Diversity, inclusion and equality were notable themes
throughout much of Expedia Group’s Explore conference in Las Vegas last week, culminating
in a closing session with tennis legend and equality advocate Billie Jean King,
who stated bluntly that if you want to see change come to the industry, you
have the power to change it.
“If you’re the CEO, or you have the powers within you, just do it,” she said, speaking with Expedia Group senior vice president of marketing and industry engagement Melissa Maher.
“Women are taught to be perfect, and men are taught to be brave. Men, stop being brave. Women, you’ll never be perfect.”
She went on to say statistics have shown women are hired more on performance, while men are hired on potential, and in the hiring process, women lose out on the first step. “It’s not [a problem at the level] of senior management; it starts right at the beginning.”
Another common misconception, King said, is the idea that women lead for other women, when in reality, “a leader is a leader for all,” she said.
“We need to fight for equality.”
Expedia’s efforts
As part of Expedia Group’s commitment to equality, the travel giant has signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which more than 750 CEOs have signed to inspire positive change in the workplace.
Northstar Travel Media, the parent company of PhocusWire and Phocuswright, is also a signatory of the initiative.
Within the initiative, Expedia Group has formed the subgroup the Travel Industry Group, which will comprise American and multinational companies and focus on promoting allyship and inclusivity, hosting deep dives on key priorities for travel companies, coordinating research around the topic and more.
Men can’t say, ‘This is how we do things.’ They have to have a real point of empathy and give nuanced advice.
Mark Okerstrom - Expedia Group
“We have not made as much progress as we’d like to make on all aspects of diversity and inclusion, but we have to declare our seriousness to ourselves and to the rest of our industry and to the rest of the world, and that’s what this pledge means,” Expedia Group president and CEO Mark Okerstrom said during Explore’s Diversity in Travel: Inclusive Workplaces and Women in Leadership Summit.
He said Expedia Group has been on this “journey” toward equality for about 20 years, but it started to get serious about moving the needle on gender imbalance and leadership seven years ago. He said since around since about 2012 to 2013, women in vice president or higher roles have increased from 15% to 30%.
Okerstrom also noted that women advocating for women wasn’t enough, and Expedia Group didn’t begin to make real progress until men entered the room. “Men can’t say, ‘This is how we do things.’ They have to have a real point of empathy and give nuanced advice and ... do more listening. It’s critical, but it has to be from a point of empathy and understanding.”
Scale, he said, has been a challenge, but the passion of Expedia Group employees, particularly from younger generations, is helping lead the cause.
“You need to accept that there will be failures along the way, but don’t let that stop you from making progress. Recognizing that that’s part of the journey and staying committed to it and continuing to make progress, that’s my big piece of advice.”
Inspiring change
In addition to Okerstrom, other leaders in the travel space shared what they’ve learned through diversity and leadership initiatives during the Inclusive Workplaces and Women in Leadership Summit.
Nikki Humphrey, senior vice president of people at Virgin Atlantic, spoke to the power of not just mentorship, but reverse mentorship, where senior leaders are mentored by someone with a different background or at a junior level. “Don’t think you need to set up big programs,” she said, noting that mentorship efforts and free and accessible.
She also said Virgin Atlantic has what it calls an “employee network” of different subgroups, including a women’s network group and an ethnic minority group, which are created by employees from within the company. This approach, Humphrey said, allows groups to focus on the issues important to them without Virgin imposing what it believes is important.
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For Beth Kinerk, senior vice president of sales at Avis Budget Group, she found the one-to-one mentoring program the company set up wasn’t the best approach, as mentorship meetings often got sidelined by other work objectives. Instead, Avis has implemented mentoring sessions on a specific topic, such as how to negotiate for yourself and career advancement, once a quarter, which allows participants to sign up for what interests them.
At Wynn Resorts, Chris Flatt, executive vice president of hotel sales and marketing, said the company created a “culture council,” where representatives from each division of the company talk to employees and report their concerns up the chain.
Claire Bilby, senior vice president of sales, services and events at Disney Destinations, also stressed the importance of events, citing its recent Women’s Leadership Summit, which included internal and external guests and covered topics such as how to develop future leaders and how to develop trust across organizations.
One of Humphrey’s biggest pieces of advice is to know where your company is at in the journey and not simply mirror what other businesses are doing. “The worst thing you can do is to go and see what another organization is doing and try and copy them because you think it’s the right thing to do.
“It’s definitely the worst thing to do. You need to go back to what problem you’re trying to solve.”
* This reporter’s attendance at the event was covered by Expedia Group.