Tom Baltimore 0:01 

I'm 13 years old, I come home, it's not a lot of food in the house. There were times when lights were turned off or the phone wasn't working. And you know that level of dissatisfaction is greater than the cost of change and whatever that takes, I'm prepared to do and whatever sacrifices I have to make I'm prepared to make.

David Novak 0:30 

Welcome to how leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple that you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Now, my guest today is Tom Baltimore. He's the chairman and CEO of park Hotels and Resorts. Here he is running one of the world's largest real estate investment trusts, managing $9 billion in lodging assets. And yet, growing up, Tom and his family never even owned their own home. Today, you'll hear how those humble beginnings shaped him and helped him on his path to success. And you'll see that Tom isn't afraid to push himself. In fact, it gives him the credibility to push others and make everyone around him more successful too. I'm telling you, powerful things happen when you're not afraid to push yourself and push your team. I know you're going to be inspired after this one. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Tom Baltimore.

Tom Baltimore 1:40 

You know, you rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in January of 2017, after Parc Hotels and Resorts was listed as a public company. What's the story from that experience? Most people don't know about, you know, not everybody gets to ring that bell? Well, David, one, thank you for this opportunity. And actually, David, it was my my second time ringing the bell. My first company I got to do in January 2011. At that particular time, I had the privilege of having my wife and my two kids, my then eight year old daughter and my 12 year old son, both of whom my daughter is finishing up her last year in college and my son is now gainfully employed. But every time it's always a magical time, and for someone in my background to be there, and really at the center of the financial world there at the New York Stock Exchange and to be able to ring that bell, there was one of euphoria, there was pride, there was a lot of excitement. But I think the thing that I remember the most in addition to having my family there was really having my team there and having them celebrate as a team and that accomplishment because obviously no man or woman succeeds alone. So having my team there is probably one of the biggest takeaways for me. Absolutely. And I'd love for you to give us a snapshot of Park and the in the business that you lead today. Well, Park Hotels and Resorts is a publicly traded real estate investment trust. Today we own about 43 assets, principally in the US. We do have a resort in in Puerto Rico, and about $9 billion in assets. We were spun out from Hilton, I rejoined Hilton in May of 2016. I had six months to build out my team. And that's a full management team, a board, logo name, etc. Hilton at the time was was owned by Blackstone, and they had taken it public a couple of years earlier, but they were spinning out the other two businesses that were contained. One was a timeshare business. The other was the own real estate business, which is the company that I run today. We're Hilton's largest owner, and we're also a Marriott and Hyatt franchisee as well. You know, what the heck is a read anyway? Could you explain that in the in layman's terms? Yeah, a real estate investment trust essentially is an industry that has about 200 companies, two plus trillion in assets. And it's shopping malls, its office buildings, its data centers, its cell towers, its hotels, and typically we have to pay, these companies are earning their revenue through lease streams. And then as a result of that, we have to distribute at least 90% of our taxable income. And it's a vehicle that Congress set up about 60 years ago that allows a normal investor to participate in own stock and own shares in real estate companies. I want to learn more about

David Novak 5:00 

how you lead. But first, you mentioned a little bit earlier your background and I want to take you back a little bit. What's the story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are today? Well,

Tom Baltimore 5:10 

David, I was born to two teenage parents. My late mother was 17. My father 18. They were highschool sweethearts and attended the same church and grew up in the same segregated environment and from Royal Warrenton, Virginia, really about 50 miles west of the nation's capitol. My mother both, unfortunately didn't live long. But my mother was a bookworm. And incredibly well read. And my father was this bigger than life personality who was the son of a Baptist minister, and his dream was to become a minister himself. Fortunately, he realized his dream. My mother had one dream. And that was to see really all five of her children graduated from college, which she did live long enough to see all of us graduate college and, and me finished graduate school. I'm the oldest of five children. And so the background is humble. My family never owned a home. So we lived in seven rentals growing up. But I learned at a at a young age and a lot of that encouragement coming from my mother, on the importance of education and how that was the escalator to a different life. So while they didn't see the good fortune, and good things that would happen, I think about my parents every day, and how I live my life is terribly important, because it's important that I live the values that they taught me, and that were an integral part of my youth and how I grew up. You

David Novak 6:46 

know, when I interviewed Condoleezza Rice, she talked about growing up in segregated Birmingham and the work ethic that had instilled in her how was being a minority impacted you, Tom, and just the fact that you went through a similar experience.

Tom Baltimore 7:00 

I learned early that I not only needed to be as good, but candidly, be better. And, you know, I have sort of three guiding principles, and I call them my three P's. The first is sort of prayer. It sort of centers me, it anchors me. Second is preparation. And the third is really perseverance. I've always believed that, in every life, a little rain must fall. And it's not that it happens, but it's really how you respond to it. And I believe that perseverance is sort of that secret sauce of life. To that end, I still work even though I'm, you know, the advanced age of 60. And I've taken to companies public, and I've had the privilege of serving on a lot of boards, I still work six days a week, I'm in the office every Sunday, if I'm in town, and my team will vouch and but for me, the phone's not ringing, I can read, I can prepare. So that concept of over preparing, if you will, is terribly important to me.

David Novak 8:05 

You talked about your dad making a pivot to become a minister when you were a teenager, you know, that's had to be a risk for him to you know, move into into that field. Tell us that story and what it taught you about taking risks. My

Tom Baltimore 8:21 

father, David was 33 years old. I was 15. And my father had a concept of he saw this migration, particularly, and we're of the Baptist faith. And he saw this migration, a lot of people moving out of the city and into the surrounding suburban communities. And he saw this void, and really believed that he could build a church in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is a suburb of the DC area. And I remember him coming home. And he had put together the plan, the timeline, and he wasn't making a lot of money at that time. And, and we certainly were a lower middle class, family at best. And my father was 33. And he said, I'm going to be starting this church. I was always respectful. But there was a part of me that said, he is out of his mind to try to do that. But I will say it. I learned a lot. I learned a lot about sacrifice. I learned a lot about commitment. I learned about risk taking. And I watched my father and unfortunately my father passed at 58. But he led that church for 25 years. And he not only did he buy the land, build the church, but when he passed, he probably had close to 4000 parishioners and made a great impact on his community. And on the men and women that he served.

David Novak 9:57 

That's fantastic. Yeah,

Tom Baltimore 9:59 

he was a good man.

David Novak 9:59 

Tom, you're known for being a bit of a bold risk taker yourself yet, tell us a story about the biggest risks that you've taken.

Tom Baltimore 10:08 

In 1999, I was working for Hilton, my then wife and I were living in Brentwood, California. And Hilton was buying promise hotel Corp. And out of the Memphis area, and as part of that transaction, they inherited the Hampton Inn brand and Embassy Suites and Doubletree brands, and they inherited 17 hotels that they wanted to franchise and manage, but not own. There was a high net worth individual on the Hilton board. His name was Robert L. Johnson. Bob is the founder and former CEO of Black Entertainment Television. And I reported to the CFO at the time, but I also knew the CEO, Steve Boland, Bach very well. And I asked them if I could work with Bob to launch a hotel investment company. So this is pre Sarbanes Oxley and Hilton was kind enough to allow me to keep my day job. I had a handshake deal with Bob for a year. And I worked for a year to launch a company, while working full time at Hilton. In 2000, we launched and bought our first portfolio, those seven hotels, and at the time, we were probably the largest minority owner of hotels. We later did three private equity funds, merge two of those funds, and I and we took that company public and that company RLJ lodging, trust is still a public company today. And Bob and I are still very close friends and and both still large shareholders in that company. And, you know, I ran that platform for 17 years before rejoining Hilton to start Park hotels, but that that was a huge risk. But I was always prepared to bet on myself. And I knew that I could make a good living working in corporate America, but that I really wouldn't make the leap to a better life and the life that I had hoped and in the life that really, my parents had dreamed that I would have, if I wasn't prepared to take that, that boulder risk. And I've always been prepared to bet on myself. It's calculated, I study it, I still review it. I'm thoughtful about it. But I'm always prepared, you're not going to get to the next step in your life, if you're not prepared to take that risk and bet on yourself. You

David Novak 12:30 

know, I've heard you talk about dissatisfaction being a motivator for change. Tell me a story where this has really been true in your life.

Tom Baltimore 12:38 

I would say for me growing up in a very humble background, I had no fear. Now, when you're living in an environment, and you're living in rentals, and I can, I can remember to this day in excruciating detail, the smell, the look, sometimes shame, sometimes the embarrassment. But in many respects, that was a catalyst, and that was a motivator for me. And that I'm going to live differently. And whatever that takes, I'm prepared to do and whatever sacrifices I have to make, I'm prepared to make. And, you know, a simple example of that is, is I'm 13 years old, I come home, it's not a lot of food in the house. There were times when our lights were turned off, or the phone wasn't working. And those things, you know, that level of dissatisfaction is greater than the cost to change. And so whatever it takes, and for me, I knew that education was going to be that escalator, to really change my life. And to help me get to the point of, of candidly, in my life is exceeded my, my dreams from that standpoint, but you know, I'm still working hard because I'm passionate about what I'm doing. And I'm passionate about the men and women that I work with.

David Novak 13:57 

You work six days a week, and you come in on Sundays and work ethics a big part of what really drives you. How does this impact your leadership in this world of work life balance with your team members that out? Have a look at that? Do they see pressure to do the same thing or what's your message to them?

Tom Baltimore 14:15 

The younger Tom probably wasn't as understanding. And I'd say that many of my senior team members that at my former company also worked probably a similar schedule coming in on the weekdays. I missed a lot of my kids activities, and there's some regret there. But I knew that I had to make that sacrifices if I was prepared to change my life and to change the candidly the quality of life that my kids would lead. You know, I'm a different leader today. David, I, I recognize that work balance is important. We're open. We're in office four days a week. We allow people to work remotely on Fridays. I still come in Office on Fridays. And I tell people that they're not expected to come in on Sundays into work the kind of hours. But I also think a good leader shows by example, and the fact that they see me working the kind of hours and preparing, I think is a motivator. I think it's a unifying force when you have an authentic leader, and someone that leaves that way. And I really wouldn't ask my team to do anything that I wouldn't do myself, has been a real benefit for us and our company.

David Novak 15:29 

You talk about prayer, preparation, perseverance, so you know, you've already mentioned being prepared just kind of comes out of your natural conversation here. You know, preparation is really important in the key leadership, tentative years, when you look at your career, what would be the biggest career moment where you really had to get prepared to make it happen.

Tom Baltimore 15:51 

I had an assignment early in my career at Marriott. And it was, I'm 28 or 29 years old. And I'm leading a presentation for a piece of business. That was very important to the company. And I had one of my mentors, was accompanying me, he was a senior executive. And I knew that Bill Marriott was going to be aware of our success or failure. And for me, I remember working, locking myself away for a couple of days and just preparing. That was a pivot in the road, because we were successful. And having my mentor there, I always say that mentors can turn into sponsors, and can really change the path of your career. And in this case, that particular gentleman Bill McCartan was that person and really helped shape. And to this day, we're still very dear friends. He's still a mentor. And he's still someone that I reached out to, even though he's, he's retired. And, but the fact that he took an interest, the fact that he saw the work ethic, the fact that he's took, he gave me a chance, was terribly important. And you know, that some 30 plus years ago, but really made a difference in my career. And,

David Novak 17:13 

Tom, I've heard you say that complex thinking skills, you see that as a really key attribute for leaders. Explain what you mean by that?

Tom Baltimore 17:23 

I think, David, it begins first with this mindset of continuous learning. I mean, you have to be thinking about what you do? Well, you have to be honest with yourself, and what are your gaps? When you're honest? And how do I improve? How do I get better? Every year I look at where I think I've got gaps, even today and my leadership skills and think, How can I improve, and I sit down with each of my direct reports. And I walk them through, I put together a development plan for them. And I try to be a mini coach, if you will. And so for me, that's important, I'm making an investment in them, I care about them, I want to push them out of their comfort zone. And I don't think you really grow until you push yourself out of your comfort zone, and also push your team out of their comfort zone is how I think you really can achieve extraordinary success or, or certainly outsized success. How

David Novak 18:24 

do you cascade this notion of continual learning throughout your organization,

Tom Baltimore 18:32 

we have a number of initiatives that we have in place, we do a series of what we call lunch and learns, where we'll bring together associates will bring together executives, and we'll have a speaker of the day. And it's generally a colleague who will talk about his or her role and their contribution. But it's a way also to test people and put people on the spot. And it's a growth opportunity. We have a pretty intensive Leadership Development Program. In fact, we have a graduation next week, where we, we pick four to six rising executives, where we put them through a 360 review, we get them a coach, we have them have a senior executive sponsor, that will work with them. And it's had tremendous success for our organization. We also go through a process of what we call June compliance period where we talk about issues of the day, and we have 100% participation, where we make sure that everyone goes through and these are about our values. These are making sure that as a public company, people are complying with it. That's really important. And as a result of that, and we we also take multiple surveys will do and a full year at least once a year engagement survey. And then on top of that, we'll also do some polls. All surveys, it's really that outreach is important. But also when people see that we continue to invest in them, as associates and help them grow to reach the next level, I think it's important. So those kinds of programs really touch the organization at multiple levels. And it's been really beneficial for us.

David Novak 20:24 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Tom Baltimore in just a moment. You know, another leader believes in the power of pushing yourself is Ginni Rometty, the former CEO of IBM, she says that if you want to grow, you've got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, you

Ginni Rometty 20:42 

will only grow when you're uncomfortable. And I've talked to so many people around the world that resonate with that. And I try to say to them, I actually got to the point where I love to feel uncomfortable, because then I'm like, Yes, I'm learning, I'm learning. And so I would even look to put myself as a CEO, particularly in those positions, right? You know, I'd be seeing a client that ran a railroad, I got to learn railroad business before I get there, you know, and it was like, if you start feeling like you're not, I will say to people, if you're feeling so comfortable on a roll, you do need to change it, because you are not learning. So, growth and comfort, never coexist.

David Novak 21:18 

Go back and listen to my entire conversation with Jenny, Episode 66, here on how leaders lead.

You know, you and Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, and he's clearly one of the most successful entrepreneurs, successful business people in the world. You worked together a long time? What did you learn about entrepreneurship? In those 17 years,

Tom Baltimore 21:49 

we're still very dear friends today. He's a serial entrepreneur. And you think about the courage it took to launch Black Entertainment Television in 1978. And he had John Malone. And I know, you know, John, and, you know, John invested, I believe, approximately $500,000. And that return payout when Bob sold a Black Entertainment Television to Viacom for 3 billion everybody benefited from that. But one of the things that really worked for Bob and I were very different people, I wasn't in the entertainment business. I'm a real estate finance guy. But you couldn't find two people who were more aligned. We had shared values, we were focused on business outcomes, we were focused on doing the right thing for our associates, we were focused on making sure that we created wealth. And we're not ashamed to say that, to this day, we still look at deals together, we still traveled together. And it was a magical 17 year journey. In fact, when I got the call from Hilton and Blackstone to leave RLJ, and rejoin Hilton to spin out my current company. Now, the first thing I did is I flew to Florida and spent the day with Bob talking about it. Because I really wanted to make sure that I, I had his blessing, his support. And in typical fashion, nobody could have been more supportive. And, you know, for me, it's what I love to do my passion is really building businesses and building teams. I love to push myself out of my comfort zone. But I love to push people out of their comfort zone and, and see them achieve a greater lengths than they really thought they could have. And for me, I get great joy and great passion from that. You know,

David Novak 23:42 

you say you and Bob, you have this partnership for 17 years, you know, you're obviously comfortable and very successful. I'm sure a lot of people at the time, but you were absolutely crazy for leaving, I mean, how have you learned to turn down that outside noise and, and go with your gut.

Tom Baltimore 24:01 

I think everything has a season. And I thought 17 years was a great season a great run. But the opportunity to rejoin Hilton to work with the extraordinary team that Christmas set ahead at Hilton coupled with Blackstone executives, two of them are going to be on my board. We also had H and a one of the Chinese conglomerates as a major shareholder. So for me that that opportunity to candidly climb another mountain, build another team. And as I said earlier, I was always been prepared to bet on myself and believe in myself. It was an opportunity that I that I couldn't pass up on.

David Novak 24:44 

You know, you obviously are a relationship person and you know, you had this great relationship with Robert Johnson and you talked about the mentor that you have, but I also understand you have your own personal board of directors. What's the most difficult said situation you've brought to them and how did you work through it together? I mean, are these people you go to one at a time? Or do you ever bring them together as a group? How do you make a personal board of directors come alive and use it? Yeah,

Tom Baltimore 25:14 

it's interesting. I, I never bring them together. And not all of them know that they are members of my board of directors. But I think it's important to have truth tellers around you, and to have men and women that you trust. And that will always be straight with you. And I'll give you a great example, you know, the most difficult period, you can imagine I'm in the hotel business, march 13, the pandemic and the world shuts down. And we're in a daily leasing business. And we're in a business that's got high operating leverage. And we also were not eligible for any of the PPP money provided by the government, and we're hemorrhaging cash. That was the most difficult time. But to have, I think it's important to be calm, to be measured. And everybody around me was panicked, including investors that couldn't sell our stock and get out of the company fast enough. And I remember talking with two of my key executives and said, This is the time when we really have to separate ourselves. And that's when I could reach out to members of my personal board of directors, really just as friends to sort of talk through, I knew the banks weren't going to foreclose, because who in their right mind would step into my shoes in the middle of a pandemic, they were better off to work with us and keep the management team together. And I'm, I'm really proud of the fact that we survived it. We didn't do a dilutive equity raise, we didn't file bankruptcy. We paid back all we did three bond deals, and pushed out maturities and paid off all the banks. But having the self confidence, having the patience, having the right people around me. And then also having that personal board of directors where I could brainstorm was really, really helpful, and a difference maker for me.

David Novak 27:13 

So there's no industry where COVID had a worse impact than your business on a you basically hit rock solid bottom note, no doubt about it. What's the biggest thing you learned about yourself when you are facing that adversity? Tom, as

Tom Baltimore 27:29 

I said earlier, you learn the most about yourself in the face of adversity, that believing in yourself remaining calm in the face of that crisis, communicating both internally to your team, and keeping them steady, I took a pay cut, I didn't ask anyone else in my company to take a pay cut. I thought it was really important. To send that message, we kept our core team on the payroll, we provided benefits. I did a series of frequent calls. So I really thought internal communication, to focus the troops made sense. I also had tremendous outreach to our investors. And also having a great board of directors, a board of directors that's seasoned and experienced, made the difference. And then I was just relentless. We were working at that point seven days a week, doing everything we could to retool our operations to take cost out of the business, and reimagine our operating model. And I had a spirit that failure isn't an option, and that we were going to get through this and we were going to get to the other side. You

David Novak 28:46 

know, Tom, you talk about believing in yourself that, you know, that's, that's easier said than done. When you have times like that, you know, what do you do to to dig deep and really have that belief in yourself? How do you get that belief?

Tom Baltimore 28:58 

I think faith plays a role in it, David, I think, confidence. No, I wouldn't say I didn't have bad days, I'd have bad days. And I'd go into my office and I'd kick the chair. I'd have a pity party for about 30 seconds. And then I'd say let's get at it. And I think it was for me the importance of I had 1000s of families that were dependent on the decisions I made men and women out our investment company, the men and women that were still working at a few of the hotels that we kept open. And I owed it to them to make sure that I was making the right decisions, both in the interim and long term for the company.

David Novak 29:40 

You know, you said you got the opportunity to go to park and build your team from the ground up. What's something that you look for, in the people that you hire? I mean, if you had to pick one thing that you just it's a must have. What would it be?

Tom Baltimore 29:56 

It's grit, its determination. My team think credibly diverse, incredibly different. But there's a grit, there's a determination in them, there's a will to succeed. You

David Novak 30:10 

know, I know that you love building teams, and you're a big believer in collaboration. As a leader, how do you go about building collaboration with your team?

Tom Baltimore 30:18 

I think authenticity is really important. There isn't any real space between my executive team and me. And my board of directors and me, and I think, being honest, being open, having them understand exactly what I'm thinking, making sure they understand this is the mission. Here are the priorities. And here's how we're going to execute our game plan.

David Novak 30:48 

You know, I would imagine in real estate, like any business, being an individual contributor is really important. You got really a lot of high power smart individuals working for you. How do you get them to play on the team,

Tom Baltimore 31:00 

it's important to have that align what I call shared values and alignment of interest. incentive plans are set up such that while there's an individual component, more importantly, there's a company component, we all do well, when the company does well. I also work at individual development plans for each of them. And I work hard to make sure that I'm setting them up for not only success today, but the future, whether they're with me or not, I'm always going to be available to help them. And I think when they believe that when they know that you have their best interest at heart. And when you're authentic, I think it really matters.

David Novak 31:41 

You know, you've been very outspoken about getting more women into leadership positions in the hospitality industry. What's the key to making this happen? From your perspective? How do you break these ceilings that exist?

Tom Baltimore 31:54 

I think it's important. I'll give you an example. I've got a woman who was runs head of human capital. And she was in a mid level position at Hilton. At the time, she was working with me she had been assigned as I was building out my team. And I could see this enormous potential. She was smart, strategic, hard working. I said, after working with her for a couple of weeks, why don't you join me in this journey. And she's been on this journey. And she has been extraordinary. I have an Asian woman, it's my general counsel, who had worked for me at a former company and then joined another company. I saw again, the extraordinary potential. And when you when you see that I've had a history of being able to identify talented people, push them, encourage them, be loyal to them, but also have their best interest. And I've had success with that. And I use that as examples. I, I don't do a lot of the industry panels anymore, because I've been around so long. And people know me, I slept my team. And I slept women is much as I can. And my two women executives are an example of that. But I really push as I get involved in the industry to make sure that we're getting more women and people of color in the industry and roles of influence.

David Novak 33:18 

Now, you mentioned this, the first woman you talked about, you said she runs human capital. Yep. Okay, what's a human capital executive do? She

Tom Baltimore 33:26 

runs in the traditional sense would be sort of human resources. But she's far more strategic than that. So from our engagement, from our leadership development program, to our lunch and learns, to looking at all of the different surveys that we do,

David Novak 33:48 

did you coined this human capital phrase, Tom, or where did that come from?

Tom Baltimore 33:52 

I don't think I coined it. I think others have used it, I think a capital in terms of investment, you have to keep your associates engaged, I think you want to keep them aligned. We tend to have low attrition, a low turnover, not at the property level, but at the corporate level. And as a result of that, I think because it's the investment that we make in people, and I think that outreach that we have, and that constant engagement, I had a lunch today, I do what we call these Tombi lunches, and I break the group into eight to 10 people, and I do them frequently. And there's no set agenda. It naturally will evolve talking about the business, but it really is talking about them as people and when they can see that the leaders authentic, the leaders comfortable. I think it really helps the connection between the leadership team is and the broader associate base. You mentioned

David Novak 34:46 

earlier that you like to climb new hills. What Hill are you climbing now?

Tom Baltimore 34:51 

I'm getting parked back to pre pandemic levels. And so we're, we're still climbing but we had a great time. only 23, we are one of the top performers in our sector. And, you know, I'm proud of that, given the fact in 2020, we were essentially shut down and hemorrhaging cash. So the fact that we have recovered is, is encouraging, but I, I'm enjoying the journey, I'm enjoying pushing myself and I'm enjoying pushing our team. We're going to do a little retreat this latter part of this week, and really continue to map out our strategic plan for 24 and beyond. And I'm looking forward to our discussion. When

David Novak 35:30 

you do a retreat like that, and you go off site, how do you bring the team together? Do you do team building exercises, in addition to the strategy? Or, you know, how do you make those things really powerful?

Tom Baltimore 35:40 

It's interesting. So I'll put together an agenda. I'll put together topics that I think each each of my direct reports should cover, we'll do some team building exercise. But because the team has been together, it really is a working session. And I won't dominate it, I will be the last in many cases to speak. I want to hear from my teammates, I want to hear their thoughts. I want to hear their observations. We'll talk about high performance players, we're talking about those that are gaps, we'll talk about what we can do to bridge those gaps and where we want to go as a team and leading the business. I feel strongly about that. Do

David Novak 36:23 

you have any rituals, Tom, that you keep in place or that help you stay grounded? You know, a lot of times you get this success, and it's it's the beginning of the downward spiral?

Tom Baltimore 36:33 

Yeah, the good news is David, I don't take myself too seriously. And I've, I'm blessed with an incredible wife and partner, my wife, Hillary, and I've been married 27 years. And, and it's important to keep in mind that, you know, when I when I started the first company, our IoT development, which became RLJ, lodging, trust, you know, my wife and I had just been married. Three years, we had an infant son, I come home, and I tell her that I'm going to walk away from a corporate job to start a business. She never blinked. She always believed in me. And when I come home, she's quick to tell me that I'm not the boss here. And she's right. And she's been an extraordinary partner. And then, later, you fast forward 17 years later, and I'd say I'm going to start another business and she didn't blink. She didn't doubt me. And I think when you have people like that in your corner, and you have that type of partner, it really matters.

David Novak 37:33 

Absolutely. You know, Tom, this has been so much fun. And I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this?

Tom Baltimore 37:40 

I'm ready. Okay.

David Novak 37:41 

What are three words people would use to describe you?

Tom Baltimore 37:45 

Humble, authentic? Focused?

David Novak 37:50 

If you could be one person for a day besides yourself? Who would it be?

Tom Baltimore 37:54 

You know, one of my heroes is Nelson Mandela, and being in prison for 2627 years. I mean, I, that's somebody that I certainly would have wished I could have met in my life.

David Novak 38:05 

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Tom Baltimore 38:07 

I think that people who aren't committed and don't give it their all every day?

David Novak 38:15 

What's a piece of advice you'd give to your younger self? We're

Tom Baltimore 38:19 

all full of contradictions. So this will surprise you to probably have sought a little more balance early in my career.

David Novak 38:26 

You get to front row tickets to anything you want.

Tom Baltimore 38:31 

Where would you go? Oh, masters. 18th. Hall Sunday.

David Novak 38:39 

What's one of your daily rituals? Something you'd never miss?

Tom Baltimore 38:42 

I try to take a few minutes every day for reflection and to ground me.

David Novak 38:49 

If I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear? You'd

Tom Baltimore 38:53 

have Squawk Box at home. And you'd have gospel music playing in the car.

David Novak 39:01 

What's something about you few people would know, I

Tom Baltimore 39:05 

love fast cars, but I rarely drive them.

David Novak 39:11 

We're out of a lightning round. Good job. That was great. Now you have served on a number of different boards. You know, what was the most challenging situation where you know, your leadership on that board, made it an indelible mark on the outcome of the event.

Tom Baltimore 39:26 

I was the lead director at Prudential going through the succession planning process. Back in 2018, as sitting CEO, had been on the board for north of a decade at that point, just making sure with a systemically important financial institution. So being a scifi and going through that was both stressful, important, and something I'm very proud of because we had two internal candidates and at the end of the day, we were able to keep both candidates, which was a great success for the company. You

David Novak 40:06 

know, that's interesting, you know, looking back when Jack Welch was doing his succession planning, he, they had three or four candidates, and he told them all they would need to go, you take the view, hey, I want to keep both these people. I don't what was your thinking on that?

Tom Baltimore 40:20 

You know, our, our thinking was that we had two exceptional candidates. And the win for the company would be either outcome, could we keep both. And in that case, we were able to keep both and I retired from that board last year, as I think you know, and those two leaders are still there. So that was, I think, an outstanding contribution for during my service on that board.

David Novak 40:48 

I also love how you're you're giving back and I understand you have endowed scholarships at the University of Virginia for for minority students. I think you've done so much for that school. They have a statue of you out there somewhere, I'm not sure. But talk more about what you're trying to do with the minority students?

Tom Baltimore 41:07 

Well, David, I can remember when I was in college, and I My biggest fear wasn't that I couldn't do the work it was that someone would show up with a bill, I didn't have much of a margin of error. And I didn't have much of a safety reserves. And I largely put myself through college through work study, scholarships, the Pell Grant, thank God for the federal government and the Pell Grant. I'm, I'm grateful for that. And, and so my wife, Hilary and I have always wanted to give back and, and so for us, education is really the cornerstone of our, of our giving. We've been fortunate enough to endow scholarships at a number of places. And we've almost always set them up for minority students that are from impoverished backgrounds who we know need it. And so it matters to us.

David Novak 42:00 

Fantastic. And and what's your unfinished business, Tom?

Tom Baltimore 42:04 

I'd loved and it's probably not achievable. I'm probably a 1314 handicap on golf, I'd love to get down to a single digit. But unless I practice more, or retire, and I don't think I can get a little more practice, but the retiring I don't see that in my future. Well,

David Novak 42:23 

it sounds like you're working a little bit too hard to be a great golfer at this stage. But that work ethic will work for you. When you do retire, I guarantee you that last question, what's the best piece of advice you could give to aspiring leaders?

Tom Baltimore 42:38 

I think authenticity, I think you've got to be the best you. I think you've got to recognize your strengths, play to your strengths. But don't be afraid of your gaps, look at your gaps and work hard to improve your gaps over time. You know, we're all evolving. We're all imperfect. And, you know, continuing to work hard, I think isn't terribly important.

David Novak 43:05 

Tom, I want to thank you so much for being on this podcast, and just congratulations on on what you've been able to achieve. You know, it's it's very difficult to, you know, start out at the bottom and take yourself to such high heights and take so many people with you. And you've definitely done that. So, thank you for sharing your story. It's very inspiring. And I appreciate it very much,

Tom Baltimore 43:29 

that you're an inspiration to me and so many other people. And it's an honor and I mean that sincerely to be on this podcast so.

David Novak 43:47 

Well, Tom is a shining example of the American dream. No matter where you come from, you can find a path to success if you're willing to work hard and bet on yourself. And there's a line in this conversation that I just love. Tom says, I don't think you really grow until you push yourself out of your comfort zone. Boy, he's spot on. As a leader. You just want to achieve that next level of success by strolling down easy street. Just like Tom, you've got to push yourself to work harder to take risks, and to be honest about where you can improve. When you authentically push yourself like that you earned the credibility and respect you need to push other people forward to. And that's how you build strong teams to get great results. This week, find one place to challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone. Give yourself that push. I can promise you that mentality will be the biggest source of growth for you, for your company and the people you lead. So do you want to know how leaders lead what we learned today is the great leaders push themselves and push others. Coming up next on how Leaders lead is Chris bevilaqua, founder and CEO of the innovative sports betting company. Simple bet. People

Chris Bevilacqua 45:07 

do business with people that they like and they trust. It's not that complicated. And you sit across three feet from someone and that's how deals get made and relationships get formed. So

David Novak 45:17 

be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen and while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be