Hey, everybody!
Welcome to Episode two-hundred and forty-…
Hey, what's the number?
The number is two-hundred and forty-seven
of CxOTalk.
You know, AI seems to be taking over our lives.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere.
And at the same time, everybody loves cruises
[…] and vacations, right?
And today, we are talking about the intersection
of AI and cruises.
And, we have an amazing show!
I’m so thrilled to welcome Sol Rashidi,
who is the Chief Data and Cognitive Officer
of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
Sol, how are you?
Thanks so much for being here!
Thank you very much for having me!
I look forward to this conversation very much!
So, Sol, tell us about Royal Caribbean and
tell us about what you do?
Let’s start there.
Sure!
Sure.
Well, I think everyone knows who Royal Caribbean
is.
We are leading in the industry for cruise
lines.
We've got a three-brand Royal Caribbean.
We've got celebrity and Azamara.
And, earlier, I would say [since] 2/4/2016,
we have been embarking on a huge transformational
journey and I know a lot of companies often
use that word pretty broadly as well, but
I'm happy to say that we really mean it here.
We're actually doing it.
We've on-boarded some phenomenal talent.
I would say, humbly speaking, I was a late
addition to the group, and I am their current
Chief Data and Cognitive Officer.
The data side, for obvious reasons, everyone
is shifting and pivoting towards becoming
a more data-centric organization, being able
to collect the raw data that we have, converting
it to information, and then building insights.
And then, the hardest part, I would say, is
being able to take action on the insights
we gather.
But, the cognitive side; because in addition
to just…
I don’t want to call it “generic,” but
the general analytics that we’re trying
to run and the competencies that we’re trying
to build internally, there is definitely a
cognitive component.
I personally don’t like using the word “AI.”
I think it’s, quite frankly, a bit overused
in the marketplace.
I think it’s going to dilute the term and
the power over a few years if we keep using
it the way we do.
But, more importantly, for those who have
actually been in the industry for quite some
time, we still understand AI is a term.
But, as an industry, it’s still in its infancy
stages.
So, I always use the term “cognitive services,”
or “cognitive capabilities,” because the
one thing that we do know and we do have,
and there are capabilities around machine
learning, adaptive learning, being able to
train machines to understand intent, to be
able to infer…
So, being able to combine both wanting to
become a data-centric organization with embedding
cognitive layers across our customer journey,
this position was born and hence, I became
the Chief Data and Cognitive Officer for Royal
Caribbean.
Wow!
So…
[Laughter]
[Laughter]
I know!
[Laughter]
That was a mouthful!
Apologies!
[Laughter]
No, it's great!
So, given all of that, just to set the context,
what is it that you do at Royal Caribbean,
exactly?
What's your…
I know your title, but what does that encompass?
Because one doesn't usually think about data
and artificial intelligence in the context
of cruises.
So, how do the pieces fit together?
Oddly enough, if you take a look at industries,
consumer products and retail has done a phenomenal
job.
And if you ask me, airlines, CPG, and hotels
closely following, have done a phenomenal
job of understanding who their guests are.
And by knowing who your guests are, there
is a level of personalization, there is a
level of customization; you can make them
feel important even though you serve millions
of guests a year.
And that always resonates with our guests
today.
Their expectations are high, their tolerances
for delay are low, and with all the information
that we gather of them, their expectation
is that we know who they are, where they’re
going, what they’re doing, regardless of
their status with a particular brand.
So, take what we’ve done in the airline
industry, take what we’ve done with the
hotel industry, take what we’ve done with
consumer products and retail, understanding
where they shop, what they typically buy,
making suggestions…
It’s all around enhancing the customer experience
by knowing what they’ve done historically
with us, and then being able to predict, suggest,
or infer what they may like to do with us
in the future.
What better industry than the cruising industry
to be able to apply that same skillset?
So, that’s what we’re trying to do here
at Royal.
So, for you, the use of these technologies
is all about personalization and enhancing
the experience of customers.
And I’m assuming it’s not just when they’re
on the ship, but before their journey and
after.
So, maybe take us through the life cycle of
that personalization.
Sure!
I mean, soup-to-nuts, if you think about it,
it is the entire journey.
From the first time they inquire about a promotion,
or a destination, or a ship release, so when
they call back, and they want to understand
packages, offers, and promotions, to when
they put their first deposit down, to when
they put their last deposit down, to when
they have basic SAQs of, you know…
The number one question, can we bring out
the hull on board?
What's the dress code for a particular restaurant?
What type of events do you have?
Can you make reservations for a specialty
restaurant?
"We just added two to the party, can we adjust
our reservation?"…
All the way to when they actually embark onto
a ship, because there's a lot of compliance
and regulations that we have to follow.
And then, of course, the experience starts
once they’re on the ship.
So, whenever they’re with a three-day, five-day,
seven, or fourteen, being able to help them
and make things easier, from where they are
on the ship, where they can find something
seamlessly, activities, events available to
them appropriate to their age level and their
likes, all the way to the time when they disembark
and then they give us feedback as to how their
vacation went.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a
vacation, but I’ve been on plenty of vacations
where I’ve needed a vacation from the vacation.
That’s a scenario we want to completely
avoid.
So, our goal is to really enhance the customer
experience across all touch-points in that
customer journey […].
So, let’s talk about the data aspect.
So, these…
I was going to say, “operations on data,”…
It sounds so clinical when we’re talking
about vacations and enabling a fun, personalized
experience.
So, where does the data come from?
What kind of data are you using?
And then, what happens to that data?
So, that’s…
It’s a phenomenal question in that.
The tagline of enhancing the customer experience,
and sort of embarking on a more personalized
approach, is the glamorous version of everything.
The unglamorous version is the work that we
actually have to do.
With any company, and I’ve had the pleasure
of working with the largest and the smallest
of companies: financial industries, supply-chain,
manufacturing…
And as we all know, in all of our environments,
there are a ton of applications and systems
that capture data.
And to unify this information is an extremely
overwhelming and daunting task.
So, we’re no different from any other company
in that.
We have multiple touchpoints.
We have multiple organizations.
We have multiple third-parties that we work
with who quite frankly do a phenomenal job
of booking these reservations for us.
However, do we necessarily have control or
influence over how the information is entered?
No.
Do we get all the information we want, when
we want?
No.
So, being able to join all these disparate
systems with different formats, types, comprehensiveness
of data, the back-end to sort of build a unified
layer of who this guest is prior to them embarking
is a very difficult task.
And that’s what we’re currently doing.
Being able to unify the guests.
And, everyone loves to call it as like the
360-view or the 360-profile of a guest, but
I think that’s like living in the land of
hobbits and unicorns.
I think we all strive for it, it’s a bit
of a fantasy land, but the actual execution
of it is very complicated.
So, the tagline and the glamorous version
of it is more a personalized experience across
the customer journey.
But in order to do that, we have to codify
all the different elements and facets and
pieces of information that a guest shares
with us and being able to make sense of it.
And then, we have to be able to provide that
into the right hands of the right individuals
who are going to encounter our guests at different
points of the journey.
So, piecemealing it all together is what we’re
taking on right now.
I want to remind everybody that we're speaking
with Sol Rashidi, who is the Chief Data and
Cognitive Officer at Royal Caribbean.
And right now, there is a tweet chat going
on using the hashtag #cxotalk, and you can
send in your questions, and we'll try to get
to them.
So, Sol, you've got this data, you're building
up this profile of the guest, and so, that's
the first part of your job title of Chief
Data Officer.
But then, you're also the Chief Cognitive
Officer.
And so, where does the cognitive or AI dimension
come into play?
In multiple, multiple layers.
Our biggest challenge is not necessarily how
to apply cognitive capabilities, but where
to apply because there’s just so much room
for opportunity.
Leveraging video analytics on the ship, leveraging
video analytics prior to embarkation and check-in,
leveraging past preferences, sailing information,
to infer what they may want in the future,
or even infer something they never tried but
could potentially like based on other feedback.
A lot of it is being able to predict, infer,
and suggest in advance of the customer asking
so that we could either do one of two things:
either enhance the experience because they
go, “Oh!
I’ve never thought of that.
That’s amazing!
Thank you for suggesting that!”, or course-correct
anything that may go wrong or is about to
go wrong, in advance.
That’s…
So, there's a number of opportunities.
We're trying to figure out where to actually
apply them.
The vision is granted.
It's wonderful.
But, I always say, "Vision is nothing without
the complete and utter success of execution."
That’s interesting!
You said, “Predict, infer,” and what was
the third one?
“Course correct, I think?”
Course-correct.
So, if we can infer sentiment in advance;
if there’s a customer of ours who is not
as happy as we’d like them to be, we have
an opportunity to course-correct because we
can infer their sentiment based off of, let’s
say, video analytics or a video feed.
Or, they shared something in a dialogue that
was captured properly.
And so, we now know every interaction they’re
after from crew to guest; we need to be able
to attend to that guest with a velvet glove.
If they did not have a good experience with
us in one particular area, we are going to
more than make up for it with others.
But without that knowledge, we won’t be
able to do that.
Sol, we have an interesting question from
Twitter.
And, Chris Peterson asks...
[Laugther]
Do you know Christ Peterson?
I do!
[Laughter]
Oh, okay!
Well, Chris Peterson is asking, “Do you
have years of data to ingest for training
algorithms, or is the data gathering and cleansing
relatively new?”
This is a very interesting and very important
question because data is, of course, the lifeblood
of what we’re talking about and yet, I think
the data aspect is relatively new.
Thinking about data for many organizations
is still relatively new.
Right.
And so, how do you address this?
So, that’s one of the things that we have
to go through and figure out.
There’s just, on one aspect, it’s going
to be all historical data that’s sort of
going to go into some factory to give us some
patterns, behaviors, things that we need to
understand about each trip, each journey,
each guest at an individual level.
So, all the way from a city of embarkation
and the particular ship, down to the guest
and their individual…
We need to get that historical view, no matter
what, to understand trends and patterns.
I think that’s the obvious part.
However, once they’re on a journey with
us, then it’s a matter of gathering, how
do we gather, I should say, that live data
feed so that we then know do their current
patterns match the historical patterns that
we have; and if so, great.
We know how to treat this.
But if their current patterns don’t match
the historic patterns we have, how do we create
a predictive model or algorithm to include
those exclusions or those exceptions and be
able to understand how to approach them thereafter?
So, it’s going to be a combination of both,
but more definitely heavier on the ingest
all the data, understand all the historical
patterns, infer, and then move forward with
action from there.
That’s pretty incredible!
And, I need to mention that I happen to know
that your ships are floating data centers.
They are!
And, you talk about it that way.
We do!
Each ship we refer to as a “floating city”
with its own infrastructure; its own datacenter.
And that’s one of the challenges, oddly
enough, that I don’t think anyone ever considered.
So, here’s an example: Has anyone ever flown
with American, or United, or Delta?
They all have an in-flight…
For the most part, it works fine.
But every now and then, there’s an issue.
And you don’t understand why.
And, it’s probably because they’re going
over water.
There is something about water and satellite
feeds.
Like oil and water, they just don’t get
along.
Now, by no means, am I smart enough to figure
out where the issues lie.
I don’t know if it’s the reflection, but
satellite, and water, and WiFi just don’t
like each other.
Well, our entire operation’s on the water.
So, every ship has to have its own infrastructure;
has to have its own data center to support
that.
But the challenge that we have to overcome
is how do we create near real-time syncing
of data between our major applications and
systems that are on the shore with those that
are on the ship?
That’s the problem we’re currently looking
to solve.
Okay.
So now, if we bring these two pieces together,
you’re collecting…
So, you’ve got models of customer historical
behavior, and then, you’re collecting data
on the cruise because your ships are floating
cities with their own data centers.
And, you are now doing comparisons of the
data with the models collected on the ship
with the historical models, and at the same,
you are, I’ll use the term “suffering”
or “challenged” with the fact that satellite
and water don’t mix.
Is that sort of more or less correct?
[Laughter]
And that’s the foundation.
That’s the core.
And then, the layer of that is when the two
datasets do combine, how do we provide that
layer of analytics to the crew who interact
with our guests on a daily basis so that they
then know what they have to do to make that
experience as best as possible for each guest
that’s on one of our ships.
Because, at the end of the day, that’s all
that matters to us; to make sure every guest
leaves that ship completely fulfilled, more
than content, absolutely happy; with their
friends, or family, or whoever else they joined
with.
Okay.
So, that paints the picture of, let’s say,
the ground-level foundation on which you have
to build?
That’s correct!
We have another question from Twitter, and
Scott Weitzman from IPSoft is asking about
[…] gamification as part of the AI aspect
in the service of the customer experience
that you are just talking about.
So, what about gamification?
All I can say at this point right now is T.B.D.
We’ll probably have to discuss that in a
few months from now.
[Laughter]
So, I’m sure…
I can’t go into [specifics] yet.
So, I’m sure it sounds like…
Let me ask you this.
Where are you in the AI journey?
AI is new for everybody and so, where are
you in that journey, would you say?
Sure.
You know, the interesting thing is, I had
the pleasure of being part of the leadership
team with IBM, Boston.
And, we took […] in the market for the financial
industry.
And so, you kind of get to learn the advantages,
the disadvantages, the maturity of the industry.
Of course, that was about three, four years
back, so things have definitely advanced but
oddly enough, things are still in R&D mode.
So, the good news is, we've got over thirteen-hundred
companies who are invested in AI, about $9
billion of research are going into AI…
So, we have plenty of options.
Our challenge is understanding which option,
or which vendor to choose and select based
on not only their longevity within the industry
but their ability to demonstrate and perform
and execute because most things are still
in the R&D stages; most companies are still
being seed-funded.
So, longevity is still very key for us, understanding
their capabilities and functionalities because
unfortunately, of that thirteen-hundred that
say they're AI-based, but all they really
offer is a chatbot.
Chatting is not a new technology.
Yet, they’re putting it under the AI umbrella
just because there’s a bit more glamor to
it.
So, we have to sift through, unfortunately,
a lot of companies who claim to be AI companies,
but aren’t.
But then, we have to go through our use-cases
to understand, “Okay.
Of these use-cases, which provides the most
amount of value to our guests and therefore
our business?
Which vendor matches up?”
And luckily, we’re currently in that journey
right now.
We’re looking at partnering up with multiple
vendors to solve multiple problems on the
AI front.
We are actually sending out an AI team right
now.
We’ve built a few prototypes; we’re campaigning
to see who has the most bang for its buck,
if you will, and in terms of execution to
deployment, well, it’s all on the roadmap.
That’s pretty interesting!
So, as you are trying to find the right solutions,
vendors, [and] products, you’re finding
that many software companies talk about AI,
but it’s really just a thin veneer for products
that are really not AI?
Am I saying that…
Unfortunately.
And, I’d like to say, I even had one…[Laughter]…
one vendor say, “You like to expose vendors.”
I’m like, “I don’t like to expose vendors.
I just don’t want the sales pitch in saying
it’s AI when, in fact, it’s not.
The technology’s you’re going to market
with has been around for over a decade.”
So, it’s not new.
It’s just, putting on a new skin on top
of it doesn’t make it AI.
So, I think a lot of companies claim it.
I think very few can actually deliver on it.
Well, that’s, you know, for enterprise software
vendors, in general, making sales claims that
are…
This goes back probably to the beginning of
enterprise software.
Indeed!
It’s a game.
It’s the game.
So, you know, I think maybe the cognitive
part of my title is “BS Detector.”
[Laughter]
That’s really interesting!
So, and I take that … I was going to say
it’s a sign of the lack of maturity in the
industry, but at the same time, if you look
at on-premise ERP, which is a very mature
industry, in a way, you have kind of the same
set of issues.
Not exactly, but similar.
Oh, one-hundred percent!
Every industry started this way.
You know, AI’s just the new buzzword.
It’s the new trend.
Everyone wants a piece of the pie.
What it actually means, I think very few can
really define.
I was speaking with one of the Gartner analysts
and it was so funny because I thought that
we would have a cautious opinion, because
I am coming into the industry with a background
in AI, knowing that a lot of things are still
in their infancy stages.
And, what’s being claimed in the market
as AI is a really strong stretch.
So, I had a feeling that we were going to
disagree, but he absolutely came on board.
He’s like, “We’re still working our
way through it.
It is so early to claim something is truly
AI, and to start scaring folks.
‘Robots are replacing humans.’”
I’m like, “We both agree we’re so far
away from that.
Not even close.”
And most of the demonstrations, the videos
you’ll find on YouTube; it’s all projections
of the Art of the Possible.
Very little of that.
I would even debate even a few percentage
points of that have actually been implemented,
or deployed, or tested, or tried.
But hey, it sounds good, right?
And that’s what everybody seems to want
to hear.
It’s all about packaging!
We know that!
[Laughter]
Somebody must be buying it, I’m assuming!
It’s like telemarketers.
Somebody must be answering the calls.
Well, by default, if you have a great name
to it or a great title to it, everyone’s
going to see the show.
But everyone’s finding stuff to see the
show!
[Laughter]
So, it sounds like, as part of this journey,
one of the dimensions is thinking through
the role of your internal personnel.
What are the skills that they need?
How will processes change, or stay the same?
And, actually, we have a question, a comment
from Twitter; another one.
Arsalan Khan is asking about…
You spoke about the customer journey and do
you think at all about, or how do you think
about the employee journey, and the use of
technology to support that?
Arsalan, that's a phenomenal question.
So, guests, if we had to prioritize, are the
first priority, but crew and employee are
definitely our second priority because our
guests are only as happy as our crew treats
them.
And, you've got to make the crew happy in
order for them to have the sort of exuberant
effervescent way of approaching our guests
and making them happy.
So, the guest is already close behind.
We're already starting to tinker and toy and
build some prototypes for them because unfortunately,
today, a lot of stuff has been very laborious
and manual.
I mean, we're still talking about printouts
and things like that.
So, being able to arm them with technology
that gives them information faster that they
can then take action on is one of our top
priorities.
It is one of the things we're trying to solve
right now.
And, it's going in parallel with how can we
make the customer journey better.
So, it hasn’t been forgotten.
It’s top of mind.
If it’s not one-and-a-half, it’s number
two.
How do you divide up your time in terms of,
I'm thinking, with your data hat, now?
And is this even a reasonable question?
So how do you divide up your time in terms
of thinking about data associated with customers?
Data associated with employees?
Data associated with operational operations?
What are the buckets that you think about?
Yeah.
I don’t know if I was trained this way,
or born this way, but I think my brain is
a bit of a relational database.
I can compartmentalize very, very well and
I can make the joints and the linkages very,
very well.
So, I’ve always told my team, “By no means,
am I the smartest person.”
But I’m very resourceful, I’m relentless
in my pursuit, and I know which compartment
to pull, when.
So, if you ask me which way my majority goes,
I haven’t quite quantified that, to be honest
with you, but I for some reason, my brain
just works that way.
I’m just analytical in nature, I can compartmentalize,
and I can create linkages when appropriate.
How is the…
How is all of this changing the cruise industry?
Because I think that context also is interesting
to see the…
I hate to use the term, but the "digital transformation"
of the cruise industry.
Yes.
It sounds very cliché.
It does.
But, it’s true.
To be honest with it, everyone’s going through
it.
Whether they’re competitors or allies or
partners of ours, everyone in the cruising
industry is embarking on this journey.
And, if you think about it, airlines sort
of took the path forward, lessons learned.
Hotel industry’s following up second, and
the cruising industry is behind them and we’re
in line to be third.
But, it’s behooving all of us to go down
this path because we have so much information
on our guests that we simply aren’t leveraging.
And, our focus has been around nothing but
excellent customer service, but we can do
so much more if we were to just understand
or take the time to understand who our guests
are in advance so we can couple it with the
customer service that we provide.
And, I think every cruising company in our
industry is taking that approach.
I mean, in what other world do you have guests
in a container, if you will, for seven days
in a row, enjoying the products and services
that you and only you provide to them continuously?
You know, consumer products and retail; […] they
say that the average attention span or a consumer,
or of an individual shopping online, is at
most seven seconds?
We've got seven days!
So, it would behoove us to start taking a
look at this stuff.
So, everyone's on a very aggressive path forward
to make it happen.
I can only imagine, because people get bored
pretty quickly.
Yeah!
Yeah.
And, the fact that, quite frankly, [in] the
cruising industry, billions of dollars are
generated, that’s how many people actually
cruise and you’ve got their attention for
that long, and continuously.
Most of our business is repeat customers.
So, they didn’t get bored.
They like the product and services.
We’re always coming up with new ideas.
And, I have to say, it’s not just us.
It’s everyone in the cruising industry.
I have tremendous respect for everyone.
To keep a consumer’s attention in this day
and age, where we expect nothing but just
high expectations and fast turnaround times
for seven, fourteen, ten days in a row, is
an enormous task.
And, we've done so phenomenally.
It's one of the reasons why I joined the firm,
to begin with.
And, we have another comment from Twitter.
And, this is from Vijay, and I am always going
to, Vijayasankar, who is my good friend, and
I never get his name right.
And he says, "Hi."
[Laughter] Oh, fantastic.
So, I know the answer to this, which is, I
am sure you’re thinking about data as a
competitive advantage.
Can you elaborate, without, and I’m not
trying to go into your trade secrets, but
can you elaborate how you think of data as
being a competitive advantage?
I think there are two facets to that.
There’s no doubt everyone’s trying to
be more data-centric.
There is no doubt that everyone’s trying
to be analytics-driven.
But, what we’re hoping to do differently
here is one of two things, but hopefully,
two of two things.
Knowing what to do when the data is provided.
So, let’s say, driving the right type of
analytics is one, and that’s a very difficult
challenge because it’s a bit of a subjective
exercise.
Some of it’s quantifiable, some of it’s
not.
You can’t always place an ROI on an MPS
score.
So, knowing what type of analytics to derive
is key.
So, that’s something we’re working through.
But, not to use another cliché term, but
insight into action, I would say, is the second
facet of that.
Now that we have the information, now that
it tells us some really good data points,
how do we then convert that into action and
actually do something about it versus, “This
is interesting!
Okay, I didn’t know that!
Let me just adjust a few things that I’m
doing right now.”
I don’t think the intention is just to adjust,
I think it’s fundamentally changed the way
we do business.
But, the challenge is how do you get individuals,
business groups, who’ve been in an industry
ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years to
change their way of thinking and not going
off of necessarily just experience with a
combination of gut, with a combination of
past performance, but also using data they
may not be comfortable with because they haven’t
seen in before to modify their decision points
moving forward.
Okay.
You know, we only have a short time left.
And, I hate to break off the conversation
about data and AI, because it’s so really
interesting and I feel like we have just not
even scratched the surface here.
But, there is one topic that I think we should
talk about and that is 
the role of women in technology.
You’re unique because there are very few…
You’re a woman in this senior role, but
there are very few Chief Data Officers and
fewer still who are women.
And so, maybe, can you just share some thoughts
on that important topic?
Sure!
I mean, to be honest with you, I think that's
where I have to give Royal credit, because
there are layers, upon layers, upon layers
of this one.
The Chief Data Officer role, in general, is
newer in the industry.
And, I think we're also trying to figure out
how the Chief Digital Officer, Chief Data
Officer, and the Chief Information Officer
intertwine to create very, very strong pillars
to support the company and its growth.
Being a female in the industry, in and of
itself, it's had some challenges, but it's
been a very, very fun journey.
I also have to give credit not only to Royal,
because not only did they create this position,
they absolutely are invested in women in leadership
positions.
But, they also brought me on board five months
pregnant.
So, I started back in April when I was five
months pregnant.
I’m actually nine months pregnant right
now, due in a couple weeks.
But for them, it was a matter of, “Listen,
if you have the right skillset, you’re passionate,
you’re relentless in your pursuits, and
we trust that you’re going to be able to
do this, it doesn’t matter your condition,
your situation, or your background, or whatnot.
If you’re the right person…”
And so, even though I was a consultant for
them, I officially converted over to become
a full-time employee because it was just an
investment they felt a strong desire they
needed to make, and they saw something in
me and the teams that I brought on board,
so here we are.
So, while I want to take the credit, it's
been a very fun and interesting journey to
get at least to the position, or the caliber
that I'm at.
It was really Royal's belief and investment
in bringing me on board.
So, I definitely want to give a shout-out
there.
So, they hired you to be Chief Data Officer
when you were five months pregnant, and now
you’re nine months pregnant, which I’m
assuming means that pretty darn soon, you’re
going to be having a baby!
[Laughter]
[Laughter] That is true!
I'm technically due in about two, three weeks.
So, anything after two weeks is fair game
at this point in time.
But, in the past three, four months, we've
been working aggressively not only building
up the team, gaining enough momentum in areas,
working through, convincing the business this
is the right thing to do, showing incremental
progress, momentum for us is huge.
And even though I'm going to take that three
to four weeks off, we can't stop the momentum.
It's something I'm adamant about and the team
is…
They're living that charter, day-by-day.
Speed and communication, I would say, are
top-of-mind.
We’re not careless; we’re not thoughtless;
but at the same time, we don’t […] wait.
Our pursuit for progress is extremely aggressive,
I would say.
But yeah, that’s true.
They brought me on board knowing I was five
months pregnant.
I don’t anticipate the pregnancy slowing
me down.
I think, if anything, it will actually give
them a break because having lived in New York
City, and moving to Miami, my pace is just
actually a lot quicker than most.
So, you must have given some thought to this
notion of work-life balance, and juggling
work, and juggling the new baby, and I think
that’s a question that many people have.
And so, maybe share your thoughts on that
topic?
Sure!
I don't know.
I don't think I believe in the term "balance."
I don't…
I think things will take different priorities
at different points in time.
And, your best shot at doing everything is
just to be comfortable with change and with
the fact that you're going to be discontent
with almost everything but your level of discontent
is more than likely content for most people.
So, I have extremely high expectations of
myself.
I want to be the best wife.
I want to be the best mother.
I want to be the greatest executive they ever
hired.
I want to be a tremendous leader to the people
who work for me.
There are so many things that I want.
There's a creative side to me!
I like to make jewelry.
There's just so many facets.
I used to be an ex-athlete.
I want to get back into doing triathlons.
And, you don't get to all of it, all at once.
So, if you could almost talk yourself into,
"Okay.
At best, of the eight things I'm interested
in, I'm going to focus on these three for
this following quarter or this year.
Then, I'm going to pivot and focus on these
three at this point in time."
I think then you start getting comfortable
with stuff.
But if you expect too much, and all at once,
I think that's just a recipe for disaster.
So, as we kind of draw to a close here, what
advice do you have for women who want to enter
these kinds of leadership positions and just
feel they're experiencing a glass ceiling?
If the issue is you’re experiencing a glass
ceiling, do something about it.
I do know many women who tend to sit and wait
because they don’t want to be perceived
as being difficult or being aggressive, or
asking for too much.
I think it all comes down to delivery and
tone.
If you’re careful with your delivery and
tone, go to bat for yourself.
You’re the only one that’s going to protect
yourself.
And are you going to have a few hiccups along
the way?
Absolutely.
That’s natural.
But everyone does!
But at a minimum, at least be confident enough
to go to the table and ask for what you want.
You know, there's a major stat that says "Women
don't get paid as much as men do."
And I sometimes wonder the legitimacy of that
because I wonder, "Is it because they don't
get paid because we're devalued?
Or is it because we don't ask for what we
want and we don't negotiate well?"
Anyone who knows me knows that I go to the
table always negotiating because I'm comfortable
there.
And it's okay.
And as long as the delivery is done right,
it should be perceived as a strength and not
as a weakness.
So, I would say, if you're frustrated, do
something about it and don't be afraid of
how you're going to be perceived, but be thoughtful
in your tone and delivery.
I would also say, if you have desires of getting
to a certain level, for me, having a very
supportive spouse has been absolutely tremendous
in the journey.
I had this unquenchable desire to keep going
higher and higher, and luckily, my partner
in crime, my husband Drew, is very, very supportive
of that.
And so, you know, we co-lead.
We co-parent.
There isn’t a primary, if that makes any
sense.
And then, my third, I think it’s really
the culture of the organization.
Some organizations claim that, you know, they’re
number sixteen in the Hundred Best Companies
to Work For.
I always question the metrics behind that.
I said, “Well, how do they judge that?”
Is it based on compensation?
Is it based on ability to move up?
Or, is it based on the fact that they support
you when family priorities kick in or when
health priorities kick in?
I think if you can combine those three together,
why would you not be able to go upwards, if
that’s your goal?
So, it's not just a matter of being assertive,
although being assertive is extremely important,
also, when you go into an environment, look
critically and make sure that they're not
just paying lip-service to supporting women
in leadership roles.
One-hundred percent.
The environment has to cultivate; has to enable
you to be able to accelerate in the position
that you’re in.
And if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t make
sense to be there.
Sounds like a lot of companies are putting
out hype about supporting women in leadership,
in the way that some companies are putting
out hype around AI!
Yeah!
[Laughter] There's a lot of lip-service out
there.
And I'll call B.S.
There's a ton of lip service.
So, do your diligence, do your homework, and
if it's not a right fit, don't be afraid to
leave because there's always a pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow.
I'm absolutely convinced of that.
I would never have thought I would have upgraded
my family, at five months pregnant, with a
two-year-old, by the way.
We started very late in life.
Moved from New York City to Miami to start
over, if it wasn't the right environment.
Do your due diligence and don't be afraid
to take chances.
That is pretty incredible and what an endorsement
of Royal Caribbean.
Sol Rashidi, thank you so much for taking
the time to speak with us today!
I really appreciate it, and hope you'll come
back another time!
One-hundred percent!
Thank you for having me!
It’s been fun!
And, I need to tell the audience that we started
a few minutes late because we had technical
difficulties literally right up to the instant
when we began.
And, we kind of used the metaphorical, technical,
sticky-tape and glue to make it work.
So, you have been watching Episode #247 of
CxOTalk.
We’ve been speaking with Sol Rashidi, who
is the Chief Data and Cognitive Officer of
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
Sol, thanks so much, and I hope we’ll see
you again back here soon!
Thank you!
Everybody, thanks for watching!
We have two shows next week.
Go to CxOTalk.com, and please “like” us
on Facebook.
We would really appreciate that.
Take care, everybody!
Have a nice day.
Bye-bye!
