DORAL, Fla. — Marriott International boasts a long history of advocacy and championing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Their philanthropic portfolio is thick with community involvement and partnerships in a multiplicity of iconic events for diverse demographics around the nation.
At the 18th annual Black Enterprise Golf & Tennis Challenge retreat at the Doral Country Club and Spa in suburban Miami, Jimmie Paschall, the Global Diversity Officer for Marriott International, spoke about how the renowned intercontinental corporation has advanced the concept of bonafide inclusion off the shores of America and into many countries around the world. The 21-year Marriott veteran — she worked at Marriott for 17 years before returning four years ago to take on her new current role — discussed the importance of preparing for a global business environment, leadership and mentorship in the workplace. –terry shropshire
What business books have you read in the last three years that had an impact on you?
It was Leading with a Global Mindset. Regardless of where you work in the world, you really need to be thinking with a global mindset. And when you look at how that relates to Marriott specifically, between now and 2013, we’re actually increasing our growth outside the U.S., to the point of having more hotel rooms outside the U.S. than we have in the U.S. We are significantly increasing our presence in China, India and Brazil, but also have growth throughout Europe and around the world. That’s going to create source market traffic from those countries into the U.S. Even our U.S. operations that are already experiencing more diverse customers are going to see a significant increase in that. It’s important to understand culturally what is important, so that you have the right language skills, the right food offerings and other things that will create an inclusive and comfortable environment for anyone that is traveling with us anywhere in the world.
In your opinion, can leadership be taught or is it intrinsic?
I think my experience is that many people are born with the skill set. So I do think it is intrinsic. I think it can be honed and cultivated and enhances through experience and mentors and education. I think people can learn how to lead, but you have to want to lead. Leadership is a challenge. It’s a charge. It’s a commitment.
Giving the current sociopolitical environment of recent times, what event most serves as teachable moment?
I’m not sure this answers your question, but let me tell you what came to mind. Last week I had opportunity to attend a luncheon as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial activities [in Washington, D.C.] It’s one of the events that was not canceled [due to Hurricane Irene]. And it was a tribute to the women in the civil rights movement. It was an opportunity to be in the room with the widow of Medgar Evers and with Maya Angelou with a poem what she wrote just for the event. In the room was [former Clinton Administration cabinet member] Alexis Hermann, [BET CEO and President] Debra Lee and all these African American women who made history and have been successful in many, many different ways. And the reality is that despite that success, and despite the images of the marches and the civil rights movement and the lives that were lost in the process, we still have such a long way to go. The election of an African American president, I think it was a step in terms of seeing America as being inclusive and more accepting, and we’re finding that not necessarily the case. It almost feel as though we’re going backwards instead of forward.
Because business has become increasingly global, what foreign language do you recommend that we learn?
I would say Spanish and Chinese. In this country people would have more opportunity to use Spanish right now, to be bilingual, Spanish is a relatively easy language to learn and there are many opportunities to use it in your job, and other opportunities in your personal life. The average person is a Chinese man and there are nine billion of them, so if you think about what language my kids should be learning, they absolutely [should be] learning Chinese. If they can learn Chinese, they can learn many other languages because of the complex characters and the pronunciation issues with the Chinese language.
Do you have a mentorship team that you harvest fruitful information and advice from?
The Advisory board. I definitely do have what I call the Jimmie’s Board of directors. I probably had the group in some shape or form for 12 years.
