October 8, 2025 • 35 mins
Brian shares why investing time upfront is one of the keys to building high-performing teams. He also explains how his The Power of Gratitude at Work program helps transform organizations – and why it’s easy to do. Brian underscores the importance of public speaking and why loving what you do, saying Yes, and raising your hand for more opportunities are critical.
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Episode Transcript
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Lan Elliott (00:02):
Hello and welcome to its Personal Stories.
My name is Lan Elliot with itspersonal stories, and today our
guest advisor is Brian Proctor,founder of Leads Hospitality
Group, and I've been wanting tomeet Brian for a while now, so
I'm delighted he's here.
Welcome, Brian.
Brian Proctor (00:22):
Thanks.
I'm delighted to be here andlooking forward to chatting with
you.
Lan Elliott (00:27):
I wanted to start with your journey to leadership.
What are some of the inflectionpoints in your career and if
there was a factor or factorsthat you think were the secrets
to your success.
Brian Proctor (00:42):
Yeah, I think I've always wanted to, I've
never been the type of guy tosit in an office, right?
So very early in life.
One big thing that struck outwith me was my father was a
banker back in Canada and on aSunday, and I'll make this story
brief'cause it's a long one, buton a Sunday.
He took me into the QueenElizabeth Hotel.
(01:03):
He was practicing his speech forthe next day.
And the Queen E was an old CNhotel back in the day.
And the pomp and circumstance,the doorman was dressed as a
beef eater.
The rich colors, the maitre dtook care of me in the
restaurant while my dad waspracticing the speech in the
ballroom.
And I just fell in love with thefeeling of being in a hotel.
(01:26):
So from that standpoint on, Ialways took jobs where I was
with people and working directlyone-on-one with people in the
public.
And so that kind of ingrained inme, when I thought about
schooling is what can I do?
And the hospitality business wasjust a natural.
So having done the, finished theschooling, did what everybody
did, just jumped into the firstjob I could find at the Westin
(01:50):
in Calgary, Alberta as a nightauditor back before computers
were invented.
So you actually had to.
Balance the hotel.
And that really was a way tolearn the business side of it
right from a very early age.
And then the career justprogressed into it Sheraton.
And then I was fortunate tobuild some good relationships.
(02:13):
Which are so key in thisbusiness to come down to the
states based upon having thesekey relationships from the
Sheraton and Halifax, NovaScotia of all places.
And then, I'm a Canadian kid.
I got, I was with ITT Sheraton.
I got called by Four Seasons togo work in Toronto.
As a Canadian kid, you get acall from Four Seasons, you go,
(02:33):
you just go no matter what.
And they were, I think
Lan Elliott (02:36):
everybody gets a call from Four Seasons.
They're probably gonna go
Brian Proctor (02:39):
I think.
I think so.
Really strings, your heartstrings with a Canadian with
everything that Izzy, hadcreated at that point went on to
create even more.
And then, it came back down tothe States in Beverly Hills with
Four Seasons.
And one of the big changes forme was leaving that type of a
company Four Seasons and joiningInterstate Hotels, and I credit.
(03:01):
Guys like Ted Darnell and AlanRaey and Bob Grainy.
They showed me what the hotelbusiness was as a business,
because up until that point, Ithink I was just having fun.
You're dealing with the Krem dela Crema of society with Four
Seasons.
You've got the best hotels,you've got the most staff.
(03:22):
Ted and the guys at Interstatereally taught me what the
business was about and how tomake money and how to work on
behalf of an ownership group tomake that hotel successful.
So I had the best of bothworlds.
I was able, I knew service andnow I knew the business side of
it.
And then I went on to my best 20years in the business, 19 years
in the business with Starwood.
(03:42):
And just had a, started as ageneral manager with them and
they were very nice and broughtme into the corporate world side
of it.
Again, another important partwas, Rick Sewell, Dave Milas,
taking me under their wings andshowing me how to grow into
these different types ofpositions.
So I think.
From that standpoint, I was ableto then branch out into what I'm
(04:04):
doing now as a consultant and asomeone who works with
hospitality, tech, startups andthings of that nature.
So in a very quick four minutesor whatever that was, that's
very quickly how I got to whereI am now.
Lan Elliott (04:19):
Such an incredible journey.
And we had talked about how Iknew your name and I couldn't
figure out how, and then Irealized I worked with people.
And my W days, who reported upto you.
So I'd only heard about themythical Brian Proctor.
I'd never actually had a chanceto meet you until now, so I'm
glad that our paths finallycrossed.
Brian Proctor (04:41):
I don't know about the mythical part, but
Lan Elliott (04:44):
I wanna talk about continuous growth because we
find that for a lot of leaders,curiosity and this desire to
continue learning and growing asa big part of their path.
And I'm curious in the variousroles you have, if you ever came
across.
A skill that you realized, youknow what?
(05:06):
I'm going to need to really getbetter at this thing that I
didn't need before, but I'mgoing to need it in the future.
And that you really focused onit and I'm curious what it might
be and how you did it.
Brian Proctor (05:18):
Yeah, I I think, at each level there's a
different.
Answer to that question, right?
So the constant desire to learnis important.
But the other side of that isthe ability to say yes to
whatever challenges that yourbosses put in front of you.
And not being afraid to take onthat challenge.
I was fortunate.
(05:39):
I worked with a lot of greatcompanies and a lot of great
people where you were allowed tofail.
But because of that.
Knowing that, hey, I could failand still proceed.
You would try things forexample, with the new builds and
transitions team at Starwood, wewere work from home before there
was a work from home because wewere opening hotels from Bora to
(06:01):
Aruba and everything in between.
And none of us worked in anoffice.
We were all working off of C twoB wherever we were flying
around.
Understanding that at every rolethat ability to learn to say
yes.
And one of the other things youalways want to learn as you go
through is how to manage thepeople that you're working with.
(06:24):
And that is so key and soimportant.
And I learned as a generalmanager and growing up through
the hotels, I was probably amicromanager.
And that kind of works for youwhen you're putting your arms
around a building.
But then you get into thecorporate roles and you're
overseeing multipledestinations, multiple
(06:45):
properties, multipledisciplines.
Then you have to learn how tonot micromanage and how to trust
the people that you've hired orthat you've gone on your team.
To allow them to do the job,give them all the tools they
need, give them all the supportthey need, but then let them go.
Because if I'm meeting with theowner in Bora Bora and we, the
(07:06):
she and Phoenix ConventionCenter Hotel is meeting with the
city hall leaders, I can't be inboth places.
You just have to trust everybodyto do what they're doing.
So I think for me, those type ofthings were at each level.
You could probably have apodcast on.
Just this one question becauseat different levels I think
you're experiencing thatdifferently, if that makes
(07:27):
sense.
Lan Elliott (07:28):
Absolutely.
And this podcast is a lot aboutcontinuous growth because our
motto is empowering personalsuccess.
You touched on it, and I wantedto dive a little bit into
building high performing teamsbecause.
When you're leading hotels andthen you're at corporate and
you're leading teams, like yousaid, there is this element of
(07:52):
learning to trust the people andlet go and let them do their
thing.
But you have to relativelyquickly put together high
performing teams.
And I'm curious how you do thiseither when you're starting from
scratch, which.
People don't always get to do.
Usually you inherit a team, buthow do you think about building
(08:13):
a high performing team and isthere one thing that you look
for in people?
That are successful in on yourteams?
Brian Proctor (08:21):
Yeah, I think, and I'm gonna bring up this name
probably a lot in theconversation, but with the new
Build team, we actually built itfrom scratch.
Realistically there was five orsix of the founding members and
it grew into a team of over 45members over the years.
And the one thing that I learnedfrom Dave Milas on how to do
this, the best way is to investin the time.
(08:44):
While you're selecting theindividuals and really taking
the time to ensure that thoseindividuals.
The, they all come with greatex, experience.
The, we weren't interviewingpeople who had never worked in
hotels or anything.
Everybody has great experience,but taking the time to really
understand who the person is andensure that they understand what
(09:06):
the role plays.
I used to joke that the HR guyswouldn't like me'cause I would
actually love to interview thepartner, spouse of the
individual I was interviewing.
Because it was a remote workingjob, we needed to make sure that
everybody understood what thatmeant, right?
It meant that you were gettingpicked up on Monday mornings and
(09:27):
being back delivered back homeFriday afternoons.
45 weeks a year, that's not foreverybody.
So taking the time to really getthat, and then looking at
personalities and theirskillset, and are they gonna
mesh with the type ofenvironment that the new builds
was in, which meant that one dayyou're dealing with a high net
(09:51):
worth individual who'sdeveloping a W because that's
who was developing Ws, wherethey were single owners, nine
times outta 10 here in NorthAmerica.
And then the next day you're,speaking in front of the city
council at the, she in PhoenixCenter, or you're, dealing with
a, an island population inAnguilla.
And that could be a typicalweek, right?
(10:13):
So understanding thepersonalities of everybody
involved and looking at theskill sets and the
personalities, Dave really madesure we invested the time.
Selecting the right individualsand getting a lot of different
diverse people into the team anda lot of diverse people
interviewing the individuals whowere gonna join the team so that
(10:35):
we knew what, what it took to besuccessful in that type of role.
They all, I was interviewingfood and beverage people, they
were all great food and beveragepeople, but some would click and
some you knew would not be ableto handle the aspects of the
job.
So I think for me, that was oneof the biggest things.
Lan Elliott (10:51):
Yeah.
That's one of the philosophies Ilearned when I was at w was that
in the past other places theyhired for skill and at w they
hired for personality.
And they could teach you how todo the skill, but the
personality piece you either hadthe right personality or you
didn't.
And I definitely think theamount of time you and your team
(11:16):
were on the road, it's not foreverybody.
Some people think that's veryexciting to be traveling around
the world, and it probably isexciting for the first three
months and then it does become agrind.
So I think yeah,
Brian Proctor (11:28):
absolutely.
Lan Elliott (11:29):
It makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
I wanted to turn to the power ofgratitude.
I don't do New Year'sresolutions.
I set an intention for the yearand this year there was
gratitude coming fromeverywhere.
So it said to me, this year, myintentionality had to be around
(11:50):
gratitude.
And so when I discovered.
Your wonderful podcastTuesday's.
Thanks.
I thought I really hope I get tobe on that podcast.
And I really wanna meet Brianwho came up with this amazing
idea for a podcast and I'velistened to episodes.
They are wonderful.
And in addition to the podcast,you also have a program you
(12:14):
created called The Power ofGratitude at Work, and I wanted
to talk.
About how did gratitude becomesuch a central focus in your
work, and what's one thing aboutgratitude that most people don't
realize?
Brian Proctor (12:29):
First thank you for the kind words about the
podcast.
I appreciate that.
It's a bit of a passion of mineand it's started during the
pandemic, really as a, I justnoticed we were, the world was
losing a lot of good people andwhen you did, you would see
LinkedIn or other.
Social medias, go crazy aboutwhat an impact that individual
had on me and dah.
(12:50):
I never got to thank them.
So I just said, you know what?
You need to thank people whilethey're around.
So I made a personal commitmenton my personal LinkedIn page,
'cause that's all I had at thetime, was to thank one person a
week for 52 weeks for havingmade a big positive impact on my
life when I finished after 52weeks.
(13:10):
I was fortunate enough to be onanother great podcast called The
Hospitality Mentor by SteveTurk, and I loved it, and so I
said at the end, Kay, can I callyou next week and teach me what
a podcast is?
I didn't know what a podcastwas.
And he said, you need amicrophone, a laptop, and an
idea.
I had two outta three.
I didn't own a microphone, but Ido now.
(13:32):
And that's how it was born.
And then, I thought maybe I'd do10 or 15 of them'cause I didn't
think anybody wanted to talk tome.
And then.
People said yes to be on theshow and the likes of John
Murray, CEO of Esta, Jeff ti CEOof Wyndham.
It's been incredible.
And so that really continued mythought process on gratitude and
(13:56):
then through 150 plus episodes.
You hear a lot of the samemessaging from these leaders of
how gratitude had shaped theircareers and how would it shaped
their lives, and so having.
Combine those two, the learningsfrom the podcast, my own
interest in gratitude, and Iwould love to think I did
(14:16):
gratitude well as an, as amanager, but I don't know, you'd
have to ask people who workedfor me.
But I put it all together anddeveloped this power of
gratitude at work, keynote andworkshop where we do actionable
daily activities that leaderscan add to their toolbox to.
Use it as a skill.
'cause it's really, it's likeanything, you have to practice
(14:38):
gratitude to get good at it.
And what you wanna do is youwant it to become a habit so
that you're not thinking aboutit as much as just a habit.
And then you watch how itspreads around the organization
that you're working with.
When people see you.
Daily doing some of theactivities that we suggest, then
(14:59):
they react and they start doingit.
And so there's a trickle downeffect from seeing leaders do
that.
And what I found surprising wasthere's so many studies about
gratitude that I had neverthought about.
And there's a gentleman, I callhim the gratitude ambassador
Kevin Monroe.
He really, got me.
(15:19):
Going a little more than I wasalready.
And he was a great mentor for meat the beginning of this.
And so that's how it came about.
Through that there's.
If we had more time, there's astory I have with my mother came
from virtually nothing.
She, and by the grace ofwhatever, her and my father got
together and she instilled at usfrom a very early age to be
(15:43):
grateful for whatever you have.
'cause she grew up with nothing.
And we were very fortunate to,to have more than she could ever
have dream of.
And I remember her teaching usthat at a very early age.
And that kind of set the tone.
And as a Canadian we say thankyou a lot, right?
We say two things, we say sorryand we say thank you.
That's just what we do.
Lan Elliott (16:04):
What's one thing about gratitude, you think
people get wrong?
Brian Proctor (16:08):
I don't know if they get it wrong land.
I just think they think it's toodifficult and it's really easy.
People think.
Gratitude has to be this biggesture like at Thanksgiving,
right?
We get around the table, we doall the thanks for this, that it
can be saying thank you to thecashier at the grocery store.
It can be any little thing.
(16:30):
It's, and it grows from that.
The more you think about it,it's very easy to do.
I, again, back to the Canadianroots, I bump into people and I
say sorry, or they bump into me.
I say they, I say sorry to themor thank you, right?
It just starts that way.
So I think people think it's abig thing.
It really isn't.
Just start with the simple thankyous.
(16:51):
It, it can grow into handwrittenthank you notes.
It can grow into.
An act of gratitude at a standupmeeting or before a meeting you
can say, Hey, I, you can dopublic thanks.
You can do personal.
Thanks.
It's so easy once you put yourmind to it and once you think
about it,
Lan Elliott (17:10):
I love that.
I have to say, I did not grow upwith the advantage of gratitude
being a big part of myupbringing.
It just wasn't very central andI had to be a bit more
intentional about it.
I think I would've been betteroff if I had learned the
gratitude piece.
Earlier and the power ofgratitude and how it doesn't
(17:33):
just make it nicer for everyonearound you, it makes it nicer
for you as well, and it justlightens things and I really
loved leaning into it.
I recently read a book calledThe Gratitude Diaries, which was
a woman's journey over thecourse of a year.
Of really leaning into gratitudeand includes research that she
(17:53):
had read as part of her work,and I just think it is a
wonderful skill to develop.
And you're right, once you getused to it, it becomes so much
easier.
Brian Proctor (18:04):
Yeah a little tease.
So the first thing of gratitudefor me, I was and this is gonna
be hard to believe when you lookat this face, but I was a child
model growing up and it allstarted from an act of gratitude
that blew up into, about five orsix years worth of.
Modeling, for lack of a betterterm, and doing that
professionally from an act ofgratitude started by my mom and
(18:28):
something else.
So that's a little bit of atease'cause I talk about that on
the keynote and it's in thebook.
And it's fun.
And I'll just say that for theCanadians listening, I was the
black diamond cheese boy forabout three or four years up in
Canada.
They'll know what that is.
You won't.
But they will.
Lan Elliott (18:43):
One of our co-hosts here on the show, Dorothy
Dowling, is actually a Canadianas well, so I'm sure she will
know that ad and be happy toknow that we have that child
model here on the show.
Brian Proctor (18:58):
Yeah, it was fun.
Lan Elliott (19:01):
Let's go to talking about developing a network
because one of the things I loveabout this industry is people
tend to stay in our industry fora long time.
They don't tend to bounce in andout.
A lot of people find it andthink, oh, this is actually
where I wanna be.
And you and I discovered itearly, but one of the beauties
(19:22):
of hospitality is that you startworking with people in whatever
capacity and your networksactually turn into friendships.
It's great when you can get itto that point, but the starting
can be really daunting.
And I'm curious what advice youhave for people about developing
(19:42):
a network and how to get startedand how do you do it in a way
that's natural for you?
Brian Proctor (19:48):
Yeah, I think, the first thing is you have to
work at it.
It doesn't happen organically,right?
Like other things, it changesthrough your career cycle,
right?
So when you're working, yournetwork is pretty much those
people you interact with on adaily or weekly basis.
(20:08):
And then when you step away oryou change, you've almost gotta
start all over again.
And I found this, I stoppedworking.
I call it retired, but I retiredfrom the daily grind back in
2000.
And 20.
And what was interesting to me,the minute you're no longer a
(20:31):
titled professional, you reallyfind who your close network is
because they'll still talk toyou because I didn't have
anything to give anymore.
And the amount of people thatjust ghost you at that point, or
just fall off the crater.
So what I found was those firsttwo years after quote unquote
(20:51):
retiring, I had to work atrebuilding A, a new network, and
b.
Finding out my old network whoreally mattered to me and who I
really wanted to continue thatwith, because it does, it fell
off.
And when you make those changesit's dramatic.
(21:12):
So for me, you, I find thepeople that I have similar
philosophies, similar interestsand.
Again, I like to have fun, butyou've gotta work at this
developing a network.
And you Oliver Bonker, who wenton to some amazing things, he
just retired of as chairman of,I think it was H Hotels over in
(21:33):
Germany.
He's moving back to the statesand we had a chat and it was
like.
How does he reconnect witheverybody and how do you stay
relevant and you have to rebuildthe network based upon that next
juncture in your career.
To me that's, you gotta work atit.
It's not easy.
It's a lot of work.
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (21:52):
I think it's easier today than it was when we
started our careers.
Now we've got email and internetand LinkedIn and there are
different ways to connect withpeople and.
I think also LinkedIn canactually be a really powerful
tool.
I've had people reach out toconnect with me that way, and
(22:13):
I've met some incredible people.
Now, for example, it's personalstories.
My three co-hosts, those werenot people I knew during the
time I was working, and now theyare incredible colleagues to
share this podcast with.
And I think you end upgravitating to people, like you
said, who share a similar viewof the world rather than just
(22:34):
happenstance working with them.
Brian Proctor (22:37):
Yeah, I, I tell people when I started Leeds
Hospitality back in 2020 andTuesday, thanks.
And now power of gratitude atwork, I was spending three hours
a day, four hours a day onLinkedIn.
Just trying to build thatnetwork to the new, going from
being a COO of Bridge StreetGlobal Hospitality to founder of
(22:58):
Leeds Hospitality.
It's a whole new audience.
It's a whole new thing.
And quite honestly, I wasprobably on LinkedIn three to
four hours a day working atevery day, five days a week just
to build.
The client base up theconnections.
People who you know, might beable to help me and I might be
able to help them, and justgetting to know people like you
(23:18):
that I didn't know before.
Lan Elliott (23:21):
Absolutely.
I wanted to switch over tomentors and champions because
you had alluded to people whohad put you up for roles or
suggested you move into roles.
How important is it to findmentors and champions in the
business world, and how does onego about doing that?
Brian Proctor (23:40):
Yeah, I, I ca I came into mentorship in that
later in my career, meaning.
I really now believe it's soimportant, and I think when I
talk to kids in schools or I'mon a project now here in, in
upstate New York, it's reallyabout having the gumption to ask
(24:05):
for to mentors, right?
You have to seek out a mentor,right?
So you wanna find somebody whoyou admire their.
Style of management or howthey're running, whatever
business they're running, butyou have to seek them out.
They're not gonna come callingto you.
They're not gonna come say, Hey,I wanna mentor you.
And I think a younger me, that'swhat I should have done more of
(24:28):
is reach out to these moresenior executives that were
around and said, Hey, can I, tagalong, can I ask you questions?
Can I get an hour of your time amonth?
So there's I think there's thatseeking out of the mentors.
The executives higher up.
But there's also developing thatnetwork, getting back to
(24:48):
networks, developing thatnetworks of peers.
They don't even have to be inyour same industry.
But if I'm a director in thehospitality industry and there's
a director in the, theentertainment industry level
type positions, how are youmanaging?
What are you doing?
What are some of the things, andcross pollinate those ideas.
But again.
(25:10):
You have to seek them out.
I think that's, I think a lot ofpeople sit back and wait for
someone to mentor them versusgoing out and saying, Hey, can I
have your, you're gonna getturned down.
'cause some people don't likebeing a mentor or don't have the
skillset, but you've gotta findthose people that will help you
tremendously.
Lan Elliott (25:30):
I love the intentionality of seeking people
out.
Because you're right, there arepeople who are lucky and they're
very.
God mentor comes down andmentors them.
But I think for a lot of peoplewho are successful, they have
been intentional about doing it.
And I love something that yousaid about people that you
admire, the way they manage.
(25:51):
Because what I see a lot ispeople selecting a potential
mentor based on them having therole that they would like to
have one day and saying, how didyou get there?
But I do think.
Looking around and saying who isdoing it the way that I wanna do
it?
And really.
Leading their team, being aleader rather than just a
(26:12):
manager.
I think those skills and lookingat it more from that
perspective, rather than justthe person sitting in the seat
you wanna sit one day is such abroader way to think about it.
So thank you for sharing that.
Brian Proctor (26:26):
Sure.
Lan Elliott (26:27):
Let's touch on public speaking because you have
this podcast, you also.
In your, the Power of Gratitudeat Work program, do a lot of
public speaking, how importantis that in elevating one's
career, regardless of where youare in the industry?
Brian Proctor (26:50):
Yeah.
I recommend to anybody listeningis if you have any remote fear
of public speaking, get over itquickly.
Go take a course, go take apublic speaking class.
Carnegie, whatever it is,because public speaking, a lot
of people think public speakingis speaking in front of hundreds
or thousands of people.
(27:12):
Public speaking is speaking infront of a room of six of your
peers that you're trying to getthem to buy into your way of
doing whatever you want them todo.
And if you not, if you're notequipped to do that, if you
don't have the confidence to dothat.
No matter how smart you are, nomatter how great your idea is,
if you can't communicate it toeither three or four people,
(27:34):
forget about getting up in frontof a thousand people and selling
your idea.
So you can tell I'm not overlyshy.
So I'm I don't have a problemdoing this as long as, and this
is the second part as I alwaysbring up to people, is if you
are.
Thought out and you have doneyour homework and you know what
(27:59):
you're speaking about, then youcan sell it to anybody, right?
Because you're, they're gonnafeel the confidence in your
tone.
They're gonna feel the passionwith which you're talking about
this subject, and they're gonnabuy into it.
They may not agree witheverything, but they're gonna
listen and they're gonna reactto that.
But if you haven't done yourhomework, if you're not
(28:20):
prepared, people will seethrough that.
You've been to hundreds ofconferences where you see
someone just reading off aPowerPoint presentation.
They're not really, and if youeven need the PowerPoint
presentation to me that says youdon't know what you're talking
about.
Because that's always a goodtest.
Turn the PowerPoint off.
Can you still deliver thatspeech or deliver that
(28:41):
presentation?
So I think it's all aboutpreparation, a passion for what
you're doing and having the,again, people don't like public
speaking, I get it.
But you gotta get over it if youwanna be successful, I think.
Lan Elliott (28:57):
That is such a good point because I think for most
of my career I said, as long asI know my material and what I'm
talking about, that's enough,but.
How much more impactful could Ihave been if I could have also
delivered it in a way thatreally resonated with my
audience?
I do think there is a lot ofpractice that goes into becoming
(29:20):
better as a public speaker.
You and I get to do it throughour podcast.
I also decided to joinToastmasters 20 years later than
I probably should have.
But I think that idea ofpreparing, practicing, all of
those are really important to dothank you.
Brian Proctor (29:36):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (29:38):
As I expected, we're getting close on time, but
I do have two more questions foryou.
One of them is a favorite hereon its personal stories, which
is what advice would you give toyour younger self and let's say
22-year-old Brian, what wouldyou want him to know?
Brian Proctor (30:01):
I think what I would've wanted to know and do
was put up my hand more oftenand ask.
I was very much a, I don't wannasay shy'cause I don't know if
I've ever really been shy, but Ithink I was a quiet learner and
a quiet leader.
And.
I think if I'd put up my handmore and ask for more work or
(30:23):
ask for different assignmentsearly on, I got to the point
where I started to do that.
But to your point, back when Iwas 22, 23 years old, I think I
let, I think I thought thatthings would just come to me if
I worked really hard, and youhave to, and that's part of it.
But I should have been askingmore, I should have been saying,
Hey, let me try this, or can Igo there?
(30:46):
Or can I do this?
And I should have asked forthings that were outside of my
comfort zone, right?
Rather than just saying, okay,I'm the assistant front office
manager, and I'm gonna be thefront office manager.
Now that I'm gonna be the roomsmanager, I should have said
something to the effect, allright, I'm a front office
manager now.
Now I wanna be the restaurantmanager right with, and just
(31:06):
jump in there and assume that Icould do the job because I'm a
good hard worker and blah, blah,blah.
But, so for me, I think that wasit.
Just put my hand more, be alittle bit more aggressive with
wanting to be the person thatthey go to.
Lan Elliott (31:20):
I love that idea because I think for most of my
career, I thought that havingthe technical skill was the most
important thing.
And then you see people movingaround and being successful, and
then you learn there are otherskills that are really valuable
that can allow you to move anddo different things rather than
just being good at your onething.
So thank you for bringing thatup.
(31:42):
Brian, I just have one lastquestion, you have offered a lot
of really great stories andadvice for our audience who are
listening.
Our motto is around empoweringpersonal success.
Do you have one final nugget ofadvice for those who are looking
to advance their careers?
Brian Proctor (32:04):
I probably have about five, but I'm gonna, so
the top two or three is the onething I preach and I've preached
it all my life, is to do whatyou love, enjoy what you do.
You know the money will come.
If you enjoy what you do, you'regonna do it well and the money
will follow and.
I'm an walking example of that.
I started off as a night clerkat$7 an hour, in the hotel
(32:26):
business.
And we're, hotel business isn'tknown for paying a lot of money,
but I did very well because Iloved what I did and I was good
at it, and people saw that, soyou get rewarded for that.
The other thing, two otherthings real quickly is one is to
say yes.
Say yes to any challenge.
Your boss gives you.
Now I realize you may not beable to move across country, but
(32:49):
if they offer you something,they've seen something in you
that they think you can do thatjob.
So don't be afraid to say yes,even though it may sound crazy
coming from your boss.
They've seen something in youthat says to them, this person
can do it.
And then the last thing was andthis I really learned from
Tuesday.
Thanks.
(33:09):
It was really reinforced.
There are no, there's no onesingle way to get to the CEO's
desk or the whatever role you'relooking at.
You talk, I talk to 150 peoplewho are all very successful and
they all got there in differentways.
Some went, and not all of'emwent to Cornell.
(33:31):
Not all of them, some of themstarted as a bellman, no
education and became.
CEOs and general managers andvery successful.
So don't get tied up in thissaying I gotta do this, or I
gotta be at that school.
I gotta do that.
Make your own path.
Say yes.
Love what you do and you'regonna have a great life.
And if you don't love what youdo, then go find what you love
(33:53):
to do and that'll be better.
So those three would be thethings I preach to everybody.
Lan Elliott (34:00):
That is wonderful advice.
Thank you so much.
I love that.
There is a theme that if you dowhat you love the hours are long
and it can be hard sometimes,but if you really love it, it
makes it worthwhile and the timemoves quickly and hopefully
you're doing it with people thatyou enjoy being with.
(34:21):
So
Brian Proctor (34:22):
For 10 years on the New Build team, I tell you,
I didn't work a day, I neverworked a day in 10 years because
I never, I, it was just thepassion that we had for that
team and I just loved it.
So that's.
Where I look at it from.
Lan Elliott (34:38):
Amazing advice.
Thank you so much, Brian, forbeing on the show.
I so appreciate you and thewisdom you've shared.
Brian Proctor (34:46):
Thanks for having me.
Lan Elliott (34:48):
Absolutely.
And for audience, if you'veenjoyed this conversation with
Brian, I hope you'll go to ourwebsite, it's personal
stories.com, where you can findmany more interviews with
hospitality industry leaders.
Hello and welcome to its Personal Stories.
My name is Lan Elliot with itspersonal stories, and today our
guest advisor is Brian Proctor,founder of Leads Hospitality
Group, and I've been wanting tomeet Brian for a while now, so
I'm delighted he's here.
Welcome, Brian.
Brian Proctor (00:22):
Thanks.
I'm delighted to be here andlooking forward to chatting with
you.
Lan Elliott (00:27):
I wanted to start with your journey to leadership.
What are some of the inflectionpoints in your career and if
there was a factor or factorsthat you think were the secrets
to your success.
Brian Proctor (00:42):
Yeah, I think I've always wanted to, I've
never been the type of guy tosit in an office, right?
So very early in life.
One big thing that struck outwith me was my father was a
banker back in Canada and on aSunday, and I'll make this story
brief'cause it's a long one, buton a Sunday.
He took me into the QueenElizabeth Hotel.
(01:03):
He was practicing his speech forthe next day.
And the Queen E was an old CNhotel back in the day.
And the pomp and circumstance,the doorman was dressed as a
beef eater.
The rich colors, the maitre dtook care of me in the
restaurant while my dad waspracticing the speech in the
ballroom.
And I just fell in love with thefeeling of being in a hotel.
(01:26):
So from that standpoint on, Ialways took jobs where I was
with people and working directlyone-on-one with people in the
public.
And so that kind of ingrained inme, when I thought about
schooling is what can I do?
And the hospitality business wasjust a natural.
So having done the, finished theschooling, did what everybody
did, just jumped into the firstjob I could find at the Westin
(01:50):
in Calgary, Alberta as a nightauditor back before computers
were invented.
So you actually had to.
Balance the hotel.
And that really was a way tolearn the business side of it
right from a very early age.
And then the career justprogressed into it Sheraton.
And then I was fortunate tobuild some good relationships.
(02:13):
Which are so key in thisbusiness to come down to the
states based upon having thesekey relationships from the
Sheraton and Halifax, NovaScotia of all places.
And then, I'm a Canadian kid.
I got, I was with ITT Sheraton.
I got called by Four Seasons togo work in Toronto.
As a Canadian kid, you get acall from Four Seasons, you go,
(02:33):
you just go no matter what.
And they were, I think
Lan Elliott (02:36):
everybody gets a call from Four Seasons.
They're probably gonna go
Brian Proctor (02:39):
I think.
I think so.
Really strings, your heartstrings with a Canadian with
everything that Izzy, hadcreated at that point went on to
create even more.
And then, it came back down tothe States in Beverly Hills with
Four Seasons.
And one of the big changes forme was leaving that type of a
company Four Seasons and joiningInterstate Hotels, and I credit.
(03:01):
Guys like Ted Darnell and AlanRaey and Bob Grainy.
They showed me what the hotelbusiness was as a business,
because up until that point, Ithink I was just having fun.
You're dealing with the Krem dela Crema of society with Four
Seasons.
You've got the best hotels,you've got the most staff.
(03:22):
Ted and the guys at Interstatereally taught me what the
business was about and how tomake money and how to work on
behalf of an ownership group tomake that hotel successful.
So I had the best of bothworlds.
I was able, I knew service andnow I knew the business side of
it.
And then I went on to my best 20years in the business, 19 years
in the business with Starwood.
(03:42):
And just had a, started as ageneral manager with them and
they were very nice and broughtme into the corporate world side
of it.
Again, another important partwas, Rick Sewell, Dave Milas,
taking me under their wings andshowing me how to grow into
these different types ofpositions.
So I think.
From that standpoint, I was ableto then branch out into what I'm
(04:04):
doing now as a consultant and asomeone who works with
hospitality, tech, startups andthings of that nature.
So in a very quick four minutesor whatever that was, that's
very quickly how I got to whereI am now.
Lan Elliott (04:19):
Such an incredible journey.
And we had talked about how Iknew your name and I couldn't
figure out how, and then Irealized I worked with people.
And my W days, who reported upto you.
So I'd only heard about themythical Brian Proctor.
I'd never actually had a chanceto meet you until now, so I'm
glad that our paths finallycrossed.
Brian Proctor (04:41):
I don't know about the mythical part, but
Lan Elliott (04:44):
I wanna talk about continuous growth because we
find that for a lot of leaders,curiosity and this desire to
continue learning and growing asa big part of their path.
And I'm curious in the variousroles you have, if you ever came
across.
A skill that you realized, youknow what?
(05:06):
I'm going to need to really getbetter at this thing that I
didn't need before, but I'mgoing to need it in the future.
And that you really focused onit and I'm curious what it might
be and how you did it.
Brian Proctor (05:18):
Yeah, I I think, at each level there's a
different.
Answer to that question, right?
So the constant desire to learnis important.
But the other side of that isthe ability to say yes to
whatever challenges that yourbosses put in front of you.
And not being afraid to take onthat challenge.
I was fortunate.
(05:39):
I worked with a lot of greatcompanies and a lot of great
people where you were allowed tofail.
But because of that.
Knowing that, hey, I could failand still proceed.
You would try things forexample, with the new builds and
transitions team at Starwood, wewere work from home before there
was a work from home because wewere opening hotels from Bora to
(06:01):
Aruba and everything in between.
And none of us worked in anoffice.
We were all working off of C twoB wherever we were flying
around.
Understanding that at every rolethat ability to learn to say
yes.
And one of the other things youalways want to learn as you go
through is how to manage thepeople that you're working with.
(06:24):
And that is so key and soimportant.
And I learned as a generalmanager and growing up through
the hotels, I was probably amicromanager.
And that kind of works for youwhen you're putting your arms
around a building.
But then you get into thecorporate roles and you're
overseeing multipledestinations, multiple
(06:45):
properties, multipledisciplines.
Then you have to learn how tonot micromanage and how to trust
the people that you've hired orthat you've gone on your team.
To allow them to do the job,give them all the tools they
need, give them all the supportthey need, but then let them go.
Because if I'm meeting with theowner in Bora Bora and we, the
(07:06):
she and Phoenix ConventionCenter Hotel is meeting with the
city hall leaders, I can't be inboth places.
You just have to trust everybodyto do what they're doing.
So I think for me, those type ofthings were at each level.
You could probably have apodcast on.
Just this one question becauseat different levels I think
you're experiencing thatdifferently, if that makes
(07:27):
sense.
Lan Elliott (07:28):
Absolutely.
And this podcast is a lot aboutcontinuous growth because our
motto is empowering personalsuccess.
You touched on it, and I wantedto dive a little bit into
building high performing teamsbecause.
When you're leading hotels andthen you're at corporate and
you're leading teams, like yousaid, there is this element of
(07:52):
learning to trust the people andlet go and let them do their
thing.
But you have to relativelyquickly put together high
performing teams.
And I'm curious how you do thiseither when you're starting from
scratch, which.
People don't always get to do.
Usually you inherit a team, buthow do you think about building
(08:13):
a high performing team and isthere one thing that you look
for in people?
That are successful in on yourteams?
Brian Proctor (08:21):
Yeah, I think, and I'm gonna bring up this name
probably a lot in theconversation, but with the new
Build team, we actually built itfrom scratch.
Realistically there was five orsix of the founding members and
it grew into a team of over 45members over the years.
And the one thing that I learnedfrom Dave Milas on how to do
this, the best way is to investin the time.
(08:44):
While you're selecting theindividuals and really taking
the time to ensure that thoseindividuals.
The, they all come with greatex, experience.
The, we weren't interviewingpeople who had never worked in
hotels or anything.
Everybody has great experience,but taking the time to really
understand who the person is andensure that they understand what
(09:06):
the role plays.
I used to joke that the HR guyswouldn't like me'cause I would
actually love to interview thepartner, spouse of the
individual I was interviewing.
Because it was a remote workingjob, we needed to make sure that
everybody understood what thatmeant, right?
It meant that you were gettingpicked up on Monday mornings and
(09:27):
being back delivered back homeFriday afternoons.
45 weeks a year, that's not foreverybody.
So taking the time to really getthat, and then looking at
personalities and theirskillset, and are they gonna
mesh with the type ofenvironment that the new builds
was in, which meant that one dayyou're dealing with a high net
(09:51):
worth individual who'sdeveloping a W because that's
who was developing Ws, wherethey were single owners, nine
times outta 10 here in NorthAmerica.
And then the next day you're,speaking in front of the city
council at the, she in PhoenixCenter, or you're, dealing with
a, an island population inAnguilla.
And that could be a typicalweek, right?
(10:13):
So understanding thepersonalities of everybody
involved and looking at theskill sets and the
personalities, Dave really madesure we invested the time.
Selecting the right individualsand getting a lot of different
diverse people into the team anda lot of diverse people
interviewing the individuals whowere gonna join the team so that
(10:35):
we knew what, what it took to besuccessful in that type of role.
They all, I was interviewingfood and beverage people, they
were all great food and beveragepeople, but some would click and
some you knew would not be ableto handle the aspects of the
job.
So I think for me, that was oneof the biggest things.
Lan Elliott (10:51):
Yeah.
That's one of the philosophies Ilearned when I was at w was that
in the past other places theyhired for skill and at w they
hired for personality.
And they could teach you how todo the skill, but the
personality piece you either hadthe right personality or you
didn't.
And I definitely think theamount of time you and your team
(11:16):
were on the road, it's not foreverybody.
Some people think that's veryexciting to be traveling around
the world, and it probably isexciting for the first three
months and then it does become agrind.
So I think yeah,
Brian Proctor (11:28):
absolutely.
Lan Elliott (11:29):
It makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
I wanted to turn to the power ofgratitude.
I don't do New Year'sresolutions.
I set an intention for the yearand this year there was
gratitude coming fromeverywhere.
So it said to me, this year, myintentionality had to be around
(11:50):
gratitude.
And so when I discovered.
Your wonderful podcastTuesday's.
Thanks.
I thought I really hope I get tobe on that podcast.
And I really wanna meet Brianwho came up with this amazing
idea for a podcast and I'velistened to episodes.
They are wonderful.
And in addition to the podcast,you also have a program you
(12:14):
created called The Power ofGratitude at Work, and I wanted
to talk.
About how did gratitude becomesuch a central focus in your
work, and what's one thing aboutgratitude that most people don't
realize?
Brian Proctor (12:29):
First thank you for the kind words about the
podcast.
I appreciate that.
It's a bit of a passion of mineand it's started during the
pandemic, really as a, I justnoticed we were, the world was
losing a lot of good people andwhen you did, you would see
LinkedIn or other.
Social medias, go crazy aboutwhat an impact that individual
had on me and dah.
(12:50):
I never got to thank them.
So I just said, you know what?
You need to thank people whilethey're around.
So I made a personal commitmenton my personal LinkedIn page,
'cause that's all I had at thetime, was to thank one person a
week for 52 weeks for havingmade a big positive impact on my
life when I finished after 52weeks.
(13:10):
I was fortunate enough to be onanother great podcast called The
Hospitality Mentor by SteveTurk, and I loved it, and so I
said at the end, Kay, can I callyou next week and teach me what
a podcast is?
I didn't know what a podcastwas.
And he said, you need amicrophone, a laptop, and an
idea.
I had two outta three.
I didn't own a microphone, but Ido now.
(13:32):
And that's how it was born.
And then, I thought maybe I'd do10 or 15 of them'cause I didn't
think anybody wanted to talk tome.
And then.
People said yes to be on theshow and the likes of John
Murray, CEO of Esta, Jeff ti CEOof Wyndham.
It's been incredible.
And so that really continued mythought process on gratitude and
(13:56):
then through 150 plus episodes.
You hear a lot of the samemessaging from these leaders of
how gratitude had shaped theircareers and how would it shaped
their lives, and so having.
Combine those two, the learningsfrom the podcast, my own
interest in gratitude, and Iwould love to think I did
(14:16):
gratitude well as an, as amanager, but I don't know, you'd
have to ask people who workedfor me.
But I put it all together anddeveloped this power of
gratitude at work, keynote andworkshop where we do actionable
daily activities that leaderscan add to their toolbox to.
Use it as a skill.
'cause it's really, it's likeanything, you have to practice
(14:38):
gratitude to get good at it.
And what you wanna do is youwant it to become a habit so
that you're not thinking aboutit as much as just a habit.
And then you watch how itspreads around the organization
that you're working with.
When people see you.
Daily doing some of theactivities that we suggest, then
(14:59):
they react and they start doingit.
And so there's a trickle downeffect from seeing leaders do
that.
And what I found surprising wasthere's so many studies about
gratitude that I had neverthought about.
And there's a gentleman, I callhim the gratitude ambassador
Kevin Monroe.
He really, got me.
(15:19):
Going a little more than I wasalready.
And he was a great mentor for meat the beginning of this.
And so that's how it came about.
Through that there's.
If we had more time, there's astory I have with my mother came
from virtually nothing.
She, and by the grace ofwhatever, her and my father got
together and she instilled at usfrom a very early age to be
(15:43):
grateful for whatever you have.
'cause she grew up with nothing.
And we were very fortunate to,to have more than she could ever
have dream of.
And I remember her teaching usthat at a very early age.
And that kind of set the tone.
And as a Canadian we say thankyou a lot, right?
We say two things, we say sorryand we say thank you.
That's just what we do.
Lan Elliott (16:04):
What's one thing about gratitude, you think
people get wrong?
Brian Proctor (16:08):
I don't know if they get it wrong land.
I just think they think it's toodifficult and it's really easy.
People think.
Gratitude has to be this biggesture like at Thanksgiving,
right?
We get around the table, we doall the thanks for this, that it
can be saying thank you to thecashier at the grocery store.
It can be any little thing.
(16:30):
It's, and it grows from that.
The more you think about it,it's very easy to do.
I, again, back to the Canadianroots, I bump into people and I
say sorry, or they bump into me.
I say they, I say sorry to themor thank you, right?
It just starts that way.
So I think people think it's abig thing.
It really isn't.
Just start with the simple thankyous.
(16:51):
It, it can grow into handwrittenthank you notes.
It can grow into.
An act of gratitude at a standupmeeting or before a meeting you
can say, Hey, I, you can dopublic thanks.
You can do personal.
Thanks.
It's so easy once you put yourmind to it and once you think
about it,
Lan Elliott (17:10):
I love that.
I have to say, I did not grow upwith the advantage of gratitude
being a big part of myupbringing.
It just wasn't very central andI had to be a bit more
intentional about it.
I think I would've been betteroff if I had learned the
gratitude piece.
Earlier and the power ofgratitude and how it doesn't
(17:33):
just make it nicer for everyonearound you, it makes it nicer
for you as well, and it justlightens things and I really
loved leaning into it.
I recently read a book calledThe Gratitude Diaries, which was
a woman's journey over thecourse of a year.
Of really leaning into gratitudeand includes research that she
(17:53):
had read as part of her work,and I just think it is a
wonderful skill to develop.
And you're right, once you getused to it, it becomes so much
easier.
Brian Proctor (18:04):
Yeah a little tease.
So the first thing of gratitudefor me, I was and this is gonna
be hard to believe when you lookat this face, but I was a child
model growing up and it allstarted from an act of gratitude
that blew up into, about five orsix years worth of.
Modeling, for lack of a betterterm, and doing that
professionally from an act ofgratitude started by my mom and
(18:28):
something else.
So that's a little bit of atease'cause I talk about that on
the keynote and it's in thebook.
And it's fun.
And I'll just say that for theCanadians listening, I was the
black diamond cheese boy forabout three or four years up in
Canada.
They'll know what that is.
You won't.
But they will.
Lan Elliott (18:43):
One of our co-hosts here on the show, Dorothy
Dowling, is actually a Canadianas well, so I'm sure she will
know that ad and be happy toknow that we have that child
model here on the show.
Brian Proctor (18:58):
Yeah, it was fun.
Lan Elliott (19:01):
Let's go to talking about developing a network
because one of the things I loveabout this industry is people
tend to stay in our industry fora long time.
They don't tend to bounce in andout.
A lot of people find it andthink, oh, this is actually
where I wanna be.
And you and I discovered itearly, but one of the beauties
(19:22):
of hospitality is that you startworking with people in whatever
capacity and your networksactually turn into friendships.
It's great when you can get itto that point, but the starting
can be really daunting.
And I'm curious what advice youhave for people about developing
(19:42):
a network and how to get startedand how do you do it in a way
that's natural for you?
Brian Proctor (19:48):
Yeah, I think, the first thing is you have to
work at it.
It doesn't happen organically,right?
Like other things, it changesthrough your career cycle,
right?
So when you're working, yournetwork is pretty much those
people you interact with on adaily or weekly basis.
(20:08):
And then when you step away oryou change, you've almost gotta
start all over again.
And I found this, I stoppedworking.
I call it retired, but I retiredfrom the daily grind back in
2000.
And 20.
And what was interesting to me,the minute you're no longer a
(20:31):
titled professional, you reallyfind who your close network is
because they'll still talk toyou because I didn't have
anything to give anymore.
And the amount of people thatjust ghost you at that point, or
just fall off the crater.
So what I found was those firsttwo years after quote unquote
(20:51):
retiring, I had to work atrebuilding A, a new network, and
b.
Finding out my old network whoreally mattered to me and who I
really wanted to continue thatwith, because it does, it fell
off.
And when you make those changesit's dramatic.
(21:12):
So for me, you, I find thepeople that I have similar
philosophies, similar interestsand.
Again, I like to have fun, butyou've gotta work at this
developing a network.
And you Oliver Bonker, who wenton to some amazing things, he
just retired of as chairman of,I think it was H Hotels over in
(21:33):
Germany.
He's moving back to the statesand we had a chat and it was
like.
How does he reconnect witheverybody and how do you stay
relevant and you have to rebuildthe network based upon that next
juncture in your career.
To me that's, you gotta work atit.
It's not easy.
It's a lot of work.
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (21:52):
I think it's easier today than it was when we
started our careers.
Now we've got email and internetand LinkedIn and there are
different ways to connect withpeople and.
I think also LinkedIn canactually be a really powerful
tool.
I've had people reach out toconnect with me that way, and
(22:13):
I've met some incredible people.
Now, for example, it's personalstories.
My three co-hosts, those werenot people I knew during the
time I was working, and now theyare incredible colleagues to
share this podcast with.
And I think you end upgravitating to people, like you
said, who share a similar viewof the world rather than just
(22:34):
happenstance working with them.
Brian Proctor (22:37):
Yeah, I, I tell people when I started Leeds
Hospitality back in 2020 andTuesday, thanks.
And now power of gratitude atwork, I was spending three hours
a day, four hours a day onLinkedIn.
Just trying to build thatnetwork to the new, going from
being a COO of Bridge StreetGlobal Hospitality to founder of
(22:58):
Leeds Hospitality.
It's a whole new audience.
It's a whole new thing.
And quite honestly, I wasprobably on LinkedIn three to
four hours a day working atevery day, five days a week just
to build.
The client base up theconnections.
People who you know, might beable to help me and I might be
able to help them, and justgetting to know people like you
(23:18):
that I didn't know before.
Lan Elliott (23:21):
Absolutely.
I wanted to switch over tomentors and champions because
you had alluded to people whohad put you up for roles or
suggested you move into roles.
How important is it to findmentors and champions in the
business world, and how does onego about doing that?
Brian Proctor (23:40):
Yeah, I, I ca I came into mentorship in that
later in my career, meaning.
I really now believe it's soimportant, and I think when I
talk to kids in schools or I'mon a project now here in, in
upstate New York, it's reallyabout having the gumption to ask
(24:05):
for to mentors, right?
You have to seek out a mentor,right?
So you wanna find somebody whoyou admire their.
Style of management or howthey're running, whatever
business they're running, butyou have to seek them out.
They're not gonna come callingto you.
They're not gonna come say, Hey,I wanna mentor you.
And I think a younger me, that'swhat I should have done more of
(24:28):
is reach out to these moresenior executives that were
around and said, Hey, can I, tagalong, can I ask you questions?
Can I get an hour of your time amonth?
So there's I think there's thatseeking out of the mentors.
The executives higher up.
But there's also developing thatnetwork, getting back to
(24:48):
networks, developing thatnetworks of peers.
They don't even have to be inyour same industry.
But if I'm a director in thehospitality industry and there's
a director in the, theentertainment industry level
type positions, how are youmanaging?
What are you doing?
What are some of the things, andcross pollinate those ideas.
But again.
(25:10):
You have to seek them out.
I think that's, I think a lot ofpeople sit back and wait for
someone to mentor them versusgoing out and saying, Hey, can I
have your, you're gonna getturned down.
'cause some people don't likebeing a mentor or don't have the
skillset, but you've gotta findthose people that will help you
tremendously.
Lan Elliott (25:30):
I love the intentionality of seeking people
out.
Because you're right, there arepeople who are lucky and they're
very.
God mentor comes down andmentors them.
But I think for a lot of peoplewho are successful, they have
been intentional about doing it.
And I love something that yousaid about people that you
admire, the way they manage.
(25:51):
Because what I see a lot ispeople selecting a potential
mentor based on them having therole that they would like to
have one day and saying, how didyou get there?
But I do think.
Looking around and saying who isdoing it the way that I wanna do
it?
And really.
Leading their team, being aleader rather than just a
(26:12):
manager.
I think those skills and lookingat it more from that
perspective, rather than justthe person sitting in the seat
you wanna sit one day is such abroader way to think about it.
So thank you for sharing that.
Brian Proctor (26:26):
Sure.
Lan Elliott (26:27):
Let's touch on public speaking because you have
this podcast, you also.
In your, the Power of Gratitudeat Work program, do a lot of
public speaking, how importantis that in elevating one's
career, regardless of where youare in the industry?
Brian Proctor (26:50):
Yeah.
I recommend to anybody listeningis if you have any remote fear
of public speaking, get over itquickly.
Go take a course, go take apublic speaking class.
Carnegie, whatever it is,because public speaking, a lot
of people think public speakingis speaking in front of hundreds
or thousands of people.
(27:12):
Public speaking is speaking infront of a room of six of your
peers that you're trying to getthem to buy into your way of
doing whatever you want them todo.
And if you not, if you're notequipped to do that, if you
don't have the confidence to dothat.
No matter how smart you are, nomatter how great your idea is,
if you can't communicate it toeither three or four people,
(27:34):
forget about getting up in frontof a thousand people and selling
your idea.
So you can tell I'm not overlyshy.
So I'm I don't have a problemdoing this as long as, and this
is the second part as I alwaysbring up to people, is if you
are.
Thought out and you have doneyour homework and you know what
(27:59):
you're speaking about, then youcan sell it to anybody, right?
Because you're, they're gonnafeel the confidence in your
tone.
They're gonna feel the passionwith which you're talking about
this subject, and they're gonnabuy into it.
They may not agree witheverything, but they're gonna
listen and they're gonna reactto that.
But if you haven't done yourhomework, if you're not
(28:20):
prepared, people will seethrough that.
You've been to hundreds ofconferences where you see
someone just reading off aPowerPoint presentation.
They're not really, and if youeven need the PowerPoint
presentation to me that says youdon't know what you're talking
about.
Because that's always a goodtest.
Turn the PowerPoint off.
Can you still deliver thatspeech or deliver that
(28:41):
presentation?
So I think it's all aboutpreparation, a passion for what
you're doing and having the,again, people don't like public
speaking, I get it.
But you gotta get over it if youwanna be successful, I think.
Lan Elliott (28:57):
That is such a good point because I think for most
of my career I said, as long asI know my material and what I'm
talking about, that's enough,but.
How much more impactful could Ihave been if I could have also
delivered it in a way thatreally resonated with my
audience?
I do think there is a lot ofpractice that goes into becoming
(29:20):
better as a public speaker.
You and I get to do it throughour podcast.
I also decided to joinToastmasters 20 years later than
I probably should have.
But I think that idea ofpreparing, practicing, all of
those are really important to dothank you.
Brian Proctor (29:36):
Yeah.
Lan Elliott (29:38):
As I expected, we're getting close on time, but
I do have two more questions foryou.
One of them is a favorite hereon its personal stories, which
is what advice would you give toyour younger self and let's say
22-year-old Brian, what wouldyou want him to know?
Brian Proctor (30:01):
I think what I would've wanted to know and do
was put up my hand more oftenand ask.
I was very much a, I don't wannasay shy'cause I don't know if
I've ever really been shy, but Ithink I was a quiet learner and
a quiet leader.
And.
I think if I'd put up my handmore and ask for more work or
(30:23):
ask for different assignmentsearly on, I got to the point
where I started to do that.
But to your point, back when Iwas 22, 23 years old, I think I
let, I think I thought thatthings would just come to me if
I worked really hard, and youhave to, and that's part of it.
But I should have been askingmore, I should have been saying,
Hey, let me try this, or can Igo there?
(30:46):
Or can I do this?
And I should have asked forthings that were outside of my
comfort zone, right?
Rather than just saying, okay,I'm the assistant front office
manager, and I'm gonna be thefront office manager.
Now that I'm gonna be the roomsmanager, I should have said
something to the effect, allright, I'm a front office
manager now.
Now I wanna be the restaurantmanager right with, and just
(31:06):
jump in there and assume that Icould do the job because I'm a
good hard worker and blah, blah,blah.
But, so for me, I think that wasit.
Just put my hand more, be alittle bit more aggressive with
wanting to be the person thatthey go to.
Lan Elliott (31:20):
I love that idea because I think for most of my
career, I thought that havingthe technical skill was the most
important thing.
And then you see people movingaround and being successful, and
then you learn there are otherskills that are really valuable
that can allow you to move anddo different things rather than
just being good at your onething.
So thank you for bringing thatup.
(31:42):
Brian, I just have one lastquestion, you have offered a lot
of really great stories andadvice for our audience who are
listening.
Our motto is around empoweringpersonal success.
Do you have one final nugget ofadvice for those who are looking
to advance their careers?
Brian Proctor (32:04):
I probably have about five, but I'm gonna, so
the top two or three is the onething I preach and I've preached
it all my life, is to do whatyou love, enjoy what you do.
You know the money will come.
If you enjoy what you do, you'regonna do it well and the money
will follow and.
I'm an walking example of that.
I started off as a night clerkat$7 an hour, in the hotel
(32:26):
business.
And we're, hotel business isn'tknown for paying a lot of money,
but I did very well because Iloved what I did and I was good
at it, and people saw that, soyou get rewarded for that.
The other thing, two otherthings real quickly is one is to
say yes.
Say yes to any challenge.
Your boss gives you.
Now I realize you may not beable to move across country, but
(32:49):
if they offer you something,they've seen something in you
that they think you can do thatjob.
So don't be afraid to say yes,even though it may sound crazy
coming from your boss.
They've seen something in youthat says to them, this person
can do it.
And then the last thing was andthis I really learned from
Tuesday.
Thanks.
(33:09):
It was really reinforced.
There are no, there's no onesingle way to get to the CEO's
desk or the whatever role you'relooking at.
You talk, I talk to 150 peoplewho are all very successful and
they all got there in differentways.
Some went, and not all of'emwent to Cornell.
(33:31):
Not all of them, some of themstarted as a bellman, no
education and became.
CEOs and general managers andvery successful.
So don't get tied up in thissaying I gotta do this, or I
gotta be at that school.
I gotta do that.
Make your own path.
Say yes.
Love what you do and you'regonna have a great life.
And if you don't love what youdo, then go find what you love
(33:53):
to do and that'll be better.
So those three would be thethings I preach to everybody.
Lan Elliott (34:00):
That is wonderful advice.
Thank you so much.
I love that.
There is a theme that if you dowhat you love the hours are long
and it can be hard sometimes,but if you really love it, it
makes it worthwhile and the timemoves quickly and hopefully
you're doing it with people thatyou enjoy being with.
(34:21):
So
Brian Proctor (34:22):
For 10 years on the New Build team, I tell you,
I didn't work a day, I neverworked a day in 10 years because
I never, I, it was just thepassion that we had for that
team and I just loved it.
So that's.
Where I look at it from.
Lan Elliott (34:38):
Amazing advice.
Thank you so much, Brian, forbeing on the show.
I so appreciate you and thewisdom you've shared.
Brian Proctor (34:46):
Thanks for having me.
Lan Elliott (34:48):
Absolutely.
And for audience, if you'veenjoyed this conversation with
Brian, I hope you'll go to ourwebsite, it's personal
stories.com, where you can findmany more interviews with
hospitality industry leaders.
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