Kara Adams is the Director of Guest Experience for the Portland Trailblazers. Kara has been working in guest experience in sports for several years, and shares how the energy of the city of Portland can be felt inside the arena, which makes for quite the unique experience. In this interview, Kara shares how her leadership strategy, including her passion for her team, transcends into the guest experience, because the way you treat your staff parallels how your staff treats your guests. She also discusses the importance of challenging the status quo, which sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable, but ultimately helps people get outside of their comfort zone. For a team that is rooted in tradition and with employees who have been a part of the team for decades, Kara talks about the importance of balancing the organization’s history with its need to progress into the future. Lastly, Kara’s guest experience and leadership philosophy is that if you are too big to serve, you’re too little to lead.
