Antonia Hock of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: 5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society

Build diverse messaging, imagery, and authenticity into external and internal programming

As part of our series about ‘5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society’ I had the pleasure to interview Antonia Hock.

Antonia Hock is the global head of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center where she leads a dynamic advisory business focused on innovating the Customer Experience and Talent Experience for clients worldwide. She is a sought-after author, thought leader and frequent global keynote speaker. Antonia is considered an expert on organizational transformation, building experience-based brands and a culture of customer-centricity, empowering employees and issues around diversity in the workforce, and innovating experiences for the future.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

My story begins with parents who were born and raised in Wisconsin They learned early that hard work and tenacity were a way of life. They also married young, and then they nurtured a shared vision to go out and experience the world. Looking back now, I see two naive adventurers with a newborn daughter and yet the willingness to plunge into the unknown by moving overseas. I had the good fortune to be raised by these two special people that encouraged my creativity, wildness, and never said “no” to my constant desire to probe and learn from my surroundings. These formative years took me all over the Middle East, Africa, and the Mediterranean. My friends were every color, every creed, every socio-economic background, every language, and my parents made it clear to me that each of these friends were gifts. I spent time in the African bush, the streets of Cairo, the markets of Athens, and the treasures of Damascus. Eventually we moved back to the states to Columbus, Indiana where I spent my free hours bass fishing, riding horses, participating in 4H, and cheering the Friday Night Lights. Then I won a scholarship to study in Japan, and I never looked back. You could say that my experiential childhood made me acutely aware of how important diverse perspectives are in any room. I personally seek and value experiences outside of my own.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I am blessed with a wide circle of readers in my life, so my literary interests are vast. I have a hard time picking one book, but recently, I am enjoying Prosperity by Colin Mayer. He makes a strong case for reinventing the corporation so it serves human wellbeing — and not just shareholder value. As we come out of this pandemic era, I think it’s a critical time for leaders to consider how to restore trust and how enlightened capitalism can make a significant contribution to the future of business as we know it. I love a thought-provoking position, and Colin argues his point of view thoughtfully and carefully. This book made me rethink some concepts that we have on corporate autopilot.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?

I love the quote from Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein: “Beware, for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” I believe that unshackling your mind from the what-ifs around failure can unlock the best in all of us, but I see many people making fear-based decisions. That inherently starts to narrow your life, and you might miss some of the very best, most exciting, and expansive opportunities. For me personally, I make the choice to regularly embrace the biggest, boldest options that I can find- even if I fail greatly in that pursuit. I find this keeps me growing, learning, and hungry for more which also helps me support the growth of others in the same way. I recently hiked solo in Death Valley and covered 34 miles, 11,000 feet of cumulative altitude climbing, summited the 5 tallest peaks with a 22lb pack — all in 72 hours. I encountered snakes, rough weather, hard off-road driving, but it reminded me that we can all do anything we want if we let fear go and embrace what we really want. Humans are resilient and capable. The mind is the weakest muscle.

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

For me, leadership means two things: 1.) Ability to chart a strategic path for results by bringing out the best in the talent you have 2.) Nurturing, supporting, and growing talent to ensure that they can fulfill their biggest passions in the service of the company. Leadership is about genuinely wanting to see others achieve the greatest things that they can while delivering extraordinary business results. As a leader, you provide a place of safety to take risks which drives innovation, while ensuring that people have solid advice and opportunities to thrive. As a leader, you also need to be a living example. That means showing your team that being bold is valued, being vulnerable is part of growth, and respecting and nurturing others is part of punching your ticket. Empathy, authenticity, as well as accountability should all be part of your modus operandi as a leader.

In my work, I often talk about how to release and relieve stress. As a busy leader, what do you do to prepare your mind and body before a stressful or high stakes meeting, talk, or decision? Can you share a story or some examples?

This may sound counterintuitive, but I do my best work during high stress situations and when I am a bit mentally and physically tired. As a chronic overthinker, I have been on a longtime journey to quiet that overactive part of my brain. When I can stand and deliver from the heart using my muscle memory and trusting my preparation, skill, and intuition, I do my best work. To get to that place, I need to tire out that overthinking part. So for me, preparation for a high stakes environment involves the most intense workout I can execute followed by big picture visualization of what I want to deliver, and then I like to trust in my own long standing preparation. I once walked on stage to deliver a very important keynote to 12,000 engineers at 8am after running 17 miles, sleeping for 4 hours, and jamming out backstage to Van Halen. No tele-prompter scripting. Just a great conversation grounded in strong knowledge of the subject, and no overthinking. The result was a standing ovation, and I attribute it to setting myself up for authentic conversation vs. trying to hit every point, every slide, and being super rehearsed.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. The United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This is of course a huge topic. But briefly, can you share your view on how this crisis inexorably evolved to the boiling point that it’s at now?

There are many people who have devoted their lives to this cause, and they have written eloquent books, deeply examined the issues, and created smart frameworks to process and promote change. I respect that body of work, so I would rather answer this question from my own personal experience traveling through corporate America. What I have witnessed is that much of this comes down to people of power who have the ability to make choices for others that make us small, powerless, marginalized, and disenfranchised. People in power who have no accountability or consequences for this behavior perpetuate the crisis. Over generations of this behavior, the anger, fear, and divide grow until the paltry offerings are so little that the marginalized and oppressed decide that there is no downside to radical protest, action, and forcing accountability. I have also encountered some incredible leaders who are vested, accountable, and thoughtful in the way they use their position to support great change, but there are not enough of these to make wholesale change stick. I remain optimistic that the future will bring the creativity, understanding, and accountability we all need.

Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?

I’ve been involved with many scalable diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs, but I would like to focus on personal accountability here. Every person reading this interview can make personal choices every day that drive a more diverse, more equitable and more inclusive environment in their work and life. It is not about waiting for someone else to provide a framework for you. As a young hiring manager, I made a firm decision to build out the most diverse team I could possibly hire. No one told me to do that, no corporate mandate came down from the top. I knew that the best decisions and results always come from teams that are as diverse as possible. I attribute this to my upbringing, and perhaps the best DE&I efforts start in childhood. I mentally mapped out my ideal team. I demanded that recruiters present candidates broad, wide, and from all corners, and I wouldn’t settle for less even under pressure. I challenged our existing teams to look at where we had blind spots in our decision making. How could we find someone who would fill that spot?

We ended up with a team that had socio-economic diversity, religious diversity, ethnic diversity, sexual orientation diversity, age-diversity, disability diversity, and language diversity. It made us such a smart, innovative, and powerful group. It wasn’t nirvana, and we had plenty of learning curves, but it was executed with integrity. If you maintain non-negotiables like integrity, respect, and open-mindedness, you can make great progress as you cultivate diverse environments. None of this is a replacement for great corporate effort, energy, and scale, but it is still important to take personal accountability for making progress.

This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

As I just mentioned, it is critical to have broad experiences reflected in any executive team to ensure that decisions are fully vetted from as many angles as possible. Useful, smart, innovative decisions are often made in rooms with many voices, work and life experiences, and in a space where respect for all those voices is valued. I see so many barriers in place to executive team membership and not enough focus on diversity as a mandated non-negotiable. I have discussed this before in other interviews, but I was denied a spot on an executive board based on my gender, age, and physical attributes. This was covertly executed — as they normally are. There was zero accountability on this public board to place a diverse candidate, and to this day, it is an all-white, over 55, male, financial-degree-holding, board. Until we can really value a diverse position as a critical feature of innovation and decision making that drives shareholder value, we will not make progress here.

Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. You are an influential business leader. Can you please share your “5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society. Kindly share a story or example for each.

I’m going to take this in the direction of corporate diversity because economic opportunity and corporate representation are critical to expanding inclusivity in other areas of society.

Value talent over “requirements”. Make that OK and eliminate old-fashioned, archaic hiring models. Remove bureaucracy around “approval”.

In my career, I have found that many hiring managers, recruiters, and HR executives are often focused on enforcing policies and meeting technical requirements for filling jobs. This means that generally you get a homogenous population of candidates, and little support or flexibility to hire talent that might have a different path to success than a “typical” candidate. In my career, I can think of several scenarios where I knew I had a wonderful candidate who didn’t “check” the boxes. I had a candidate once who was going to night school to get a college degree, but because she didn’t have “it” at the time of hiring, the company would not support her candidacy. In this case, she was the most talented candidate I interviewed (and diverse on many levels), but I could not get the company to budge from the standard policies. I was disappointed for our team, our company, and the candidate. At a minimum, more companies need an appeals path for exceptions and alternate consideration during the hiring process, so we can properly consider that talent comes in lots of packages. Until we make changes that vest hiring managers to make thoughtful choices or seek escalated approvals, we will struggle.

Tie diverse hiring & diverse talent performance to leader compensation

When companies ask leaders to carry a metric in their compensation packages that is tied to hiring and developing diverse talent, it changes the conversation on this topic. I know that this is a controversial policy at times, but if a company takes the time to craft a metric that is balanced, but also directly tied to compensation, it does change where diversity ranks on the executive agenda. Making diverse talent development a standard operating principle may take time through this model, and I think that’s worth the near-term work for the longer-term gain. Crossing your fingers and hoping people implement change is a time-tested way to make zero change, and we know that compensation drives behavior.

As a powerful executive, make some radical hires

I believe in the example that we all set as leaders. If you want to inspire your team to think in radical new ways and break down barriers, you need to do it first. I would like to see more executive leaders make bolder, less obvious hiring choices. Hire that young gun into that leadership position. The one that didn’t pay their “dues” but is going to walk into your boardroom and shake everything up. Hire the talented woman from outside your industry and outside your company to bring fresh ideas to your team. Stop rewarding tenure, and focus on merit, fresh ideas, and work ethic. When you signal that diverse paths, diverse perspectives, and diverse demographics matter to you and you will act, others will feel empowered to do the same.

Build out support (networks) for diverse populations and assign HR partners that have some commonality — as well as those who don’t

Once you have hired a more diverse population, it is critical to provide an environment that supports that diversity. It’s often the small things that signal acceptance and comfort. Do you have a cafeteria that supports Halal, Kosher, Hindu, or Sikh eating preferences if you have those populations? Do you have corporate groups that support common lifestyle experiences or demographics? Do you have flex work, flex transportation, or mentoring programs that support socio-economic differences, Hi-Po talent, or career advancement for these groups? Hiring outstanding diverse candidates is the first step, but developing, nurturing, and giving opportunities to thrive is the next critical step.

Build diverse messaging, imagery, and authenticity into external and internal programming

Authentic messages and imagery are a strong complement to a multi-layered effort to support diverse engagement internally and externally. Many companies have external PR campaigns that feature a version of this work, but the very best companies have a 360 approach, and they feature real employees and stories vs. using actors alone. The best programming has its origins in a purpose-based, authentic corporate point-of-view that champions diversity in all its forms. The adage holds: if you can see it, you can be it. That holds for internal and external storytelling.

We are going through a rough period now. Are you optimistic that this issue can eventually be resolved? Can you explain?

I am an eternal optimist, but I also think that the issues we are facing are deeply rooted and complex. Making real progress will need to be a sustained, long-term, committed effort at all levels. From early childhood through to corporate America, and through local communities and institutions, there must be opportunity paired with accountability. Until diversity, equity and inclusion is a mainstream movement in every part of our society, we won’t see the progress we need.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

When I am not working, you can find me outside rock climbing or going after my next big summit. The mental and physical challenges allow me to test myself and give me the opportunity to strengthen my skill, toughness, and problem solving. In the world of climbing, Alex Honnold is someone I greatly admire for his creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and his incredible accomplishments. I think that we can all use reminders from other’s examples to go do what brings us joy and live the lives that we want. Alex is someone inspiring others to do just that!

How can our readers follow you online?

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonia-hock/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antoniahock/

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!