One of the highlights each year at NABHOOD’s International African American Hotel Ownership & Investment Summit & Trade Show at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay is the Thomas J. Baltimore Jr. Distinguished Speaker Series. At this year’s 28th annual edition of the event, Leslie D. Hale, president/CEO, RLJ Lodging Trust, took to the stage to have an intimate conversation about her career in hospitality with Dr. Andy Ingraham, president/CEO, National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers (NABHOOD).
It was fitting that Hale took part in the series, as she honed her craft working under Baltimore for more than a decade at RLJ.
Here are several highlights from the conversation:
Her work ethic and learning the trade
“One of the ingredients for my success has been my work ethic. I’ve always worked six days a week—five days for the company, one day for myself. I would typically work on Saturday, but Tom Baltimore worked on Sundays. So I switched to Sundays. The reason why I did that was because I would spend 15 minutes with Tom on Sunday uninterrupted, and I learned more in those 15 minutes than I might have learned all week. I was able to understand what he was doing, why he was doing it and what was coming next. I learned to understand what direction he was taking the company. My objective was that I wanted to be his first call, his last call and his only call if he needed something done.”
Her forecast for the future
“For the last 10 years or so, we’ve all been punch drunk on low interest rates, and you could financially engineer returns. We’re moving to an environment where you actually have to learn how to create value. It’s no longer going to be about buying an asset and taking the spread between interest rates; you actually have to grow the cash flows. You have to be able to figure out a business plan for an asset and take it from Position A to Position Z in order to create value, and I think that’s where we’re headed.”
Preparation is a key to success
“I think you always have to be prepared to catch the ball. You always have to assume the balls come to you, so be prepared in terms of whatever the opportunity set is. Education provides a baseline, but I think it’s about what you do with that. When I go into a boardroom or any venue that I’m in, I’m always prepared, and when people see that you’re always prepared, that you’re thoughtful and are engaged, they’ll think about you when opportunities come around.”
Her greatest accomplishment
“People often ask me what my biggest accomplishment has been, and the biggest accomplishment for me was actually graduating Howard University. I’m saying that because I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Statistically speaking, growing up there in the ’80s, I theoretically shouldn’t have made it out. I had every opportunity to become a statistic. Teenage pregnancy, high-school dropout, gang violence—it was all there. “Boyz n the Hood”? I lived that. I love being from California, but I was trying to get out by any means necessary. So education took me out of that and took me to Howard University. I wasn’t a great student by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s the beautiful thing about Howard. It finds you, polishes you and then it will push you forward.”
Her advice to college graduates entering the industry
“The first part of your career should really be about learning as much as you can. There should be three things that you’re focused on, One: You should be focused on building your toolkit. Every industry has a language, and you have to learn the language and really build out your toolkit, learn the equity side of the equation, the debt side of the equation and all the things that are around you. Two: You should be focused on building your work ethic around that. Raw intelligence is great, but if you don’t put in the work, it doesn’t really matter. Three: You should be focused on what I call the three C’s: competency, credibility, confidence.”
Hale was also the recipient of the event’s Trail Blazer Award this year, and Ingraham handed her the blue glass statue during the conversation.
Look for more coverage of the NABHOOD Summit in the September issue of Hotel Business.
