Diverse & Inclusive Leaders & CEO Activist Podcast by DIAL Global
Bi-weekly podcast show featuring conversations with inspiring thought leaders of today, unearthing their unique stories of diversity, inclusion, belonging, equity and culture.
Diverse & Inclusive Leaders & CEO Activist Podcast by DIAL Global
The Power of Heritage and Diversity in Leadership: A Conversation with DeShaun Wise Porter
The story of DeShaun Wise Porter, VP and Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement at Hilton, always reminds all of us about the profound impact one's heritage can have on their aspirations and achievements. DeShaun's journey from the finance world to the pinnacle of HR leadership is both fascinating and inspiring, embodying the tenacity and dedication required to build inclusive and thriving workplaces. She shares invaluable insights on the transcendent nature of people-centric skills and how, through authenticity and mentorship, one can lift others while achieving personal success.
The resilience encoded in DeShaun's DNA, inherited from ancestors like her Tuskegee Airman grandfather, is a testament to the indomitable human spirit. Our conversation unveils how this legacy has not only shaped her approach to life and work but also reinforced her belief in the symbiotic relationship between economic growth and ethical action. The narrative of her family's enduring strength serves as a beacon, illuminating the path to prosperity through the power of diversity and unwavering support for each other's potential.
Closing the episode with DeShaun, we explore the tangible strategies that can effect change within organizations, especially in the hospitality industry where diversity at senior levels is still burgeoning. She offers sage advice on building emotional resilience and maintaining momentum in the journey towards a more inclusive corporate landscape. It's a discussion brimming with practical wisdom for anyone looking to foster a supportive environment where every individual has the opportunity to shine. Her philosophy—rooted in authenticity, mentorship, and early relationship nurturing—provides a playbook for those aspiring to lead with impact and intent.
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Hello and welcome to Diverse and Inclusive Leaders. This is the show where I speak with the most inspirational and thought-provoking leaders of today and unearth their unique stories of diversity and inclusion to help inspire, educate and motivate others to make the world a better place. Today, I am delighted to be joined by Deshaun Wise Porter. She is a rock star strategic HR professional with global experience and proven success in transforming organizations and brands through aligning enterprise priorities, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and how we weave in modern day HR to really drive engagement. Deshaun is currently VP and Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement at Hilton, a brand that we all know. Additionally, she's board member for Alliance for Hospitality Equity and Diversity and she's advisory board member for Women Leading Travel and Hospitality. Deshaun, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. What a welcoming opening, thank you.
Speaker 1:I tried to do it in a couple of breaths, but frankly, you've done that much. I feel that it could just be me talking about you for the show, and actually everyone wants to hear from you, so I'm going to hand it to you to tell everyone a little bit about how you came to be where you are today, personally and professionally, because it has been one incredible career littered with many different interesting nuances.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness. Well, listen, I can't actually take all the credit. I think it really started with an amazing foundation, with my grandparents and my parents always teaching me to show up as myself, lean in, be willing to learn and always, always, always be willing to try to help people. So, as I think I saw that play out through my entire life, I've always been one who's active in my community, taking on different leadership roles, even when I was, you know, young and a school girl a young school girl and running for different positions, and you know whether it was vice president or president of my different classes that ended up matriculating and appearing even through.
Speaker 2:When I went to college, I continued a lot of my philanthropic work, joined organizations that continue to feed that particular part of me, and I studied finance and multinational business. Now, that's a question mark still for me, because I'm I don't. I've never seen myself as a finance person. I think I wanted to understand business. I always felt like it was really important to understand how businesses worked. So I also measured in multinational business and finance with a minor in economics, but I didn't have a desire to be like a financial advisor or a wealth banker or anything.
Speaker 2:I wanted to understand the logistics of it and then be able to utilize that to help people be their best selves, and so, shortly after college, I took a management leadership role loved it was the youngest one of the youngest branch managers in the central Florida area, which was very interesting taught me a lot about how to lead and how to inspire people, even if they have years more experience decades more experience than you, and we ended up making a phenomenal team. But I realized that my passion was to be able to shine a light on others and and stand in the gap to where they might have opportunities and helping them to figure out and navigate that particular space for themselves. And so I found my home in HR and have been here literally ever since. I have worked in banking, manufacturing, education and now in hospitality, and I think one of the most amazing things about being in HR is that listen, people are everywhere and so it doesn't matter the industry I could, I can still lean in and provide value, and that's what I love.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is some whistle stop tour and, as you were talking, I was kind of imagining the young, dishon youngest in Florida, powerful voice, powerful black voice as well to boot, in an environment that has got older individuals and that in itself has its own challenges. We have these five generations in the workplace now, and so having those really you know, those people centric skills, being able to communicate all different levels of the hierarchy, levels of expertise across the generations, is something that I think is absolutely critical to business leaders who are going to truly inspire and bring people along that journey with them.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, I'm hoping that I have. I have done that because I know that there's so many people that have done it for me, and so my whole goal is to pay it forward.
Speaker 1:It's interesting when you say it, but pay it forward. It seems like that is almost the ethos behind you and, I guess, the brand that is you. We've been talking a lot recently as we've seen trends for employee engagement stemming from senior executives who have really sent that lift back down. It's one thing saying it but actually doing it and imparting that knowledge and wisdom and, as you have done, recognize people that have helped you along that journey. Absolutely, absolutely key, and especially in industries to your point, around banking, manufacturing, all of these often male dominated industries, having the people centric skills. They're entirely transferable from sector to sector, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So let's go back in time, if I may, before we kind of dive deep into some of the subjects around DNI that you're passionate about. But let's go back in time and talk about the family, because you mentioned, or you alluded to to start with, that perhaps the family environment has had a big part to play and help spearheading the career forward. Talk to us about those early days, because clearly you'd gone in into the world of work, you'd been what sounds like a very high achiever at school and kind of gone for a lot of these presidentships. Or I read in your profile the president of Alpha Kappa Sorority. I'm very British but I'm American and he talks a lot about kind of the sororities there and things like this. So let's unpick a bit of those kind of early days and the family and why you've been so driven.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think I have some strong roots. My grandparents were absolutely amazing and I think that they gave me their very best and it's part of my life's mission to continue to make them proud, even though they're no longer with me. My grandfather was a young gentleman from Sheraton, virginia. He went on to become a Tuskegee Airman and fought in World War II. He was a prisoner of war for several months, made it out of that, came out of that particular situation still strong, not broken right, had bloody but unbowed, and went on to med school at Howard University in Washington DC and became a physician For 14 years. He was the only African-American physician in Prince George's County Hospital where he gave it his life's work in which to make sure that people were healthy and okay, regardless of what walk of life they came from.
Speaker 2:But he was highly mistreated right, you think about you're talking about in the 50s and the early 60s, a black physician in a hospital and some people deciding that they don't want to necessarily be seen. And through all of that he learned grit. I think he learned determination. He learned that you can still do what's right and stick to your values in the face of constant adversity, and my grandmother had that. She came from that same cloth. She was an educator and a philanthropist. My mom is an educator and philanthropist. My dad was in the corporate sector and always in leadership roles I think all of them and so I got to see that modeled for me.
Speaker 2:I got to see that things are not always gonna go your way and it might not always be easy, but that you can definitely press forward.
Speaker 2:But the real what's at the real core of that is learning to stay true to yourself, right, trying to find situations that you can be your own motivator, that you can be your own champion and your own cheerleader, but still make sure that you're constantly showing up for others.
Speaker 2:And so how that has now played in when I look back, listen, it's been a challenging year.
Speaker 2:2023 across the world has been challenging in so many different ways, whether it's the different wars or the crisis that we're just coming out of, or you've got legislation that is making it to making it where people are not able to show up as their selves or make decisions that govern their own bodies, and all of that is hard, right, but I true back to what has been instilled in me and that's to say, no, I'm not seeing the progress that I might always wanna see out here in the world, but if I can make my own little microcosm, if you will and be able to influence that and daily find ways to make people feel good, recognize their particular efforts, show authentic appreciation not just for their contributions but for their ongoing existence, right, we are all here to serve a purpose and enabling people to feel safe enough to where they can literally dip into what their purpose is and unleash that.
Speaker 2:I think that is where I find inspiration and motivation, but again, it's really based on the foundation of those that poured into me and allowed me to be who I am.
Speaker 1:You've articulated that so well and I can see, with the reference to your grandparents and your family, that you've almost absorbed like a sponge both of those two sides of the corporate elements. How do you do well by doing good? I know from previous conversations you and I are both aligned on the fact that the two don't need to be separate. You can do well by doing good and you can use diversity as that lever for economic growth and prosperity. Yet at the same time we've also absorbed the philanthropic nature of humanity and the importance to do the right thing from an ethical and a moral standpoint. What's super interesting and I'd love us to dive deeper into this is almost that evolution over the years. I can see how it's happened with yourself. You've almost brought those two worlds together where historically they might have been seen as very. You're either charitable or your business.
Speaker 1:But how the world has evolved through to your point these geopolitical crises, changes in the world with the pandemic and the ways of working. Ultimately, never has there been a more important time as there is right now for organisations to step up. It's not always easy to do that in the world of diversity and the people world. Yes, I'm biased, but I've said many, many times that the role of diversity and the people function within organisations. It's the toughest one in the C-suite because you're influencing mile wide and you're influencing mile deep and you're having to communicate with so many different people, all against the backdrop of many, many geopolitical, macro, micro changes and the like. So you know, let's talk through some of that evolution, because you've kept strong to yourself, you've kept that tenacity to keep going, because it can be emotionally exhausting.
Speaker 2:Absolutely listen. I'm going to be the last one to tell you I don't have those days. I absolutely have those days. You know, heavy is the head that wears the crown, but I continue to find things that motivate me and I believe that my ability in which to be able to adapt and connect I might not always be, you know, I try to be swift with the adaption because you have to right, the world is moving and so you have to stay on that axle or you won't get left, to be honest.
Speaker 2:But as I'm working through and talking to different people and being able to inspire and encourage them, I then pick myself back up as well, right, in which to say again, I'm not always seeing some of the progress that I'm wanting to see out here in the world, or maybe on something that I've been working on, but it's a matter of you keep it moving forward. Or maybe you have to reposition how you're looking at it or how you're defining success, and sometimes I literally have to go back to that day, like Dashaun. If you can make one person feel appreciated today, if you can make one person smile today, genuinely smile, because you have no idea what people are going through on a daily basis, right, and so it's granting that grace and that understanding, and you just never know the impact that you're going to have. And so I just have to believe. If I, just if I focus on just one, just one, and they focus on just one, and everyone focuses on just one per day, I think we can make this entire world a better place.
Speaker 1:I love that. It's almost these inclusion nudges. When you were talking, I was seeing dominos in my mind or pushing one over, and it's just this Me too, me too. It's lovely, isn't it? You put in all of that work to get all the dominos into place and then you push one and actually the profound impact that you can have is K, absolutely K and I think that's really brilliant advice as well for others who are listening is we all do have those good and bad days, ultimately, as you say, but digging deep is what you've clearly done. Digging deep to just make one or two or three people smile and feel that they belong, allow them to bring their true selves out. It really creates this almost knock on effect of energy, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about some of the sector nuances, then, because not only do you have the full time job I don't know how you do it actually you have a full time job and then you also sit as a board member and an advisory board member for the Alliance for Hospitality and Equity, and then Women Leading on Travel and Hospitality. Clearly, the role that you do is something that is transferable across all industries, but when you layer on top of that in hospitality, often at senior levels. There is less diversity. Now, how have you come? You know, what is it? Some of your top strategies, I guess, for influencing change in the industry, because these organisations have clearly asked for the sector expertise, as well as the experience that you have in engagement, to push things on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I don't know that I have the perfect answer to this. I think I tackled it a few ways. Listen, everybody is unique, but yet everybody has something that they truly care about. So when you're talking about inclusion and you're talking about creating equitable processes, sometimes you really have to just take a step back and figure out what is most important to that person that you're talking to. And then how do you tie this in and make them see the value and how important an inclusive environment, how important an engaged team is If they are business results oriented, that drives business results. There's a direct correlation. So it's making sure that you can tie those two together and essentially tell the story.
Speaker 2:I also think it's about understanding the business and understanding that person, but then also having a team, knowing who my allies and my advocates are. Right, because understanding I am a person and I think I have influence, but I think we all have influence, and so it's expanding that team, because it would be impossible for me to do it all the work and I have a phenomenal team and my team is much broader than those that might just have a direct reporting relationship to me, and so you have to foster that village, if you will, right, when you are trying to move a bolder uphill, there's a lot of people that have to get behind that in which to make the change and see that movement. And so it's the cultivating of that broader group, allowing us to all focus on what the greater good is in driving that direction forward, and then just continuing to show up right and have those honest and transparent moments, right. I like to tell my team all right, guys, we've got, you've got 30 seconds. Lay it all out there, what's wrong, right.
Speaker 2:And then we got to pick ourselves up and we have to laugh about some of these things because life is short, life is short and you can really get stuck on some of the things that absolutely don't matter, and so it's like, ok, that hurt a little bit. That's not the outcome I was hoping for. All right now, how can we regroup and essentially try this again? And also sometimes determining the when, right. Everything might not be right, good for right now, in this moment, and so learning to kind of cascade and be agile and flexible with how you are going to particularly solve a problem or present a different solution so you can get to the outcome that you so desire.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, I feel like I'm having a business. I said this is brilliant, so it is. I mean just playing some of that back. So I was like, literally, I was actually making a couple of notes there. I was like the sense of humor as the wrap around saying look, okay, what are these problems?
Speaker 1:A 30 second summary of what is wrong being fine to talk about those problems, but it sounds like then you've gone into this pivoting of being very solutions focused, because it does take all of those people to push the boulder up the hill and fostering the kind of almost a village mentality, whilst knowing who those key influences are in the broader stakeholder pool, it's going to be key to get that decision to where it needs to be. And, talking of 30 seconds, I'd love us to go into a bit of a lightning round, if I may. Whilst I could literally talk to you all day, I'm conscious of timings, I'd love us to go into a lightning round and I'm going to give you about 30 seconds to answer each of the next questions. I'm going to start with success, perhaps the hardest one, but you mentioned it right there, so a perfect segue. What does success mean to you, and has that changed over the years?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's absolutely changed, I think. Today I've got two young sons and I need to be present for them, and what I can't do is show up for them and be emotionally exhausted because I've given everything out. So, for me, success is doing what I love and finding my passion and my joy in everything that I'm doing and touching. And so, at work, it's understanding what are the things that's making the greatest impact to me, which might sometimes be somewhat different than what's making the biggest impact to other people, but so creating that balance and then at home is being present to take in the moment. Everybody has told me that it all goes so fast when you are raising kids, and I want to make sure that I'm not missing some of those precious moments.
Speaker 1:My goodness, everyone says that Don't know how fast it goes. Well, so fast, so fast. I have a son as well. He's 18 months old and I swear he was literally just being born in the hospital the other day.
Speaker 2:I know I picked up my son last night and I was like, oh my gosh, how did you get so big? What's happening? You used to fit like, literally in my stomach. Now you're so huge. But it's a moment. It's a moment and we want them to grow, right. That's. That's the thing, that's the the, the tug and pull of your heart. You want to see that growth and you want to see it always.
Speaker 1:So I'm taking complete segue here because I'm so interested to ask how old are your sons and do they know what they want to be when they're older? Because it sounds like the family really does look at each other in the poor to world of the future.
Speaker 2:And that's an excellent question. So my sons are two and a half and my my youngest is 14 months, so they may very well know what they want to be in life. It just hasn't been clearly articulated as of yet. So we shall see. There's a lot that they're interested in.
Speaker 1:You have a two and a half year old as well. Oh my goodness. And for those who are listening on the audio and not looking at perhaps a snippet of this podcast, the show on looks fantastic. I put extra concealer on under my eyes because my 18 month old he is running around now everywhere and I'm just like, oh my goodness, the juggle is real. How would the whole thing? It melts together in one beautiful smorgasbord.
Speaker 2:I, I respect you, I salute you, I honor you in this moment. I understand what that is like, and it is, it is. It is no small feat, but this goes back to you know, giving grace, and this is why I always encourage people to give grace. Who would have known that? You got no sleep last night? Because you look flawless, you look amazing.
Speaker 1:Right back at you and yeah, I mean it just goes to share how important not only the real models are, but role models as well. You know we look at role models. People talk a lot about role models at dial. We like to say real models because literally you've said a number of times in the podcast is about showing up that consistency of being in a certain place, being there for your team even though you may not feel your best. That is so, so important. That is the real world that we live in. It's not perfect, but it is beautiful at the same time. I'm breaking my rules here with the 30 second answers. I'm going to ask you two more Real models and role models. You talked about your grandparents, but who else do you admire? I'm sure there's many that have there been pivotal role models in your life that have changed your past?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I have a list of those who I know and those who I don't know, right, I've got mentors in several different industries and in sectors that are actually around the world. One of my former colleagues that I used to work with I still consider him a mentor to this day, and he lives in the UK, and so when I'm wanting to understand what is the dynamics there, how are certain things working, I can reach out to him and we have this reverse mentoring type relationship. So I try inspiration and encourage from a lot of different places, but I'm aware of who are my mentors, who are my sponsors and advocates, right Across the company as well as across the greater world, and I think that's key. And then, if you think you know broader, some of the other people that inspire me to greatness Michelle Obama, right, a huge one for me, and I can go back Maya Angelou and her words and drawing inspiration from there, and there's just, there's so many, there's so many.
Speaker 1:And finally, if you could go back in time and speak to the young Deshaun, is there anything that you would say to yourself back in those college days when you were going for president or anything like that?
Speaker 2:Wow, I actually love this question, but it's always so hard. There's a few things I would say is don't be afraid to be yourself and to make mistakes like life is a lesson right, and some of your greatest and most impivotable lessons are going to come from where you might have a missed up, but I would probably tell myself a million times over that a missed up is not the end of the world, and sometimes that particular missed up can lead you on an even better path than where you were before. So embrace that and don't be embarrassed. I am there easily. So don't be embarrassed and lean into that lesson. Find mentors and nurture the relationships.
Speaker 2:I think I did that, but I feel like I started doing that more in college and I think I could have done that before.
Speaker 2:I would reaffirm because I did this, but take opportunities, and so I share that with people.
Speaker 2:Take the opportunities, especially those that are outside of your comfort zone, because one of the best projects that I've been on to date was the one that I was just like no, absolutely, that is not for me. I do not want to do that. That does not sound like it aligns to stuff that I enjoy or anything that I want to do and it's been amazing, it's still one of my greatest achievements from a work perspective today and then explore the world. There is so much to learn from being able to be open with people, to embrace others' experiences and cultures and who they are and where they come from, and without judgment, and so that is always the key. We are literally an amalgamation of our own experiences, and so until we're able to remove that veil and that weight, that our way is the right way or whatever we were raised with is the only way Once you remove that, you will realize just how amazingly beautiful this world is, and this world is so beautiful because of the amazing people in it.
Speaker 1:Mic drop moment Absolutely remarkable, deshawn, thank you so much. I personally have learned such a lot. I feel a lot of energy just speaking with you today. I'm going to do my best to summarize some of the learning points from our podcast and I'm sure everyone else has enjoyed it tremendously. But I love to start with how the worlds of philanthropic and doing business well have really come together the capability and the conviction to break through barriers and to dig deep when times are tough, to keep on going, because showing up to many of your earlier points is more important than anything, despite the way we're feeling, having a fantastic sense of humor, especially given all of the crazy changes in the world that we're seeing and the fact that the world of work these days it has five generations and it's super fast paced.
Speaker 1:You said pushing for progress and that really stuck with me. How you make your own microcosm of energy to keep diving deep into the purpose, the reason for existence, the why you do what you do, being the domino that pushes all of the others. And then also I love how you talk very fluidly about mentorship, allyship, reverse mentoring, inspirations, sending the lift back down. I think that speaks so beautifully to the fact that the world that we live in, especially in diverse and inclusion in the people business, it is very much an evolution. You talked about agility and how important it is to re-strategize, to change tact, to be tactical sometimes, to be strategic other times, but actually taking from those different places, wherever they may be, wherever they may be around the world, actually to learn, to keep absorbing the different dynamics that are happening to ultimately bring us success. And so hopefully that summarizes just a couple of the areas.
Speaker 2:You are amazing. Oh my gosh, wow, did I really say all that? I appreciate you. You made it sound so beautiful.
Speaker 1:I took from your advice to start with. Like a sponge does, it absorbs that water and it takes in all the learnings. You talked about lifelong learnings and you talked about Maya Angelou, one of my favorites. But doing the best you can until you know better, but continuing to learn, that is ultimately what this feels it has all been about. So, deshaun, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. You are a joy and you are an inspiration in yourself, so I appreciate the work that you do and how you show it for others. Thank, you. Deshaun.
Speaker 1:My name is Leila McKenzie-Dellas. You've been listening to the Diverse Inclusive Leaders podcast. We would love you to leave a review and hit subscribe. We've actually had over 60,000 downloads now, so Domino's has been a theme today. Please pass on and share. I know that many people can learn from DeShaun's wise words. Today. You can visit us on Apple Podcast or Spotify, download your favorite podcast channel or head straight to the website wwwdarkglobalorg. Forward slash podcast. Take care and we look forward to seeing you again very soon.