Live from IMEX America in Las Vegas, Bart sits down with Kevin Brown — Senior Manager of Go-to-Market and Editorial Strategies at Alliants. From an unexpected encounter with a hotel CEO to building a career on creativity, Kevin shares how gut checks, human connection, and breaking norms have shaped his professional journey and his philosophy on hospitality.
Major Takeaways /Learnings
- Gut Checks Lead to Growth: Kevin’s career pivots from music industry to hospitality were guided bylistening to instinct and embracing change, not rigid plans.
- Creativity Is a Muscle: His early years experimenting with acting, painting, writing, and failingforward built resilience and problem-solving skills.
- No One Succeeds in Isolation: Great ideas emerge through collaboration and challenging conventional thinking.
- Redefining Roles: At Alliants, Kevin’s hybrid position was created around his strengths and passions a model for modern organizations.
- Connection Through Better Questions: Asking meaningful questions like “What makes you come alive?” creates deeper, faster rapport.
- Technology as an Enabler: Alliants builds tools that reduce admin tasks and increase time for real guestconnection blending context with hospitality.
- Trust as ROI: Hospitality success is built on human trust more than on loyalty points or amenities.
- Happiness as a Metric: Kevin champions measuring “Happiness Per Employee” as a driver of service excellence.
- Competitive Socialization: Shared experiences (like F1 racing simulators) can teach workplace lessons oncollaboration, patience, and communication.
Memorable Quotes
- “Failure’s only a failure if you don’t learn anything fromit.” — Kevin Brown
- “It’s not about your idea. It’s about the best idea — andthat comes from collaboration.”
- “Most people don’t put people first… but they should.”
- “Technology should give time back to humans, not take itaway.”
- “Ask better questions, and you’ll build betterconnections.”
Why It Matters / How to Use It
- For Leaders: Create roles around people’s passions, not just job descriptions.
- For Teams: Lead conversations with curiosity and connection not titles or logos.
- For Hospitality Pros: Use tech to build context, not walls. Every second saved on admin is a secondgained for real service.
- For Event & Sales Teams: Break formalities, ask meaningful questions, and connect on a human level.
- For Organizations: Measure and prioritize employee happiness to elevate guest experience.
- For Culture Builders: Gamified experiences (like F1 Arcade) can double as learning labs for communication and teamwork.
Resources and Links:
Bart Berkey: MostPeopleDont.com | LinkedIn
