August 1, 2025 • 34 mins
Dorothy Dowling interviews Tedd Evers, Global Partner, Lead for Travel and Hospitality at AWS, discussing his career journey, leadership during crises, prioritization, and future innovations in hospitality. Tedd emphasizes curiosity, agile thinking, empathy, personal balance, and the critical role of data strategy in transforming the industry.
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Episode Transcript
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Dorothy Dowling (00:05):
Greetings.
I am Dorothy Dowling and welcometo its Personal Stories, a
hospitality podcast dedicated toempowering professionals Through
the lived experience ofinspiring industry leaders, this
is a platform for learning,leadership, and personal
transformation.
Today I am honored to be joinedby Ted Ever.
Global partner, lead, travel,and hospitality at AWS Ted's
(00:27):
career reflects a remarkableblend of vision, execution, and
heart.
From pioneering in innovationand travel distribution to
launching his own tech venturesand now guiding global
partnerships at one of theworld's most transformative
companies.
He brings a rare perspective,grounded in depth and breadth.
He's also a compelling speaker.
(00:47):
A devoted husband and a proudgirl dad to a college student.
Ted, it's a true privilege tohave you with us today.
Tedd Evers (00:54):
It's wonderful to be here with you, Dorothy.
Thank you.
Dorothy Dowling (00:57):
Wonderful.
Ted, let's start at thebeginning.
I would love to hear whatinspired your journey into
travel and technology and whatultimately led you to focus on
partnerships within thehospitality space?
Tedd Evers (01:08):
Wow.
I guess any origin storyprobably has a lot of.
Of childhood stories that areseemingly innocuous at the time,
but in, in hindsight, turned outto be pretty impactful.
So mine is no different in thatrespect.
And I, I credit my father andjust, we moved around a lot as a
family, and I remember as ayoung boy just sitting down and,
(01:29):
laying down in the front seat ofthe car while he's driving
overnight in these long distancetrips and.
You are working out the map andthe next destination with him.
And that really inspired a joynot only of maps, but of just
learning about the world andeverything that's out there.
And and he took us, we were veryfortunate to have traveled my
younger sister and I to Europewith our parents when we were
(01:51):
younger.
Much to the chagrin of our oldersiblings I might add.
But that really opened our eyesto just be, in, in, in JFK and
seeing people from around theworld and in different clothes
and different cultures, andbeing exposed to that at a young
age really had a profound impacton me.
And I didn't really activate it,in a sense until I, I made a
(02:13):
pretty life-changing move andleft a corporate sales job and
bought around the world ticketand traveled around the world
for a year, and that reallycemented.
The idea and the desire tocreate a career within travel
and hospitality.
Dorothy Dowling (02:28):
I, I have heard that story, Ted and I know how
engaging it is.
I'm just wondering if we couldtalk a little bit about the
career and the kinds of thingsthat have really helped you in
terms of leading and solvingproblems.
'cause you are brilliant atthat.
So I would love for you to shareyour wisdom with our audience.
Tedd Evers (02:46):
Thanks.
I think so that really, that,that trip really was the
initiative or the impetus reallyfor getting involved in travel
and coming back.
I actually wanted to be a travelrider.
This is before the ageinfluencers, so I was, and I was
doing a lot of travel riding anda small startup called Site 59
came knocking at the door and Iactually signed up to be a
(03:08):
writer.
They found out I had a lot ofthese business development sales
skills.
So I wound up.
Working with hotels direct anddirectly contracting hotels for
a company that didn't exist yetand trying to get a outrageous
discount for a non establishedplayer.
So you, being in the industry along time, I'm sure you know how
that played out, but it was anincredible learning experience
(03:29):
and we had a great leadershipteam there, ultimately required
by Travelocity.
And the rest is history, butthat, that was really the start
of my career.
And then in, in terms of.
Of really big, impactful events.
I think learning, I mean it's, Iwon't quote, we have the wisdom
of looking back on some verydifficult times within the
industry, right?
(03:49):
So at site 59 we went throughnine 11 and, had to fight
through that.
And then and then just morerecently through, through COVID,
I had to guide my own businessthrough that.
So going through thosechallenges really.
Influence and I think taught mea lot about leadership how to
solve problems, how to navigatethose difficult times because
(04:10):
it's really, you can, it's notautopilot, but when things are
fun and good and everything isgrowing it's a little bit easier
to do business deals.
But when things are tough,that's when you really find out,
how strong are yourrelationships?
How value is your technology?
How can you help customers in away with their challenges that
they're facing.
Dorothy Dowling (04:28):
I appreciate you sharing all those defining
moments, and I know there's anawful lot of literature speaking
about adaptive leadership todayand how you flex in those kinds
of environments, and I'm justwondering what some of those
applications bring to your roletoday in terms of some of those
adaptive leadership skills.
Tedd Evers (04:46):
Sure.
One thing is that given therapid pace of change of
technology, being able to dealwith ambiguity and uncertainty,
particularly now even.
And we add that every day iscyclical, but being able to
adapt and be able to thrive inthose particular situations is
probably the biggest lesson.
And a lot of it goes back tosome of the basics, right?
Is un understanding wherecustomers are, where your
(05:08):
partners are, listening to themand being able to adapt and
respond to what their needs are.
And in furtherance of yourorganization's business goals.
Dorothy Dowling (05:19):
Yeah I was reading an article yesterday and
I just think your background insales and just your global
understanding of the world, Tedbut it is that listening skill
and it is being highly vested inothers and learning from them
and knowing that we don't havethe answers, but we're going to
figure it out together, I thinkis this.
Stage that we find ourselveswith all the change that is
going on in the world that we'reliving in.
(05:41):
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about the performance
environments.
'cause you've worked in a lot ofvery high performance, very
demanding environments.
You've been an entrepreneur,you're a global leader today.
You were a global leader when Ifirst met you.
So I'm just wondering how youmanage your time and priorities
given all the different thingsthat seem to be important every
day.
Tedd Evers (06:02):
Sure.
We're all waiting and maybecloser now to the time when
technology will give us all moreleisure time back.
I hope so.
So there's obviously a lot ofproductivity tools and in all
seriousness, I think everyorganization now is seeing how
they can leverage generative AIand other tools to really be
more productive and focus onthings.
And we could talk a little bitmore about that.
But in terms of so just the paceof life has increased so much.
(06:25):
And it's really hard to.
To prioritize when everything isa priority.
And we're working with globalmatrix teams and there's
different time zones andeveryone's gonna have a, their
priority and they want to maketheir priority.
Your priority.
So one of the things that hasbeen helpful is to a, is to
ruthlessly prioritize.
And you have to be very firmabout what your focus and
(06:47):
priorities are and stick tothem.
And you do have to say no, it'sthe hardest thing because.
In any organization, you want tobuild relationships and earn
trust, as we say, at Amazon.
But at the same time, you needto deliver results.
Another core leadershipprinciple that we have.
So you have to focus, and Ithink one of the one one of my
managers years ago, he had areally interesting way of
(07:09):
putting it.
And I still use it today.
And he says, focus on thecritical few.
So no matter what situationyou're in, if you just take a
time to, to step back.
And to really align what thoseinitiatives are those actions
that you have, those tasks thatyou have with what that overall
larger business purpose is andyour vision.
And if you just take a step backand then think through how those
(07:31):
align, I think the, that canhelp sort it out.
It's not the ultimate, there'salways gonna be balancing and
trade-offs of priorities, but Ithink really focusing on those
few things because.
Whether you're running your ownbusiness or whether you're in a
larger organization, if youfocus on those critical core
priorities you really can't gowrong.
It's when you start to getbogged down to things that don't
(07:52):
really add value, that getspeople into trouble, I think,
and it's very easy just giventhe ease with which, you know,
tasks and priorities can comeacross that desk.
Dorothy Dowling (08:01):
Yeah, I think that's a really nice framework
to assess, kind ofprioritization to.
'cause I agree with you.
Most of us are highly vested inpeople and relationships and
supporting others, and it isvery difficult to say no.
But I do think that mindset of.
Really prioritizing around thecritical few is a good framework
(08:22):
for our audience to learn fromyou.
So thank you.
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about how you manage
sort of your own personalenergy.
'cause you've had a verydemanding career.
You travel.
A lot you have worked around theglobe and it's always hard to
balance sort of your energy andmaking sure you're bringing your
(08:42):
best self to all the people thatdepend on you.
So do you have any tips therethat you would share with our
audience in terms of how youbalance all of those personal
priorities?
Tedd Evers (08:51):
Sure.
I was fortunate to, to have adaughter, right?
So having a family willcertainly help help you
prioritize and, being able tohonor those commitments and be
there for your family, certain,certainly an important thing for
anyone no matter where they are.
And that usually helps put agood perspective on things just
as a general table stakes, nomatter what's happening.
But for me personally, I justmake sure that I am.
(09:15):
That I'm keeping myself healthyand balanced in terms of
exercise.
During COVID, like many people,I started walking outside a lot
more, and that's something thathas continued on to this day.
So I'm fortunate to have, awooded area close by to my house
that I can access, but.
Being able to carve out thattime for yourself because, and
that goes back to the ruthlessprioritization as well, because
(09:35):
if you do have to put yourselffirst.
'cause if you are not at yourbest, you're not going to be
giving your organization, yourstartup, your company your
partners, your family.
Your best.
So it is up to it.
It could sound counterintuitive,but you do need to really put
yourself first and make surethat you are able to perform at
your best in all thoseinteractions and do it that may
(09:55):
be different things fordifferent people.
So for me it could just bewalking outside.
I still play basketball.
I bike, I, and then obviouslyspending time with family is
super important and being ableto do those really gives a good
balance, I think.
To whatever demanding type ofactivity.
And obviously there's gonna betrade offs in every scenario,
but having that perspective,carving out even just a small
amount of time to take a mentalbreak if you can't escape your
(10:19):
desk and take a deep breath andto try to reset so that you
can't be your best self.
Dorothy Dowling (10:24):
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that.
I know that's been part of mypersonal journey too, is
understanding how to find someof those personal times to just
re recharge and really bringyour best self.
'cause I think a lot of times welose sight of that because we
become em, we become immersed inprojects and prioritize
different work elements.
So thank you for sharing that.
(10:45):
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about problem solving
and critical thinking, becauseyou talked about listening, you
are an extraordinary listenerand you're really good at
working with others and helpingthem become better at those
kinds of things.
So I'm just wondering if youcould share any of your thought
leadership around how do youbecome such a great listener?
Tedd Evers (11:07):
First of all, thank you for the compliment.
I could think of some people whomight disagree with you but
we're always trying to getbetter, right?
Yeah.
Actually one of, one of my, in,earlier in my career I went
through the Xerox sales trainingprogram.
They had a specific course juston listening, so there.
Some certain mechanics therethat you, I'm sure everyone has
heard of.
You wanna make sure that you'refocusing on the person that
you're listening to and really,testing for understanding,
(11:28):
asking clarifying questions.
But it's really about beingengaged and being able to be
attentive and present in thatparticular moment.
And because of the pace of workthat we're all going through,
all of our interactions canbecome transactional very
quickly.
And it's really about beingpresent in that moment and that.
It has to do not just whenyou're engaging or interacting
(11:50):
with someone, but when you areon your own right.
When you are doing your work.
So it, it is connected, but soasking those questions and,
reading back to someone, Hey,listen, this is what I heard you
say.
Am I correct?
That shows that you're engaged,but also that you take away the
correct communication andmessage that person wants to
have.
And then there's some other,some, we have our own
(12:11):
psychological biases and.
Often we're very quick to reactto what someone is saying, and
that's never been more true thanin today's media culture.
When we think about it, when wehave a headline that immediate
immediately might set us off forwhatever reason.
And I think the other analogythat I like to use or phrase is
just to, to respond and notreact.
(12:32):
And I think those are two verydistinct things, right?
A reaction is something that's aknee jerk.
It's a quick, it's thatproverbial, firing off a nasty
email to respond based onsomeone, on what you think that
person might be said when email,of course, is a medium that
can't convey emotion or anythinglike that.
So you basically, you, therecipient reads into it however
they're feeling.
So instead of reacting, takingthat moment and respond, a
(12:54):
response is by its very natureconsidered and thought out.
And we often, obviously there'sgonna be scenarios where you
need a quick yes or no, orsomeone just needs information.
And I don't wanna be abottleneck.
So you wanna respond veryquickly, and obviously it
depends on the context and theperson, but a response is very
different than a reaction.
I think part of listening isbeing able to craft a response
(13:18):
based on what that person issaying so that you're addressing
and communicating moreeffectively.
Dorothy Dowling (13:23):
Yeah.
I love that.
Tim, I do think that in today'sworld that is extraordinarily
important for us to think aboutresponding and not reacting.
I'm wondering if you can talk alittle bit about the kind of
pressure that many executivesare under today and how fast
this world is moving.
If there's anything you can givein terms of guidance about how
(13:45):
executives navigate some of thathigh pressured, make a decision
now kind of environment.
Tedd Evers (13:50):
Yeah I think number one, it's to, to stay curious,
and I bring that up only becauseof the rapid pace of change,
right?
A, as a leader, you're notnecessarily expected to know all
the details, but all thedifferent, LLM models that are
coming out in generative AI on adaily basis or not, right?
But you are expected to ask thequestions.
(14:12):
That can lead to the answers andunderstand how any technology,
any initiative can fit in withyour overall vision.
So I think the first one is tobe curious and to learn and to
ask those right questions tounderstand how things might
impact.
The other one is to, we haveanother, aspect of our
leadership principles at Amazonis to dis-confirm your own
beliefs.
(14:32):
So we all have, and especiallyindividuals like you and I where
we have, years of experience inthe industry we can usually
answer a lot of questions and weknow things intuitively that we
gained over the years, but atthe same time, we're also smart
enough to know that we don'tknow everything.
And that's why we continuallyseek to learn more about whether
it's a new technology, newinitiative.
(14:54):
So I think being able to dothat, to handle the, I should
say, the more short termvicissitudes.
While maintaining that long-termfocus.
And I think too many leaders,too many people today get caught
up in the short term the hereand now.
And it's obviously, it'simportant to remain present, but
you need to think about thingslong-term.
(15:14):
How is this going to help us andwill this be something
significant in the long term?
And a lot of times you won'tknow the answer and you're gonna
have to use your judgment thatyou've gained over the years to
do that.
But it's really hard to think ofwhen we have, companies that are
focusing on quarterly results, arapid pace of change with
generative ai.
We saw board level mandates tojust, two years ago where they
(15:38):
didn't care what, just dosomething with generative AI
because we're nervous about it,right?
And we need to do something.
And of course, that's evolvednow and people are focusing on
the ROI and the specific usecases, et cetera.
But it's not just, again, notjust respon reacting.
But it's responding.
It's thinking about things in along term.
And sometimes we also say, we'rewilling to be misunderstood for
(15:59):
long periods of time.
Sometimes you might have a viewor a principle or a vision that
might not match or mesh with thespirit of the day, right?
The technology.
Whatever the zeitgeist is at themoment, or the meme I should
say.
But if you are focused on along-term vision, and you're
willing to take those bets andyou can communicate that
obviously'cause you need to toget short-term short-term
(16:20):
pressures.
I think that's really importantto and obviously that involves
communication skills.
Dorothy Dowling (16:25):
Yeah.
I think that's a really, again,a significant framing for
everyone to be balancing theshort and the long-term and have
that long-term vision, certainlywithin their framing of their
decision making, and then ofcourse, building some of that
communication around it so thatyou can.
Keep others with you, Ted.
But I also really loved theexpression of just confirming
(16:47):
your own beliefs because I thinkas someone like you that has
been involved in the industryfor a long time, we have to be
open to sometimes that.
Our beliefs may need to evolve.
And so pushing that, pushingourselves to think differently
is always good as well.
So thank you.
Absolutely.
One of the things that I admireabout you, Ted, and I think you
know this, is that I thinkyou're one of the most gifted
(17:08):
storytellers that I've had theprivilege of being in the room.
I think you captivate audiencesbecause you bring clarity, you
bring heart.
I love some of the stories youhave told about your global
journey when you took that betand quit your job.
And, how that influenced yourpersonal life as well as your
professional life.
But I'm just wondering ifthere's any guidance,'cause so
(17:29):
many of our listeners are putinto situations where they have
to be on stage, they have toengage an audience.
They might have to be presentingto clients.
I'm just wondering what kind ofadvice you might offer to them
in terms of how you have becomesuch an accomplished public
speaker.
Tedd Evers (17:46):
Oh thank you again.
And I think the first bit isthat it is a journey and I think
we.
And actually recently, withinthe last few months, they, we
had a speaking a speaking class,right?
With all the diff the variousspeakers that we have across the
organization to be able to learnwhat are some of the techniques,
what you should focus on, andhow to improve.
And so I think it, it is ajourney.
(18:06):
And then there was a, I thinkthe beginning of the session,
there was a quote, I believe itwas Mark Twain.
I don't know, I might, I mayhave this outta context, but it
said there are two types ofpeople in the world.
There, there are those who arethose who are nervous, and those
who are liars.
So you're always gonna benervous no matter what.
But that's part of what gets usin.
Whether you're a performer,whether you're an athlete,
anything that's part of thatadrenaline and what gets you
(18:27):
going, that's a good sign.
'cause that means that you care.
But the other piece is I thinkwe, we all have, our society has
a vision of what we think aspeaker should be, and it's
important to, to be yourself.
And because when you start to bescripted.
And even if you're, so I had thegood fortune when I was running
my own company.
(18:48):
I had very, a very wide range ofthings that I could talk about
and topics and discuss.
When you're in a largerorganization, there are certain
messages that you wanted toconvey as an organization and
you need to do that.
But how do you do that in a waythat's not scripted?
And it doesn't sound like you'rejust reading from a, reading
from a teleprompter or somethinglike that.
In some cases you need to dothat, of course, but it's so
(19:09):
it's be yourself and put yourown personal spin or take on it.
I can recall being, and thenjust also li as a conference
goer, as an attendee, listeningto and taking note of some of
the things that other speakersare doing that, that you might
want to incorporate.
But to your point earlier it'sall about telling stories in the
end.
And if it's not a compellingstory, if you're just, reading
(19:31):
bullet points off a slide, it'snot gonna resonate with anyone.
So I would say, be yourself, beconversational and obviously
know your audience andunderstand what they want to
hear what they might want tohear.
And anticipate those and thinkof it.
Not even though you might bespeaking.
So by definition, maybe amonologue.
It's actually a conversation andI think if you think of it in
(19:52):
terms of having a conversationwith the audience, engaging them
with eye contact, but alsoobviously with helping them
provoke thoughts and askquestions that can get them
thinking and engaged.
I think tho those are some ofthe things that have helped me
at.
Dorothy Dowling (20:06):
I like everything that you've just
shared shared with us.
Ted and I do think it is ahumanity that you always bring.
You always bring a little bit ofthe personal element of Ted to
the audience and understand howto connect some of the personal
learnings that you've had andbring it into the business
application world.
And I think that's always whyI've been so engaged with you,
(20:26):
because you've had an incrediblebackground just in terms of your
education and the kinds of workthat you've done and the way
that you have traveled and beenengaged with very significant
leaders around the world.
But you always bring it down ona very human level and connect
with people where it matters.
So I think it's that heart thatyou bring to that storytelling.
So I do that element about beingconversational.
(20:48):
I do expect that you put anenormous amount of time thinking
through how to connect with thataudience and bring some of those
stories forward.
So thank you for sharing that.
Tedd Evers (20:57):
Yeah,
Dorothy Dowling (20:59):
go ahead.
Sorry.
I would add,
Tedd Evers (21:00):
yeah, and you mentioned preparation I think
I'm quoting other people hereall the time, Winston Churchill
said, it takes an hour to, 15minutes to prepare for an hour
long speech and then an hour toprepare for a 15 minute long
speech.
So it is, it does involve thatpreparation and being able to be
concise and really internalizewhat the message that you're
trying to convey.
Dorothy Dowling (21:16):
Yeah.
For absolutely.
And I do think a lot of peopleunderestimate the amount of time
it takes and it's a journey toprepare as well as deliver,
deliver the content.
So I'm wondering if we couldtalk a little bit about the
future hospitality, because youand I obviously are immersed in
this industry, but it's a verytraditional one.
And I look at, I've been in thisindustry myself, Ted, more than
(21:36):
40 years, but I think about thelast few years as being the most
significant in terms oftransformation.
So I'm just wondering, when youthink about the next three to
five what do you think are thegreatest opportunities for
innovation in our industry?
Tedd Evers (21:51):
So I think within hospitality the big opportunity
here is to really and we'vetalked about this before, is to
be able to.
Deliver hospitality at scale.
And what I mean by that isleveraging the technology that's
out there so that you can havemore time to, to deliver
hospitality.
Everyone thinks of, when youthink of the front desk, right?
(22:13):
You're walking up to a frontdesk, there's a person there,
but their heads down, they're ata screen.
Or they may maybe on the phone.
Wouldn't you rather be able tohandle those in a more automated
fashion that still deliverimportant, guest satisfaction
experiences, but have thatperson be there to welcome the
guest as they arrive?
And we think of it, I think ofit as a shift from a front desk
(22:36):
to a front door.
When someone arrives at yourhouse, you're knocking and say,
Hey, what's going on?
You're gonna have your head downon the phone.
Sadly, some people probably willstill do that, but, but so I
think you think of that analogyand leveraging technology so
that you can deliver what ittruly means to be hospitable on
a human one-to-one level, and tohave that connection that and
that can happen whether it's aguest facing technology, it can
(23:00):
happen whether it's, back of thehouse or whether it's employee
facing or staff facing, so theycan be more productive.
I love some things that havebeen done.
It's some of the chains thatwe've seen some of our customers
where they're able to, to tipstaff using a QR code, right?
Because there, there's so manypeople, there's so many touch
points when you're at a hotel,when you're at a lodge, when
(23:20):
you're at a resort.
And so many people there andthey're taking care of you.
And the ability to be able tojust give them a tip, like on
the spot without having to worryabout denominations or being a
foreign country know what,having the right change and all
that thing, that could be achallenge.
I'd love just a simpletechnology like that to and what
that ties into the larger thingof removing all of those
(23:40):
friction points in a guest stay,whether that's checking, whether
that's checkout, whether it'sfinding out the, the best
restaurant or bar nearby.
All of those things, I think isjust what makes it so exciting.
And obviously with all of theartificial intelligence, all the
data that opens up the path forbetter personalization to
anticipate needs.
(24:01):
Because that's ultimately whattrue hospitality is anticipating
your needs before you ask forthem.
Those are some of the thingsthat I think will be enabled,
and I think it, it will happenfaster than we think.
I know that we've.
We're still in a, an industrywhere we're doing some things
manually that, that maybe shouldnot be done but I do think that
we're on the precipice of somesignificant changes.
Dorothy Dowling (24:22):
Yeah, no, I agree with you Ted.
And I do think the speed of howsome of those things are gonna
actually be adopted and reallymake a difference is going to
happen much more quickly than weanticipate.
I know AWS is at the forefrontof so much of this, in
particular when it comes down tocloud and data strategy.
I'm just wondering how you seeall of those pieces, the
(24:42):
analytics, the automation,personalization, if there's
anything that you see is goingto be transformative in terms of
how we engage customers.
Tedd Evers (24:53):
Sure.
I think it, it all boils downto, if you want to think of a
common denominator, I would sayhaving a data strategy, right?
Because a lot of people I thinkthe message is that has gotten
out there now, that you can'treally leverage all of these
great tools, all of these AItools, if your data is not in
order necessarily.
I think understanding what allthose data points are and what
(25:15):
the important ones are, right?
So not getting down again in, intrying to capture everything,
but what are the important, datapoints that you need to capture.
How can you leverage those?
How can you work with partnersto deliver better experiences?
You look at how hotel brands andairlines have collaborated on
their loyalty programs todeliver promotions or to address
and segment certain markets.
(25:35):
Being able to share that andhaving the technology that
enables that, that sharing isimportant.
But also to be able to, andobviously to be able to do it in
a way that's privacy friendly,that's secure above all else in,
in today's environment andhaving that strategy so that
it's not just a matter of OkayI've created the state warehouse
of the state of lake.
And it's not just a matter of,okay, I, I can.
(25:58):
I have someone's email and I cansend a personalized email.
It's more about having a moreholistic view of that customer
and not necessarily just withtheir particular interactions
with you, but with other brandsthat are adjacent to you to make
that overall experience muchmore frictionless and much more
seamless.
So it's having that datastrategy and being able to have
(26:19):
more of a contextual view.
Of the guest no matter wherethey are.
And I think, that starts even atthe property level because I
think many properties can't,they don't see, I might not, I
might be at a brand for thefirst time and I'm not part of
their loyalty program, but everytime I go to a property, I'm
probably, I'm spending X and Fand B.
And if that particular propertycan't even see.
(26:40):
That, that interaction or thatbehavior, whatever, they might,
because I'm not a loyaltymember, maybe I don't rate as
highly, but I'm a valuable guestnonetheless.
So that's an individual propertylevel.
Even being able to have thatdata set and that view of the
customer's importance.
So that would be the oneunderlying thing I think to get
right and to obviously havethat, that unified view of the
guests or the traveler thatwe've all been.
(27:01):
Pursuing for so long.
Dorothy Dowling (27:02):
Yeah, no, I think that's really brilliant
and I do think thatprioritization on the critical
few that you spoke about earlierand really investing in that
strategic view in terms ofwhat's important from a data
point of view is something thathospitality and I agree with
you, it's the layers of everyonethat is.
Part of that experience that hasto understand what is going to
(27:25):
be most important to us, reallyimproving the customer
engagement.
Tedd Evers (27:29):
And it's not just the domain of your IT staff,
right?
Absolutely.
Every business leader needs tounderstand, have a data strategy
and work in partnership with theIT group to, to deliver that for
guests.
Dorothy Dowling (27:41):
And that really leads me to this next question
because there's so manyconversations around what
commercial leadership isevolving to, and I think that
siloed framework that you werejust talking about, the
technology and the folks thatare driving top line and the
integration I'm just wonderingif there are particular skills
or mindsets that you would offerto the audience in terms of what
(28:02):
does that next generation ofcommercial leadership really
look like?
Tedd Evers (28:08):
I think number one, it's agility and as I mentioned
before, being able to deal withambiguity.
So when you think of agileframeworks, again, that
typically comes from adevelopment side of the house,
right?
So instead of the traditional,what we would call a waterfall,
where you're planning out, we'regoing to do this and it's gonna
be in these stages, and that'swhere it goes being more agile
(28:28):
doing smaller experiments,learning as you go along and all
have that be based on.
Not what we think will work, buton actual customer feedback and
getting that as soon as possiblein the development process, the
lifecycle development process,no matter if it's a software
product or a business process,right?
So that, I think agility is thenumber one, the one trait there.
(28:50):
And then the other thing is justis really empathy with your
teammates and reallyunderstanding them.
And what motivates them.
And not looking at a workforceas a monolithic thing and a
particular role as one specificthing, but look at that
individual and what motivatesthat individual.
And being able to do that isreally I think what leadership
is all about to bring the best.
(29:11):
And I think if you look in likea sports analogy, the best
coaches will do that because noteveryone is gonna need the same
type of motivation or coachingor guidance or leadership.
And then the other thing is thateven if you're a leader you
learn a lot from your team.
Having them, giving them thewherewithal and the empowerment
to conduct those experiments ontheir own, to come up with their
own and to really present andshare with them.
(29:32):
And obviously a lot of that willcome with the responsibility as
well.
But that's ultimately what, whatcan help engender growth.
And really I think in the end, Ithink workers say they wanna
work on something that'smeaningful, whether it's, if
you, classic, developerdevelopers wanna work on a
project that's reallyinteresting and creative and
something that can have thatownership.
So being able to grant ownershipof a particular task or
(29:55):
initiative or something to thoseindividual teammates I think is
really important.
Dorothy Dowling (30:00):
There's a couple of through lines that I
really loved about what youoffered there, Ted, and that,
brought back to when I spokewith a recruiter about.
Two of the areas that he reallylikes to find in talent, one is
around people that have somekind of an athletic background
because that understanding ofhow to work within a team is
something that's really honedthrough experiences of being an
(30:20):
athlete.
The second was really what youspoke to earlier about that
sales discipline and reallybeing customer obsessed, but
understanding.
You know how to really approachthat in a very disciplined way.
But I love the way you broughtthat forward in terms of
connecting the dots.
And I do think traditionallythat technology and some of the
folks that drive top line,there's always been friction.
(30:43):
And I do think that element ofunderstanding that we are a
holistic team and we've gottahave the empathy and work
together and understand thatmutual goal and approaching to
how we achieve those goalstogether is.
Is really important.
I wonder if we can talk a littlebit about talent.
I love the stories that you tellabout your daughter, but, and
I'm sure you're a tremendouscoach and advisor to her, but if
(31:05):
you were talking to highpotential talent today in the
hospitality industry, what kindof advice would you offer to
them to stretch and grow intoleadership roles?
Tedd Evers (31:15):
Yeah.
We don't have enough time for meto speak about my father that
for for another time.
But I think it's really it is toto stay curious, right?
And to learn.
And not just and that I think isalso, there's so much that it's
implied in that, right?
So just staying current andbeing able to understand and
leverage how technologies likegenerative AI can help you.
(31:38):
And it's not, you don't have totake a course, you don't have to
take a certification.
That's great if you do, but it'sliterally applying it now today.
In whatever you're doing.
So I think, and that's like thenew paradigm of learning is not
necessarily, course-based whichit still is.
I do believe in it, and that's,there's a time and place for
that.
(31:58):
But it's what are you doing onan a daily basis, on an
individual experimentation?
These smaller experiments thatyou can learn from and iterate
and share with your team.
And regardless of where you arewithin an organization or what
you're working on, there arealways gonna be opportunities
for that.
And if you if you I'm not gonnasay I'm thinking of breaking bad
(32:19):
where he says, apply yourself toJesse.
If you apply yourself, if you'reable to do that, no matter what
role you're in, there issomething to learn.
And you also learn of what youmay not like.
That can guide you in, in, inyour career.
So I think that's important.
And then, and.
Listening to others.
And another phrase I alwaysshare with my younger sister is
we joke about it.
We say, just talk to people.
(32:40):
And it's literally just beingcurious and having a
conversation.
Learning from other people inthe organization for in or out,
or anyone about what they do.
Asking questions, being curiousand listening and taking away
that nugget that can help you.
So you're listening, but you'realso developing your own point
of view and what resonates withyou and where you want to go
with your career.
(33:00):
And I think, all too often welook ahead and we look at what's
next and where we want to be,rather than looking at the
opportunity of what you're doingnow.
And the other thing that I wouldalways believe is, the best
thing that you can do to preparefor your next job is to excel at
your current one.
Dorothy Dowling (33:17):
Yeah.
I I love that kind of framing,Ted, about curiosity and being
on a learning journey.
I've always personally believedthat is how we bring relevance
to everyone is continuing toevolve and invest in, in our own
personal development.
But I also I fundamentallybelieve that.
This expression of 70% of whatwe know today will be irrelevant
(33:38):
in less than 24 months is a verycompelling sort of message that
we all have to take.
That if we don't invest in thatpersonal development, that
curiosity, that listening toothers.
We won't be relevant.
But I love the way that you haveframed that and also the balance
of some of the formal learning,because I too believe in that.
(33:58):
But I also believe it's what wedo every day in terms of
investing in our growth and thejourney that, that we're all on.
So thank you Ted.
You always bring such engagingthought leadership to all of us,
and I know that you've sharedinsights that will inspire and
guide many in our community andto our audience.
I'd love to thank you forjoining us.
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, we invite you to
explore morestories@itspersonalstories.com,
(34:21):
where you'll find interviewswith leaders across the
industry, just like Ed Ted, whoare charting bold paths and
building meaningful careers.
So we hope to see you there,Ted.
Thank you from the bottom of myheart for being with us today.
I
Tedd Evers (34:32):
appreciate you very much.
Thank you.
Greetings.
I am Dorothy Dowling and welcometo its Personal Stories, a
hospitality podcast dedicated toempowering professionals Through
the lived experience ofinspiring industry leaders, this
is a platform for learning,leadership, and personal
transformation.
Today I am honored to be joinedby Ted Ever.
Global partner, lead, travel,and hospitality at AWS Ted's
(00:27):
career reflects a remarkableblend of vision, execution, and
heart.
From pioneering in innovationand travel distribution to
launching his own tech venturesand now guiding global
partnerships at one of theworld's most transformative
companies.
He brings a rare perspective,grounded in depth and breadth.
He's also a compelling speaker.
(00:47):
A devoted husband and a proudgirl dad to a college student.
Ted, it's a true privilege tohave you with us today.
Tedd Evers (00:54):
It's wonderful to be here with you, Dorothy.
Thank you.
Dorothy Dowling (00:57):
Wonderful.
Ted, let's start at thebeginning.
I would love to hear whatinspired your journey into
travel and technology and whatultimately led you to focus on
partnerships within thehospitality space?
Tedd Evers (01:08):
Wow.
I guess any origin storyprobably has a lot of.
Of childhood stories that areseemingly innocuous at the time,
but in, in hindsight, turned outto be pretty impactful.
So mine is no different in thatrespect.
And I, I credit my father andjust, we moved around a lot as a
family, and I remember as ayoung boy just sitting down and,
(01:29):
laying down in the front seat ofthe car while he's driving
overnight in these long distancetrips and.
You are working out the map andthe next destination with him.
And that really inspired a joynot only of maps, but of just
learning about the world andeverything that's out there.
And and he took us, we were veryfortunate to have traveled my
younger sister and I to Europewith our parents when we were
(01:51):
younger.
Much to the chagrin of our oldersiblings I might add.
But that really opened our eyesto just be, in, in, in JFK and
seeing people from around theworld and in different clothes
and different cultures, andbeing exposed to that at a young
age really had a profound impacton me.
And I didn't really activate it,in a sense until I, I made a
(02:13):
pretty life-changing move andleft a corporate sales job and
bought around the world ticketand traveled around the world
for a year, and that reallycemented.
The idea and the desire tocreate a career within travel
and hospitality.
Dorothy Dowling (02:28):
I, I have heard that story, Ted and I know how
engaging it is.
I'm just wondering if we couldtalk a little bit about the
career and the kinds of thingsthat have really helped you in
terms of leading and solvingproblems.
'cause you are brilliant atthat.
So I would love for you to shareyour wisdom with our audience.
Tedd Evers (02:46):
Thanks.
I think so that really, that,that trip really was the
initiative or the impetus reallyfor getting involved in travel
and coming back.
I actually wanted to be a travelrider.
This is before the ageinfluencers, so I was, and I was
doing a lot of travel riding anda small startup called Site 59
came knocking at the door and Iactually signed up to be a
(03:08):
writer.
They found out I had a lot ofthese business development sales
skills.
So I wound up.
Working with hotels direct anddirectly contracting hotels for
a company that didn't exist yetand trying to get a outrageous
discount for a non establishedplayer.
So you, being in the industry along time, I'm sure you know how
that played out, but it was anincredible learning experience
(03:29):
and we had a great leadershipteam there, ultimately required
by Travelocity.
And the rest is history, butthat, that was really the start
of my career.
And then in, in terms of.
Of really big, impactful events.
I think learning, I mean it's, Iwon't quote, we have the wisdom
of looking back on some verydifficult times within the
industry, right?
(03:49):
So at site 59 we went throughnine 11 and, had to fight
through that.
And then and then just morerecently through, through COVID,
I had to guide my own businessthrough that.
So going through thosechallenges really.
Influence and I think taught mea lot about leadership how to
solve problems, how to navigatethose difficult times because
(04:10):
it's really, you can, it's notautopilot, but when things are
fun and good and everything isgrowing it's a little bit easier
to do business deals.
But when things are tough,that's when you really find out,
how strong are yourrelationships?
How value is your technology?
How can you help customers in away with their challenges that
they're facing.
Dorothy Dowling (04:28):
I appreciate you sharing all those defining
moments, and I know there's anawful lot of literature speaking
about adaptive leadership todayand how you flex in those kinds
of environments, and I'm justwondering what some of those
applications bring to your roletoday in terms of some of those
adaptive leadership skills.
Tedd Evers (04:46):
Sure.
One thing is that given therapid pace of change of
technology, being able to dealwith ambiguity and uncertainty,
particularly now even.
And we add that every day iscyclical, but being able to
adapt and be able to thrive inthose particular situations is
probably the biggest lesson.
And a lot of it goes back tosome of the basics, right?
Is un understanding wherecustomers are, where your
(05:08):
partners are, listening to themand being able to adapt and
respond to what their needs are.
And in furtherance of yourorganization's business goals.
Dorothy Dowling (05:19):
Yeah I was reading an article yesterday and
I just think your background insales and just your global
understanding of the world, Tedbut it is that listening skill
and it is being highly vested inothers and learning from them
and knowing that we don't havethe answers, but we're going to
figure it out together, I thinkis this.
Stage that we find ourselveswith all the change that is
going on in the world that we'reliving in.
(05:41):
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about the performance
environments.
'cause you've worked in a lot ofvery high performance, very
demanding environments.
You've been an entrepreneur,you're a global leader today.
You were a global leader when Ifirst met you.
So I'm just wondering how youmanage your time and priorities
given all the different thingsthat seem to be important every
day.
Tedd Evers (06:02):
Sure.
We're all waiting and maybecloser now to the time when
technology will give us all moreleisure time back.
I hope so.
So there's obviously a lot ofproductivity tools and in all
seriousness, I think everyorganization now is seeing how
they can leverage generative AIand other tools to really be
more productive and focus onthings.
And we could talk a little bitmore about that.
But in terms of so just the paceof life has increased so much.
(06:25):
And it's really hard to.
To prioritize when everything isa priority.
And we're working with globalmatrix teams and there's
different time zones andeveryone's gonna have a, their
priority and they want to maketheir priority.
Your priority.
So one of the things that hasbeen helpful is to a, is to
ruthlessly prioritize.
And you have to be very firmabout what your focus and
(06:47):
priorities are and stick tothem.
And you do have to say no, it'sthe hardest thing because.
In any organization, you want tobuild relationships and earn
trust, as we say, at Amazon.
But at the same time, you needto deliver results.
Another core leadershipprinciple that we have.
So you have to focus, and Ithink one of the one one of my
managers years ago, he had areally interesting way of
(07:09):
putting it.
And I still use it today.
And he says, focus on thecritical few.
So no matter what situationyou're in, if you just take a
time to, to step back.
And to really align what thoseinitiatives are those actions
that you have, those tasks thatyou have with what that overall
larger business purpose is andyour vision.
And if you just take a step backand then think through how those
(07:31):
align, I think the, that canhelp sort it out.
It's not the ultimate, there'salways gonna be balancing and
trade-offs of priorities, but Ithink really focusing on those
few things because.
Whether you're running your ownbusiness or whether you're in a
larger organization, if youfocus on those critical core
priorities you really can't gowrong.
It's when you start to getbogged down to things that don't
(07:52):
really add value, that getspeople into trouble, I think,
and it's very easy just giventhe ease with which, you know,
tasks and priorities can comeacross that desk.
Dorothy Dowling (08:01):
Yeah, I think that's a really nice framework
to assess, kind ofprioritization to.
'cause I agree with you.
Most of us are highly vested inpeople and relationships and
supporting others, and it isvery difficult to say no.
But I do think that mindset of.
Really prioritizing around thecritical few is a good framework
(08:22):
for our audience to learn fromyou.
So thank you.
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about how you manage
sort of your own personalenergy.
'cause you've had a verydemanding career.
You travel.
A lot you have worked around theglobe and it's always hard to
balance sort of your energy andmaking sure you're bringing your
(08:42):
best self to all the people thatdepend on you.
So do you have any tips therethat you would share with our
audience in terms of how youbalance all of those personal
priorities?
Tedd Evers (08:51):
Sure.
I was fortunate to, to have adaughter, right?
So having a family willcertainly help help you
prioritize and, being able tohonor those commitments and be
there for your family, certain,certainly an important thing for
anyone no matter where they are.
And that usually helps put agood perspective on things just
as a general table stakes, nomatter what's happening.
But for me personally, I justmake sure that I am.
(09:15):
That I'm keeping myself healthyand balanced in terms of
exercise.
During COVID, like many people,I started walking outside a lot
more, and that's something thathas continued on to this day.
So I'm fortunate to have, awooded area close by to my house
that I can access, but.
Being able to carve out thattime for yourself because, and
that goes back to the ruthlessprioritization as well, because
(09:35):
if you do have to put yourselffirst.
'cause if you are not at yourbest, you're not going to be
giving your organization, yourstartup, your company your
partners, your family.
Your best.
So it is up to it.
It could sound counterintuitive,but you do need to really put
yourself first and make surethat you are able to perform at
your best in all thoseinteractions and do it that may
(09:55):
be different things fordifferent people.
So for me it could just bewalking outside.
I still play basketball.
I bike, I, and then obviouslyspending time with family is
super important and being ableto do those really gives a good
balance, I think.
To whatever demanding type ofactivity.
And obviously there's gonna betrade offs in every scenario,
but having that perspective,carving out even just a small
amount of time to take a mentalbreak if you can't escape your
(10:19):
desk and take a deep breath andto try to reset so that you
can't be your best self.
Dorothy Dowling (10:24):
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that.
I know that's been part of mypersonal journey too, is
understanding how to find someof those personal times to just
re recharge and really bringyour best self.
'cause I think a lot of times welose sight of that because we
become em, we become immersed inprojects and prioritize
different work elements.
So thank you for sharing that.
(10:45):
I'm wondering if we can talk alittle bit about problem solving
and critical thinking, becauseyou talked about listening, you
are an extraordinary listenerand you're really good at
working with others and helpingthem become better at those
kinds of things.
So I'm just wondering if youcould share any of your thought
leadership around how do youbecome such a great listener?
Tedd Evers (11:07):
First of all, thank you for the compliment.
I could think of some people whomight disagree with you but
we're always trying to getbetter, right?
Yeah.
Actually one of, one of my, in,earlier in my career I went
through the Xerox sales trainingprogram.
They had a specific course juston listening, so there.
Some certain mechanics therethat you, I'm sure everyone has
heard of.
You wanna make sure that you'refocusing on the person that
you're listening to and really,testing for understanding,
(11:28):
asking clarifying questions.
But it's really about beingengaged and being able to be
attentive and present in thatparticular moment.
And because of the pace of workthat we're all going through,
all of our interactions canbecome transactional very
quickly.
And it's really about beingpresent in that moment and that.
It has to do not just whenyou're engaging or interacting
(11:50):
with someone, but when you areon your own right.
When you are doing your work.
So it, it is connected, but soasking those questions and,
reading back to someone, Hey,listen, this is what I heard you
say.
Am I correct?
That shows that you're engaged,but also that you take away the
correct communication andmessage that person wants to
have.
And then there's some other,some, we have our own
(12:11):
psychological biases and.
Often we're very quick to reactto what someone is saying, and
that's never been more true thanin today's media culture.
When we think about it, when wehave a headline that immediate
immediately might set us off forwhatever reason.
And I think the other analogythat I like to use or phrase is
just to, to respond and notreact.
(12:32):
And I think those are two verydistinct things, right?
A reaction is something that's aknee jerk.
It's a quick, it's thatproverbial, firing off a nasty
email to respond based onsomeone, on what you think that
person might be said when email,of course, is a medium that
can't convey emotion or anythinglike that.
So you basically, you, therecipient reads into it however
they're feeling.
So instead of reacting, takingthat moment and respond, a
(12:54):
response is by its very natureconsidered and thought out.
And we often, obviously there'sgonna be scenarios where you
need a quick yes or no, orsomeone just needs information.
And I don't wanna be abottleneck.
So you wanna respond veryquickly, and obviously it
depends on the context and theperson, but a response is very
different than a reaction.
I think part of listening isbeing able to craft a response
(13:18):
based on what that person issaying so that you're addressing
and communicating moreeffectively.
Dorothy Dowling (13:23):
Yeah.
I love that.
Tim, I do think that in today'sworld that is extraordinarily
important for us to think aboutresponding and not reacting.
I'm wondering if you can talk alittle bit about the kind of
pressure that many executivesare under today and how fast
this world is moving.
If there's anything you can givein terms of guidance about how
(13:45):
executives navigate some of thathigh pressured, make a decision
now kind of environment.
Tedd Evers (13:50):
Yeah I think number one, it's to, to stay curious,
and I bring that up only becauseof the rapid pace of change,
right?
A, as a leader, you're notnecessarily expected to know all
the details, but all thedifferent, LLM models that are
coming out in generative AI on adaily basis or not, right?
But you are expected to ask thequestions.
(14:12):
That can lead to the answers andunderstand how any technology,
any initiative can fit in withyour overall vision.
So I think the first one is tobe curious and to learn and to
ask those right questions tounderstand how things might
impact.
The other one is to, we haveanother, aspect of our
leadership principles at Amazonis to dis-confirm your own
beliefs.
(14:32):
So we all have, and especiallyindividuals like you and I where
we have, years of experience inthe industry we can usually
answer a lot of questions and weknow things intuitively that we
gained over the years, but atthe same time, we're also smart
enough to know that we don'tknow everything.
And that's why we continuallyseek to learn more about whether
it's a new technology, newinitiative.
(14:54):
So I think being able to dothat, to handle the, I should
say, the more short termvicissitudes.
While maintaining that long-termfocus.
And I think too many leaders,too many people today get caught
up in the short term the hereand now.
And it's obviously, it'simportant to remain present, but
you need to think about thingslong-term.
(15:14):
How is this going to help us andwill this be something
significant in the long term?
And a lot of times you won'tknow the answer and you're gonna
have to use your judgment thatyou've gained over the years to
do that.
But it's really hard to think ofwhen we have, companies that are
focusing on quarterly results, arapid pace of change with
generative ai.
We saw board level mandates tojust, two years ago where they
(15:38):
didn't care what, just dosomething with generative AI
because we're nervous about it,right?
And we need to do something.
And of course, that's evolvednow and people are focusing on
the ROI and the specific usecases, et cetera.
But it's not just, again, notjust respon reacting.
But it's responding.
It's thinking about things in along term.
And sometimes we also say, we'rewilling to be misunderstood for
(15:59):
long periods of time.
Sometimes you might have a viewor a principle or a vision that
might not match or mesh with thespirit of the day, right?
The technology.
Whatever the zeitgeist is at themoment, or the meme I should
say.
But if you are focused on along-term vision, and you're
willing to take those bets andyou can communicate that
obviously'cause you need to toget short-term short-term
(16:20):
pressures.
I think that's really importantto and obviously that involves
communication skills.
Dorothy Dowling (16:25):
Yeah.
I think that's a really, again,a significant framing for
everyone to be balancing theshort and the long-term and have
that long-term vision, certainlywithin their framing of their
decision making, and then ofcourse, building some of that
communication around it so thatyou can.
Keep others with you, Ted.
But I also really loved theexpression of just confirming
(16:47):
your own beliefs because I thinkas someone like you that has
been involved in the industryfor a long time, we have to be
open to sometimes that.
Our beliefs may need to evolve.
And so pushing that, pushingourselves to think differently
is always good as well.
So thank you.
Absolutely.
One of the things that I admireabout you, Ted, and I think you
know this, is that I thinkyou're one of the most gifted
(17:08):
storytellers that I've had theprivilege of being in the room.
I think you captivate audiencesbecause you bring clarity, you
bring heart.
I love some of the stories youhave told about your global
journey when you took that betand quit your job.
And, how that influenced yourpersonal life as well as your
professional life.
But I'm just wondering ifthere's any guidance,'cause so
(17:29):
many of our listeners are putinto situations where they have
to be on stage, they have toengage an audience.
They might have to be presentingto clients.
I'm just wondering what kind ofadvice you might offer to them
in terms of how you have becomesuch an accomplished public
speaker.
Tedd Evers (17:46):
Oh thank you again.
And I think the first bit isthat it is a journey and I think
we.
And actually recently, withinthe last few months, they, we
had a speaking a speaking class,right?
With all the diff the variousspeakers that we have across the
organization to be able to learnwhat are some of the techniques,
what you should focus on, andhow to improve.
And so I think it, it is ajourney.
(18:06):
And then there was a, I thinkthe beginning of the session,
there was a quote, I believe itwas Mark Twain.
I don't know, I might, I mayhave this outta context, but it
said there are two types ofpeople in the world.
There, there are those who arethose who are nervous, and those
who are liars.
So you're always gonna benervous no matter what.
But that's part of what gets usin.
Whether you're a performer,whether you're an athlete,
anything that's part of thatadrenaline and what gets you
(18:27):
going, that's a good sign.
'cause that means that you care.
But the other piece is I thinkwe, we all have, our society has
a vision of what we think aspeaker should be, and it's
important to, to be yourself.
And because when you start to bescripted.
And even if you're, so I had thegood fortune when I was running
my own company.
(18:48):
I had very, a very wide range ofthings that I could talk about
and topics and discuss.
When you're in a largerorganization, there are certain
messages that you wanted toconvey as an organization and
you need to do that.
But how do you do that in a waythat's not scripted?
And it doesn't sound like you'rejust reading from a, reading
from a teleprompter or somethinglike that.
In some cases you need to dothat, of course, but it's so
(19:09):
it's be yourself and put yourown personal spin or take on it.
I can recall being, and thenjust also li as a conference
goer, as an attendee, listeningto and taking note of some of
the things that other speakersare doing that, that you might
want to incorporate.
But to your point earlier it'sall about telling stories in the
end.
And if it's not a compellingstory, if you're just, reading
(19:31):
bullet points off a slide, it'snot gonna resonate with anyone.
So I would say, be yourself, beconversational and obviously
know your audience andunderstand what they want to
hear what they might want tohear.
And anticipate those and thinkof it.
Not even though you might bespeaking.
So by definition, maybe amonologue.
It's actually a conversation andI think if you think of it in
(19:52):
terms of having a conversationwith the audience, engaging them
with eye contact, but alsoobviously with helping them
provoke thoughts and askquestions that can get them
thinking and engaged.
I think tho those are some ofthe things that have helped me
at.
Dorothy Dowling (20:06):
I like everything that you've just
shared shared with us.
Ted and I do think it is ahumanity that you always bring.
You always bring a little bit ofthe personal element of Ted to
the audience and understand howto connect some of the personal
learnings that you've had andbring it into the business
application world.
And I think that's always whyI've been so engaged with you,
(20:26):
because you've had an incrediblebackground just in terms of your
education and the kinds of workthat you've done and the way
that you have traveled and beenengaged with very significant
leaders around the world.
But you always bring it down ona very human level and connect
with people where it matters.
So I think it's that heart thatyou bring to that storytelling.
So I do that element about beingconversational.
(20:48):
I do expect that you put anenormous amount of time thinking
through how to connect with thataudience and bring some of those
stories forward.
So thank you for sharing that.
Tedd Evers (20:57):
Yeah,
Dorothy Dowling (20:59):
go ahead.
Sorry.
I would add,
Tedd Evers (21:00):
yeah, and you mentioned preparation I think
I'm quoting other people hereall the time, Winston Churchill
said, it takes an hour to, 15minutes to prepare for an hour
long speech and then an hour toprepare for a 15 minute long
speech.
So it is, it does involve thatpreparation and being able to be
concise and really internalizewhat the message that you're
trying to convey.
Dorothy Dowling (21:16):
Yeah.
For absolutely.
And I do think a lot of peopleunderestimate the amount of time
it takes and it's a journey toprepare as well as deliver,
deliver the content.
So I'm wondering if we couldtalk a little bit about the
future hospitality, because youand I obviously are immersed in
this industry, but it's a verytraditional one.
And I look at, I've been in thisindustry myself, Ted, more than
(21:36):
40 years, but I think about thelast few years as being the most
significant in terms oftransformation.
So I'm just wondering, when youthink about the next three to
five what do you think are thegreatest opportunities for
innovation in our industry?
Tedd Evers (21:51):
So I think within hospitality the big opportunity
here is to really and we'vetalked about this before, is to
be able to.
Deliver hospitality at scale.
And what I mean by that isleveraging the technology that's
out there so that you can havemore time to, to deliver
hospitality.
Everyone thinks of, when youthink of the front desk, right?
(22:13):
You're walking up to a frontdesk, there's a person there,
but their heads down, they're ata screen.
Or they may maybe on the phone.
Wouldn't you rather be able tohandle those in a more automated
fashion that still deliverimportant, guest satisfaction
experiences, but have thatperson be there to welcome the
guest as they arrive?
And we think of it, I think ofit as a shift from a front desk
(22:36):
to a front door.
When someone arrives at yourhouse, you're knocking and say,
Hey, what's going on?
You're gonna have your head downon the phone.
Sadly, some people probably willstill do that, but, but so I
think you think of that analogyand leveraging technology so
that you can deliver what ittruly means to be hospitable on
a human one-to-one level, and tohave that connection that and
that can happen whether it's aguest facing technology, it can
(23:00):
happen whether it's, back of thehouse or whether it's employee
facing or staff facing, so theycan be more productive.
I love some things that havebeen done.
It's some of the chains thatwe've seen some of our customers
where they're able to, to tipstaff using a QR code, right?
Because there, there's so manypeople, there's so many touch
points when you're at a hotel,when you're at a lodge, when
(23:20):
you're at a resort.
And so many people there andthey're taking care of you.
And the ability to be able tojust give them a tip, like on
the spot without having to worryabout denominations or being a
foreign country know what,having the right change and all
that thing, that could be achallenge.
I'd love just a simpletechnology like that to and what
that ties into the larger thingof removing all of those
(23:40):
friction points in a guest stay,whether that's checking, whether
that's checkout, whether it'sfinding out the, the best
restaurant or bar nearby.
All of those things, I think isjust what makes it so exciting.
And obviously with all of theartificial intelligence, all the
data that opens up the path forbetter personalization to
anticipate needs.
(24:01):
Because that's ultimately whattrue hospitality is anticipating
your needs before you ask forthem.
Those are some of the thingsthat I think will be enabled,
and I think it, it will happenfaster than we think.
I know that we've.
We're still in a, an industrywhere we're doing some things
manually that, that maybe shouldnot be done but I do think that
we're on the precipice of somesignificant changes.
Dorothy Dowling (24:22):
Yeah, no, I agree with you Ted.
And I do think the speed of howsome of those things are gonna
actually be adopted and reallymake a difference is going to
happen much more quickly than weanticipate.
I know AWS is at the forefrontof so much of this, in
particular when it comes down tocloud and data strategy.
I'm just wondering how you seeall of those pieces, the
(24:42):
analytics, the automation,personalization, if there's
anything that you see is goingto be transformative in terms of
how we engage customers.
Tedd Evers (24:53):
Sure.
I think it, it all boils downto, if you want to think of a
common denominator, I would sayhaving a data strategy, right?
Because a lot of people I thinkthe message is that has gotten
out there now, that you can'treally leverage all of these
great tools, all of these AItools, if your data is not in
order necessarily.
I think understanding what allthose data points are and what
(25:15):
the important ones are, right?
So not getting down again in, intrying to capture everything,
but what are the important, datapoints that you need to capture.
How can you leverage those?
How can you work with partnersto deliver better experiences?
You look at how hotel brands andairlines have collaborated on
their loyalty programs todeliver promotions or to address
and segment certain markets.
(25:35):
Being able to share that andhaving the technology that
enables that, that sharing isimportant.
But also to be able to, andobviously to be able to do it in
a way that's privacy friendly,that's secure above all else in,
in today's environment andhaving that strategy so that
it's not just a matter of OkayI've created the state warehouse
of the state of lake.
And it's not just a matter of,okay, I, I can.
(25:58):
I have someone's email and I cansend a personalized email.
It's more about having a moreholistic view of that customer
and not necessarily just withtheir particular interactions
with you, but with other brandsthat are adjacent to you to make
that overall experience muchmore frictionless and much more
seamless.
So it's having that datastrategy and being able to have
(26:19):
more of a contextual view.
Of the guest no matter wherethey are.
And I think, that starts even atthe property level because I
think many properties can't,they don't see, I might not, I
might be at a brand for thefirst time and I'm not part of
their loyalty program, but everytime I go to a property, I'm
probably, I'm spending X and Fand B.
And if that particular propertycan't even see.
(26:40):
That, that interaction or thatbehavior, whatever, they might,
because I'm not a loyaltymember, maybe I don't rate as
highly, but I'm a valuable guestnonetheless.
So that's an individual propertylevel.
Even being able to have thatdata set and that view of the
customer's importance.
So that would be the oneunderlying thing I think to get
right and to obviously havethat, that unified view of the
guests or the traveler thatwe've all been.
(27:01):
Pursuing for so long.
Dorothy Dowling (27:02):
Yeah, no, I think that's really brilliant
and I do think thatprioritization on the critical
few that you spoke about earlierand really investing in that
strategic view in terms ofwhat's important from a data
point of view is something thathospitality and I agree with
you, it's the layers of everyonethat is.
Part of that experience that hasto understand what is going to
(27:25):
be most important to us, reallyimproving the customer
engagement.
Tedd Evers (27:29):
And it's not just the domain of your IT staff,
right?
Absolutely.
Every business leader needs tounderstand, have a data strategy
and work in partnership with theIT group to, to deliver that for
guests.
Dorothy Dowling (27:41):
And that really leads me to this next question
because there's so manyconversations around what
commercial leadership isevolving to, and I think that
siloed framework that you werejust talking about, the
technology and the folks thatare driving top line and the
integration I'm just wonderingif there are particular skills
or mindsets that you would offerto the audience in terms of what
(28:02):
does that next generation ofcommercial leadership really
look like?
Tedd Evers (28:08):
I think number one, it's agility and as I mentioned
before, being able to deal withambiguity.
So when you think of agileframeworks, again, that
typically comes from adevelopment side of the house,
right?
So instead of the traditional,what we would call a waterfall,
where you're planning out, we'regoing to do this and it's gonna
be in these stages, and that'swhere it goes being more agile
(28:28):
doing smaller experiments,learning as you go along and all
have that be based on.
Not what we think will work, buton actual customer feedback and
getting that as soon as possiblein the development process, the
lifecycle development process,no matter if it's a software
product or a business process,right?
So that, I think agility is thenumber one, the one trait there.
(28:50):
And then the other thing is justis really empathy with your
teammates and reallyunderstanding them.
And what motivates them.
And not looking at a workforceas a monolithic thing and a
particular role as one specificthing, but look at that
individual and what motivatesthat individual.
And being able to do that isreally I think what leadership
is all about to bring the best.
(29:11):
And I think if you look in likea sports analogy, the best
coaches will do that because noteveryone is gonna need the same
type of motivation or coachingor guidance or leadership.
And then the other thing is thateven if you're a leader you
learn a lot from your team.
Having them, giving them thewherewithal and the empowerment
to conduct those experiments ontheir own, to come up with their
own and to really present andshare with them.
(29:32):
And obviously a lot of that willcome with the responsibility as
well.
But that's ultimately what, whatcan help engender growth.
And really I think in the end, Ithink workers say they wanna
work on something that'smeaningful, whether it's, if
you, classic, developerdevelopers wanna work on a
project that's reallyinteresting and creative and
something that can have thatownership.
So being able to grant ownershipof a particular task or
(29:55):
initiative or something to thoseindividual teammates I think is
really important.
Dorothy Dowling (30:00):
There's a couple of through lines that I
really loved about what youoffered there, Ted, and that,
brought back to when I spokewith a recruiter about.
Two of the areas that he reallylikes to find in talent, one is
around people that have somekind of an athletic background
because that understanding ofhow to work within a team is
something that's really honedthrough experiences of being an
(30:20):
athlete.
The second was really what youspoke to earlier about that
sales discipline and reallybeing customer obsessed, but
understanding.
You know how to really approachthat in a very disciplined way.
But I love the way you broughtthat forward in terms of
connecting the dots.
And I do think traditionallythat technology and some of the
folks that drive top line,there's always been friction.
(30:43):
And I do think that element ofunderstanding that we are a
holistic team and we've gottahave the empathy and work
together and understand thatmutual goal and approaching to
how we achieve those goalstogether is.
Is really important.
I wonder if we can talk a littlebit about talent.
I love the stories that you tellabout your daughter, but, and
I'm sure you're a tremendouscoach and advisor to her, but if
(31:05):
you were talking to highpotential talent today in the
hospitality industry, what kindof advice would you offer to
them to stretch and grow intoleadership roles?
Tedd Evers (31:15):
Yeah.
We don't have enough time for meto speak about my father that
for for another time.
But I think it's really it is toto stay curious, right?
And to learn.
And not just and that I think isalso, there's so much that it's
implied in that, right?
So just staying current andbeing able to understand and
leverage how technologies likegenerative AI can help you.
(31:38):
And it's not, you don't have totake a course, you don't have to
take a certification.
That's great if you do, but it'sliterally applying it now today.
In whatever you're doing.
So I think, and that's like thenew paradigm of learning is not
necessarily, course-based whichit still is.
I do believe in it, and that's,there's a time and place for
that.
(31:58):
But it's what are you doing onan a daily basis, on an
individual experimentation?
These smaller experiments thatyou can learn from and iterate
and share with your team.
And regardless of where you arewithin an organization or what
you're working on, there arealways gonna be opportunities
for that.
And if you if you I'm not gonnasay I'm thinking of breaking bad
(32:19):
where he says, apply yourself toJesse.
If you apply yourself, if you'reable to do that, no matter what
role you're in, there issomething to learn.
And you also learn of what youmay not like.
That can guide you in, in, inyour career.
So I think that's important.
And then, and.
Listening to others.
And another phrase I alwaysshare with my younger sister is
we joke about it.
We say, just talk to people.
(32:40):
And it's literally just beingcurious and having a
conversation.
Learning from other people inthe organization for in or out,
or anyone about what they do.
Asking questions, being curiousand listening and taking away
that nugget that can help you.
So you're listening, but you'realso developing your own point
of view and what resonates withyou and where you want to go
with your career.
(33:00):
And I think, all too often welook ahead and we look at what's
next and where we want to be,rather than looking at the
opportunity of what you're doingnow.
And the other thing that I wouldalways believe is, the best
thing that you can do to preparefor your next job is to excel at
your current one.
Dorothy Dowling (33:17):
Yeah.
I I love that kind of framing,Ted, about curiosity and being
on a learning journey.
I've always personally believedthat is how we bring relevance
to everyone is continuing toevolve and invest in, in our own
personal development.
But I also I fundamentallybelieve that.
This expression of 70% of whatwe know today will be irrelevant
(33:38):
in less than 24 months is a verycompelling sort of message that
we all have to take.
That if we don't invest in thatpersonal development, that
curiosity, that listening toothers.
We won't be relevant.
But I love the way that you haveframed that and also the balance
of some of the formal learning,because I too believe in that.
(33:58):
But I also believe it's what wedo every day in terms of
investing in our growth and thejourney that, that we're all on.
So thank you Ted.
You always bring such engagingthought leadership to all of us,
and I know that you've sharedinsights that will inspire and
guide many in our community andto our audience.
I'd love to thank you forjoining us.
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, we invite you to
explore morestories@itspersonalstories.com,
(34:21):
where you'll find interviewswith leaders across the
industry, just like Ed Ted, whoare charting bold paths and
building meaningful careers.
So we hope to see you there,Ted.
Thank you from the bottom of myheart for being with us today.
I
Tedd Evers (34:32):
appreciate you very much.
Thank you.
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