Speaker 1: Welcome to Chopping It Up Episode two. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Mike Hallen, Senior Restaurant and food Service Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Speaker 1: It's my pleasure to introduced our guests Alice Elliott. In
Speaker 1: addition to being my friend, mentor, and consolieri, she is
Speaker 1: the founder and CEO of the Elliott Group, which is
Speaker 1: a premier executive search firm for the restaurant, hospitality, retail, lifestyle, service,
Speaker 1: and technology industries. Alice is an expert on human capital
Speaker 1: and leadership and I'm excited to tackle these subjects and
Speaker 1: others with her today. Thanks for joining us, Alice. Why
Speaker 1: is it being great to see? Great to see you
Speaker 1: as always? So, uh, let's just jump right in. I
Speaker 1: recently read that CEO turnover is a fifty two year
Speaker 1: over year, so in our coverage area and out of
Speaker 1: the companies that we could cover, Domino's, Darden, Denny's, Breaker, Wingstop,
Speaker 1: and Starbucks CEOs all have resigned or retired recently. Our
Speaker 1: executives just burnt out after two very difficult years in
Speaker 1: the restaurant industry, or there's something else motivated motivating them
Speaker 1: to Milan. So it's a great question, and here's what
Speaker 1: I would tell you what we're seeing and obviously you
Speaker 1: know what we know. So first of all, anytime there's change,
Speaker 1: there's always questions and there's a lot of with that
Speaker 1: opportunities and UM wonderment is to really is there something
Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes. And I would tell you
Speaker 1: that relative to CEO turnover specifically, I think you really
Speaker 1: have to look uniquely at each case. There's going to
Speaker 1: naturally be retirements and that has nothing to do with
Speaker 1: what happened in and beyond. There is you know, just
Speaker 1: the chronological aspect of people feeling that it is time
Speaker 1: they've done their great work. I would also tell you that, um,
Speaker 1: and this was pre certainly we've seen this also over
Speaker 1: the last a few years, there was also from a
Speaker 1: board perspective, new opportunities to kind of look at what
Speaker 1: might be you know, different talent. It doesn't mean better
Speaker 1: or worse, it may just being different skill sets that
Speaker 1: maybe weren't as an evidence or needed, you know, just
Speaker 1: four or five years ago. So I think we're seeing
Speaker 1: a whole lot of things. We're seeing some CEOs that
Speaker 1: are outen to go to different verticals because remember now
Speaker 1: it is really just the orbit. It is no longer
Speaker 1: being a specific you know, in one discipline per sage,
Speaker 1: really being the overarching business person whose skill set can
Speaker 1: be relatable. And we see that very much in the
Speaker 1: consumer space interacting with consumers and all the unit and
Speaker 1: all those things, and obviously franchises very big now we
Speaker 1: see it where absolutely your point. There are some instances
Speaker 1: where people feel, look, I have given my best work
Speaker 1: and it is time. And I think if there's something
Speaker 1: that the last number of years showing all of us,
Speaker 1: it is that there are other elements of life that
Speaker 1: perhaps we had not we unintentionally overlooked that came on
Speaker 1: the forefront. So there are people that is said, I
Speaker 1: don't have to do this. I choose to do this.
Speaker 1: But with that I wanted a little bit of a
Speaker 1: different landscape. And that's fine. Many just really want to
Speaker 1: sit on boards, and there are definitely instances where you know,
Speaker 1: boards and it's a mutual decision in many cases as well,
Speaker 1: where someone just says it's time. Yeah, it's great, um,
Speaker 1: and it actually gives me a lot of additional directions
Speaker 1: that we can go on and as an interview, so
Speaker 1: i'd imagine what the economy is slowing, you know, people
Speaker 1: may may consider getting back to work. Now, So how
Speaker 1: is the hiring landscape today? From where you say? Um, yes,
Speaker 1: so I can tell you what we see. Our practice
Speaker 1: is really more c suite just being retained firm that
Speaker 1: we are. But we obviously have you know, a broad
Speaker 1: breaths heere of influence and see a lot. It has
Speaker 1: quieted down the difficulty of attracting people to come back
Speaker 1: to work. The bigger, the bigger opportunity, right, so the
Speaker 1: lists hopefully always want to fill it up. Is that
Speaker 1: what are some of these organizations doing to attract the
Speaker 1: best talent they can in a very very very competitive space.
Speaker 1: So what we're hearing, what we're seeing because obviously we're
Speaker 1: in touch with CEOs and you know see level exefecutives
Speaker 1: at every moment in a variety of verticals. Um, is
Speaker 1: that there It is still difficult to attract tremendous talent,
Speaker 1: but the responsibility and the opportunity of companies to do
Speaker 1: a few extra things to court the talent has really
Speaker 1: become front center. So there really is all intents and
Speaker 1: purposes from what you know, we say what I think,
Speaker 1: it's definitely a talent war, but there is more of
Speaker 1: a landscape in which to choose from. You just have
Speaker 1: to be it's competitive, but you have to come in
Speaker 1: with some of those extra things. So I can give
Speaker 1: you just a couple of examples. You know, whether it
Speaker 1: is um you know, contests and people are winning prizes,
Speaker 1: whether it is paying more money and wage, whether it
Speaker 1: is you know, more class as English as a second language.
Speaker 1: I mean, all these things count. Is and it is
Speaker 1: as much the communication and the feeling of culture and
Speaker 1: being part of an overarching brand beyond the job. Because
Speaker 1: the other side of it is when we look at
Speaker 1: the person who's looking to take an opportunity, they want
Speaker 1: to feel that they have a chance, that they are respected,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a really important you know, I
Speaker 1: want to say it again, that they are respected. Everybody
Speaker 1: wants to have a voice and feel that they have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do something, perhaps whether it's through learning
Speaker 1: or be with the right management team that shows some
Speaker 1: other things. Maybe it's flexibility of work hours, Maybe it's
Speaker 1: the opportunity to pre plan a schedule and to have
Speaker 1: more of a life instead of just being hold and
Speaker 1: told you have to come in. All these things count
Speaker 1: when someone makes the choice as to where they're doing them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's uh, it's great, and it's something that a
Speaker 1: lot of our companies have been speaking to for some time,
Speaker 1: but especially for the last couple of years. And it's critical, right,
Speaker 1: we know restaurant performances tied closely to g M turnover. Right,
Speaker 1: our friends a Black Books Intelligence have done some nice
Speaker 1: work on that topic. So very important for these restaurants
Speaker 1: to be able to hit their full potential. And I
Speaker 1: would also add to that, but today a general manager,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a time you were a general
Speaker 1: manager and you executed and you did what you had
Speaker 1: to do. Today, with technology, you have to be a manager.
Speaker 1: You have to be a friend, you have to be
Speaker 1: you know, a financial wizard. I mean, you have to
Speaker 1: be a business person. And so the skill set is
Speaker 1: really different. And the companies that embrace that and also
Speaker 1: give training are the ones that don't have the turnover
Speaker 1: long term because it allows the general managers to feel
Speaker 1: even if they want to stay as a general manager,
Speaker 1: which is, by the way, is a wonderful thing to
Speaker 1: do too. No one said that everyone has to be
Speaker 1: a senio or optical in the corporate setting. Um, but
Speaker 1: these are skills that people will have for the rest
Speaker 1: of their life. Yeah, for sure. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: from where I said, I've personally really enjoyed watching some
Speaker 1: of these chains that have an entrepreneurial type of of
Speaker 1: uh set up for their gms. Right that old outback
Speaker 1: steakhouse model that's been adopted now by Texas Roadhouse and
Speaker 1: it's been I think such a critical piece to their success.
Speaker 1: And Torches Tacos has been implementing that you know, ownership
Speaker 1: piece where expert cent of profits. Um, you know there's
Speaker 1: basically a profit sharing incentive for the gms. You know,
Speaker 1: that model seems to work really well. As you know,
Speaker 1: it seems to attract the right types of gms, people
Speaker 1: that are willing to work hard, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: any any comments about that type of structure and why
Speaker 1: maybe we don't see that in more restaurant chains. So,
Speaker 1: I know, I acho in your comments. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: theoretically it's a great model and practically it works in
Speaker 1: the right sitting. Not all companies could do with it.
Speaker 1: And when you mentioned entrepreneurial, look there also a lot
Speaker 1: of company is that you know, and not yet at
Speaker 1: that point of having the capability and the financial wherewithal
Speaker 1: to do that, which only makes them have to be
Speaker 1: that much more creative to structure something to allow their
Speaker 1: general managers to feel that they have a chance about
Speaker 1: and beyond the actual job and financially feel that they
Speaker 1: have opportunities. But there's no question that the companies that
Speaker 1: embrace their general managers and allow them to feel that
Speaker 1: they are truly part of the organization and give them
Speaker 1: that financial opportunity, their tenure, you know, and their turnover
Speaker 1: certainly is much lower. But the model actually is not
Speaker 1: for everyone. There are some people that they just want
Speaker 1: to do a great job and they don't want the responsibility.
Speaker 1: And we see that too right from far. We definitely
Speaker 1: see that too. That's what makes up the mosaic of life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, there's definitely a lot of people that prefer
Speaker 1: more corporate gig versus you know, um scratching and clawing
Speaker 1: through the entrepreneurial right. Um, so let's shift here's a
Speaker 1: little bit. How are people How do people feel about
Speaker 1: going back to the office hybrid work? You know, for
Speaker 1: the executives that used speak to um, where do they
Speaker 1: fall on the topic. So we're seeing it's all over
Speaker 1: the map. And personally to me, it's like fascinating to
Speaker 1: observe and to experience, you know, amongst many or clients
Speaker 1: and those that aren't even clients. So in the consumer industry,
Speaker 1: it is very hard to be successful and not be
Speaker 1: present because you're interacting with people all day long. There
Speaker 1: is a school of thought, um, and we've seen this,
Speaker 1: you really need to come back and at least hybrid
Speaker 1: at least three days a week to validate you camaraderie
Speaker 1: and to validate you know, continuation of plans and consistency
Speaker 1: and really driving goals. There are also a number of
Speaker 1: companies just by virtual by the size philosophy. They don't
Speaker 1: want to lose who they deem to be, you know,
Speaker 1: great teams, and they've given them extraordinary flexibility. I think
Speaker 1: we've seen that with technology, which is much more advanced,
Speaker 1: that there is an intimacy and things can get accomplished.
Speaker 1: But I would tell you that what we hear, and
Speaker 1: I'm not putting my own personal judgment on this, is
Speaker 1: that there is a movement specifically in the restaurant space
Speaker 1: to be present and to be respectful. That maybe it's
Speaker 1: not five days, but at the very least, how do
Speaker 1: you ask someone to be out in the field, if
Speaker 1: the corporations themselves aren't emulating that in their own culture,
Speaker 1: it's a really hard balance. And you know, it's a
Speaker 1: very complicated topic. Not that everyone has has the way
Speaker 1: withal of having someone necessarily at home. Remember, we went
Speaker 1: through a period of time wherever people were also watching
Speaker 1: their children or elderly parents, whatever their unique situation may be,
Speaker 1: and they were working from home, and it hasn't always
Speaker 1: been easy to dupl hang now that you know, things
Speaker 1: are back to normal, quote unquote, it's a very complicated topic. Um,
Speaker 1: but I would tell you that the companies that we're
Speaker 1: in touch with are being respectful to show flexibility, but
Speaker 1: definitely want presence. Yeah, and imagine more so for the
Speaker 1: hospitality industry than other industries as well, right, because at
Speaker 1: the store level it's such a team based culture, right,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, I think it is important for
Speaker 1: that to permeate throughout the organization. So it's just interesting
Speaker 1: the dichonomy between like restaurants versus tech companies, which are
Speaker 1: saying some of them are saying they'll never go back
Speaker 1: to the office, right, Yeah, you're not as needed. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: first of all, you cannot be in any consumer facing business,
Speaker 1: particularly hospitality, when the world play is you have to
Speaker 1: want to work. So it's in the d n A.
Speaker 1: I mean, and even if you come from other industries,
Speaker 1: and you know, we can talk about that. Many people
Speaker 1: came from other industries in the hospitality and then you
Speaker 1: leave hospitality and go to other industries. But if they're
Speaker 1: going to be present in hospitality, leadership is so crucial
Speaker 1: and critical. It is a really tough job at every
Speaker 1: level level. It's not even it's beyond the general managers,
Speaker 1: make no mistake about it. We have never seen so
Speaker 1: much stress, deservingly um then the last few years of executives,
Speaker 1: awesome executives in the corporate level, it's hard. How do
Speaker 1: you serve so many masters and also take care of
Speaker 1: yourself recognizing that at every moment the world is sounpredictable
Speaker 1: and there's a health component, so you know, the the
Speaker 1: communication and the touch and the building culture. Of the
Speaker 1: other thing is when you talk about turnover, if you're
Speaker 1: not present, it's harder to have to build loyalty. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's common sense. How do you really build loyalty if
Speaker 1: people aren't together. So the opportunity and I'll put on
Speaker 1: my executive search had now the opportunity and the willingness
Speaker 1: to entertain other things and to really think as much
Speaker 1: what you want to do beyond the mission of where
Speaker 1: you choose to be. It's all greater if you don't
Speaker 1: have some kind of in person mutings. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: loyalty is so important, and it works both ways, right,
Speaker 1: It's loyalty to the organization as well as loyalty to
Speaker 1: the employee. Right, might be a lot easier to hire
Speaker 1: somebody if you've never actually met them face might hire
Speaker 1: a fire fine, might be easier to fire somebody if
Speaker 1: you've never actually met them face to face. Right, So yeah,
Speaker 1: but the only thing I would say to that might
Speaker 1: two as well. You're absolutely right, But you know, and
Speaker 1: this is one thing technology has allowed. The technology is
Speaker 1: allowed a lot of amazing things. But you know there
Speaker 1: was a time, right, you call somebody, you send them
Speaker 1: a letter. You know, today communication all you need is
Speaker 1: one person to send out on their iPhone that they
Speaker 1: had a bad experience. I mean, you see this all
Speaker 1: the time in the newspaper. Someone gets on the zoom
Speaker 1: and randomly fires you know, x amount of people will
Speaker 1: do you think people are gonna want to go work
Speaker 1: with our organization? People have so many choices today, and
Speaker 1: it is certainly financial, but it is also way beyond financial.
Speaker 1: It is believing in the organization. What are their principles?
Speaker 1: You know, you're a lot about diversity for all the
Speaker 1: right reasons e s g. You know, of course pollination.
Speaker 1: Do I have a checkchance to learn new skills? Which
Speaker 1: the company's commitment to me? You have to be present
Speaker 1: sometimes to really be able to execute that plan, for sure.
Speaker 1: So let's get a little bit more into what you do.
Speaker 1: Um as you know the executive search firm, you know,
Speaker 1: in our business not even a close second. Obviously, you
Speaker 1: do a great job of identifying great talent. Can you
Speaker 1: talk a little bit a little bit about what you're
Speaker 1: looking for in a great leader? So I love the question.
Speaker 1: Um you know, there's part science and it's part art.
Speaker 1: And I would also just want to say that being
Speaker 1: a leader again doesn't mean that you have to be
Speaker 1: the sole leader in an organization. We all leave different
Speaker 1: aspects of our life and that's the beauty of what
Speaker 1: we all choose to do. So, you know, certainly we
Speaker 1: look very much technically the way that we do that
Speaker 1: in our firm, and part of that is just the
Speaker 1: I want to give my colleagues tremendous credit furness. It
Speaker 1: is the longevity of tenure in at the Eliot group
Speaker 1: that allows us to not have drama. Internally. We are
Speaker 1: really very focused externally to those people that in a
Speaker 1: nondiscriminatory and fashion that we choose to represent our clients.
Speaker 1: But we we in a nondiscriminatory fashion from a data
Speaker 1: and analytics dance, public companies, project companies. We have an
Speaker 1: ability and as part of the magic source here at Eliot,
Speaker 1: to really demonstrate and follow someone's track record of success
Speaker 1: and really understand who are they, what have they accomplished,
Speaker 1: what have they done? How are they instrumental? How are
Speaker 1: they spot out by people appears by people that report
Speaker 1: to them and that people that they report too. And
Speaker 1: you know, we do that year after year after year,
Speaker 1: always aggregating and meeting new people. Um so there's a
Speaker 1: technical component and in our orbit we meet people. So
Speaker 1: you know, as you know, we know thousands of people
Speaker 1: and we take a lot of pride in that. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that you know the first the conversation
Speaker 1: can't be on the telephone or something. But it is
Speaker 1: very very rare that we haven't actually broke bread and
Speaker 1: met someone in lucked eyes to really understand the essence
Speaker 1: of the person. The other thing I will tell you
Speaker 1: where it comes to leadership is that there and it's
Speaker 1: an over you know, it's an overused words sometimes, but
Speaker 1: we look for someone number one who has deep humility.
Speaker 1: There's a very fine line between being confident and cocky,
Speaker 1: so we are very prone to go to someone who
Speaker 1: is confident but not cocky, that they have a sense
Speaker 1: of humility, they have story. Ideally they will have made
Speaker 1: a mistake that they can talk about what have they
Speaker 1: learned from, what have they done in the course of
Speaker 1: their career that has caused them to maybe of course
Speaker 1: correct learn from it, take a different direction, that they
Speaker 1: in their own right would be a coaching mentor and
Speaker 1: have had that experience, and that they also are an
Speaker 1: extraordinarily well rounded business person beyond any vertical of experience.
Speaker 1: And that's really important. I mean to today we know
Speaker 1: globally right so internationally you know technolologically, and we know
Speaker 1: from the supply chain stands purchasing all data, analytics or operations,
Speaker 1: everything marketing, digital, and go on and on financial all
Speaker 1: the elements that go into someone being a leader, that
Speaker 1: they are well rounded, do we feel that they can
Speaker 1: make an indelible impact and recognize it's the greater good
Speaker 1: of the organization. Also being in if it's a public
Speaker 1: company or a private company and they're reporting to a
Speaker 1: board and interacting with the board, that they not only
Speaker 1: be able to seek OUTRGE talent, but they'd be trumendous
Speaker 1: transparent communicators to be able to have a trust based relationship,
Speaker 1: especially with shareholders, whether it's in a public or private sudden,
Speaker 1: and we work a lot with equity groups as you
Speaker 1: would imagine, UM, and you know, they want to understand
Speaker 1: what's going on. They don't want to run the organizations,
Speaker 1: but they want leaders who will communicate and be very honest. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so important for all relationships, right, And that's such
Speaker 1: an interesting insightful answer, you know. But humility and emotional
Speaker 1: intelligence are are so important I think when you're when
Speaker 1: you're leading teams and and um leading an organization. UM So,
Speaker 1: I think he touched on this on one of your
Speaker 1: first answers, but you know, I know that for a
Speaker 1: long time there's kind of this thought that people that
Speaker 1: leaders have to come from a particular industry to PC accessible.
Speaker 1: What do you think about that in today's market. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's true in today's market, with very few exceptions.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were, you know, if someone is going
Speaker 1: to have a scientific specificity, for example in agricultural organic growth,
Speaker 1: they need that background, right, And we've seen that too,
Speaker 1: by the way. I mean they're because obviously we do
Speaker 1: work in the CpG space and like but I would
Speaker 1: say overwortingly, it has changed tremendously. I think in some
Speaker 1: instances depends where the company needs. You know, sometimes an
Speaker 1: organization might they need someone that is really a turnaround specialist.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's a growth oriented leader with an the crisp
Speaker 1: eye towards critical thinking and strategy, and they specifically want
Speaker 1: the window and the lens of other experiences. I will
Speaker 1: tell you in our practice of the Eliot Group, we
Speaker 1: show the window is very important to us, regardless of
Speaker 1: the assignment, with obviously client approval, that we show the
Speaker 1: bandwidth of aligned industries, different kinds of people, in addition
Speaker 1: to obviously university being an important foundation part of our firm.
Speaker 1: But I don't personally think that someone always has to
Speaker 1: come uniquely from an industry. And when you look at
Speaker 1: the entity of the executive, part of what we do
Speaker 1: is look at the depth and the scope of what
Speaker 1: they've accomplished. So maybe it is a restaurant assignment. Perhaps
Speaker 1: the person started out in the restaurant industry, Perhaps they
Speaker 1: morphed into retail, maybe they then went into grocery. So
Speaker 1: we look at all of it and our you know,
Speaker 1: not only our track record. Um, but I would tell
Speaker 1: you that the response and success rate of having someone
Speaker 1: who is a well rounded business person, you know, I
Speaker 1: would say it is more greater than someone that is
Speaker 1: strictly one dimensional. Yeah, I guess to that point, right,
Speaker 1: it's easier to learn an industry than it is to
Speaker 1: be a leader. I think, right, you can't a ten
Speaker 1: leadership can be learned, whereas you know, actually anyone can
Speaker 1: learn to be a better leader. But I think the
Speaker 1: certain aspects of it that people are kind of born with.
Speaker 1: Whereas when you you know, pretty much anyone can learn
Speaker 1: in the industry that makes it make take some time.
Speaker 1: But well, you have you know you first of all,
Speaker 1: you want to learn the secondly, you know, great leaders
Speaker 1: hire great people and it doesn't mean that, you know,
Speaker 1: so if there's an area, none is perfect at anything,
Speaker 1: and that goes back to being self aware as a
Speaker 1: leader and being you know, humble and recognizing, you know,
Speaker 1: here's my core competencies and here are some areas that
Speaker 1: you know, we hear a lot. Someone may say, you know,
Speaker 1: having a very strong CFO would be very helpful. Understand it. No,
Speaker 1: it can speak to it can certainly hold my own,
Speaker 1: but having that partner to help me anticipate financial trends
Speaker 1: is important. So I would say that, you know, if
Speaker 1: hiring the right team um is always important and for
Speaker 1: those that are not from the industry, bringing in a
Speaker 1: new way of thinking. You know, we've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of instances, and we've been very involved in a lot
Speaker 1: of instances of someone who's just really coming from a
Speaker 1: different industry or a different perch of thinking. And that's
Speaker 1: really healthy too for organizations, because sometimes it's just not
Speaker 1: healthy for a company to always do the same thing
Speaker 1: day in and day out the same way. It's very
Speaker 1: hard to be competitive and wined and ever change in
Speaker 1: the landscape. Very true, all right, So are there more
Speaker 1: opportunities for women and the first candidates today than you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a few years back. I love that question. You know, Yes,
Speaker 1: I think that UM company look people, you know, we've
Speaker 1: studied this obviously in our firm has been on the forefront.
Speaker 1: You know, we're part of the Diversity Council, we were
Speaker 1: co founders twenty five years ago and the Multi Cultural
Speaker 1: Food Service Hospitality Alliance. So it's been important part of
Speaker 1: the ethos of this great brandilliant group. There's always been opportunities.
Speaker 1: I think the great news is that UM you know,
Speaker 1: it's much more visible and there are definitely more opportunities.
Speaker 1: I think part of it is, you know, because we
Speaker 1: study this. I think part of it is being connisant
Speaker 1: and working hard both the organizations. This is not related
Speaker 1: as much search to always want to look at a
Speaker 1: landscape that may be different than what one had originally
Speaker 1: anticipated or experienced. So there are definitely more opportunities. UM.
Speaker 1: I would say sometimes it's almost on the board, right,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of board opportunities now. UM. But I
Speaker 1: would also say as well that the right companies want
Speaker 1: to hire the right people at the right time, and
Speaker 1: the right people want to get hired for the right reasons. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I want to get credit to you because since I've
Speaker 1: known you in the last five years, you've introduced me
Speaker 1: to so many female and um minority leaders that are
Speaker 1: absolutely fantastic. So I know really has been a leader.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Um So, how are these executives choosing which
Speaker 1: companies that they want to work for? It's a great question. Um,
Speaker 1: let's never negate the fact that financial isn't important to people.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, particularly coming out of the
Speaker 1: last few years, financials even more important because a lot
Speaker 1: of people lost a lot of money and a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, no fold of their owner was just circumstantial,
Speaker 1: right equity and to get it. Um, I think, so
Speaker 1: here here's something that's kind of different. There was a
Speaker 1: time people had one opportunity. Today people have four or
Speaker 1: five opportunities, regardless of how they get them. And I
Speaker 1: think people are choosing number one. It's more important. They're
Speaker 1: choosing what works to their life and their personal life.
Speaker 1: Not everyone wants to move anymore. And this is you know,
Speaker 1: all consumer industry and law of other industries. I know
Speaker 1: this is you know, it could be in the automotive industry.
Speaker 1: And actually when we work in the automotive industry, so
Speaker 1: don't want you know, you just picked up and moved today.
Speaker 1: People they don't want to relocate. There's been such a
Speaker 1: trauma that they know where they are and un listen
Speaker 1: something that they really aspire to doing for the right
Speaker 1: financial and opportunity, they're not going to go. And that's
Speaker 1: not even a hybrid work. That's like I'll maybe travel
Speaker 1: twice a week, but I don't want it to struct
Speaker 1: my family, particularly about going to be traveling anyway in
Speaker 1: an industry that always has to be to travel. So
Speaker 1: they want flexibility. They want to know that they're going
Speaker 1: to make the right money, that they have a seat
Speaker 1: at the table, but a genuine seat at the table,
Speaker 1: that they like what they're working with, and they believe
Speaker 1: that the organizations that they go to for whatever is
Speaker 1: important to them really walks the walk, whether it's being philanthropic,
Speaker 1: whether it is diversity, you know, whether it is that
Speaker 1: they are you know, good citizens of the earth. And
Speaker 1: it's an industry that they, you know, are very action
Speaker 1: and about. Maybe someone loves sports and it speaks to them,
Speaker 1: you know, God for something. But there was much more.
Speaker 1: There was a much more demand on behalf of the
Speaker 1: executive than ever before. Yeah. I think the pandemic has,
Speaker 1: you know, forced a lot of people to realize what's
Speaker 1: really important. I think family, a lot of people realize
Speaker 1: that they were missing out on a lot of great
Speaker 1: So flexibility has definitely become more important. I can frame
Speaker 1: this view. We do. We do a lot of vncifility.
Speaker 1: We recently had an Eventcifilio that was very majestic. There
Speaker 1: were no less than five five leaders who brought but
Speaker 1: one of their children who are under the age of seventeen.
Speaker 1: And you know, you could look at that many ways,
Speaker 1: but a great way to look at that because we
Speaker 1: were thrilled, you know, they asked, were thrilled and this
Speaker 1: was a fantasy event. You had to get dressed. Um.
Speaker 1: It also demonstrated number one, the exposure respect they had
Speaker 1: to their child. But when I looked around that room
Speaker 1: and I saw that, I also saw that her relationships
Speaker 1: that were probably cemented in a different way over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. And the parent or the you know,
Speaker 1: whatever it was, you know, the guardian, whatever it may
Speaker 1: have been, was saying, I want you to see what
Speaker 1: I do. I want you to see what I do
Speaker 1: because you may have hurt me on a zoom, but
Speaker 1: now come meet, which I thought was really cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's great, that's great, and uh, nobody feels a party
Speaker 1: like you. Thank you. Um. All right, so we're almost
Speaker 1: out of time. So one last question. I know that's
Speaker 1: a little bit out of your wheelhouse, but you know
Speaker 1: from where we're from what we're hearing that the consumers
Speaker 1: has been slowing from the last few weeks, you know, inflation,
Speaker 1: the crash in crypto and the stock bear market that
Speaker 1: we we've entered over and we've entered into in the
Speaker 1: last few weeks. So what's what's your read on the economy,
Speaker 1: your dealings with restaurants and other consumer companies when we
Speaker 1: track all of the sidili by the way, so you
Speaker 1: know we track all of it. We you know, we're
Speaker 1: not economists, but we have a finger on the policy.
Speaker 1: We're very well connected. So I appreciate the question. It's
Speaker 1: a connection for us. And I'll tell you why we're
Speaker 1: very active with chief development officer assignments. You don't hire
Speaker 1: chief development leaders, you know, and pay them very well
Speaker 1: if you don't plan on having aggressive growth. Many of
Speaker 1: that and you know, we know that the franchise space
Speaker 1: is imploding in every aspect of consumer So that's very
Speaker 1: interesting to us when we really um, you know, continue
Speaker 1: to look at it and then we have some assignments
Speaker 1: that or very upscale, very upscale, keep it all hotel brands.
Speaker 1: So there is an expectation that travel will continue. Um
Speaker 1: I I personally do not think that we're going to
Speaker 1: go into a deeper session based upon conversations that I
Speaker 1: have had. I want to prefaces that I'm not a
Speaker 1: financial specialist. I think that there is going to continue
Speaker 1: to be um some movement, and I think there's going
Speaker 1: to be some challenges for sure. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: gas prices, we're going to prohibit people from perhaps doing
Speaker 1: what they would have hoped to have done. But I
Speaker 1: do think and we're hearing this a lot. You know,
Speaker 1: the party has restarted. People are come back out, and
Speaker 1: you know, even in places beyond the urban area, so
Speaker 1: forget about New York City, which has packed every night,
Speaker 1: and I was talking about you know, all over the country.
Speaker 1: It's going to be an adjustment and I think we're
Speaker 1: going to see a lot of ups and downs. But
Speaker 1: I personally don't think there's going to be a crash.
Speaker 1: And I think historically everything that ultimately goes down, including
Speaker 1: crypto and blockchain and all of that. Personally, I think
Speaker 1: we'll ultimately go up. I also think, and this is
Speaker 1: just my own Alice Elliott new I do think there
Speaker 1: will be a digital currency. It may not be in
Speaker 1: the next three months, but I do think that when
Speaker 1: there's some regulation around it. And Gary Gains who puts
Speaker 1: that in, um, I think it's only going to memorialize
Speaker 1: it is real two people that today may question it
Speaker 1: very cool. Um, So some good news at the end
Speaker 1: of this. Yeah, I I really I can tell you
Speaker 1: we are very when I tell you that we are
Speaker 1: extraordinarily um busy, and it is you know, in the
Speaker 1: restaurant space, I would say, in the beauty space and
Speaker 1: the lifestyle and the fitness space, we are very, very busy.
Speaker 1: And I think that there is you know, people who
Speaker 1: are watching, and people are cautious, of course, but I
Speaker 1: think people really want to see things win. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: And and to some of your points, you know, I
Speaker 1: would say that there's definitely that pent up demand for travel,
Speaker 1: so um, we definitely see see I don't see anyone
Speaker 1: canceling their travel plans this summer exactly. And great food
Speaker 1: I mean, people really want to go live lot if
Speaker 1: I think you know people, we always knew that. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we always knew this, and we've always specialized
Speaker 1: in the lifestyle brands and all of that. But the
Speaker 1: opportunity to be appreciative and have that experience, and I
Speaker 1: think there's a there's a recognition that things can change
Speaker 1: on a dime. So enjoy, be thoughtful, but enjoy and
Speaker 1: be grateful for sure, it's a key to happiness. Well,
Speaker 1: with that, we're gonna wrap it up. You're an absolute version.
Speaker 1: Thanks grateful for you, thank you, rateful freaking us well,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us on to get podcast again. I'd
Speaker 1: love to thank you.