthere.
And, um, uh, when they retired,um, Scott, um, one of the
founders was, uh, in education.
When he retired, he had thisdream of building this
restaurant on their farm, and hewas passionate about, uh, making
homemade sausages and homemadebeer.
(30:25):
And they built this beautifulrestaurant, well, they opened it
in November of 20, about theworst time that you could open a
restaurant, right?
Most restaurants were closingdown.
That's when they opened.
And, uh, my wife Sheila had readabout this, that it was gonna be
opening in the paper.
And we went, the opening day,fell in love with the
restaurant.
Um, and with the owners, we'vebecome friends with the family
(30:46):
and it's a spectacular, reallyauthentic, amazing place with
great food and great atmosphere.
So, um, anyone that is visitingMilwaukee, they should
definitely go visit old German.
Lan Elliott (30:58):
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you for that great tip,and I hope Mike and I can join
you and Sheila there one day.
Yeah.
When we come out to visit.
Absolutely.
Well, I know I can always spendlots of time with you, but our
time is getting towards the end,and so I wanted to ask you for
one final piece of advice if youcould share with our viewers,
(31:19):
keeping in mind that d e Iadvisors mission is centered
around empowering personalsuccess.
What, what final tidbit ofadvice would you offer our
viewers who are looking toadvance their careers?
Michael Evans (31:32):
So, May I, I, I hope this isn't too simple,
right?
But, but I think of a couplethings.
One, um, you know, keeplearning, right?
I, I touched on this a littlebit earlier, uh, with
intellectual curiosity, but keeplearning going above and beyond,
you know, become sub truesubject matter experts in your
field and, and, and, and otherfields, right?
(31:54):
And, and no more if you're inmarketing, well learn more than
just marketing, right?
And if you're in.
Learn beyond development.
So, so learning everything youcan, I think is really, is
really critical, um, in thefirst place, you know.
Second, I'd say, you know, putin the hard work, you know,
demonstrate, uh, you know, yourpassion and your commitment and,
(32:15):
and, and the expertise that youhave.
Um, and then, and then, youknow, lastly, I'd say, you know,
be a proactive networker and,and affiliative leader, as I
talked about, you know, focus onbuilding those strong
relationships up, down andacross organization as well as,
you know, within the industry.
And I think, you know, followingthose, those steps while it's,
(32:36):
you know, obviously very highlevel, um, I think are really
key to, to having a, a long andsuccessful.
Lan Elliott (32:45):
Amazing advice.
Thank you so much, Michael.
I really appreciate you sharingyour journey and your advice for
how you manage to accomplish somuch in your wonderful career.
Not that you're done yet.
No.
But far from it.
Far from it, absolutely.
And
Michael Evans (33:02):
I appreciate
Lan Elliott (33:03):
it.
Absolutely.
We're so happy to have you on,and for our viewers, if you
enjoyed this interview withMichael, we hope you'll join us
on our website at d e iadvisors.org for more great
interviews.
Thank you.
Michael Evans (33:16):
Thanks.
Hello and welcome to D E I Advisors.
My name is Lan Elliot on behalfof D e I advisors, and today's
guest advisor is Michael Evans,who is the president of Marcus
Hotels and Resorts.
Welcome Michael.
Michael Evans (00:14):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Lan Elliott (00:16):
Absolutely.
For those of you who don't knowMarcus Hotels, they are a
publicly traded owner operatorof hotels and they've actually
been around for 87 years, whichis something I didn't know
about.
So thank you for sharing that,Michael.
Yeah.
Michael, we've actually beenfriends for a while, so I happen
to know, you have a reallyinteresting career journey.
(00:38):
Could you share with us some ofthe inflection points in your
career and if there was aparticular factor or something
that you think contributed toyour success?
Michael Evans (00:49):
Sure, sure.
So, okay.
So starting with the inflectionpoints, I mean, I think, uh,
there's been a number of them.
Uh, most of them relate to sortof big career moves that I, that
I.
Um, you know, beginning with,um, when I left the practice of
law, so, you know, I went to lawschool to, um, knowing I did not
wanna be an attorney.
Uh, but I, when I got out, Ifigured I should get some real
world experience in that.
(01:10):
And so I, I practiced law forthree years.
I was always interested in realestate and development
generally, not specificallyhotels at that time.
And, um, and, and spent a lot oftime looking and talking to
people about differentopportunities in, in real
estate.
And the opportunity came up, uh,to join Marietta up at their
headquarters.
They had, uh, just formed, andthis is in the late nineties,
(01:31):
had just formed a group to workon restructurings and things
like that.
And so, um, so I joined Marriottand that was, you know, the
beginning of my, uh, career inhospitality.
And then, um, you know, kind ofthe next inflection point I, I
would say was when, so I waswith Marriott.
Um, I'd been at headquarters sixyears and had the opportunity to
move overseas with Marri.
(01:53):
Moved to Hong Kong, uh, to dodevelopment throughout Asia, and
then eventually moved to, uh,London where I did development
for Marriott in Europe and theMiddle East.
And, um, that internationalexperience was, was a true
turning point, I think, in mycareer.
And, um, it's something that,that, you know, I think really
helped me, um, advance mycareer.
(02:14):
So, you know, those were twomajor inflection points.
And then, you know, I, Ieventually, I, I went to, um, I
left Marion after 10.
Went to Las Vegas, joined mgmand this is in, um, early 2008.
And we were really focused onexperiential hospitality.
And that was before, um, uh, youknow, it was a buzzword.
It was before we had as theproliferation of lifestyle
(02:38):
hotels and soft brands.
And I really think of MGM asbeing one of the leaders in
experiential hospitality and,and being able to be a part of
that, um, you know, I thinkreally, really helped me a lot
and helped my.
And then, you know, then the,the last inflection point would
be when I joined a little morethan three years ago, uh, Marcus
Hotels and resorts and, and hadthe opportunity to, um, you
(02:58):
know, pull together kind ofeverything that I'd learned
throughout my career and, andthe ability to, uh, to lead and,
and um, uh, continue to developthis hotel and lead is some
really amazing teams.
So, yeah, those were kind of themain inflection points I would
say throughout, throughout my.
Um, I think you asked, sorry, goahead.
(03:18):
Yeah, did, so, um, I think youasked about, um, what
contributed to my success.
So, you know, a number ofthings.
I mean, one, um, and I, I reallythink being passionate about
whatever I've been doing, um, Ithink it's critical for anyone,
whatever you're gonna do, youhave to be passionate about it.
We spend so much time, you know,in our careers and work that if
(03:39):
that, if you're not passionateabout it, um, you won't excel at
it and you won't be great.
So I think that that's numberone.
You know, I think also, um,being a strategic thinker, um,
knowing how to analyzesituations and develop and
execute a sound plan, I think, Ithink that was really helpful.
Um, I'd say, you know, anotherpoint, and I think my family
(04:00):
would probably take issue with,with this, but, um, having a
reasonable amount of emotionalintelligence.
Right.
Really, you know, the, theability to.
Effectively manage people andto, and to work with people both
inside and, uh, outside of theorganization.
And so, um, I think, I thinkthat's been helpful.
I'll, I'll tell you a quickstory.
So when I first joined Marriott,you, I was in my, in my kinda
(04:24):
late twenties, um, relativelyjunior position.
Then I was a manager, but I wasworking on some pretty big
projects and I, um, I had toinfluence a lot of people that
were much more senior than me.
And, and I think the ability todo that effectively, um, really
led to, um, you know, a fairamount of success that I had at
Marriott, which of course then,then led on to, to other
(04:48):
opportunities within, within mycareer.
So I say those things combinedwith a really strong work ethic
are kind of the, some of thekeys.
Uh, to, to my success.
Lan Elliott (04:58):
Really great points and things that people don't
always talk about, right?
They talk about getting skills,but they don't really talk about
the eq, they don't talk aboutbeing able to influence people
around in the organization andmight not be people that report
to you.
You really still have to haveinfluence across the
organization, and that's a skillthat's really important to
develop.
So I love that you shared.
(05:20):
So, Michael, you don't get towhere you are without overcoming
a few obstacles.
Can you share a little bit abouthow you process obstacles?
Like what do you look for first?
What do you do first when youcome across something like that?
Michael Evans (05:36):
Well, first of all, I think it's really
critical when you're facingobstacles and challenges to, to
stay common level-headed, right?
Um, I have this saying that, youknow, we can only do what we can
do.
We can only control what we cancontrol.
I must have said that a milliontimes to the team, you know,
throughout the pandemic andcertainly the early days of the
pandemic, right?
And so, yeah.
Um, getting excited.
It doesn't help.
We don't, we don't do our bestthinking, um, when, when we're
(05:59):
excited.
So staying calm I think isreally critical, uh, to start
with.
And then I think really thinkingabout, you know, what's, what's
the root cause of, of thechallenge that we're facing, the
issues.
Um, I have another expression,which is sort of the bottom line
is, right.
I like just zeroing in andgetting to what's, what's the
bottom line of something andunderstanding what's causing a
challenge.
(06:19):
Uh, you know, from there, um,put together, you develop a
plan, right?
And so, Um, you understand whatthe issue is, you put a plan
together and then, then I thinkit's just a matter of working to
execute on that while at thesame time being kind of mindful
that, you know, your plan maynot address the challenge, you
may have to pivot and, and tohave sort of a, a plan B, so to
(06:40):
speak.
Right.
But, um, that's sort of how Iwould say that I, I process, um,
you know, challenges that I'mfacing.
Lan Elliott (06:49):
Any, any advice on motivating your team when
they're tackling a challenge?
Michael Evans (06:55):
Well, I think, I mean, well one is, and it's not
easy to do, but to get people tofocus on staying calm, right?
Not everyone's nature to, to dothat.
So starting there as I said, butthen, um, really ensuring, um,
and getting people to worktogether as a team, right?
And knowing that we're gonnawork in a collaborative manner
and that, um, ensuring thateveryone sort of, it feels like
(07:15):
we're like, you know, we're partof the team and that we have
each other's.
And, and, um, when, when there'sa challenging situation, working
in that type of environment, um,I find always proves to be much
more, uh, successful.
Lan Elliott (07:30):
That's great.
Thank you.
Moving on to a related topic,but it's around taking risks and
you've taken a number of risksthroughout your career and you,
you've mentioned a few of them,but could you share an example
of where you've successfullytaken a risk and, and how, how
(07:51):
you mentally prepare yourself totake a chance on.
Michael Evans (07:54):
Yeah.
Well, I, I, first of all, Ithink as, as you know, I'm, I'm
a little bit predisposed to riskta taking probably more than,
than, than a lot of people,right?
I mean, I, I spent a good partof my twenties jumping off
airplanes for fun, and I lovedeepwater scuba diving.
And, and as you know,motorcycling has, uh, has been
my lifelong passion and hobby.
So I'm, yes, I, I
Lan Elliott (08:14):
remember you telling me that sports are no
fun if you can't potentially diedoing them.
So did I
say
Michael Evans (08:19):
that?
Oh, I, I may have, but, um, no,but.
Uh, but, you know, butseriously, I, I, I really
approach, um, calculated risksin business.
It's kind of the same way thatI, um, approach those related to
my hobbies, right?
And that is to start off byeducating myself.
You, uh, you don't just jump outof a plane or go scuba diving
(08:40):
or, or jump on a motorcyclewithout proper training.
And the same thing reallyapplies when it comes to
business.
Right.
You have to educate yourself andyou have to research the issue
and, and, um, get as muchinformation as you possibly can.
Um, about, about the issue athand, you know, and that
includes, um, you know,evaluating all the risks and the
(09:00):
rewards, um, considering, um,you know, worst case scenario.
And, um, and then evaluating allthat and, and, and coming up and
making an informed decision.
And, and I think, I think that'sreally critical.
And then, and then again, at asimilar to what I said earlier,
having a contingency plan,right?
If things don't go as planned,um, when you take this risk, you
(09:24):
know, have a plan B and knowing,you know, how, how to pivot and
being, you know, uh, prepared todo so.
So,
Lan Elliott (09:32):
Yeah, things don't always go the way that you
think, so sometimes you can comeup with the best plan and then
the world turns left like it dida few years ago, and, uh, and
you have to adapt,
Michael Evans (09:40):
right?
Absolutely.
It that happened, you know, Ijoined, I joined Marcus in
January of 20 and, uh, so I, Iliterally finished touring our
last, um, hotel on March 10th of20, and then three days later,
the world shut down.
So big pivot for sure.
Lan Elliott (09:56):
Well, you got in all the hotel tours at the right
moment so that you could leadthe company from from Milwaukee.
Michael Evans (10:02):
I did.
I did.
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (10:05):
I wanted to talk a little bit about developing a
network, because that'ssomething that people aren't
always comfortable digging intobecause it's not something that
maybe their personality doesn'tlend themselves to it.
Walking into a cocktail partywhere you don't know anybody
seems really scary, buthospitality is really, A
business that is veryrelationship based.
(10:28):
Um, we actually met negotiatingacross the table from one
another is how we first met, andwe ended up becoming great
friends.
And can you share a little bitabout how you've built your
network and maybe how do younetwork in a way that suits your
personality?
Michael Evans (10:44):
Sure.
Yeah.
So I'm gonna start by saying, Imean the, the major foundation
for my network was honestlybuilt back in, um, my early days
at.
Right.
Some of my closestrelationships, including, you
know, you and your husband Mike,are from, from those early days.
Right.
I mean, I think there wassomething about all of us, even
though you and I worked fordifferent, two different
(11:05):
companies, we worked prettyclosely together in deals.
Um, there's something aboutbeing in the trenches together,
I think while we're building ourcareers, that that made people a
lot closer.
Uh, you know, when I look back,it's, gosh, it's, you know, I
think it's over 25 years now,around 25 years that, um, Since
those relationships wereestablished and, and honestly,
those relationships that Iestablished back in those days
(11:27):
really remained some of my, um,most trusted and valued
connections and, andrelationships.
So, um, I think that's reallyimportant.
And, and it's, and I don't wannaget on too much of a soapbox
here, but it's, it's actuallyleads to kind of one of my
concerns that I.
About work today and the, thedesire for many people, uh, to
(11:47):
that wanna work remotely.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, I think there's alot of discussion about negative
impact on culture and impact oncollaboration around that.
But I also think one of theimpacts of remote work and what
that can have is on longpeople's long-term relationships
because you just can't buildthat same level of relationship
with people.
If, if, if you're not.
(12:09):
And, and so, um, you know, whenI look back on, on, you know,
the relationships that I'vebuilt, as I said, they were
built sort of in the trenchestogether.
And, and I think it's importantto, to do that.
I'll get off my soapbox nowabout that issue.
But, um, you know, so, so youasked about how, um, how do I
(12:30):
network and, and kind of whatsuits my personality, right?
So I, um, You know, I, I lovemeeting new people.
I do, I truly do.
But at the same time, I havereally a, I'd say a relatively
low tolerance for kind ofrepetitive BS conversations,
right?
I mean, we've, we've all, we'veall been to, uh, industry
conferences where by the end ofthe two or three days, uh, you
(12:53):
know, we feel like we've, we've,it's gone through Groundhog Day,
right?
And, and had the sameconversations over and over.
Um, I don't think anybodyenjoys, enjoys that, and, For
me, when I am meeting newpeople, I always try to find,
um, some level of personalconnection to the person, right?
I mean, that could be a commonplace that we worked.
Fortunately, you know, there arethousands and thousands of
(13:15):
married alumnis.
Um, it could be a common friend,it could be a place where we've
lived or traveled.
Or even better a shared hobby orpassion, right?
So try and find some sort ofpersonal connection, uh, to the
person.
I think that that makes adifference.
It makes you, makes them standout to you and, and makes you
more memorable to them as well.
Um, so I think that's important.
(13:36):
And then, you know, kind of twoother points around networking
that, that would, that I wouldmake.
You know, one, um, it's, I thinkit's really important to get
involved and be active in allthe various industry groups, um,
and organizations.
Obviously there's big ones likeA H L A, which leads our
industry, but there's a lot ofother subgroups and smaller
(13:57):
groups that are focused onparticular segments of the
business.
Um, many, many of the largercompanies have, uh, internal
groups that people can join.
So I think that's really, reallycritical.
It's a great way to meet peopleand it's a great way to.
You know, build up your, yourreputation.
And then, um, and the secondwould be speaking engagements,
right?
And I think try and try and dowhat you can to secure speaking
(14:20):
engagements and, and, um, sopeople, you know, hear your
name.
And over time you do enough ofthose and, and you, you become
more of a known, known quantityin the industry, right?
So, um, so those are kind of thetwo things I'd say.
Lan Elliott (14:35):
That's such great advice because I think a lot of
people will shy away from publicspeaking and it is such an
important component of buildingyour personal brand and getting
exposure out there.
Um, so I think it's worthwhileand it does take, it does take
time and practice and, but themore you do it, the more
comfortable you get with it.
So I, I love that you mentionedthat.
(14:56):
Yeah.
Switching gears over to mentorsand champions, cuz I know you've
had a few in your, in youramazing career.
How have your mentors or yourchampions helped advance your
career?
Michael Evans (15:11):
So, it's interesting.
You know, I, I don't know that Ihave any real formal mentors.
There's a lot of people that Iactually learned a lot from,
right?
I mean, beginning with kinda theattorneys that I worked for,
right outta law school, Ilearned a tremendous amount from
them.
I learned.
Um, and how to be an effectivecommunicator, both, you know,
orally and in writing, which isreally important.
(15:31):
Um, I learned, you know, earlyon in my career at Marriott,
right?
I, uh, had had the opportunityto learn a lot from the late Jim
Sullivan, right?
I mean, anyone that was, uh,either worked in development and
did deals at Marriott or, uh,You know, was what's, you know,
developer of hotels during thattime?
(15:52):
Kind of from the, what Jim wasthere, I think mid eighties to,
I think he retired in oh eightor oh nine.
Right.
And, and, uh, Jim was so focusedon thinking about deals from,
from every single angle, right?
You, uh, you had to reallystrategize and think about, um,
every aspect of deal, um, howbest to position something, how
(16:12):
best to negoti.
And, and lots of differentalternatives.
And, and so thinking about dealsholistically, I've really
learned a lot from Jim.
Now, Jim, um, Jim had a heart ofgold that he tried to hide, I
think behind his, like, gruffexterior.
And so it was a lot ofself-preservation, right?
Learning from him.
Um, and so, um, while, while hewasn't an official mentor of
(16:34):
mine, I learned a tremendous,tremendous amount from him, um,
as I know so many people in theindustry did as well.
Um, I'd also say, you know, cuzyou used the word champions.
I, I, I, um, I did have a numberof champions that, that really
played a major role in, inadvancing my career.
Um, one of those champions issomeone that, that both you and
(16:54):
I have worked for.
So Joel Eisman, right?
I worked for Joel early on in mydays at Marriott.
Um, you worked for him morerecently at I H G.
But Joel had, um, come back fromAsia.
He was, he was, uh, the firstperson to head of development in
Asia for Marriott.
And he was there, I'm not sureexactly how long.
I think it was over a decade, Ibelieve.
(17:15):
And when he came back to, uh,Bethesda, he, um, headed up the
global asset management team,which I was part of.
So I worked for Joel and he wasa big supporter of mine and, and
was really instrumental inhelping, um, make happen.
Uh, moved to to Hong Konginitially.
And um, as I mentioned earlier,that was a major inflection
(17:36):
point in my career.
And so, um, certainly Joel was,was one of the bigger champions
that had a big effect on mycareer.
And there's been others alongthe way, people that have seen
some level of promise in me andhave provided me with
opportunities to, uh, to advancemy career.
Lan Elliott (17:52):
That's great.
So let me ask you this.
How important do you.
Is it to find mentors andchampions, even if they're not
formal mentors or what have you,how important is that and how,
how can people go about it?
Because we've heard there's aright way and there's a wrong
way to do it.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Evans (18:08):
Yeah.
Well, I do think it's veryimportant.
Um, we need to have people thatbelieve in us and help, help
advance our careers.
Right?
Um, I also believe that thatleaders today naturally want to
help more junior people, right?
You want to, you wanna helppeople that show promise and
show commitment, and so, Ireally think that, you know,
the, the best way to findchampions and mentors is to
(18:30):
start by, you know, demonstratethis, demonstrate your passion.
Demonstrate your, you know, yourhard work, your commitment, and,
and quite frankly, some level ofpromise that, that, that you can
one day be a strong leader.
I think, um, if you do that,people will wanna help, will
wanna help you.
Um, So that, that, I mean, Ithink that's sort of table
stakes, right?
(18:50):
I then think you, you can beproactive about it as well.
And I, and I honestly wasn't,uh, very good about this in my
career.
But looking back on it, um, Irealized I probably should have
been more proactive aboutactually asking people for, for
help and mentorship and, and I,and I think it's good for people
to do that.
I do think you have to be, um,I'll say, you know, specific
(19:11):
about what it is that you'relooking for in, from the
mentorship and from therelationship.
Um, I think you need to bereally open about, you know, the
feedback that you're going toget.
But, but I, if, if you canidentify someone that, um, that
you really want to learn from, Ithink that.
You know, approaching them andasking them for, um, some
guidance or mentorship, um, youknow, is certainly something
(19:33):
that you should do.
And I think you'll find that,that most leaders will be more
than happy to, uh, to do, to,you know, provide mentorship.
Lan Elliott (19:43):
Yeah, I think that's true.
I think it's one of thewonderful things about our, our
industry is that peoplenaturally wanna help one
another.
So doing a great job is a, is agood way to do that.
Right.
Start that convers.
One of the things I wanted talkabout was leadership style,
because in, in looking at ourindustry, we don't have as many
women leaders as at the top aswe have women employees at the
(20:07):
bottom of our industry.
If you think of it as a pyramid,and women leaders tend to have a
different style than men is whatI've noticed, but what
characteristics or leadershipstyle do you look for in your
leaders?
Michael Evans (20:21):
Um, well, look, I, I think it's really important
for, for leaders to be sort ofaction oriented and, you know,
results driven, right?
I mean, and so, um, you know, inthe, in you've heard in the past
and people talking about being,you know, people need to be
aggressive or assertive and,and.
I kind of, sometimes, sometimesI can, can be equated to sort of
(20:44):
acting like a jerk, right?
Which I'm gonna use a nice, nicelanguage here since we're being
videoed.
But, um, and I don't thinkthat's, that's the right
approach, right?
I mean, I think it's, um, Ithink leading by fear and, uh,
is a really outdated concept,and I think it's much more
effective to take sort of a, um,an affiliative leadership
(21:06):
approach, right?
Whereby, you know, you'rebuilding trust within the group
and create emotional bonds andpromote a sense of belonging
within the organization.
I think that's how you, you, youreally lead and.
You know, I'll, I'll tell you,the approach I take is sort of,
I've always thought of it asthree simple steps, or maybe
simple to say, a little harderto execute.
(21:26):
But I think of, I think ofleadership sort of this way,
right?
I, you start off by, uh,building a team of not only
talented people, but passionatepeople.
Um, that's one.
You know, two, you know, youknow, create an environment that
encourages collaboration andopen communication among the.
And then, and then third, um,empowering people to do their
(21:48):
jobs, right?
So you empower them whileholding them accountable, uh, to
clearly establish goals andmilestones.
So that's, that's really what Ifind to be the most effective
formula leadership.
Um, not, you know, anaggressive.
Uh, in your face, you know,again, acting like a jerk type
approach.
Lan Elliott (22:09):
Yeah.
That pound on the tableapproaches really, I think that
it's time has passed, so it hasfor sure.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
I love that.
Thank you.
Thank you for the three points.
Switching over to leadingdiverse teams.
As you mentioned, you've livedin a lot of places in Hong Kong,
in Europe, uh, but also workingin, in throughout Europe and the
(22:31):
Middle East when you were there,and then going over to gaming,
which is kind of a differentenvironment than the hospitality
world that we had been in.
So, Thinking about diversity canbe so much more than race and
gender.
It can be diversity of thoughtor of different cultures or
backgrounds.
Given your work experienceworking around the world, you
(22:51):
know, managing diverse teams canactually be more challenging
than working with a homogeneousteam that all think the same way
and, and have the samebackground.
What's, what's been yourexperience working with people
from diverse cultures anddifferent, different ways of
thinking and how do you managethat?
Michael Evans (23:09):
Well, I, first of all lemme say that, you know,
working with people from diversecultures, it really has been one
of the highlights of my career.
Um, you know, you know, withouta doubt, learning to work and
partner with people from variouscultures made me a, a much more
effective leader.
Again, that, that really startedwhen, you know, when I moved,
moved to Hong Kong, um, youknow, there's.
(23:30):
There's a real, um, differencein the way people do business
around the world, right?
In the US we tend to start, wework on deals, we get stuff
done, and then through thatprocess, sometimes you build a
friendship or relationship withthe people in, in Asia, in the
Middle East, right?
It's the exact opposite.
So you, you don't get a dealdone with somebody in Asia or
the, or the Middle East, unlessyou've built a relationship with
(23:50):
them first, and there's a levelof trust.
Um, so, you know, real, reallyvery different approach to, to
how we do things.
In the West, right?
Um, even, and then, and theneven, you know, within Asia for
example, and within certainmarkets there's, there's
differences.
How, how you do business inJapan is very different from how
you do business in, in, uh, inChina versus how you do business
(24:13):
in Vietnam or, or any of theother countries, right?
So, um, so you, you really haveto be very focused on, on the
cultural differences and then,Something that I learned by
doing business over there and,and working with teams, right?
I went over there and, and my,my colleagues were, were almost
all from different cultures.
And, um, you learn how importantit's to really to, to stop and
(24:37):
listen, um, you know, try andread people's body language and,
and really try and, um,understand and appreciate the
diverse perspectives that theybring from their culture.
And, um, Doing that is, I think,really critical to having
success in, in leading a diverseteam, right?
Understanding people, kind ofwhere, where they're coming from
(24:58):
and their perspective, and notjust, not just through, you
know, your lens.
Lan Elliott (25:03):
Um, yeah, that's that's so true, and especially
now as.
Inclusive cultures have becomemuch more part of the common
conversation and you're meetingpeople where they are.
I think this idea just to divein and just start going into the
business side, which is whatwe've done mostly in the, in the
us, that approach is not gonnawork.
(25:24):
It doesn't work in everyculture, as you mentioned, but
it also.
Maybe doesn't work with everyperson, even here in the United
States.
So I love the idea of stoppingand taking the time to get to
know people that you're gonna beworking closely
Michael Evans (25:36):
with.
Yeah, absolutely.
Lan Elliott (25:39):
Yeah.
One of our favorite questions atDEI, d e i advisors is what
advice would you give to youryounger.
And I think it, it does lead toa bit of self-reflection to
think about where you are nowversus where you were then.
So yeah.
Michael, what, what advice wouldyou give to your younger self?
Michael Evans (25:58):
So, it's interesting.
I actually, I actually had achance to think about this type
of question about a year and ahalf ago.
So when my oldest son, Gavin,was heading off to college for
his freshman year.
Um, at that time I wrote him avery long letter with kind of
all my thoughts about life andthe things I wish I knew when I
went off to college.
So, um, so I gave it, I gavethis actually a lot of thought
(26:18):
then, um, you know, there were alot of personal things in, in
that, in that letter, but someof the key themes and things
that I touched on, um, you know,one was the importance of
intellectual curiosity.
And, you know, the importance oflearning things, not just
because you have to for a testor for your diploma or a work
requirement, but simply betteryourself, right?
(26:41):
And become more knowledgeableand be more educated.
So I think that's, that'ssomething that's, that's really
important that I, I wish I knew,um, and folks on a little bit
more back in my, you know,freshman year in college.
Lan Elliott (26:53):
I think you were busy then.
Michael Evans (26:56):
I was.
Um, you know, second I think is,is importance of balance in your
life.
I mean, I, and I've, I'vealways, I've always, uh, found
that balance, you know, to bereally important.
And I knew this back then, but,um, I think I had a, a difficult
time perhaps finding that rightbalance.
Right.
And, and particularly early onin my career, I was, I was so
driven and, um, I'm not surethat I, that I had.
(27:22):
The right level of balancebetween my professional career
and, and personal life.
Although, you know, I stillfound time to do things with my
family and share a lot of commoninterests and, you know, we have
a great relationship with, with,uh, my wife and kids.
I wish in those early years oftheir life I had a little bit
more balance.
Um, so that's one.
(27:42):
And then, you know, last thingI'll, I'll touch on is just the
importance of patie.
Um, patience, patient
Lan Elliott (27:49):
patience.
I mean, Michael, most of yourhobbies, racing motorcycles has
nothing to do with patience.
Right.
You're, you're
Michael Evans (27:55):
right.
And so, and, and, and that thisis something that I wish, I wish
I, I knew back then is thatpatience.
And I'm, and I'm really thinkingabout from the standpoint of
kind of, um, career choices,right?
And, and there were, there weredefinitely times where I made
decisions around my careerbecause, um, I wasn't as patient
as perhaps I should have been.
And, you know, look, I'm.
Very happy with the way mycareer has turned out, and I, I
(28:18):
never look backwards, but, um,but I, that being said, I have
thought about, you know, when Imade certain de decisions to
make moves, um, some of that wasdriven by impatience, and it's
not necessarily, you never knowhow life would've turned out or
what I, what path that, youknow, would've gone down.
But, um, I really do think it'simportant to, to, uh, to not be
(28:39):
too impatient with your career.
You know, learn as much as youcan.
Get as much as you can out ofeach opportunity while you're
there.
And appreciate that.
And you know, usually when youdo good work and do good things,
it leads to, it leads tosuccess.
Lan Elliott (28:53):
That's great.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Gavin is lucky to have thatletter.
So I wanted to ask you one funquestion because one of the
things that we enjoy doing withour spouses when we get together
is go out for great meals.
And you recently moved toMilwaukee.
And for anyone who lives inMilwaukee or is visiting
(29:17):
Milwaukee, did have you found afavorite restaurant that you and
your wife like to go to?
Michael Evans (29:22):
Uh, I have so, so there's lots of great
restaurants in Milwaukeeactually.
You know, I moved here fromVegas, as you know, and, and
Vegas is, you know, capital.
Some people might argue NewYork, but in the US Vegas has
pretty amazing restaurants,right?
And.
But they're not as authentic as,as you know, they're all
replicas of someplace else.
And one thing we really lovedwhen we moved to Milwaukee was
(29:44):
how authentic our restaurantsare.
We have very few chains,actually downtown.
There's almost no chains,restaurants, um, so a lot of
great restaurants here.
We, uh, we operate a lot ofgreat restaurants, but one, one
of our favorites actually is arestaurant called Old
Germantown.
It's a, uh, it's a restauranton, on 125 acre.
And it's owned by family.
(30:05):
They've lived on the farm for 35years.
They, they raised their kidsthere.
And, um, uh, when they retired,um, Scott, um, one of the
founders was, uh, in education.
When he retired, he had thisdream of building this
restaurant on their farm, and hewas passionate about, uh, making
homemade sausages and homemadebeer.
(30:25):
And they built this beautifulrestaurant, well, they opened it
in November of 20, about theworst time that you could open a
restaurant, right?
Most restaurants were closingdown.
That's when they opened.
And, uh, my wife Sheila had readabout this, that it was gonna be
opening in the paper.
And we went, the opening day,fell in love with the
restaurant.
Um, and with the owners, we'vebecome friends with the family
(30:46):
and it's a spectacular, reallyauthentic, amazing place with
great food and great atmosphere.
So, um, anyone that is visitingMilwaukee, they should
definitely go visit old German.
Lan Elliott (30:58):
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you for that great tip,and I hope Mike and I can join
you and Sheila there one day.
Yeah.
When we come out to visit.
Absolutely.
Well, I know I can always spendlots of time with you, but our
time is getting towards the end,and so I wanted to ask you for
one final piece of advice if youcould share with our viewers,
(31:19):
keeping in mind that d e Iadvisors mission is centered
around empowering personalsuccess.
What, what final tidbit ofadvice would you offer our
viewers who are looking toadvance their careers?
Michael Evans (31:32):
So, May I, I, I hope this isn't too simple,
right?
But, but I think of a couplethings.
One, um, you know, keeplearning, right?
I, I touched on this a littlebit earlier, uh, with
intellectual curiosity, but keeplearning going above and beyond,
you know, become sub truesubject matter experts in your
field and, and, and, and otherfields, right?
(31:54):
And, and no more if you're inmarketing, well learn more than
just marketing, right?
And if you're in.
Learn beyond development.
So, so learning everything youcan, I think is really, is
really critical, um, in thefirst place, you know.
Second, I'd say, you know, putin the hard work, you know,
demonstrate, uh, you know, yourpassion and your commitment and,
(32:15):
and, and the expertise that youhave.
Um, and then, and then, youknow, lastly, I'd say, you know,
be a proactive networker and,and affiliative leader, as I
talked about, you know, focus onbuilding those strong
relationships up, down andacross organization as well as,
you know, within the industry.
And I think, you know, followingthose, those steps while it's,
(32:36):
you know, obviously very highlevel, um, I think are really
key to, to having a, a long andsuccessful.
Lan Elliott (32:45):
Amazing advice.
Thank you so much, Michael.
I really appreciate you sharingyour journey and your advice for
how you manage to accomplish somuch in your wonderful career.
Not that you're done yet.
No.
But far from it.
Far from it, absolutely.
And
Michael Evans (33:02):
I appreciate
Lan Elliott (33:03):
it.
Absolutely.
We're so happy to have you on,and for our viewers, if you
enjoyed this interview withMichael, we hope you'll join us
on our website at d e iadvisors.org for more great
interviews.
Thank you.
Michael Evans (33:16):
Thanks.
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