Executive Spotlight: MMGY Global CEO Katie Briscoe Shares Insights from her Inaugural Year at the Helm

Alex Husner  0:03  
Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real women of vacation rentals. I'm Alex. And I'm Annie. And we are joined today with Katie Brisco, who is the CEO of MMGY, which MMGY global excuse me, which is a $100 million integrated travel marketing firm that operates all around the world. Katie is so great to see you today.

Katie Briscoe  0:23  
Oh, it's so good to see you both. Thanks for having me.

Annie Holcombe  0:26  
Thanks for joining us. So one of the things that we talked about off camera that we like to do within Alex and Annie is we like to bring on people that are unexpected people that are from different facets of not just tourism, but just of other industries. And really explore like the synergies between our business and the guests business. You're in global tourism you were at at in Kansas City. So you were in a very big destination, you work with a lot of destinations. But I would venture to say most of our listeners probably don't know much about Katy Brisco or MMG. So I wondered if you could just give us a little bit about your history, your background and how you got into tourism?

Katie Briscoe  1:03  
Absolutely. Well, I'll start with a company because the company is as old as I am. Ironically enough, and and started it started really in travel more on the hospitality side. So while we do a tremendous amount of work with destination marketing organizations, you know, a third of our portfolio is in the private sector in hospitality and transportation, basically any facet of the travel industry that really the travel hospitality or many lifestyle brands we work with to we we service. So we've been at this for sort of 40 years, I've been with a company for 15. And the company is transformed, certainly both in scale, but also in expertise in terms of the global team, we now have 600 employees around the world. And we have 14 global offices. And in fact, we used to say headquartered in Kansas City, but I think the goal and being a truly truly global company was having more, you know, associates outside of the US than in and we're really nearing that benchmark, which is exciting. You know, I grew up in the company for the first half of my tenure, the the company was privately owned by Don Montague, and Clayton Reed. And then in 2016. You know, it was it was really an inflection point of the company was going to grow or sort of stay this this sort of same size and be, you know, smaller agency partner to clients, I think many of us who had grown up in the business and knew what we could do, we're really, you know, excited to start investing and other businesses and, you know, capital investments in service lines. And so we took the company to market and we were invested in by a company called Peninsula Capital Partners out of Detroit, Michigan. And so for the last seven and a half years of Peninsula's holding, they've been phenomenal partners didn't know much about travel, didn't know much about our business, but were just great business partners, and really trusted the management team, which is the dream in any sort of transaction like that, you know, we we've been able to invest in 11 businesses over the course of of peninsulas, holding six of those being outside the US so truly became a global business. Now, it wasn't just the sign on the door. And more than half of those businesses have been small women owned businesses. So I pinch myself every day that we now have a field of 19 founders tied to our global business or global platform, that have spearheaded thought leadership, you know, research efforts across the travel industry, I think about the exposure to that caliber of thinking, and I just can't believe I have the opportunity to be a part of it. So I became CEO last January, I worked my way up nearly every job in the agency, but came up through the client service side, which I think if you poke around a lot of executive teams and agencies a lot come up through the account management side, because at the end of the day, we're customer service company. And obviously trying to drive real outcomes. We're not a vanity shop, we like awards, but it's not it's not a traditional shop in which the awards are paramount to our success. It really truly is about you know, growing clients business, growing their share of wallet, really expanding their brand profile at a national or regional, national or global scale. So yeah, that's sort of how I came up in the firm. Again, the the agency is such a special place to work and now that I've been inside travel, I can't imagine doing anything else. And I think even coming out of the pandemic, you know, where people will probably ask the two of you I'm sure you're going to stay in the the travel and hospitality industries, given what's happened, it's never going to be the same. And I'm sure you have the same answer that I did, which is of course Travel is this part of the human experience, travel changes everything. Like, why would we step away from from that, and we can see now with consumer behavior coming out of pandemic, the moment people were able to travel they prioritized, you know, you know, prioritize with their, their spending those experiences? Yeah,

Annie Holcombe  5:19  
I think it's a matter of saying like, it's not that I have to I get to, you know, I get, I always look at it, like, we get to be part of people's experiences both the first time the last times the in between times, but they're, we're part of their memories, whether we're actually active in it or not, we get to be memory makers and participate in that, and it's an honor.

Katie Briscoe  5:39  
Oh, I completely agree such an honor to be a part of these, you know, when you ask people, this is the age old and we have research that supports this now of this sort of priority, especially coming out of the pandemic of experiences, not things, you know, you saw a lot of at the beginning of the pandemic consumers, you know, renovating homes, and you know, really shifting those, you know, they're not going out to eat at restaurants, they're not taking vacations, they're spending in other ways, but there's only so many big screen TVs you can buy, there's only you know, it's like that, yeah, meaningful. And so, ultimately, when you ask people about, you know, their favorite memories or experiences, it's typically always tied to travel, I like now check this when I'm talking to people and getting to know them. And, you know, leaning in that whole mantra of it's more interesting to be interested, I always Lully and asking, you know, people like, tell me about your, you know, your favorite experiences, and it always comes back to a travel experience, nine times out of 10. Yeah,

Alex Husner  6:33  
makes sense. I mean, we talked about this all the time that it's like, you know, at the end of the day, there's a lot of things any of us could be selling, or businesses that we could be working for. But those memories are huge. And it's easy to get lost in the day to day and the minutia of you know what your job is. But when you actually sit back and think about that, it certainly gives it a lot more a lot more meaning. And I agree with you that I think people are really leaning into experiences born. And that's a great way to get to know somebody also to ask, you know, where were they what actually means something to them. I mean, that's that's what all this is about. But Katie, you and I have we met a few years ago, actually, you MMG why pitch the Myrtle Beach chamber and CVB DMO to be the advertising agency of record. And that's when I first got to meet you and some other people from your team, and just got to understand all that MMG y offers and what your company does, and it's robust. I mean, you guys literally do everything within the marketing space that a destination or travel brand could possibly want from the PR to the digital to the paid to, I mean, anything, anything within the marketing side, you guys cover. I remember during COVID You know, they're looking at our budgets at that time. And, you know, really thinking about what do we do because a lot of destinations, they, they cut their budgets off. And that was, you know, they just had to wait until things rebounded. But due to your guidance and your team, we kept things going and it ended up working out marvelously for the destination. And we grew a lot because of taking, taking those strides. But it's been great working with you on Visit Myrtle Beach. And I know everybody's Stewart and the team over there have really enjoyed working with you. Well,

Katie Briscoe  8:14  
thank you for your service on the board. I mean, that is a best in class team at Myrtle Beach at the Chamber broadly. And then the the board the guidance, I think what happened in during the pandemic, which is not unexpected is that many travel brands and destinations became paralyzed of what do we do next. And I really can't say enough about Myrtle Beach and just leaning into where were their opportunities. I mean, that is a destination, you know, that's solely dependent on tourism to drive its its economic success. And so, obviously respecting local law and you know, the right thing to do related to managing, you know, this situation, but then also, when was the right time to lean in and talk about the fact that, you know, like Panama City Beach, where I know, you're at Annie, you know, it was a destination that you could invite people in to because of the outdoor experience, you know, as we began to understand a little bit more about how to sort of manage our way out of the pandemic. So, I think leaning into that opportunity, and I think that's where our business shines because we are lifting up travel as an economic driver for the communities. I mean, our goals and many of the goals of the destinations we work with are to enhance the quality of life for the residents. And so how we're able to lean in and kind of turn that back on in a responsible way was was a rewarding challenge during the really difficult period. I know for all of you making decisions at the top of the organization

Alex Husner  9:52  
Yeah, absolutely. So sorry, I just lost my spot. I'm sorry, guys. I just like blanked out. I'm sorry.

Annie Holcombe  10:08  
I'm sorry. Okay, I have a question related to. So you said you touch all facets of travel. So, you know, obviously, Alex and I are in vacation rentals, short term rentals. We're in this like weird space. And one of the things that we've always laughed at is that, you know, we've been around for a really long time this industry has been in I've been in it since the late 90s. So for a very long time, but there's still so many people, investors, people that are getting into this space that are like, Oh, this is new, sexy, exciting part of travel. And it's really not, but from your perspective, within the DMO space and within, like, you know, the travel management, have you seen more interest in it? Is it a space that you guys actually have dipped your toes in and are working with clients on?

Katie Briscoe  10:52  
Well, vacation rental? You know, this goes back to all the things that we learned in COVID is that the travel industry is this complex ecosystem, not each other. And so vacation rentals are an important, a critically important part of the travel economy. And so ultimately, I mean, I know that the discussion between you know, and you're, you know, obviously, I know, your background end, which is quite impressive. But, but being with Marriott bonvoy Now, and thinking about how that fits into even the ecosystem of a major hotel group, like Marriott just goes to show the importance of that product inside a destination. And so we do, you know, work and obviously, funding and talking about all those things, and how funding works, because many of our destinations are funded by bed tax, I think that's been an interesting conversation over the years, and how to track what is an extremely complex and far reaching system. But but everything has to be, you know, the vacation rentals, the hotels, like, those are the products and experiences inside these destinations that travelers are demanding that they want to experience. And so I think having that, you know, sort of well rounded accommodation. Spectrum inside a destination is really critical to its long term success. I don't know if that answers that. I mean, primarily we, Andy, we work with hospitality companies. So we do, Hyatt we do quite a bit of work with Marriott, especially out of our London office, on the PR and comms side. We have worked with, you know, hotels and resorts that are independently owned. And then we have to, you know, we do work with Expedia and TripAdvisor and they spent a few years Expedia which is the CEO, a well rounded resume for sure in the travel industry. But, you know, understanding I think how all these things fit together allows us to fit proper strategy with our clients.

Annie Holcombe  12:56  
Yeah. So on that just kind of dovetail off of it. We have another image ad industry friend, and I'm not sure if you're familiar with Jennifer Barbie, she has destination innovate. And she does a lot on the DMO side, but really, within sort of the digital marketing space, so kind of an expert, social media, that type of thing. And so I met her years ago when I was on the Marketing Committee for a post in Panama City Beach. And we've just stayed friends. And it's just interesting to see her evolve. But one of the things that was interesting was, again, through COVID, she was working with some of the destinations that all of a sudden, they were like, Oh my gosh, we had no idea we had vacation rentals in our market, like they just didn't, they just weren't aware, because they were maybe on the periphery of the tourist corridor, or they weren't, you know, they were just operating on their own and through Airbnb and not necessarily working with the destination. And so she saw that there was like this need to, to bring them in the fold within within those markets. And so I think it's an interesting space that we're all in now that that the destinations, if they didn't know it before, they definitely know it now that it's a valuable segment of the of the market that they need to be aware of, and take interest in and take, you know, and put them on the boards, you know, have them have a seat at the table. And so I was just curious, like, from your perspective, are you seeing that more and more than you did say pre COVID?

Katie Briscoe  14:12  
Well, I would say that vacation rentals in that capacity creation that that allows for destinations to expand the the visitors that they're inviting, that are going to stay longer, spend more and obviously, on the vacation rental side length of stay is such an upside for many of these destinations. I think the funding model for many of these DMOS is really the question of whether and gosh, Alex, you would probably talk about this as much as anyone with your representation on on the the Chamber's board is that the typical funding models are funded by bed tax. So the likelihood of a lot of these demos are about heads and beds at hotels and not necessarily tied to occupancy in you know in vacation Until then I think if I'm being honest, I think that's been the rub of where there hasn't been probably representation of the full ecosystem within a destination, you know, to drive strategy for for the destination. So I do think to your point end that that's changed substance, substantively, as the industry has been impacted by by COVID. And then as you know, the industry is consistently impacted by, you know, weather events and things like that, where that, you know, that the industry has to come together to rebuild.

Alex Husner  15:29  
Yeah, for sure. I think I mean, obviously, we talked about this quite a bit, too. But Airbnb has made just huge impacts on our industry, both as vacation rentals, but also just travel in general. And you know, what that's done to destinations that they're trying to find out more and more about the data? How many guests are actually really coming to these Airbnbs? Are they actually paying taxes? That's a big thing for destinations, as well. But you guys really specialize in the data side of things. And you know, finding, not necessarily the the tax side, but I've been working with the key data's of the world and some of the other, you know, providers, but how have you seen that change over the years for what the destinations are looking for, and how you guys can bring in those partnerships to fulfill that information?

Katie Briscoe  16:14  
Well, I tell you why destinations are so critically important to the communities that they serve, and I think sometimes are not understood the complexities not interested in what they're managing, because oftentimes with the no funding model is actually the same across these destinations. I mean, we work with the state of Colorado, the state of California, the state of Texas, the state of Michigan, and then we work with, you know, a Myrtle Beach, visit Kansas City, a Detroit a Cleveland, and so the funding models of these destination organizations, I mean, kind of there's even talk about as it destination marketing as a destination management, you know, what, really is the role that these organizations play, which is vital to the communities that they serve, but we're often spending taxpayer dollars. So the pressure on the executives leading these organizations is enormous, to really prove out the value. And that's why, you know, we talk quite a bit about how a lot of destination strategies, especially over the last handful of years have become more resident centric, as opposed to visitor centric. I mean, our job, you know, when we're hired on the scene, our job is to invite visit overnight visitors into destinations to drive economic impact. And I think that, and long overdue and right is to talk about if our job is really of economic impact. What does that do? It really enhances the quality of life for the residents with infrastructure investments, you know, is that really taking place? And how do we think about that narrative? The other piece is, when we're marketing destinations, you know, we can have the most beautiful advertising and marketing messages, you both know this, but if they don't come into the destination and have that experience, we're not doing our job. I mean, exactly, yeah. And so I do think the complexity of the role of the DMO has continued to evolve and change, but to your point about how important data and insights have been to drive those strategies that that, that get approved on plans for for expense, it does come down to understanding where the opportunities are for a market, and then understanding how we're bringing in, you know, high quality travelers into a destination that really fit the needs of the residents inside. And I don't think we could ever do that without data and insights. And we do a tremendous amount of research work in our travel intelligence, operating brand within an MG y, but we also look to a lot of, you know, to key data into other data sources within a destination to help tell that story of sort of cause and effect.

Alex Husner  18:54  
Yeah, I think the rise of responsible travel has been profound, and just what that means for the destination, not just, you know, making sure that it's not an crazy amount of people that are coming in to the destination, but also that the residents are still able to enjoy a great quality of life. And, you know, we we talked about this at our chamber meetings all the time that, you know, people come here and they vacation, and they fall in love with it. And then when they they move here, then they don't understand that the reason that we can have these great restaurants and attractions and things to do is because of the tourism. So it's like it's a double edged sword and how that's presented to them and then how you how you manage that, but I think there's definitely been a shift and we've seen it here of you know, it's not just the marketing that's outside of the destination. It's keeping the people that are here keeping them happy because we really want them to be the ambassadors of these brands and of the destination.

Katie Briscoe  19:45  
Like I've always thought about this you're my first experience typically in a new city is in my Uber ride, right or shared, whether it's a taxi and Uber whatever is available, and I talk About this consistently is, is I love talking to the drivers about, you know, obviously their likelihood is if they're picking me up at the airport, it's they're glad I'm coming, I hope. Yeah. But just talking about their experience and knowledge of the city and their recommendations and things. So you're right, Alex, I mean, just the, the real ambassadors of the destination brand are the people working in small business and, you know, working in the hotels and in the resorts and the experience that they give. And so that sort of alignment as stakeholders in the destination brand has become more and more important, you know, as the years have gone on to really telling an authentic story in the marketplace about what a destination has to offer, and then aligning with that right? visitor to come in.

Annie Holcombe  20:47  
So I've loved they'll go ahead, Alex good, no good. No, I actually was going to try to kind of turn the conversation. So another area that Alex and I are really passionate about is kind of like mentorship within the industry, not just within vacation rentals, but just within travel. And so I started out in the business when there was just mostly men dominated. And I think men still dominate a lot of the leadership roles within within travel overall. And Alex and I have talked about our experiences, we're not necessarily a full of great women who were like, yes, you're going to be wonderful. And let me guide you through. And so I'm curious, your experience coming up? Did you have a lot of great women role models and mentors, that kind of helped you? Because again, the advertising world, you look at Mad Men, I mean, that's a great example of men, you know, leading an industry. So I know that's, like sexy for TV. But, you know, what, what was your experience? Like?

Katie Briscoe  21:41  
I don't think that the madmen was probably too far off about 25 years ago. Yeah, it really. I do think that, you know, being a serious business partner, I mean, agencies have had to evolve. If you can't be a serious business partner, you're not going to stay on the scene. Yeah. You know, I, as you look back that sort of that compilation of your years and your journeys through, there were there were certainly impactful women, but I would say more of the mentorship opportunities I had were men, and I think I have some empathy for some of the women and more powerful positions as I was coming up in my own career, because it was, there wasn't a lot of psychological safety, that there could be multiple women on the scene being successful. And so like, there was kind of that, you know, elbowing or not making room for another woman to come up, I think I felt that pretty viscerally as I was growing up and feeling conscious of it. So I think that's right. And I think that's changed over time. But I feel like I have empathy for those women now, when I, the seat that I sit about maybe why some of those behaviors occurred, because there just wasn't room. And so now, when we think about when I know the two of you feel this way, that that you feel like the doors that were opening, it's that that famous Michelle Obama quote that you turn around, you leave the door opening, pull somebody in behind, it is our responsibility as leaders in the industry. And, you know, one of the things that was incredibly important to me, as I took on the chief executive role, you know, we had, we have a fantastic executive leadership team, but 70% of our workforce globally is are women. And to see that reflected across Middle management and executive management is incredibly important. And so, you know, you know, we've now hired of our six person, global leadership team for women, to or women of color, and I think that you know, sort of representation and leadership of an organization like ours is incredibly important. And I think the richness that's come from that in terms of how we thought about global benefits, how we thought about empowering women to to build long lasting careers, while starting families and making choices that they want to in their personal lives. That's been sort of the joy of a career to be able to be in a seat to make some of those decisions to change some things I just, I joke, I don't know whether it was like wrapping my first year as CEO, but I got emotional on our end of your meeting. I was trying to think if I ever I clearly never saw my mentor, the the indomitable Clayton Reed who I adore, you know, he never cried in a company meeting but God I think, but But I remember having, you know, my first child and coming back from maternity leave after 12 weeks, and asking, you know, I was still nursing and like, is there a place where I can you know, can can pump and there was no room and I remember being just kind of shown to you know, what, an old office with old broken furniture inside and and I remember kind of thinking like, what if I'm ever in charge, it's not going to be that way. And granted, there are laws now But that certainly, but it's it's a completely different experience for young mothers in our business now in terms of their their lead their leave in terms of how they're getting paid. We have fantastic paid maternity benefits and paid paternity benefits because obviously the dynamic of a, you know, a partnership and parenting is sort of set in those early weeks of child in the home. And then of course, there are, there are people building families and in less traditional ways that we want to support and celebrate. And so I think, you know, leaves in that capacity. But So balancing those things, and creating this environment where people can really see themselves building a long lasting career inside of our company was incredibly important. And then, of course, the representation at the top and more diverse representation because it's not just about women. That's, you know, that's incredibly important, I think, in representation in boardrooms, but it's also diversity of thought and life experience, that I think is, has really changed the trajectory of our global company. For sure,

Alex Husner  25:59  
and we all know, it's mostly women that make the travel decisions anyways. Yep. Yes, that's right.

Katie Briscoe  26:04  
It is absolutely true. I will say just last week, I we, you know, I I've seen this trend, which I love for holidays, and gift giving seasons, you know, people leaning into experiences rather than things it's just talking about earlier. And so we surprised our kids and took them to LA for a Miami Heat, LA Lakers game. And we of course, we rented a, through a small business, a beautiful home on Manhattan Beach and, and spent the week and you know, had a great experience with those those owners. And so it's so interesting, because I travel for business, and I stay in hotels and and as I was listening to some of the previous podcasts and love the show, this is the thing about travelers that are that are really so unique is that we're all things I'm renting vacation rentals, yeah. times a year. And then I'm staying in hotels, three weeks out of every month, right? Yeah, yeah, all these things. But I take us back to travel. And we're talking about the mentorship piece. But I've been very lucky from a mentorship standpoint, but I hope that sort of this next generation of female professionals have a very different experience than the three of us did. Yeah.

Alex Husner  27:21  
And you and I are very similar to you, in our early careers to that we both grew up with male mentors that you know, really took care of us, but just never had that, that female mentorship. But I think one thing I've learned is, I mean, you can you can read as much as you want, you can listen to other people. But until you actually experience something yourself, you really can't put yourself you can't put yourself in somebody else's shoes of what something feels like. So I think, you know, having you being there and being very empathetic, and you know, leading the team is going to be instrumental for the growth going forward. But I do know, it's been I mean, the first year and a new role is always tough. And I just went through our first year in our jobs, and there's a lot of learning curves. And granted, you've been within the company for a long time. But it can be lonely at the top and just curious, like what this past year has been like, and is it completely different than what you were doing before? Or like what would have been the challenges of becoming CEO?

Katie Briscoe  28:16  
No, such a great question. I didn't expect it to be as different as it actually was, you know, I was president of the global company for four years prior to becoming Chief Executive, and had a tremendous amount of autonomy. And then ultimately, in the last 18 months of, of my role as president was succession was so I was taking on more of the responsibilities was able to work hand in hand with Clayton in terms of how he was making some decisions that really are the CEOs job to make. And so I felt like I had this was, frankly, so blessed to have the transition that I did, because it doesn't always work that way, sometimes you're thrust into that seat and then have to figure it out on your own. And I really had it about a year and a half to get ready for it. So perhaps in that year and a half window, some naivety crept in of how tough it wouldn't be. But I then took on the role and of course my mentor and and friend over all these years Clayton was the not in the office, he was quite gracious and like I'm not going to office here. I don't want anybody to be confused about who was in charge and, and at the time, I thought, Gosh, come into the office, you know, you you exude this energy that we're all accustomed to, like that'll be missed. But there was such wisdom and what he was saying because it was true. He had led the business for so long that without him making sort of a clean exit he still sits on our board without making a clean exit it really would have been difficult for me to assume the role in the way that I needed to. And you know, one of the things being with the company for 15 years I've grown up with so many of the professionals around me who I I just love and respect so much and sort of resetting those professional relationships when you become CEO, you know, that's incredibly challenging to because you have to care about different things, you know, there's so much less room for a lot of small talk than there maybe was five years ago for me and, and I think that does to your point Alex create, you know, a bit of, of loneliness because at the end of the day, my my job is to, to keep the business successful. It's, you know, it's the weight of 40 years and now 19 founders entrepreneurs that started this, these businesses that are now part of our global platform that I think about, and how do I continue on that legacy that they've created of hard work and grit, and being customer centric, always around the business solutions that we provide? And, and then the weight of 600 employees who benefits and their livelihoods are really around the success of the business. And so finding that sort of Northstar, which is really more making decisions that are good for the business and knowing that those impacts reverberate through through the staff has been a real shift in sort of my executive identity. And that that's been more challenging than than I anticipated. And it's not what was me, I'm so lucky. And I think that's talk about it very often. I'm not asked the question very often, because people don't feel sorry for CEOs, and they shut it. But it but it is an interesting transition as a as a woman to to I think make. And it certainly taught me a lot about myself, and in ways that have been both fulfilling and it's sometimes, you know, you know, lonely to your point.

Annie Holcombe  31:45  
I assume you have a fairly strong tribe around you.

Katie Briscoe  31:51  
Yeah, I'm gonna cry on your podcast now. Oh, there are so, you know, the advice of, there's Lindsey Uber author who's the president and CEO of preferred hotels, and one of the busiest humans on the planet, you know, I reached out to her early on, you know, when I knew that I would be transitioning into the CEO role and, and said, You have time to talk and, you know, making time when you are so extremely busy, which everyone is, like trying to get to this mantra of busy not being a badge of honor, because it isn't. But making time for, you know, the people coming in after us and people taking on these roles to sort of share and prepare, you know, people to take these jobs on successfully was such a, an amazing gift. And I think about people like Lindsey, and there are half a dozen other people that I would mention, that were so kind and sort of preparing me for what this might look like, and, and then giving me advice on you know, where to go to create a network, not only, you know, my friends and family who could care less than I'm a CEO. My children are still screaming at me about where their soccer uniforms are at, you know, like, they humbling and lovely, at the same time, you know, at the same time, and then your front, my friends that I've you know, have been friends with me for, you know, 35 years, you know, they don't care if I was a CEO, or if I was doing something entirely different, they'd still love me, I think that professional tribe, trusted tribe has been something that I've been cultivating for the past few years. And that sort of the combination of both personal and professional, I think is how you sort of maintain that energy level to keep moving forward. Because that is, that is the dynamic is I, I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility. I love this business, I believe in travel, you know, while I have business objectives to a board of investors that there are realities with that, those those objectives don't relate to you know, that 600 staff members, some they do quite a few that they have to have a why that makes you cry, besides EBIT, da you know, exactly. Why that makes them cry is the power of travel, the power of travel to bridge understanding between cultures to widen your perspective and frame of mind around what life truly is. And I believe in that why still makes me cry and leading our business and I also have, you know, leaned into the, the the aspects of running a successful business and how rewarding that is, you know, for, you know, for leaders around our company that continue to, you know, benefit from the growth along with others and, you know, broadly down into the business and for the investment team that's making a bet on us that we can continue to grow and prosper in this specialty of

Alex Husner  34:50  
travel. Yeah, absolutely. I was just out in Vegas earlier this week for a mastermind and with David Meltzer, and one of the questions that he got in The q&a was if you could give one piece of just one piece of advice, what would it be? And he said, always ask for help. And you know, it's true, right? Because it's like that you all you feel like you have to go at everything alone sometimes. But people, especially within the travel industry, I would say are so wanting to, to help and give and you know, Andy and I are very lucky within vacation rentals that we've gotten an amazing tribe of people. But you know, I think within an organization or whatever it is, we're what you're doing, just knowing that you can ask for help. And there are people that because they've been somewhere that you haven't been, they do want to give back and they do want to help and you know, to the empathy part of what I was saying earlier, you don't you can't understand something until you've experienced it. But then when you have experienced it, it is it's kind of your duty to pass that wisdom and knowledge on to somebody else who can benefit from that. But I was curious. Oh, sorry. No, good. Good.

Katie Briscoe  35:52  
I was gonna say, I don't know, who tricked us into thinking that everybody who would had taken on these roles before knew absolutely right.

Annie Holcombe  35:59  
Yeah, like parenting. Yeah, you learn as you go, right. 100%

Katie Briscoe  36:02  
I think the, you know, I listened to, you know, your, your first of the year episode, the bonus episode about your words of the year, and sort of how that guides you and, and, and my word of the year is curiosity. Because I think the mistake that a lot of leaders executive leaders make in organizations is that feeling that, Oh, I get to go a mile wide and a foot deep and just make these decisions. And, again, that that is required, we do have to make the decisions, the hard ones, and sometimes the easier ones. But the curiosity of knowing, being wildly comfortable with what you don't know, and feeling like that might be. Right, is interesting, me because I think about the professionals, I'm surrounded by at MMI global, the the caliber of clients that we're able to work with, and the perspectives that I get exposed to every day. And, you know, I make decisions and admit I'm wrong. And you know, my my position might evolve, you know, over years of time of watching something, you know, play out, and I'm not afraid of that. And I think I That, to me, is the sort of growth and post first year, you know, being a first year CEO was just getting just wildly comfortable with that aspect.

Annie Holcombe  37:21  
So what's one thing, looking back over one year concluded? What would be one thing that you wish you'd known before?

Katie Briscoe  37:32  
What a fantastic question.

Annie Holcombe  37:37  
And there might be five things but just one thing,

Katie Briscoe  37:42  
how sacred your energy, how sacred your energy level is, and really, there's a graphic I just saw that's like your to do list, but what are the things you have to do you want to do or other people want you to do. And that's so true. And I think, you know, maintaining your energy level as a leader, because I again, I am so optimistic about this industry, what we're doing to to enrich human experience, you know, I, it sounds very profound, and I think it is, I can do, or I wouldn't spend my days doing, I feel a deep passion for what we're doing. I also feel that I was given an enormous opportunity, you know, kind of coming through the company in which I was told, like, you know, kind of think about your next next job, and if your next next job is your stay, and so then I always felt that way and then I ended up here. But I think when when you become in a position of power is natural, people want a lot of things from you. And I think sifting through that to really focus on the most important thing so that you can you can maintain an energy level to lead a global organization to be excited to be there personally for you know, the I always have said you know, you you can't find joy in your you typically can't I don't want to say there's, there's never, like an entirely exclusive, you know, way to say this, but in my experience and the people I've had the privilege to lead over the years, you can't find joy in the job unless you find joy outside of it. And so that's why I asked people within the legal perimeters of interviewing, what do you like to do? What are your passions? Like, what do you what do you into outside of work? Because those things matter. And I think those personal relationships, how that gives you energy in addition to professionally, how you're given energy, the maintenance of that is also an important part of the job and I don't think I understood that fully.

Annie Holcombe  39:41  
But the great response I love that I don't think I've ever heard about it. Generally people will say like, protect your time, but I've never heard anybody related to like energy. So I think that's that's valuable. And thank goodness you recognize that now. Not five years from now. Yeah.

Katie Briscoe  39:55  
Well, you know, we had a you know, we have global agency meetings where we come together, celebrate the great work, you know, celebrate some, you know, individual accomplishments across our team. And it's such a, it's such a powerful, these are such powerful meetings because you really get the sense of the scale and what we built and just the the enormous talent that sits inside, you know, our company, which is really enabled by the clients who trust us and hire us to do work. But at the tail end of the year, we were having a close meeting. And of course, we're all having conversations about in office out of office, what is flexibility really mean in this age, all of these somewhat exhausting conversations when you're running, you know, a large organization of how do you not create outliers that put a lot of weight on middle managers who are who are doing a tremendous amount of delivery to clients, you know, all of these really difficult conversations about continuing to modernize our professional environment, our workforce, you know, in hearing all of the things and I just at the end of the year, I felt so drained at our end of company meeting, and I never felt that way. And I thought, What is wrong with me like I, this is such a dream job, a phenomenal company, why do I feel like I don't know what to say. And so I talked to my Chief of Staff, and who runs these meetings, does a brilliant job. And I said, You know what, I will give me five minutes at the end, I'll close it out to get us to the new year, but I'm just going to listen as I would if I wasn't in this job, and just feel inspired, find inspiration from everyone else. And so, I did it, I sat there and just, you know, listen to the accomplishments of the year of the pride people felt in presenting the work that they had done that, you know, the changes that we had had made in businesses in terms of the marketing efforts, how that had grown, you know, the bottom line for our clients, you know, promotions of our clients, you know, our job is to get them new jobs and bigger jobs, you know, and so I just felt so inspired. And of course, I got up at the end and teared up a little bit because I just felt so proud. But I think allowing yourself to feel in those moments, and to figure out how you can show up and be the best leader for, for your team. It's not the steady path, it's you know, it's, and I think being human, you know, I talk about being a female leader, but I think being human first as as a, as a CEO has worked well for me thus far. And, and I certainly hope to continue to lean into that as time goes on. I certainly don't, don't want to harden, I want to gain more experience, but still, you know, find the simplicity and joy of the privilege of, of the people I serve in the company. And the clients that I serve. It's, it's it's, it's really incredible.

Alex Husner  42:51  
I'm curious, what are the things that you do outside of work that keep you having that energy?

Katie Briscoe  42:56  
Yeah, that's a good one. I always I wish I could say I had some amazing, like talent or hobby that I that I do, you know, I have two young kids. So we're doing a lot of sports, like it's just a, you know, kind of busy season of life. This is such a strange thing to share in this forum. But one thing that always calms me and you both live by the water, so I assume this is something that we have in common, but is water. So hot baths, and being in a hot tub being in you know, in the summertime for me and Kansas City. You know, being in the water is so calming and centering to me, and I don't think that qualifies as a hobby. But I will say that if I've had a rough day, you know, my husband will definitely be like, Oh, we're taking a three hour hot bath tonight.

Alex Husner  43:45  
I'm like, Yeah, that's me for sure. And he's definitely the the bathroom one of us to

Katie Briscoe  43:50  
I don't know what it is about the follow up that just as it's calming. And I will say that I too. You know, again, not a hobby, per se or something that but something that is sort of refreshes. And I'm sure you guys have talked about this as gratitude journaling. Because I think it's so easy when you're in a position of leadership that you're being bombarded with, with things that are potentially going wrong. That's that's the job. It's what we're paid for. But I think always seeking out even the simplest joys and things to be grateful for just reframes the way you step into a day and move through it. And you know, is the energy I said, I never want when somebody walks into my office and wants to talk, I never want to rob them of any energy they have. I never want to say something that's going to bring them because I'm such a believer and giving and receiving of energy that you know, I really take that into, you know, into consideration. So some of these resets we have so I think my hobbies are actually just kind of these micro resets. And, you know, in this busy life of young children busy job and Think back. Definitely cooler to say at some point, though. No,

Annie Holcombe  45:02  
I think it's great. Yeah. But yeah, it's okay to it's okay to prioritize yourself as a hobby, you know? Yeah, it really is

Katie Briscoe  45:10  
right, trying to figure out how to do that, too. But again, I think, you know, we always talk about this, that health being central to what we're doing when we're in high performing, you know, jobs. And so I think centering around health too, and of course, it's the start of the year. So I think probably, many people are having that conversation with themselves of how to have a healthier lifestyle and because, you know, health sometimes is put on the backburner when you're, you know, when you're a busy professional, and then it's certainly put at the front, immediately if something goes wrong. So that thinking about a lot this this 2024 Yeah.

Annie Holcombe  45:44  
So I was curious, in the industry, and it doesn't have to necessarily be travel. But I think travel relates to this. What what do you think is a subject or an area that's not being talked about enough?

Katie Briscoe  46:03  
Gosh, that's interesting. I think I would maybe have it a couple of different answers to that end, but I think first we're facing, especially in destination, you know, marketing organizations facing some challenges and some headwinds around funding. And I think in the spirit of talking about infrastructure and economic development inside I, it's fascinating to me, and I think, incredibly important, how tourism strategy is becoming married with economic development. And how do we spend taxpayer dollars in terms of infrastructure? Or do you think about leaning into tourism, which drives ROI that gets, you know, pushed back into infrastructure. And so I think that's something that has been taken for granted a little bit in the tourism industry, as the as there's been this boom, you know, sort of through COVID. And so we're coming out of COVID, the recovery of trouble has really exceeded especially on the leisure side, and you guys know, this expectations, but I think sort of funding models, especially on the DMO side is going to become talked more and more about openly, I think it's going to, it's going to become pretty important to protect these organizations and what they're driving in terms of economic development. You know, we're talking a lot about, you know, diversity, equity and inclusion around our, you know, advertising campaigns and how we're thinking about brands. And I think that was something that we weren't talking about as much, you know, three to four years ago, and obviously, a variety of events leading to that needs to be on the forefront. But I think that continues to be an important conversation across destinations, and what that what that strategic imperative really means to those groups. And that's a fantastic question.

Alex Husner  47:57  
Like to get those are two great answers to Yeah, really? Definitely. I would echo both from what I see, you know, on our side of the chamber DMO world, but the funding models for sure, I mean, that's definitely something that's top of mind. And we're hearing that in a lot of different areas that would that we go to, but it really just it takes it takes preparation. And I know when we've changed our funding models and our different advertising programs that are they're pretty, I mean, it's a complex thing here, but it takes it takes planning, and it takes a couple of years to really get things in motion to make sure that you're ahead of the tide. And especially, I mean, from the legislative standpoint, you know, we're seeing a lot of issues that some of them come from Airbnb, but these DMOS are facing different, you know, the money that's even coming in is different than it was a few years ago, right? I mean, this is not going to be I think 2024 is going to be a challenging year, I think it's going to be more challenging than 2023. So it's just something that everybody has to be top of mind. Mind with.

Unknown Speaker  48:58  
Me agree.

Alex Husner  49:01  
Well, Katie, it was amazing to have you here today in such an honor. I truly enjoyed just getting to know you a little bit better hearing about your career and then just you know what, what travel has in store for this year. So thank you so much for joining us.

Katie Briscoe  49:16  
Oh, thank you guys, I learned something new every single time I listened to the podcast truly. And again, such a special part of the industry that that you both serve and clearly are love and are so passionate about. And I appreciate you sharing that with with us every week. It that's a privilege.

Annie Holcombe  49:34  
Well, thank you for listening. We appreciate that. If anybody wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way to do that? You

Katie Briscoe  49:40  
know, LinkedIn is always a sure thing for me. So I would love to chat and if, you know this is the thing when you you come on in and you kind of talk about some of these macro topics, both professionally and across the industry. I always seek sort of dissent in perspective. You know, I think Some probably or you guys have grown through, you know, through the years of doing this of, you know, being challenged and coming to new ideas. So I would love if anybody disagreed or agreed, you know, to reach out via LinkedIn. I love to chat.

Alex Husner  50:12  
Great. I'll include the link to your LinkedIn and contact info in our show notes. And if anybody wants to get in touch with me, I could go to Alex and Annie podcast.com. And in the meantime, thank you so much for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next week.

Unknown Speaker  50:27  
All right.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai