Roger describes how overcoming adversity made his companies stronger, and how rewarding others with the opportunity to lead provides continuity. He also explains how preparation and hard work can turn calculated risks into success. In addition to sharing how one builds a strong career, Roger discusses the benefits of becoming a hotel owner as soon as possible.
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Episode Transcript
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Lan Elliott (00:00):
hello, and welcome to its Personal Stories, a
nonprofit dedicated toempowering personal success.
My name is Lan Elliott, onbehalf of its personal stories,
and today I am delighted to haveRoger Hill with us, who is the
co-founder and executivechairman of the Gettys Group and
Richline Development Partners.
Welcome Roger.
Roger Hill (00:22):
LAN, it's such a pleasure to be here.
Thank you very much for havingme, and I hope you're doing well
today.
Lan Elliott (00:27):
Doing great, and I've been looking forward to our
discussion for a while.
So I'm really pleased to haveyou here with us today.
Roger, you have had such anamazing career.
I watched it from afar from manyyears, and then I was lucky
enough to start being inmeetings with you and you've
just had an incredible journey.
(00:47):
Could you share a bit about yourcareer journey and if there was
a factor that contributed toyour success?
Roger Hill (00:55):
Sure.
And thanks again for inviting meto be here today.
Really, I'm looking forward toour conversation.
There.
There were a few key momentsthat, really shaped my career
and honestly have been a guidingphilosophy for me and in my
youth.
I had the opportunity, my momand dad had nothing to do with
the hospitality industry, but.
I travel with them andexperience hollo domes and
(01:18):
enjoyed that when I was superyoung.
And then I got to be a littlebit older, eight or nine.
My parents worked together,nothing to do with hospitality.
They'd travel, go to tradeshows, I'd go with them.
I put on my little blue blazerand I'd go and operate an
elevator in a hotel or guidepeople around.
And I became that self-appointedlobby boy and just fell in love
(01:39):
with hospitality.
Didn't really understandnecessarily how to make a career
in it, but I just, I had anearly joy in, serving others and
it really set a foundation thatfollowed everything forward.
And then I fast forwarded togoing to the college counselor.
I was like, Hey, I kinda likehospitality.
If you like hospitality andyou're lucky enough, there's a
(01:59):
wonderful school in upstate NewYork, you should try to go
there.
I was lucky enough to get inthere.
I literally met my co-founder,Andrew Faye, in registration.
And for the viewers that are,participating in this back in
the day, you'd registermanually, cards, paper, and he
and I became fast friends andthen we graduated, worked in
other places.
(02:20):
We started our business togetherand what we learned from Cornell
at the time.
Was a lot about creativity, alot about business.
We were also starting ourbusiness at a point where the
financial markets had changed.
A lot of people were investingin hotels that didn't
necessarily need to makeeconomic sense because of the
fact that they could offsetlosses that they had in a hotel
(02:42):
against income that might havecome from a doctor or a lawyer.
So a lot of hotels were builtfor the wrong reasons and didn't
necessarily have to makefinancial sense.
We thought, gosh, we could starta business and maybe support
some of the people that werebecoming reluctant, hotel
owners, insurance companies, butwith the idea of balancing
creativity, procurement andbusiness.
So that was, obviously anextremely major.
(03:05):
Inflection point for us.
And then fast forward startedour business.
We got in, involved in investingin projects.
'cause our clients were like,gosh, you guys are really smart
at this.
Why do you consider investing?
And then we had the opportunityto cement that philosophy of
always thinking like owners whenwe launched, ridgeline
(03:26):
development partners.
And we're investing again asco-gen partners.
And then finally, I'd say a keymoment for us in relationship to
our trajectory was a momentwhere Hyatt invited us early in
our years to renovate a bigproject, a public restroom
women's and ladies restroom inthe hotel in the outskirts of
(03:47):
Chicago.
We were paid a few thousanddollars.
The renovation budget wasprobably$30,000, and that led
to, in 1998.
Renovating the Hyatt on Wackerhere in Chicago, over 2000 rooms
and at that time had revenuesthat were comparable to large
casino hotels in Las Vegasbecause at that point, the rest
of gaming and relationship toentertainment and food hadn't
(04:10):
really evolved.
So it was a huge responsibilityfor us.
And we really had an opportunityto do some incredibly creative
things there.
And it taught us the power ofinnovation and empathy and
utility, because literally wedid things that had not been
done before.
We put in, believe it or not athe first outlet in a lamp that
(04:31):
people could plug their devicesinto.
Of course, they weren't ashorrific back then, but that
kind of innovation is the kindof innovation that we still try
to do today.
In every project.
Lan Elliott (04:42):
You've definitely worked on some of the most
iconic hotels and resorts aroundthe world, and it's just
incredible to see the start ofwhere the inspiration came from.
Thanks.
Was there a particular factor orfactors that you think
contributed to your success?
Roger Hill (05:02):
I'd say one of the factors that contributed to my
success was interestingly enoughbeing dyslexic.
And I learned at a very youngage, the challenges of that and
turned those challenges intoopportunity and recognized that
I had to work harder just to beat the same level of somebody
else.
And then for me, from a dyslexiaperspective, preparation is
(05:23):
really important.
So anything that I would do.
Required more preparation, butif I was really prepared, it
allowed the outcome to have thatmuch more high likelihood of
success.
Lan Elliott (05:35):
That's incredible.
I would've never known thatabout you.
So thank you for sharing and howit impacted your journey.
That's really interesting.
Roger Hill (05:43):
Yeah.
Thanks for asking.
Lan Elliott (05:46):
Now, you recently stepped back from running the
companies that you started.
How did that come about and howwere you thinking about this
next chapter?
Roger Hill (05:57):
Yeah.
Thank you for asking thatquestion.
That came about by Andrew who,incredibly close friend of mine.
As I mentioned earlier,co-founder of the business with
us.
He had said, Roger, I wanna stepback and really become very
involved on our board.
He's our lead independentdirector, and we also both
recognized that we had somegreat leaders within our
company.
(06:18):
And we needed to createopportunity for them and.
Over the decades we've gonethrough, many different crises,
weathered wars, the dotcombubble, the Great Recession,
which there was nothing greatabout it.
I don't know why people calledit the Great Recession most
recently COVID.
And now the uncertainty as itrelates to tariffs and all of
(06:40):
the issues that are going on nowwith the, in our economic
environment.
And that, allowed us to reallybecome stronger.
But obviously through all that,a big part of leadership is
making sure that you can harnessall that institutional knowledge
and making sure the lessons andthe stories that come from all
of those events and the culturecan get passed onto the next
(07:01):
generation.
And the best way to do that isthrough succession.
And to me, and it's not aboutstepping away, but it's actually
a really about creatingcontinuity and about.
Building a company that canoutlive its founders.
So today, Ron Swidler, the firstperson we hired after we started
the business, is leading thegrad Gettys group in an
(07:21):
incredible way, with a lot ofheart and a lot of vision.
And he and his team have Unitedour services, our branding, our
design, our procure.
Strategy and a seamless platformwhich has just been incredibly
exciting to see what he's beendoing and taking the foundation
that we created and truly takingit to the next level.
(07:43):
And while I continue to serve asthe executive chairman and
Andrew is our lead director, I'malso proud that our broader
family's grown through thecreation of Ridgeline
development partners, whichJerry Zeidner leads, which we
actually met we met him when hewas working for Hyatt when we
were renovating.
That Hyatt Regency on WackerDrive 28 years ago, and he's now
our CEO.
(08:03):
So I'm super proud of thecontinuity.
And also know those twogentlemen, if they weren't
running their own businessestoday, they'd be running'em for
somebody else.
So it was clear and it was theright time to reward them for
all their contributions to.
Our organization.
And that really created anopportunity to continue to feel
(08:24):
confident that these businesseswould live on long after Andrew
and I were gone.
And then that also tied backnicely to the ethos I was
talking about earlier about whenAndrew and I started the
business about thinking likeowners, obviously now serving
ridgeline.
All of the Gettys group teammembers that are involved in
those projects, do that everyday.
And it's now allowed me to moveinto this new role as a steward
(08:47):
of our culture.
I'm doing mentoring, I'msupporting other organization.
I certainly have key sort ofchairman relationships that I
continue to work on.
And then helpfully, pushingforward our DNA and then.
Our curiosity for pragmatism andowner like thinking, endures
both at the Gates Group and allthe projects we're doing at
(09:09):
Ridgeline.
It's been been exciting andwe've obviously survived a lot
of storms and, one of the thingsthat we often think about is, a
willow tree is a very sturdytree, but also has flexible
branches and we've tried to beflexible and going through.
All this change.
And that's part, a big part ofwhy, we wanted to, go create the
(09:29):
succession and I'm surehopefully within the walls of
the Gettys Group and Ridgeline,there are future CEOs there.
That'll be and those roles ofresponsibility sometime in the
future.
Lan Elliott (09:41):
It's extremely long-term thinking to think
about the future of yourcompany, but also stepping aside
and giving others opportunities.
But that can also be reallydifferent for you, having been
so involved in your business forall of these years and being the
key decision maker a lot of thetimes to then step back and say,
(10:04):
you know what, it's someoneelse's turn.
Roger Hill (10:07):
Yeah, you're right.
And I've gotten better at that.
I know there were a couple ofmissteps on my part at the
beginning, but I think rightnow.
Both Jerry and Ron and I havegood relationships, where,
they're Batman and I'm Robin forboth of them.
I'm there to support themwherever I can.
And and also it just makes me soproud to see them, flourishing.
We're ridge lines.
(10:27):
Co-developing a very largeproject in Nashville right now.
A couple hundred milliondollars.
It's about$225 milliondevelopment we're coming out of
the ground.
It's a mie apartments andapartments by Marriott and
Jerry's managing all that.
And he's just doing a fabulousjob and I'm really enjoying
supporting him.
But it just makes me proud thatwe're in these tough times, have
(10:48):
a project of that magnitudegoing forward.
And, jerry's leadership hasreally allowed us to do that.
And then Ron and his team at theGays group are doing the
branding, interior design andprocurement and really doing
some incredible placemakingthere.
This overall project's gonna becalled The Bend, and it's when
it's complete, we'll be threeacres.
It's being developed adjacent toour Talent Place Suite.
(11:10):
So proud to see those guys doingsuch a great job on those
projects and making greatdecisions for our investors as
well.
Lan Elliott (11:18):
Amazing.
Roger, you don't get to whereyou are today without taking a
number of calculated risks, suchas creating the Gettys Group and
starting Ridgeline DevelopmentPartners.
Although you started investingearlier than the launch of
Bridgeline, you've also beeninvesting all along.
(11:39):
How do you prepare yourselfmentally to take a chance on
something?
Roger Hill (11:44):
Yeah.
Thanks for asking that questionabout taking risk.
And it's just an important onefor people, both personally, is
they take risks to buy theirfirst home or take on that,
accept that first job or.
That first relationship I wasfortunate, had a really good
friend that taught me yeah,young in life about, calculated
risk taking.
(12:04):
And for us, risk has always,been about preparation and not
gambling, but we certainly havetaken some really big swings.
And many of them have beenreally successful.
So that's important.
But part of how we preparedourselves to take those big
swings was.
By intentionally, diversifyingour business, by service and by
(12:24):
geography, complexity.
So we were never a one trickpony even when we started the
business.
But fortunately for us, prior tothe, financial crisis, we
already had an office that wassuccessful in Hong Kong.
We opened up another office inthe Middle East and things had
ground to the halt here.
The Middle East was reallystarting to.
(12:45):
Take off.
So we were fortunate to do manysignificant projects in oh 9,
10, 11, 12 in the Middle Eastthat, allowed us to be on a
stable footing and take the kindof risks that I'm about to share
with you.
We, along with Oxford Capitalco-developed the Langham Hotel
here in Chicago and it was, asoffice building conversions to
(13:06):
hotels are horrific.
Many of them don't make sense.
We've studied hundreds, beeninvolved with dozens.
The IBM building laid outbeautifully.
We, along with Oxford andLaSalle Hotels bought 13 floors
of the building.
So the rooms laid outbeautifully for us to have a 15
foot wide module, so a reallynice luxury experience.
(13:29):
And then because it was designedas an office building, really
nice high ceiling heights.
And then we also, because thebuilding was engineered in the
seventies, structurally, we wereable to cut out floors, crate
volumes of space for ballrooms.
Beautiful senses of arrival.
Incredible.
Hellos and goodbyes.
And we took a really big risk.
It was the last great work thatme vanderau designed.
(13:51):
We acquired it prior to thecrisis with Oxford and LaSalle
Hotels, and seemed like a reallysmart decision.
Then the financial crisisoccurred and it was quite a nail
biter.
But one of the things that wedid in a situation like that
prior to making that investmentwas.
Grounded in research, lots ofcareful analysis.
(14:12):
And we also knew that me Spandauhad built a building that was
just gonna be beautiful as ahotel.
And one of the things that makesme very proud today when I'm in
the lobby listening to people,remark on the elegance of it, is
they view it as a purpose-builthotel.
And obviously it was designed asa massive office building.
(14:33):
And during the crisis, there wasa, a possibility that the
project might not go forwardbecause the city wanted to
impose a requirement for thehotel to be union operated.
And our partner did not wantthat.
And mayor Daley wisely steppedin and said to the city council,
there was nothing happening.
We were about to create.
Hundreds and hundreds of coconstruction jobs, which were
(14:54):
all union laborers and put a lotof people at work.
And he got the council toapprove us building the hotel
without a union.
And that put the project to goforward and that, taught me, the
importance of you.
Having great preparation and,doing the work that you needed
to do and having convictionallowed you to trust your gut.
(15:17):
So you know that in that case,we took a risk but it, the risk
was financial, but it was tiedto creativity, which turned to
success and sometimes it's afinancial risk and other.
Interesting risk we took inpreparing us to do an incredible
project in Hong Kong was aninteresting exercise that Ron
created called the SuitcaseExercise.
We were designing the Hard Rockand Macau and Ron had the really
(15:42):
interesting idea of going outand buying all the items that,
a.
Business traveler and a leisuretraveler, both male and female
might pack in their suitcases.
We brought all the stakeholderstogether, packed those suitcases
on a series of occasions andthat helped us drive forward in
understanding, what someonemight wanna do for Fawn or work
at the Hard Rock Macau.
(16:03):
And that, laid the foundation,for the design brief.
And it was a really nice balanceof taking a risk.
But, balancing that with.
Curiosity, conviction andpreparation allowed us to take
chances but not be reckless inboth of those instances.
So that's our secret sauce in arelationship to risk taking and
things that I started to learnat a young age thrilled that I
(16:26):
could help to bring thoseforward to the Gettys Group and
Ridgeline.
Lan Elliott (16:31):
I love that.
And I'm really curious if peoplein different parts of the world
pack different things in theirsuitcases now.
Roger Hill (16:38):
They certainly do.
They certainly do.
Lan Elliott (16:42):
Very interesting.
We hear from a lot of leadersthat curiosity is a big part of
their journey and this need tocontinually evolve.
Your skills.
I'm wondering if there is askill you found over time that
you thought, I'm going to reallyneed this in the future, but I
(17:02):
haven't had to develop it justyet.
Roger Hill (17:04):
That's a great question.
And I, what I'm still trying tolive by and, being a continuous
learner and man, the ti the timeof change we're in today it's
really exciting.
I think for me though, aleadership skill that I wished
I'd learned at a younger age wasknowing when to let others, lead
and Richard Sr.
(17:25):
Took over a family business inSouth America that was a pump
making business and he believed,the future of the company would
really depend on embracingpeople within the organization
and having them have anopportunity to bring their
curiosity forward that would.
Allow the business to ultimatelybe diversified and be that much
(17:46):
more successful and, createopportunities for them.
And we talked earlier about Ronand Jerry evolving and the
opportunities that they had.
And I think that's somethingthat I didn't quite understand.
When you start a company, youthink.
Better have all the answers.
Real true leadership meansmaking space, for others to
shine.
(18:06):
And over the years, I thinkwe've built an entrepreneurial
culture, a place where peoplecan launch, new ideas.
And Getty's one and the brandinggroup for Born within our
organization, obviously ourdevelopment company was as well.
And those initiatives, camewithin and then were supported
whole-heartedly.
Now to be clear, and I'm sureyou're, some of the people
(18:29):
listening to this now arewatching this.
It's yeah, not every experimentworks.
And I would acknowledge that.
And if we had time for anotherepisode, I could take you
through a bunch of things thatdidn't work.
So I wanna be sincere in sayingnot everything we've done has
been perfect.
But if you take smart risks onpeople, not just projects, often
you're gonna be re rewarded.
Staying curious keeps yougrowing.
And I've always been fascinatedabout innovation as we talked
(18:51):
about earlier, and the kind ofthings we did at the Hyatt.
And what's really exciting todayis what we're doing both at the
development company and at theGettys Group with.
Innovation and ai.
And I would be shocked if Rondoesn't launch some new
business, with the incrediblethings we're doing with
artificial intelligence, notonly for our clients today, but
(19:11):
there's and no doubt in my mindthat there's a business there to
support others that are tryingto make creative business
decisions and.
We've developed some toolsinternally that can allow
decision making, both from adesign perspective but also
consumer research incrediblymuch more reliable and cost
effective.
And, I'm concerned and I'm sureyou are too, there are a lot of
(19:32):
people that are embracing AI andthere are a bunch of people that
aren't.
And I think the only people thatshould be afraid of artificial
intelligence are the ones thataren't experimenting with it.
Those tools are not gonnareplace creativity or business
people.
But they're gonna expand what'spossible.
But the people that don'tembrace it, I think, really have
to be concerned.
I'm continuing to embrace mypassion for lifelong learning
(19:55):
and openness and curiosity.
And if you're not evolving, meyou're standing still and it's
gonna even be more.
Acute today for everybody thatdoesn't embrace, at least
exploring these new tools thatwe have to not only help your
personal life, but also yourprofessional life.
Lan Elliott (20:13):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It is a continuous journey andthere's always new things to
learn, right?
I wanted to talk a little bitabout developing a network, and
one of my favorite things abouthospitality is how long people
tend to stay in our industry.
Like you, I discovered a lovefor hospitality when I was
traveling, when I was very youngwith my parents and the
(20:38):
relationships I built at collegeand even in my early part of my
career continue to be reallyimportant to me.
And you obviously have built abusiness with friends.
That you met very early in life.
Could you talk a little bitabout developing a network?
Because we do develop theseincredible friendships and
(20:58):
hospitality, but walking to thatcocktail party at a conference
can be intimidating for anyone.
How do you think aboutdeveloping a network in a way
that suits your personality?
Roger Hill (21:12):
Yeah, thank you for asking the question about how
one goes about developing anetwork and I just can remember
vividly to your point, beingvery young at NYU or Alice now
the, I guess the L lodginginvestment conferences was
called in our youth in la andyeah, it was super intimidating.
Those rooms were so grand andyeah, I didn't really know
(21:33):
anybody.
So for me, I think one of thethings again that I learned
before attending Cornell and Iguess I got some of this just
from watching my mom and dadand, their interpersonal skills.
I think some people can treatnetworking like a transaction
and, gosh, I'm gonna, thisconference, I gotta meet these
certain amount of people.
I gotta collect these certainamount of business cards or and
(21:56):
for me.
I am taking much more of theapproach of really taking an
interest, a genuine interest inthe people that I might meet,
and trying to find out aboutthem personally, their journeys,
what motivates them and.
For me you were talking abouthow long people, particularly in
this industry work, it's justsuper gratifying for me to start
(22:16):
a conversation with somebodythat is might, we might be doing
work with or is interested indoing work with us and before
we're even talking about work.
Catching up and seeing, wherethey are on their journey, where
they are with their children orthey're having children, et
cetera.
And that's just the way that I'mwired.
But for me, that certainly mademy, professional life that much
(22:36):
more interesting because of theinterwoven nature of.
Taking the time to learn aboutsomeone personally and then
being on that journey with themis much more rewarding.
So I would encourage people, andI think those skills that we
just talked about or I justshared with you in relationship
to my thinking, can help youpersonally too when you're just
(22:56):
out socializing in a non-workenvironment.
I, for me, I like to.
Be politely persistent.
And when I see an opportunity toreally get to know an
organization I'm gonna pursuethat.
But do that in a polite,respectful way.
And that maybe takes a littlemore time.
But if treat individuals the waythat you want to be treated,
(23:17):
that's really how you buildtrust and in a business.
And your personal life.
And I think there's so manycorollaries between the way you
work professionally andpersonally, trust is really
everything.
And in today's fast-paced world,you may not be able to get back
to somebody with a full answer,but just acknowledge you
received the text or the email.
And again, just if that was yourpartner reaching out to you,
(23:39):
you'd wanna do the same thingfor your partner.
So I think, networking isabsolutely a skill, but I really
think for me it's been much morerewarding.
Looking through that personallens and to your point not only
did I start a business withfriends, but I do a lot of
business with friends and I knowI care about all our clients,
(24:00):
but I care even a little bitmore about somebody that I have
a deep personal relationshipwith.
And I will absolutely and dowhatever and we will do whatever
to make sure that.
The project is taken care of andthat, is just enriched from a
personal perspective when youhave that friendship with
someone.
Lan Elliott (24:17):
Yes.
One of those wonderful thingsabout our industry.
I wanted to touch on mentors andchampions.
Because this can be really animportant part of career
progression is finding thosepeople to give you advice and to
help you and talk about you inthose rooms where you're not in,
(24:39):
where big career decisions aremade.
How have you thought aboutmentorship and champions?
Roger Hill (24:47):
Great question.
From a mentoring andchampionship perspective boy
I've been so lucky to havenumerous people that have.
Played a key part in my life formy youth to still today.
And getting back to, just backto that Hyatt project I
mentioned earlier, Don Deportertaking a big risk on us,
(25:07):
professionally and.
We delivered in hi for him.
Really made me very proud.
I remember sitting down with thegeneral manager of that hotel,
and it was right out of, centralcasting, giant, boardroom table.
He was on one end.
He intentionally sat me at theother end at the table, and,
said, Hey, you've been given ahuge responsibility here and I
(25:28):
really look forward to, youmaking this a successful
project.
But if it's not a successfulproject, I will assure you, I'm
gonna tell everyone within Hyattthat we should not be working
with you again.
And I'm very influential in thisindustry.
He made it clear what hisexpectations were and,
accountability and what heexpected us to do.
But it made me really proud to,to deliver for him and for the
(25:50):
owners of the hotel.
And and so sometimes you canhave a mentor that pushes you
and but that's not a bad thingat all.
And then from a championperspective Cornell at Cornell
Professor Redland took a greatinterest in us and he went on
Sabba and took a semester andcame to work with us, and he
helped us create our first.
(26:11):
Mission statement and, thosevalues, still live on today and
are a key part of our culture.
So I really appreciated himchampioning us and being the
mentor.
And then from a personalperspective.
My, my parents were anincredible influence in me.
And, my father taught mesomething that was simple and
(26:31):
powerful, always do things theright way and not the easy way.
He too was dyslexic, so Ilearned a lot from him and, his
dealing with dyslexia.
And then my mother was a really,a kind woman, and she used to
always say, it doesn't costanything more to be polite.
And I really appreciated thatand treat everybody the way that
(26:51):
I'd wanna be treated.
And then my dad, another part ofhis mentoring to me was that,
work is obviously a.
A challenge, if you work hard,you probably are gonna be
rewarded for that.
And I definitely, again, becauseof this dyslexia, took that to
heart and understood sometimes,luck plays a part of it, but, he
(27:12):
was like, Hey, you really canmake your own luck.
And then I've added too, for ourkids, the harder you work, the
luckier you can be and hard workoften, does, really pay off.
My lastly as it relates tomentors I think people today
that are older.
Think, gosh, you've learned themost from people that are
industry veterans.
But I think today it's justexciting to really stay
(27:34):
open-minded.
'cause wisdom comes from everydirection.
And I am learning a lot frompeople that are very young.
In our organization and others.
So I encourage people to lookthrough that lens too, in
relationship to mentoring andlearning.
And then I'd also say I've beengiving back and mentoring people
and it's really rewarding to meto have some mentees that I see
(27:56):
doing great things and encourageyour listeners to, take that in
consideration.
If they're not in a position todo it today, pay it forward and
do it for somebody else in thefuture.
Lan Elliott (28:06):
I love that.
I definitely share thosesentiments.
Roger Hill (28:10):
You do.
I know you live by that forsure.
Lan Elliott (28:15):
I want to talk about advice to your younger
self, because I'm thinking backto 22-year-old Roger.
What would you want him to know?
What advice would you give him?
Roger Hill (28:28):
I wish I could do that for sure.
And then fast forward to today,but I'll offer a couple of
pieces of of wisdom.
If I could sit down with my22-year-old self, I'd say don't
just think like an owner, but,become one as soon as possible.
For the years that we've serveddevelopers.
And owners and brands andinvestors, you don't really
(28:51):
develop a level of empathy andunderstanding what owners'
expectations are until you startwriting checks yourself and
taking the risk personallychanges your perspective'cause
you really understand the stressof me signing personal
guarantees bad boy carve outs,et cetera.
It really deepens your level ofempathy and it teaches you the
(29:13):
difference between, creativeambition and true
accountability.
And I think if we'd made thatleap even sooner, I think that
would've helped us even growfaster as a business and as
entrepreneurs and growing ourplatform.
So I tell my younger self to notjust think like an owner, but
try to find a way to become oneas soon as you can.
(29:35):
Yeah.
Responsibly do that.
'cause that's the realopportunity to have, true
dimensional learning happenswhen you're in that position of
having to take on those risks.
Lan Elliott (29:49):
Absolutely.
It is a very different level ofrisk, and I do find even.
After being an owner and workingin other areas of the business,
the level of almost instantcredibility when they know you
felt what it is to be in theirshoes.
It just helps you anytime you'reworking with owners and I think
anyone in any role inhospitality, if you get to a
(30:12):
certain level of success, you'regonna be across the table
talking to owners.
So a really important skill.
Roger Hill (30:18):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Lan Elliott (30:20):
Roger, you've given us so much great advice during
our conversation.
Do you have one final nugget ofadvice you'd offer to our
audience who are looking toadvance their careers?
Roger Hill (30:32):
I would be happy to, and I would say for the
listeners, I'd say, build yourfoundation, on timeless
principles.
And if you happen to be in thehospitality space, try to think
like an owner as soon aspossible.
Be politely persistent.
Yeah, stay curious and alwayshave the highest degree of
(30:54):
integrity.
'cause you only have yourself.
And it's just so important tonot take the shortcut.
Don't take the easy way, but doit the right way.
The world's gonna keep changing,which I find incredibly
exciting.
Technology markets,expectations, brand creation.
But if you have those strongroots that I talked about
(31:14):
earlier you're gonna be an.
Position to, embrace change andbend and weather, whatever storm
you know, comes at you.
And that's how you build notonly a strong career but I think
those things all apply to yourpersonal life as well.
You can build a company, apersonal legacy at home, and a
personal legacy.
(31:35):
And professional legacy at work.
And if you choose to be anentrepreneur, find yourself some
great co-founders as I did, andrecruit the type of people that
you can help to nurture and growand steward the legacy that's
important to you.
And then probably mostimportantly, I should have
started here.
Find yourself a great lifepartner as I found, and my wife,
(31:57):
Eva Wasserman, who I know is afriend of yours.
And and if you're lucky enough,as we were to have two wonderful
children, our.
Daughter, Madeline son Getty.
No greater legacy and no thingthat's more important to me than
the relationship I have with allthree of them.
But if you can have that balanceby having a great, personal life
and a professional life.
It's just extremely rewarding.
Lan Elliott (32:19):
That is a wonderful sentiment.
And yes, Eva Wasserman, who hasbeen on our show as well and was
fabulous as well.
Thank you so much, Roger, forthis wonderful interview.
I so appreciate you and thewarmth and generosity that you
have for the people on yourteam, but also for others in the
(32:39):
industry.
So thank you so much.
Roger Hill (32:42):
My pleasure.
And to, on that note, I'd lo I'dbe happy to any of your
listeners, feel free to reachout to me.
I know that my, our, my emailaddress is gonna be shared and I
am very much the spirit ofwanting to give back.
So happy to help anyone thatmight like to chat post this,
and thanks again for giving methe opportunity today.
Lan Elliott (33:00):
Thank you so much and for our audience, if you've
enjoyed this conversation withRoger, I hope you'll go to our
website, it's personalstories.com, where you can find
many more interviews withhospitality industry leaders.
hello, and welcome to its Personal Stories, a
nonprofit dedicated toempowering personal success.
My name is Lan Elliott, onbehalf of its personal stories,
and today I am delighted to haveRoger Hill with us, who is the
co-founder and executivechairman of the Gettys Group and
Richline Development Partners.
Welcome Roger.
Roger Hill (00:22):
LAN, it's such a pleasure to be here.
Thank you very much for havingme, and I hope you're doing well
today.
Lan Elliott (00:27):
Doing great, and I've been looking forward to our
discussion for a while.
So I'm really pleased to haveyou here with us today.
Roger, you have had such anamazing career.
I watched it from afar from manyyears, and then I was lucky
enough to start being inmeetings with you and you've
just had an incredible journey.
(00:47):
Could you share a bit about yourcareer journey and if there was
a factor that contributed toyour success?
Roger Hill (00:55):
Sure.
And thanks again for inviting meto be here today.
Really, I'm looking forward toour conversation.
There.
There were a few key momentsthat, really shaped my career
and honestly have been a guidingphilosophy for me and in my
youth.
I had the opportunity, my momand dad had nothing to do with
the hospitality industry, but.
I travel with them andexperience hollo domes and
(01:18):
enjoyed that when I was superyoung.
And then I got to be a littlebit older, eight or nine.
My parents worked together,nothing to do with hospitality.
They'd travel, go to tradeshows, I'd go with them.
I put on my little blue blazerand I'd go and operate an
elevator in a hotel or guidepeople around.
And I became that self-appointedlobby boy and just fell in love
(01:39):
with hospitality.
Didn't really understandnecessarily how to make a career
in it, but I just, I had anearly joy in, serving others and
it really set a foundation thatfollowed everything forward.
And then I fast forwarded togoing to the college counselor.
I was like, Hey, I kinda likehospitality.
If you like hospitality andyou're lucky enough, there's a
(01:59):
wonderful school in upstate NewYork, you should try to go
there.
I was lucky enough to get inthere.
I literally met my co-founder,Andrew Faye, in registration.
And for the viewers that are,participating in this back in
the day, you'd registermanually, cards, paper, and he
and I became fast friends andthen we graduated, worked in
other places.
(02:20):
We started our business togetherand what we learned from Cornell
at the time.
Was a lot about creativity, alot about business.
We were also starting ourbusiness at a point where the
financial markets had changed.
A lot of people were investingin hotels that didn't
necessarily need to makeeconomic sense because of the
fact that they could offsetlosses that they had in a hotel
(02:42):
against income that might havecome from a doctor or a lawyer.
So a lot of hotels were builtfor the wrong reasons and didn't
necessarily have to makefinancial sense.
We thought, gosh, we could starta business and maybe support
some of the people that werebecoming reluctant, hotel
owners, insurance companies, butwith the idea of balancing
creativity, procurement andbusiness.
So that was, obviously anextremely major.
(03:05):
Inflection point for us.
And then fast forward startedour business.
We got in, involved in investingin projects.
'cause our clients were like,gosh, you guys are really smart
at this.
Why do you consider investing?
And then we had the opportunityto cement that philosophy of
always thinking like owners whenwe launched, ridgeline
(03:26):
development partners.
And we're investing again asco-gen partners.
And then finally, I'd say a keymoment for us in relationship to
our trajectory was a momentwhere Hyatt invited us early in
our years to renovate a bigproject, a public restroom
women's and ladies restroom inthe hotel in the outskirts of
(03:47):
Chicago.
We were paid a few thousanddollars.
The renovation budget wasprobably$30,000, and that led
to, in 1998.
Renovating the Hyatt on Wackerhere in Chicago, over 2000 rooms
and at that time had revenuesthat were comparable to large
casino hotels in Las Vegasbecause at that point, the rest
of gaming and relationship toentertainment and food hadn't
(04:10):
really evolved.
So it was a huge responsibilityfor us.
And we really had an opportunityto do some incredibly creative
things there.
And it taught us the power ofinnovation and empathy and
utility, because literally wedid things that had not been
done before.
We put in, believe it or not athe first outlet in a lamp that
(04:31):
people could plug their devicesinto.
Of course, they weren't ashorrific back then, but that
kind of innovation is the kindof innovation that we still try
to do today.
In every project.
Lan Elliott (04:42):
You've definitely worked on some of the most
iconic hotels and resorts aroundthe world, and it's just
incredible to see the start ofwhere the inspiration came from.
Thanks.
Was there a particular factor orfactors that you think
contributed to your success?
Roger Hill (05:02):
I'd say one of the factors that contributed to my
success was interestingly enoughbeing dyslexic.
And I learned at a very youngage, the challenges of that and
turned those challenges intoopportunity and recognized that
I had to work harder just to beat the same level of somebody
else.
And then for me, from a dyslexiaperspective, preparation is
(05:23):
really important.
So anything that I would do.
Required more preparation, butif I was really prepared, it
allowed the outcome to have thatmuch more high likelihood of
success.
Lan Elliott (05:35):
That's incredible.
I would've never known thatabout you.
So thank you for sharing and howit impacted your journey.
That's really interesting.
Roger Hill (05:43):
Yeah.
Thanks for asking.
Lan Elliott (05:46):
Now, you recently stepped back from running the
companies that you started.
How did that come about and howwere you thinking about this
next chapter?
Roger Hill (05:57):
Yeah.
Thank you for asking thatquestion.
That came about by Andrew who,incredibly close friend of mine.
As I mentioned earlier,co-founder of the business with
us.
He had said, Roger, I wanna stepback and really become very
involved on our board.
He's our lead independentdirector, and we also both
recognized that we had somegreat leaders within our
company.
(06:18):
And we needed to createopportunity for them and.
Over the decades we've gonethrough, many different crises,
weathered wars, the dotcombubble, the Great Recession,
which there was nothing greatabout it.
I don't know why people calledit the Great Recession most
recently COVID.
And now the uncertainty as itrelates to tariffs and all of
(06:40):
the issues that are going on nowwith the, in our economic
environment.
And that, allowed us to reallybecome stronger.
But obviously through all that,a big part of leadership is
making sure that you can harnessall that institutional knowledge
and making sure the lessons andthe stories that come from all
of those events and the culturecan get passed onto the next
(07:01):
generation.
And the best way to do that isthrough succession.
And to me, and it's not aboutstepping away, but it's actually
a really about creatingcontinuity and about.
Building a company that canoutlive its founders.
So today, Ron Swidler, the firstperson we hired after we started
the business, is leading thegrad Gettys group in an
(07:21):
incredible way, with a lot ofheart and a lot of vision.
And he and his team have Unitedour services, our branding, our
design, our procure.
Strategy and a seamless platformwhich has just been incredibly
exciting to see what he's beendoing and taking the foundation
that we created and truly takingit to the next level.
(07:43):
And while I continue to serve asthe executive chairman and
Andrew is our lead director, I'malso proud that our broader
family's grown through thecreation of Ridgeline
development partners, whichJerry Zeidner leads, which we
actually met we met him when hewas working for Hyatt when we
were renovating.
That Hyatt Regency on WackerDrive 28 years ago, and he's now
our CEO.
(08:03):
So I'm super proud of thecontinuity.
And also know those twogentlemen, if they weren't
running their own businessestoday, they'd be running'em for
somebody else.
So it was clear and it was theright time to reward them for
all their contributions to.
Our organization.
And that really created anopportunity to continue to feel
(08:24):
confident that these businesseswould live on long after Andrew
and I were gone.
And then that also tied backnicely to the ethos I was
talking about earlier about whenAndrew and I started the
business about thinking likeowners, obviously now serving
ridgeline.
All of the Gettys group teammembers that are involved in
those projects, do that everyday.
And it's now allowed me to moveinto this new role as a steward
(08:47):
of our culture.
I'm doing mentoring, I'msupporting other organization.
I certainly have key sort ofchairman relationships that I
continue to work on.
And then helpfully, pushingforward our DNA and then.
Our curiosity for pragmatism andowner like thinking, endures
both at the Gates Group and allthe projects we're doing at
(09:09):
Ridgeline.
It's been been exciting andwe've obviously survived a lot
of storms and, one of the thingsthat we often think about is, a
willow tree is a very sturdytree, but also has flexible
branches and we've tried to beflexible and going through.
All this change.
And that's part, a big part ofwhy, we wanted to, go create the
(09:29):
succession and I'm surehopefully within the walls of
the Gettys Group and Ridgeline,there are future CEOs there.
That'll be and those roles ofresponsibility sometime in the
future.
Lan Elliott (09:41):
It's extremely long-term thinking to think
about the future of yourcompany, but also stepping aside
and giving others opportunities.
But that can also be reallydifferent for you, having been
so involved in your business forall of these years and being the
key decision maker a lot of thetimes to then step back and say,
(10:04):
you know what, it's someoneelse's turn.
Roger Hill (10:07):
Yeah, you're right.
And I've gotten better at that.
I know there were a couple ofmissteps on my part at the
beginning, but I think rightnow.
Both Jerry and Ron and I havegood relationships, where,
they're Batman and I'm Robin forboth of them.
I'm there to support themwherever I can.
And and also it just makes me soproud to see them, flourishing.
We're ridge lines.
(10:27):
Co-developing a very largeproject in Nashville right now.
A couple hundred milliondollars.
It's about$225 milliondevelopment we're coming out of
the ground.
It's a mie apartments andapartments by Marriott and
Jerry's managing all that.
And he's just doing a fabulousjob and I'm really enjoying
supporting him.
But it just makes me proud thatwe're in these tough times, have
(10:48):
a project of that magnitudegoing forward.
And, jerry's leadership hasreally allowed us to do that.
And then Ron and his team at theGays group are doing the
branding, interior design andprocurement and really doing
some incredible placemakingthere.
This overall project's gonna becalled The Bend, and it's when
it's complete, we'll be threeacres.
It's being developed adjacent toour Talent Place Suite.
(11:10):
So proud to see those guys doingsuch a great job on those
projects and making greatdecisions for our investors as
well.
Lan Elliott (11:18):
Amazing.
Roger, you don't get to whereyou are today without taking a
number of calculated risks, suchas creating the Gettys Group and
starting Ridgeline DevelopmentPartners.
Although you started investingearlier than the launch of
Bridgeline, you've also beeninvesting all along.
(11:39):
How do you prepare yourselfmentally to take a chance on
something?
Roger Hill (11:44):
Yeah.
Thanks for asking that questionabout taking risk.
And it's just an important onefor people, both personally, is
they take risks to buy theirfirst home or take on that,
accept that first job or.
That first relationship I wasfortunate, had a really good
friend that taught me yeah,young in life about, calculated
risk taking.
(12:04):
And for us, risk has always,been about preparation and not
gambling, but we certainly havetaken some really big swings.
And many of them have beenreally successful.
So that's important.
But part of how we preparedourselves to take those big
swings was.
By intentionally, diversifyingour business, by service and by
(12:24):
geography, complexity.
So we were never a one trickpony even when we started the
business.
But fortunately for us, prior tothe, financial crisis, we
already had an office that wassuccessful in Hong Kong.
We opened up another office inthe Middle East and things had
ground to the halt here.
The Middle East was reallystarting to.
(12:45):
Take off.
So we were fortunate to do manysignificant projects in oh 9,
10, 11, 12 in the Middle Eastthat, allowed us to be on a
stable footing and take the kindof risks that I'm about to share
with you.
We, along with Oxford Capitalco-developed the Langham Hotel
here in Chicago and it was, asoffice building conversions to
(13:06):
hotels are horrific.
Many of them don't make sense.
We've studied hundreds, beeninvolved with dozens.
The IBM building laid outbeautifully.
We, along with Oxford andLaSalle Hotels bought 13 floors
of the building.
So the rooms laid outbeautifully for us to have a 15
foot wide module, so a reallynice luxury experience.
(13:29):
And then because it was designedas an office building, really
nice high ceiling heights.
And then we also, because thebuilding was engineered in the
seventies, structurally, we wereable to cut out floors, crate
volumes of space for ballrooms.
Beautiful senses of arrival.
Incredible.
Hellos and goodbyes.
And we took a really big risk.
It was the last great work thatme vanderau designed.
(13:51):
We acquired it prior to thecrisis with Oxford and LaSalle
Hotels, and seemed like a reallysmart decision.
Then the financial crisisoccurred and it was quite a nail
biter.
But one of the things that wedid in a situation like that
prior to making that investmentwas.
Grounded in research, lots ofcareful analysis.
(14:12):
And we also knew that me Spandauhad built a building that was
just gonna be beautiful as ahotel.
And one of the things that makesme very proud today when I'm in
the lobby listening to people,remark on the elegance of it, is
they view it as a purpose-builthotel.
And obviously it was designed asa massive office building.
(14:33):
And during the crisis, there wasa, a possibility that the
project might not go forwardbecause the city wanted to
impose a requirement for thehotel to be union operated.
And our partner did not wantthat.
And mayor Daley wisely steppedin and said to the city council,
there was nothing happening.
We were about to create.
Hundreds and hundreds of coconstruction jobs, which were
(14:54):
all union laborers and put a lotof people at work.
And he got the council toapprove us building the hotel
without a union.
And that put the project to goforward and that, taught me, the
importance of you.
Having great preparation and,doing the work that you needed
to do and having convictionallowed you to trust your gut.
(15:17):
So you know that in that case,we took a risk but it, the risk
was financial, but it was tiedto creativity, which turned to
success and sometimes it's afinancial risk and other.
Interesting risk we took inpreparing us to do an incredible
project in Hong Kong was aninteresting exercise that Ron
created called the SuitcaseExercise.
We were designing the Hard Rockand Macau and Ron had the really
(15:42):
interesting idea of going outand buying all the items that,
a.
Business traveler and a leisuretraveler, both male and female
might pack in their suitcases.
We brought all the stakeholderstogether, packed those suitcases
on a series of occasions andthat helped us drive forward in
understanding, what someonemight wanna do for Fawn or work
at the Hard Rock Macau.
(16:03):
And that, laid the foundation,for the design brief.
And it was a really nice balanceof taking a risk.
But, balancing that with.
Curiosity, conviction andpreparation allowed us to take
chances but not be reckless inboth of those instances.
So that's our secret sauce in arelationship to risk taking and
things that I started to learnat a young age thrilled that I
(16:26):
could help to bring thoseforward to the Gettys Group and
Ridgeline.
Lan Elliott (16:31):
I love that.
And I'm really curious if peoplein different parts of the world
pack different things in theirsuitcases now.
Roger Hill (16:38):
They certainly do.
They certainly do.
Lan Elliott (16:42):
Very interesting.
We hear from a lot of leadersthat curiosity is a big part of
their journey and this need tocontinually evolve.
Your skills.
I'm wondering if there is askill you found over time that
you thought, I'm going to reallyneed this in the future, but I
(17:02):
haven't had to develop it justyet.
Roger Hill (17:04):
That's a great question.
And I, what I'm still trying tolive by and, being a continuous
learner and man, the ti the timeof change we're in today it's
really exciting.
I think for me though, aleadership skill that I wished
I'd learned at a younger age wasknowing when to let others, lead
and Richard Sr.
(17:25):
Took over a family business inSouth America that was a pump
making business and he believed,the future of the company would
really depend on embracingpeople within the organization
and having them have anopportunity to bring their
curiosity forward that would.
Allow the business to ultimatelybe diversified and be that much
(17:46):
more successful and, createopportunities for them.
And we talked earlier about Ronand Jerry evolving and the
opportunities that they had.
And I think that's somethingthat I didn't quite understand.
When you start a company, youthink.
Better have all the answers.
Real true leadership meansmaking space, for others to
shine.
(18:06):
And over the years, I thinkwe've built an entrepreneurial
culture, a place where peoplecan launch, new ideas.
And Getty's one and the brandinggroup for Born within our
organization, obviously ourdevelopment company was as well.
And those initiatives, camewithin and then were supported
whole-heartedly.
Now to be clear, and I'm sureyou're, some of the people
(18:29):
listening to this now arewatching this.
It's yeah, not every experimentworks.
And I would acknowledge that.
And if we had time for anotherepisode, I could take you
through a bunch of things thatdidn't work.
So I wanna be sincere in sayingnot everything we've done has
been perfect.
But if you take smart risks onpeople, not just projects, often
you're gonna be re rewarded.
Staying curious keeps yougrowing.
And I've always been fascinatedabout innovation as we talked
(18:51):
about earlier, and the kind ofthings we did at the Hyatt.
And what's really exciting todayis what we're doing both at the
development company and at theGettys Group with.
Innovation and ai.
And I would be shocked if Rondoesn't launch some new
business, with the incrediblethings we're doing with
artificial intelligence, notonly for our clients today, but
(19:11):
there's and no doubt in my mindthat there's a business there to
support others that are tryingto make creative business
decisions and.
We've developed some toolsinternally that can allow
decision making, both from adesign perspective but also
consumer research incrediblymuch more reliable and cost
effective.
And, I'm concerned and I'm sureyou are too, there are a lot of
(19:32):
people that are embracing AI andthere are a bunch of people that
aren't.
And I think the only people thatshould be afraid of artificial
intelligence are the ones thataren't experimenting with it.
Those tools are not gonnareplace creativity or business
people.
But they're gonna expand what'spossible.
But the people that don'tembrace it, I think, really have
to be concerned.
I'm continuing to embrace mypassion for lifelong learning
(19:55):
and openness and curiosity.
And if you're not evolving, meyou're standing still and it's
gonna even be more.
Acute today for everybody thatdoesn't embrace, at least
exploring these new tools thatwe have to not only help your
personal life, but also yourprofessional life.
Lan Elliott (20:13):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It is a continuous journey andthere's always new things to
learn, right?
I wanted to talk a little bitabout developing a network, and
one of my favorite things abouthospitality is how long people
tend to stay in our industry.
Like you, I discovered a lovefor hospitality when I was
traveling, when I was very youngwith my parents and the
(20:38):
relationships I built at collegeand even in my early part of my
career continue to be reallyimportant to me.
And you obviously have built abusiness with friends.
That you met very early in life.
Could you talk a little bitabout developing a network?
Because we do develop theseincredible friendships and
(20:58):
hospitality, but walking to thatcocktail party at a conference
can be intimidating for anyone.
How do you think aboutdeveloping a network in a way
that suits your personality?
Roger Hill (21:12):
Yeah, thank you for asking the question about how
one goes about developing anetwork and I just can remember
vividly to your point, beingvery young at NYU or Alice now
the, I guess the L lodginginvestment conferences was
called in our youth in la andyeah, it was super intimidating.
Those rooms were so grand andyeah, I didn't really know
(21:33):
anybody.
So for me, I think one of thethings again that I learned
before attending Cornell and Iguess I got some of this just
from watching my mom and dadand, their interpersonal skills.
I think some people can treatnetworking like a transaction
and, gosh, I'm gonna, thisconference, I gotta meet these
certain amount of people.
I gotta collect these certainamount of business cards or and
(21:56):
for me.
I am taking much more of theapproach of really taking an
interest, a genuine interest inthe people that I might meet,
and trying to find out aboutthem personally, their journeys,
what motivates them and.
For me you were talking abouthow long people, particularly in
this industry work, it's justsuper gratifying for me to start
(22:16):
a conversation with somebodythat is might, we might be doing
work with or is interested indoing work with us and before
we're even talking about work.
Catching up and seeing, wherethey are on their journey, where
they are with their children orthey're having children, et
cetera.
And that's just the way that I'mwired.
But for me, that certainly mademy, professional life that much
(22:36):
more interesting because of theinterwoven nature of.
Taking the time to learn aboutsomeone personally and then
being on that journey with themis much more rewarding.
So I would encourage people, andI think those skills that we
just talked about or I justshared with you in relationship
to my thinking, can help youpersonally too when you're just
(22:56):
out socializing in a non-workenvironment.
I, for me, I like to.
Be politely persistent.
And when I see an opportunity toreally get to know an
organization I'm gonna pursuethat.
But do that in a polite,respectful way.
And that maybe takes a littlemore time.
But if treat individuals the waythat you want to be treated,
(23:17):
that's really how you buildtrust and in a business.
And your personal life.
And I think there's so manycorollaries between the way you
work professionally andpersonally, trust is really
everything.
And in today's fast-paced world,you may not be able to get back
to somebody with a full answer,but just acknowledge you
received the text or the email.
And again, just if that was yourpartner reaching out to you,
(23:39):
you'd wanna do the same thingfor your partner.
So I think, networking isabsolutely a skill, but I really
think for me it's been much morerewarding.
Looking through that personallens and to your point not only
did I start a business withfriends, but I do a lot of
business with friends and I knowI care about all our clients,
(24:00):
but I care even a little bitmore about somebody that I have
a deep personal relationshipwith.
And I will absolutely and dowhatever and we will do whatever
to make sure that.
The project is taken care of andthat, is just enriched from a
personal perspective when youhave that friendship with
someone.
Lan Elliott (24:17):
Yes.
One of those wonderful thingsabout our industry.
I wanted to touch on mentors andchampions.
Because this can be really animportant part of career
progression is finding thosepeople to give you advice and to
help you and talk about you inthose rooms where you're not in,
(24:39):
where big career decisions aremade.
How have you thought aboutmentorship and champions?
Roger Hill (24:47):
Great question.
From a mentoring andchampionship perspective boy
I've been so lucky to havenumerous people that have.
Played a key part in my life formy youth to still today.
And getting back to, just backto that Hyatt project I
mentioned earlier, Don Deportertaking a big risk on us,
(25:07):
professionally and.
We delivered in hi for him.
Really made me very proud.
I remember sitting down with thegeneral manager of that hotel,
and it was right out of, centralcasting, giant, boardroom table.
He was on one end.
He intentionally sat me at theother end at the table, and,
said, Hey, you've been given ahuge responsibility here and I
(25:28):
really look forward to, youmaking this a successful
project.
But if it's not a successfulproject, I will assure you, I'm
gonna tell everyone within Hyattthat we should not be working
with you again.
And I'm very influential in thisindustry.
He made it clear what hisexpectations were and,
accountability and what heexpected us to do.
But it made me really proud to,to deliver for him and for the
(25:50):
owners of the hotel.
And and so sometimes you canhave a mentor that pushes you
and but that's not a bad thingat all.
And then from a championperspective Cornell at Cornell
Professor Redland took a greatinterest in us and he went on
Sabba and took a semester andcame to work with us, and he
helped us create our first.
(26:11):
Mission statement and, thosevalues, still live on today and
are a key part of our culture.
So I really appreciated himchampioning us and being the
mentor.
And then from a personalperspective.
My, my parents were anincredible influence in me.
And, my father taught mesomething that was simple and
(26:31):
powerful, always do things theright way and not the easy way.
He too was dyslexic, so Ilearned a lot from him and, his
dealing with dyslexia.
And then my mother was a really,a kind woman, and she used to
always say, it doesn't costanything more to be polite.
And I really appreciated thatand treat everybody the way that
(26:51):
I'd wanna be treated.
And then my dad, another part ofhis mentoring to me was that,
work is obviously a.
A challenge, if you work hard,you probably are gonna be
rewarded for that.
And I definitely, again, becauseof this dyslexia, took that to
heart and understood sometimes,luck plays a part of it, but, he
(27:12):
was like, Hey, you really canmake your own luck.
And then I've added too, for ourkids, the harder you work, the
luckier you can be and hard workoften, does, really pay off.
My lastly as it relates tomentors I think people today
that are older.
Think, gosh, you've learned themost from people that are
industry veterans.
But I think today it's justexciting to really stay
(27:34):
open-minded.
'cause wisdom comes from everydirection.
And I am learning a lot frompeople that are very young.
In our organization and others.
So I encourage people to lookthrough that lens too, in
relationship to mentoring andlearning.
And then I'd also say I've beengiving back and mentoring people
and it's really rewarding to meto have some mentees that I see
(27:56):
doing great things and encourageyour listeners to, take that in
consideration.
If they're not in a position todo it today, pay it forward and
do it for somebody else in thefuture.
Lan Elliott (28:06):
I love that.
I definitely share thosesentiments.
Roger Hill (28:10):
You do.
I know you live by that forsure.
Lan Elliott (28:15):
I want to talk about advice to your younger
self, because I'm thinking backto 22-year-old Roger.
What would you want him to know?
What advice would you give him?
Roger Hill (28:28):
I wish I could do that for sure.
And then fast forward to today,but I'll offer a couple of
pieces of of wisdom.
If I could sit down with my22-year-old self, I'd say don't
just think like an owner, but,become one as soon as possible.
For the years that we've serveddevelopers.
And owners and brands andinvestors, you don't really
(28:51):
develop a level of empathy andunderstanding what owners'
expectations are until you startwriting checks yourself and
taking the risk personallychanges your perspective'cause
you really understand the stressof me signing personal
guarantees bad boy carve outs,et cetera.
It really deepens your level ofempathy and it teaches you the
(29:13):
difference between, creativeambition and true
accountability.
And I think if we'd made thatleap even sooner, I think that
would've helped us even growfaster as a business and as
entrepreneurs and growing ourplatform.
So I tell my younger self to notjust think like an owner, but
try to find a way to become oneas soon as you can.
(29:35):
Yeah.
Responsibly do that.
'cause that's the realopportunity to have, true
dimensional learning happenswhen you're in that position of
having to take on those risks.
Lan Elliott (29:49):
Absolutely.
It is a very different level ofrisk, and I do find even.
After being an owner and workingin other areas of the business,
the level of almost instantcredibility when they know you
felt what it is to be in theirshoes.
It just helps you anytime you'reworking with owners and I think
anyone in any role inhospitality, if you get to a
(30:12):
certain level of success, you'regonna be across the table
talking to owners.
So a really important skill.
Roger Hill (30:18):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Lan Elliott (30:20):
Roger, you've given us so much great advice during
our conversation.
Do you have one final nugget ofadvice you'd offer to our
audience who are looking toadvance their careers?
Roger Hill (30:32):
I would be happy to, and I would say for the
listeners, I'd say, build yourfoundation, on timeless
principles.
And if you happen to be in thehospitality space, try to think
like an owner as soon aspossible.
Be politely persistent.
Yeah, stay curious and alwayshave the highest degree of
(30:54):
integrity.
'cause you only have yourself.
And it's just so important tonot take the shortcut.
Don't take the easy way, but doit the right way.
The world's gonna keep changing,which I find incredibly
exciting.
Technology markets,expectations, brand creation.
But if you have those strongroots that I talked about
(31:14):
earlier you're gonna be an.
Position to, embrace change andbend and weather, whatever storm
you know, comes at you.
And that's how you build notonly a strong career but I think
those things all apply to yourpersonal life as well.
You can build a company, apersonal legacy at home, and a
personal legacy.
(31:35):
And professional legacy at work.
And if you choose to be anentrepreneur, find yourself some
great co-founders as I did, andrecruit the type of people that
you can help to nurture and growand steward the legacy that's
important to you.
And then probably mostimportantly, I should have
started here.
Find yourself a great lifepartner as I found, and my wife,
(31:57):
Eva Wasserman, who I know is afriend of yours.
And and if you're lucky enough,as we were to have two wonderful
children, our.
Daughter, Madeline son Getty.
No greater legacy and no thingthat's more important to me than
the relationship I have with allthree of them.
But if you can have that balanceby having a great, personal life
and a professional life.
It's just extremely rewarding.
Lan Elliott (32:19):
That is a wonderful sentiment.
And yes, Eva Wasserman, who hasbeen on our show as well and was
fabulous as well.
Thank you so much, Roger, forthis wonderful interview.
I so appreciate you and thewarmth and generosity that you
have for the people on yourteam, but also for others in the
(32:39):
industry.
So thank you so much.
Roger Hill (32:42):
My pleasure.
And to, on that note, I'd lo I'dbe happy to any of your
listeners, feel free to reachout to me.
I know that my, our, my emailaddress is gonna be shared and I
am very much the spirit ofwanting to give back.
So happy to help anyone thatmight like to chat post this,
and thanks again for giving methe opportunity today.
Lan Elliott (33:00):
Thank you so much and for our audience, if you've
enjoyed this conversation withRoger, I hope you'll go to our
website, it's personalstories.com, where you can find
many more interviews withhospitality industry leaders.
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