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What if hotels weren’t just places to stay, but models for sustainability and innovation?
In this episode of Hospitable, Rob Napoli sits down with Levar Jackson, CEO of Yogh Group, to discuss the reality of “lazy business” in hospitality — and what needs to change. From innovative ROI-backed sustainability solutions to challenging industry norms, Levar shares real talk and real solutions to make hospitality smarter, greener, and more impactful.
🧠 Topics Covered
- Why sustainability must be additive, not subtractive
- How lazy thinking affects the bottom line
- Building HVAC systems that generate profit
- Partnerships with universities to spark innovation
- How inclusivity fuels innovation in hospitality
💡 Whether you're a hotelier, operations leader, or hospitality tech professional — this episode will shift how you think about efficiency, sustainability, and growth.
📢 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more game-changing conversations.
Learn more at: https://www.omniboost.io
Timestamps
00:29 – Rob introduces Levar and the Yogh Group
01:45 – How Levar entered hospitality via art
02:47 – Hotel waste: Why art and furnishings go to landfills
04:17 – “We have all the tools we’re just using the wrong ones”
05:38 – Almond trees in SoCal = unsustainable agriculture
06:21 – The social cost of skipping travel
08:30 – ROI on sustainability: It’s already there
11:22 – Minibar logic: Use ROI to drive sustainable upgrades
12:19 – Turning HVAC into a power generator
18:32 – How conglomerates can engage universities for innovation
21:30 – The $22k scholarship story that changed a life
28:17 – Friction in leadership = stronger ideas
In this episode of Hospitable, Rob Napoli sits down with Levar Jackson, CEO of Yogh Group, to discuss the reality of “lazy business” in hospitality — and what needs to change. From innovative ROI-backed sustainability solutions to challenging industry norms, Levar shares real talk and real solutions to make hospitality smarter, greener, and more impactful.
🧠 Topics Covered
- Why sustainability must be additive, not subtractive
- How lazy thinking affects the bottom line
- Building HVAC systems that generate profit
- Partnerships with universities to spark innovation
- How inclusivity fuels innovation in hospitality
💡 Whether you're a hotelier, operations leader, or hospitality tech professional — this episode will shift how you think about efficiency, sustainability, and growth.
📢 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more game-changing conversations.
Learn more at: https://www.omniboost.io
Timestamps
00:29 – Rob introduces Levar and the Yogh Group
01:45 – How Levar entered hospitality via art
02:47 – Hotel waste: Why art and furnishings go to landfills
04:17 – “We have all the tools we’re just using the wrong ones”
05:38 – Almond trees in SoCal = unsustainable agriculture
06:21 – The social cost of skipping travel
08:30 – ROI on sustainability: It’s already there
11:22 – Minibar logic: Use ROI to drive sustainable upgrades
12:19 – Turning HVAC into a power generator
18:32 – How conglomerates can engage universities for innovation
21:30 – The $22k scholarship story that changed a life
28:17 – Friction in leadership = stronger ideas
Connect
Yogh Group: https://www.yogh.group/
Levar Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/levarjackson/
Omniboost: https://omniboost.io/
Rob Napoli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robnap/
Rob Napoli: https://www.robnapoli.com/
Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com
#HospitalityInnovation #SustainableHotels #LevarJackson #YoghGroup #HospitalityTech #HotelSustainability #GreenHospitality #LazyBusiness #HospitalityLeadership #FutureOfHotels #RobNapoli #OmniboostPodcast #HospitablePodcast #SmartSustainability #HospitalityROI
Creators and Guests
What is Hospitable?
Hospitable is a podcast that discusses how to make hospitality MORE human through technology.
Hospitable focuses on discussing the leading challenges facing the hospitality industry and to explore the latest trends, technologies, and best practices that are shaping the industry. Each episode features interviews with hoteliers, restaurateurs, chefs, industry analysts, and other experts who share their insights and experiences on topics such as customer experience, sustainability, innovation, staffing, and more.
Hosted by Rob Napoli
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:22
Levar Jackson
Just give me the 90s in terms of business for me, just. I'm tired of living through interesting times. I just want to calm, boring. Like everybody's doing well.
00:00:09:00 - 00:00:15:19
Rob Napoli
I mean, we're going to talk a little bit about lazy hotels and lazy businesses.
00:00:15:19 - 00:00:33:07
Levar Jackson
I want to do something as actually sustainable and move forward. And art isn't something they recycled. It's something that, unless it's for the lobby and something goes in the hallways and in the rooms or in the garbage. So the first thing I'm always will say about sustainability and impact and all that stuff. I'm about additive sustainability. Do what you want to do.
00:00:33:07 - 00:00:35:09
Levar Jackson
We'll just figure out how to do it in a way that's good
00:00:35:09 - 00:00:43:18
Rob Napoli
Climate change people talk about it. Some people believe some people don't world is changing. How do we really create sustainability and not be lazy?
00:00:43:20 - 00:00:55:02
Levar Jackson
Everyone seems to think that, particularly for companies that it's not me is a personal problem. So the consequences, everybody's going to get messed up. Oh, I was going to curse, and we all have to do something together.
00:00:55:02 - 00:01:04:05
Rob Napoli
You can make the choice on if you want to be more green, not to have your room turned every day, not to have your towels wash all the time, because those are small changes, but small changes that add up.
00:01:04:05 - 00:01:18:03
Levar Jackson
Additive sustainability is that you should still get your room turned down, but instead use a steam washer. That's smart business. So you give them what they want, which is a clean room, but you're not damaging environment as much and you're using as little water as possible.
00:01:18:05 - 00:01:28:20
Rob Napoli
Lazy hospitality that could be seen. Oh, that's maybe extra work. We're highly efficient as human beings. We can create processes that really maximize potential and time and availability.
00:01:28:21 - 00:01:44:03
Levar Jackson
We'll figure it out. I don't have all the answers, but someone will hit their mind and say, oh, you should do it this way. How do we stop being lazy? How do we move forward if we have the pieces how do you put them together?
00:01:44:05 - 00:02:12:24
Rob Napoli
Hey, y'all, how we doing? Rob Napoli here, host of hospitable. I'm excited to bring today's episode about removing lazy business from the hospitality industry. And with this conversation, we sat down with the CEO and founder of Yogh Group, Levar Jackson. Yogh group is a sustainable and impactful hotel development and management firm that is making great strides to be at the vanguard of hospitality and sustainability, especially as society transitions into this interconnected, intelligent, low carbon world.
00:02:13:01 - 00:02:36:10
Rob Napoli
The group incorporates hospitality, art, agriculture and cuisine into its operations to lead the way and sustainability. So this episode was great because Levar is also based in New York City, so we're able to get together at Omniboost New York office and sit down and chop it up. So, without further ado, enjoy this episode on How to remove a lazy business from hospitality with Levar Jackson
00:02:36:12 - 00:03:02:23
Rob Napoli
Well Levar, I'm excited to have you, in the office. And even cooler that we are and that you're located in New York City so that we can do this in person because it's just so much fun and we're really excited to jump into the podcast those for tuning in, we are here. I'm Rob Napoli, host another episode of hospitable, where we're going to talk a little bit about lazy hotels and lazy businesses.
00:03:03:00 - 00:03:22:14
Rob Napoli
As it relates to hospitality, which you have a lot of experience with. And I want to rattle off your CV, but you've done a lot of things from, being involved in different nonprofits and, different groups, but also working in the industry and being a hotelier and working in arts. I mean, you've been all over the place in hospitality, which is why we brought you on.
00:03:22:14 - 00:03:29:00
Rob Napoli
So let me give us a quick, high level overview of what how you've been involved in hospitality and then what you're doing today.
00:03:29:02 - 00:03:53:07
Levar Jackson
Yes. I started my journey in hospitality Oh god it's going to age me 15 years ago, and I had founded a company. We sold art to hotels. We started out doing, you know, photographic prints during the, you know, god, 2009, like, right after that economic meltdown. And I was able to succeed by being, cheaper, more flexible and, quicker.
00:03:53:09 - 00:04:12:16
Levar Jackson
At that. And then as time grew, we did more things as a, you know, kind of recovered, and they wanted, things I couldn't improvise. I went out and found, like, really good artist and, try to make sure that everyone is on board with it, not just, select few, I would say. So trying to be inclusive with the art.
00:04:12:18 - 00:04:31:16
Levar Jackson
It always stuck in my mind even then with about sustainability. And of course we're going to get to that. But the amount of waste that happens, particularly around art and furnishings, you know, every 5 to 7 years, a lot of that stuff ends up in the landfill. We they recycle as much as they can. But art isn't something they recycled.
00:04:31:16 - 00:04:49:09
Levar Jackson
It's something that, unless it's for the lobby, will usually be grand stone pieces or something like that. The stuff that goes in the hallways and in the rooms or in the garbage. So I took, note of that. And I always talk very circular. So people who know me, it's a journey. It's a journey, but it always touch it back to where it belongs.
00:04:49:11 - 00:05:09:16
Levar Jackson
And, Covid hit and this is this third recession I got, I got it, I was in this is business. I just want to just give me the 90s in terms of business for me, just a little bit of quiet and calm. I'm tired of living through interesting times. I just want to calm boring like, everybody's doing well, kind of.
00:05:09:18 - 00:05:15:23
Rob Napoli
I mean, story of our decade, right? As we look at this business today and tomorrow.
00:05:15:23 - 00:05:43:12
Levar Jackson
It always is and so as everything was falling apart, I had a friend who was going into the green industry, and we, went and did, went into, carbon credits. And I saw how there are some very, very effective, useful carbon credits, but they're also a lot that are not. And it's very hard to differentiate without doing a lot of your own self labor or doing a lot of verification that's outside of them.
00:05:43:14 - 00:06:01:14
Levar Jackson
And I thought to myself, like, do I want to be in an industry where I feel like I would rather just sell used cars? I want to do something as actually as sustainable and move forward. And we're at the point where we have all the pieces for sustainability, but we need to put them together. Not one thing is going to rule it, end us by us.
00:06:01:14 - 00:06:20:08
Levar Jackson
Just trying to rely on one thing is what got us here, how it what got us here in terms of sustainability is oil. Like we were like oil could be everything is plastic. It's your toothbrush. It's everything is little pieces of sparkle in your, toothpaste between, like 1990 and 2010. Those are little pieces of plastic.
00:06:20:10 - 00:06:39:09
Levar Jackson
And no, every it was like microplastics from is a toothpaste. I'll be I'm on to other things, but. Yes. So, we need to break ourselves with that. We have all the tools in the toolbox. We keep trying to use one hammer to do everything. You just end up with a bunch of broken furniture. So, like, how do we stop being lazy?
00:06:39:10 - 00:07:02:03
Levar Jackson
How do we move forward if we have the pieces how do you put them together? You can do that with energy, with heating, cooling, electricity. You can do that with, you know, like, plant materials and, you know, advanced agriculture. Not everything has to evolve. Products that come from human labor. So, like, and using the wrong tool in the wrong place when it comes to sustainability, I'm completely meandering.
00:07:02:03 - 00:07:22:03
Levar Jackson
I love this. Is you have to use it in the right way or becomes unsustainable. So here in the US, it's almond trees almonds are highly sustainable things if they're planted in the appropriate places. But if you're plant them in Southern California, where it doesn't rain and it's a high needs water plant, you know, agriculture, you plant it in the worst places you could
00:07:22:03 - 00:07:43:23
Levar Jackson
Yes it’s sun needs that they grow the trees grows faster. It's, you know, it's a perfect climate, but not when it comes to rain. So it's soaking up so much water. It has become unsustainable. And we can't keep growing almond trees in Southern California. So we have to do something different. So the first thing I'm always will say about sustainability and impact and all that stuff, I'm about additive sustainability.
00:07:44:00 - 00:08:05:09
Levar Jackson
Do what you want to do. We'll just figure out how to do it in a way that's good. Like you could say like, stop traveling. But what is the social impact of that? Social impact of not traveling is xenophobia because you become you believe whatever wildness you see on TV and you're like, it's them versus us versus, oh, they're just like me.
00:08:05:11 - 00:08:26:05
Levar Jackson
Their food may be different, but there's still people and travel helps break that. And I'm a huge advocate for tourism and travel and hospitality because you get to see all the things you normally don't get to see and experience, and sometimes just sitting in, you know, somewhere else and seeing the sunset helps reset your mind a bit.
00:08:26:07 - 00:08:39:21
Rob Napoli
And I think that's interesting, and I love that you kind of went on this little diatribe and you even said, I love this because it opens up a lot of the questions I want to, the topics I want to dive into, because I have a lot of thoughts on this as well, because you can't have hospitality without tourism, right?
00:08:39:21 - 00:09:06:01
Rob Napoli
Like hospitality is meant for travel, it's meant for experience. If you think of humans, our most sentient memories are traveling for good or for bad. Most of the time good. But most great travel experiences have like something crazy, like a lost suitcase or, you know, the room you booked wasn't available or something crazy. But then that whole thing turns into being the experience of a lifetime.
00:09:06:03 - 00:09:30:06
Rob Napoli
And so when you we brought this great example up and we talk about sustainability, and I think sustainability is something that, I mean, let's be honest, it's a very big topic for a lot of companies. I know, you know, climate change, people talk about it. Some people believe some people don't. But we can all agree that the world is changing, and we do need to figure a way to be more sustainable.
00:09:30:06 - 00:09:48:12
Rob Napoli
And so we always talk about it, but it's always talk and there's not a lot of action. So I love this idea of like one tool that we're always using. And we're in it with broken furniture because we are not actively putting that in. So, you know, I know that your career has taken you to this place of being in hospitality, being and are doing the different things.
00:09:48:12 - 00:10:14:05
Rob Napoli
You're like, how do we really create sustainability and not be lazy because it's lazy to do like a small like, oh, we're donating trees. Like, how do we actually like put action to our words? And that's something you're really passionate about, which is what when we met for the first time, we were like, we're vibing out on. So how do you how do you go about working with the hospitality industry to enforce this message and put action to words?
00:10:14:07 - 00:10:39:19
Levar Jackson
So the the first thing you have to do is the motivation behind it, because everyone seems to think that particularly for companies, that it's not me is a personal problem, like climate change or sustainability or personal problem. They're just as much corporate liabilities as they are personal ones. So when this once in the, used to be once in 100 year storm or hits, you know, you know, the East Coast and destroys a bunch of homes, there's some hospitality that gets knocked down, too.
00:10:39:24 - 00:11:02:14
Levar Jackson
So we need to focus just as much on people as we are the business, because that trickles down and says like, hey, this business is now gone. People have lost their livelihoods. Those people who own that thing may just be locals. Maybe the person who's down the street and this is like the, you know, the place to turn their property into, it they're just affected it just as much as person.
00:11:02:18 - 00:11:22:02
Levar Jackson
So it comes to the same thing with insurance rates, you think in Florida where they're saying, like, hey, we're not insuring a lot of people. There are a lot of businesses that can't get insured as well. It's just it's everyone's problem, not just you. So it's saying like, hey, so get rid of the lazy thinking when it comes to consequences, or so you start there.
00:11:22:02 - 00:11:55:13
Levar Jackson
So the consequences, everybody's going to get messed up. Oh, I was going to curse, everyone's going to get messed up from this, and we all have to do something together, you know. So, okay, we start there if you I so the part of myself that I realized with working hospitality for so long is that there has to be an ROI on sustainability, whether it is when you take into account the potential damage is there is a clear line for ROI because your business is running, even if your business isn't.
00:11:55:13 - 00:12:16:18
Levar Jackson
So like you're in Florida and you get hit by this hurricane, your whole team would be fine. But the rest of the town may be destroyed. You think someone's coming to stay at your hotel in the middle of a hurricane? No. So you. This lost revenue, of course, is insurance for that. But again, then you lose your insurance because you're constantly pulling on that, or the insurance premiums are so high that it's mind boggling.
00:12:16:18 - 00:12:41:20
Levar Jackson
You go out of business. So the cost is there. We just have to make sure that it's apparent that, again, it's very easy to say out of sight, out of mind that's being lazy. Be very apparent that this can happen, when it comes to your systems and how things work, hotels are still talking about like LED light bulbs and local toilets, and that's something that we haven't had as individuals for 30 some odd years in the US.
00:12:41:22 - 00:13:06:03
Levar Jackson
Oh god I am old. I remember when that first came when we were like, no more the, incandescent light bulbs. So how do you evolve more part of ROI at it on the back of it, we can do it at businesses. You are compelled as a business to do this. So, for instance, you know, something that is, a smart thing that, you know, pulled, hotels in or is the minibar.
00:13:06:03 - 00:13:28:04
Levar Jackson
The minibar is like, you get a little pile of alcohol the food. Do you know how much work it comes behind that minibar? There's sensors. There's like, you know, like connectivity. There's all the smart stuff. If you said. If I said to a hotel or a business saying, like, hey, I want to make that refrigerator green, they would go, where's my ROI?
00:13:28:04 - 00:14:03:03
Levar Jackson
But if I said, I want to turn into a minibar, they would say yes because they can directly see that line. So the way I move myself forward as a person, as a inventions and the things that I've done is trying to test that ROI so that people will jump on it anyway. So if I say, hey, I can build you an etrack system that can provide heating, cooling, electricity to this building, but do it in a way that it's so efficient that you have so much over abundance with as little, you know, dependance on solar panels as possible.
00:14:03:05 - 00:14:26:14
Levar Jackson
But all that power that you pull in, this doesn't go to heating cooling, which is normally the highest cost thing. And then sell that back to the community. You've turned your Hvac system into a power plant and a money generating power plant. So there's ROI there. And once you do that, once you've already built our, you know, our, pre-production unit, the whole industry will follow behind it anyway because there's money behind it.
00:14:26:16 - 00:14:47:05
Levar Jackson
How sometimes you got to use the system, even though you may not like the system the way it is exactly set up. Use it to our benefit to, you know, push things forward. We try to with carbon credits, but because the, regulations around carbon credits are super weak, and I could get into why carbon credits.
00:14:47:05 - 00:14:55:09
Levar Jackson
The carbon credits are really terrible. And they're not factual in the end. Yeah
00:14:55:11 - 00:15:16:06
Rob Napoli
And. No, I think the interesting piece here, right, is we are thinking about the systems and designing things with ROI in mind, but also making things more efficient, even little things. We see at hotels now where you can make the choice on if you want to be more green, not to have your room turned every day, not to have your towels wash all the time.
00:15:16:08 - 00:15:36:08
Rob Napoli
You know, reusability of those things. And those are small changes, but small changes that add up. If, let's say, 25% of your guests just do that. Well, where's the ROI? Well, maybe you have one less, staffing. You can reduce different things there that has a different impact economically. And, you know, the labor force that you hire and part of tourism, hospitality.
00:15:36:08 - 00:15:52:23
Rob Napoli
But you can link ROI to action. And those are little things that need that we need more of in this industry. And really thinking about that from the whole experience, because it does also change the guest experience, which is at the core of what you want to keep holistic.
00:15:53:00 - 00:16:15:02
Levar Jackson
Yes. So, taking in your example about, you know, washing the sheets or changing it down, because my vision of additive sustainability is that you should still get your room turned down, but instead use a steam washer just to give it a flash to freshen up the sheets. Instead of doing a full load, just have a quick flash and have it brought back.
00:16:15:04 - 00:16:36:04
Levar Jackson
And you can, you know, set two sheets per room, have it, you know, on a, thing, like a rack and say room 312. You flash out the first one, put on the fresh one, then you have another one that's ready to go. And then when the room is completely emptied, you do the full, load and clean everything, like, you know, between guests.
00:16:36:06 - 00:16:46:02
Levar Jackson
But that's smart business. So you give them what they want, which is a clean room. It smells clean, but you're not damaging environment as much, and you're using as little water as possible.
00:16:46:04 - 00:17:07:10
Rob Napoli
And there is direct ROI there and those things. And then going back to this idea of lazy hospitality that could be seen. Oh, that's maybe extra work. But in theory you can create systems and we can create processes. We're highly efficient as human beings. We can create processes that really maximize potential and time and availability.
00:17:07:12 - 00:17:41:02
Levar Jackson
We'll figure it out. I don't have all the answers, but someone will hit their mind and say, oh, you should do it this way. We are highly creative. Let's engage a creativeness in our business processes instead of saying like, oh, we just have to do the same things, you know, perhaps using that steam water and then, you know, having it as a heat sink afterwards, as the water so high and heat of hot water instead, using the things that we have, I built, there the energy system with stuff that you can find from Home Depot explicitly to try to keep the costs low as possible.
00:17:41:04 - 00:17:56:09
Levar Jackson
You know, the parts are right there. Why aren't we using it as a whole? It's just we haven't done this. I get a lot of. We haven't done this way before why should we do it any different? Well, until your stuff is washed away, until it stops raining. And we are in New York. It hasn't rained since, like, September.
00:17:56:15 - 00:18:15:16
Levar Jackson
Really and, like, everything's catching on fire and by the time we see the results of what we're doing, it'll be too late and we're already seeing it. It's like I've never I've lived in New York City basically my whole entire life. I'm born, bred, New Yorker. It hasn't rained effectively in two months. It's sprinkled a little bit over night, one night.
00:18:15:18 - 00:18:25:07
Levar Jackson
But things are still on fire. They haven't been wildfires here before. I'd never thought to myself or went out. I never remember going outside and like, not being able to breathe.
00:18:25:13 - 00:18:55:17
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I mean, that was crazy. Prospect Park not too long ago and I was just like, oh, there's not much trees and New York to begin with. And here we are losing part of it. And also all the building fires and things catching on because everything's so dry. Yeah it's been a bit crazy. And I think you're making a great point that a lot of this stuff for sustainability, we're thinking about, we don't think about it or we don't do anything about it until it's too late, until it's gone versus how do we be proactive versus reactive.
00:18:55:17 - 00:19:28:00
Rob Napoli
And this is where I talk about a lot of people love to talk about sustainability, but actions speak louder than words. And where there's a will, there's a way, a great example of that. The cooling, heating and cooling system with parts of Home Depot, there's always a way. It's a matter of are you willing to put action I think more in hospitality specifically, especially with the rise of these, you know, these big conglomerate brands away from the mob has there needs to be more direct action and linkage to the impact that they can create.
00:19:28:00 - 00:19:31:24
Rob Napoli
And also, you know, being at the forefront of that change.
00:19:32:01 - 00:19:53:07
Levar Jackson
So I, I love the example of the large conglomerate brands. So the mom and pop ones may not have the resources to do beyond I went and spent, I could have already been built a hotel by now. I spent two and a half years working with schools doing these things they normally don't do. You work with universities on developing technology.
00:19:53:09 - 00:20:16:03
Levar Jackson
Maybe mom and pop mom and pop shops don't have that, you know, stuff, but this multi-billion dollar conglomerate does have that access. They can reach out to university and say, how do we have our line of hotels, you know, sustainable and let them figure it out. The students are fantastic. It creates a great pipeline for work. It just takes that one extra step.
00:20:16:05 - 00:20:37:20
Levar Jackson
Yeah. It's super. It's this lazy because all you have to do, you just asking someone else to do it for you. You participate in it and you also find talent. You find future employees, you cultivate universities that we were supposed to be cultivating them. You embrace them in a way that the linkage hasn't really been that strong recently for universities and businesses.
00:20:37:22 - 00:20:54:23
Levar Jackson
It's fairly easy. It's not I mean, I was I had two capsules of myself and I'm the worst professor that has ever existed. I am always like, halfway across the world. The students are like, I don't know what's going on. And I'm like, I don't know either. So, we have a little bit of fun.
00:20:55:00 - 00:21:23:11
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And I think this is really cool. Thinking about this, like, holistically too, is not only are you using it to solve new problems, to create talent. Think about the idea, the whole thing of creating brand loyalty. Because the students of today are the business travelers of tomorrow. And if they get to work on a really cool project with, let's say, a big brand like a Marriott, they're probably more likely to want to become a Marriott Bonvoy, earner.
00:21:23:11 - 00:21:55:12
Rob Napoli
And when they are traveling, always look for a Marriott Bonvoy over a competitor. And this is where when you think about direct ROI, you're also creating brand loyalty and LTV with future business. And it's something that seems simple. Obviously there's things you have to do to put those things in place, but it's looking at it from a big picture and then you're creating more hopefully more goodwill into the brand and more problem solving to the brand of people who want to come work for you and solve big problems, to even take it one step further.
00:21:55:14 - 00:22:10:09
Rob Napoli
And that's where I feel we have so much opportunity for growth, especially with the amount of universities across the United States. And just as a whole, it's absolutely crazy what you could come up with and the type of things that you can tie into our tap into.
00:22:10:11 - 00:22:26:21
Levar Jackson
Yeah. So there's so many people like so many talented minds, young and old. They're just chomping at the bit. They may be intimidated and thinking it's too big because when I started, I thought everything was too big and I was there was no way, I don't know how to write a pen brief. I can now with my eyes closed.
00:22:26:21 - 00:22:46:11
Levar Jackson
I've been through it a bunch of times, but when I first got into it, just, part of being a good leader is like bringing people on, and you need to take away some of those barriers, say, like, hey, my mechanical engineer and your, friend. You know, you've done a lot. I want you to work with me.
00:22:46:16 - 00:23:14:18
Levar Jackson
This patenting stuff seems crazy, but I'll help and take some of the load off or you get a lawyer to help, and. And sometimes it's the financial, you know, barriers to entering into certain fields. Then start, you know, like scholarship, grants or even like, I worked a lot with, nonprofits. And I want to create my own nonprofit to help with small businesses being able to patent their things and move forward and use the system the way they're supposed to.
00:23:14:20 - 00:23:33:21
Levar Jackson
But it's, you know, 40 grand to drop on a patent. Mom and pop shops may not have that straight away when you're non-revenue and then you or you end up, you know, in that situation where we are now, where the people who do have patents don't have the money to enact them, they just end up being bought up by large companies.
00:23:33:21 - 00:23:36:08
Levar Jackson
And then the patents are squashed. Yeah.
00:23:36:10 - 00:24:03:01
Rob Napoli
So this is kind of where we look at how do we not become lazy. And that's just putting action out there. And not everything's going to work. And it's okay to to create an initiative that that doesn't work. I want to change that to a different, not a hugely different topic, but something that I, I know that you are doing and if I'm not mistaken, and right now, I just was saying in my head, and I can't remember that you were that former you just finish up your presidency of the hospitality group here in New York.
00:24:03:01 - 00:24:08:09
Rob Napoli
Tell me about your experience doing that and the name of the group, because I'm blanking on it right now.
00:24:08:11 - 00:24:34:04
Levar Jackson
It's NEWH New York. I am past president. I was president as well as VP's before that. There are two different V.P. shot, spots. It was also, director of programing. It is like it is so heartwarming. So, we are a networking group, but our scholarships, we give it to, interior designers, architects, anybody in hospitality
00:24:34:04 - 00:24:56:13
Levar Jackson
Chefs and it's great to support the people. And it's also a really good pipeline to pull them up as adults. To see how much we've changed. And I'll give, very big shout out to Laurie and Josh, who are both scholarship directors at one point, how we've changed the way we give scholarships. So we went from, you know, GPA based to need space.
00:24:56:15 - 00:25:20:12
Levar Jackson
So as long as you're above like a two point, a 3.0 or 2.5 or something, I think it's 3.0 now. And, we widened the amount that we will give for scholarships per student versus giving everyone $1,000 is not really this is the US thousand dollars are just books. Yeah. And of course, books are good, but not if you can't pay for the classes.
00:25:20:14 - 00:25:48:16
Levar Jackson
So our largest, in history, a single award was $22,000 last year. And it went to, a woman who was experiencing homelessness. And, we helped, get her right. And, got her through her last year school. And now she's an interior designer. And that's really I mean, that's what I'm really there for of, like, cultivating next and making sure the next people are good.
00:25:48:18 - 00:26:04:21
Levar Jackson
And I want to branch that out further into hospitality because a lot of hospitality jobs that aren't represented interior design, architect or culinary. There's engineers, there's finance and I'll tell you, finance is such a problem in hospitality.
00:26:04:23 - 00:26:12:03
Rob Napoli
So there's that's why there I mean, that's Omniboost is here. Yeah. Finance is a degree were we know that's a problem. That's we know very well.
00:26:12:08 - 00:26:34:14
Levar Jackson
So I want to broaden it and move forward. You know, there's always my own personal passion projects just to, you know, be a part of the process of awarding these students gives me a lot of, you know, hope I have one last year of, on the board, as executive advisor, and then I get to retire.
00:26:34:14 - 00:27:01:21
Levar Jackson
It's been eight years, nine years. So about nine, on this board, and, it'll be eight. Eight. So technically, I have two more years if I want to go back, but we'll see. But I love it it’s I have been through again. We went through Covid and so basically like the hospitality industry like break to pieces and how every single one of our board members helped pull us back together because I thought we were gone.
00:27:01:23 - 00:27:23:13
Levar Jackson
And, we're not and I'm so proud of the work we've done as, and just being more, inclusive and the sheer fact that I was the first person of color to be, president in 40 years. It's been around for years. But as we go forward becoming more inclusive, I see more people's faces.
00:27:23:13 - 00:27:47:21
Levar Jackson
And, and inclusion isn't just based on color. It's also like, it's based on job titles. It's based on, language spoken. It's all those things helped shape the way you are, and it makes for a better organization and also a better business. So I've always said this, and I've not been wrong. Every time of businesses, we're stuck.
00:27:47:23 - 00:28:17:23
Levar Jackson
I say your C-suite is exactly the same. Either they're from the exact same school, the exact same type of people. I understand like produces in like, but sometimes you need that distinction. You need that little bit of friction because it's a different, you know, point, a point of view that you may not have. And, while I was working at the, throw back when I was working at the, Green Company, it was a lot of it was run by Gen-Zers, and I'm not a Gen-Zers
00:28:18:00 - 00:28:35:11
Levar Jackson
And, we were just doing working on an app or something, and I kept, talking about, like, visibility, like, I'm like, these letters are too small. I have good eyesight, but someone who's maybe slightly older than me or doesn't have good eye say they're going to they're going to freaking complain. And they're like, no, no, no, it's okay, it's fine.
00:28:35:11 - 00:28:59:13
Levar Jackson
And immediately like the calls are coming in like it's not legible. It's in a weird font. We can't see that in all the things I did say. So age is a part of inclusion, like having everyone sit at the table gives you a good viewpoint, and it takes away some of that laziness. And you don't have to do it yourself, because sometimes it is hard to get outside of your body and outside of your mind, outside of your perspective.
00:28:59:19 - 00:29:01:24
Levar Jackson
You need that outside, you know, push.
00:29:02:01 - 00:29:19:11
Rob Napoli
I love that you share that because, well, one that's really cool. What that group has been able to do. And I bring it up because when we were talking, when we met for the first time, what I was really impressed with is that your whole career has been about action. And it's not only within your career, but, you know, look at being a part of a network.
00:29:19:11 - 00:29:38:03
Rob Napoli
I'm like that part of your career, but it's an extension of that career because it's passion too. And so you kind of go and bringing that full circle. I really love that there are these opportunities for the hospitality industry to continue to grow and thrive and also create opportunity for itself. And that's what I think is really unique.
00:29:38:05 - 00:30:01:09
Rob Napoli
Coming back to your point about friction, I love this. We have a, I kind of a core philosophy within our leadership team at Omniboost which is disagreeing come in. It's okay to disagree. And we are very open and transparent. And the leadership team about highlighting those disagreements. What do we think? And sometimes you're not always right. And sometimes you may be in the wrong in the vote, but the idea is that we will always disagree and come in.
00:30:01:11 - 00:30:14:00
Rob Napoli
So maybe we don't agree on everything. We're going to always share our viewpoints to bring the full picture so that we can actually solve problems. And then we commit to a course of action, and we're trying to put, you know, our money where mouth is so to speak. And that is the thing you just kind of highlighted.
00:30:14:00 - 00:30:41:05
Rob Napoli
This is a great takeaway for so many. As we look at the future of hospitality. It's only going to continue to evolve. It's going to continue to iterate and get bigger and better and more. More experiences are going to pop up, and you need that little bit of friction to continue to solve great problems, create great guest experiences, and create more sustainable opportunities to allow us to do these amazing things in our lives.
00:30:41:07 - 00:31:04:07
Levar Jackson
Yeah, it's that opposing viewpoint may not be opposing because they don't like you. They're maybe opposing you because they have a different way of thinking. And it's something that I do run into myself where I get I'm not engineer, I'm not, physicists. I get a lot of pushback saying, like, how could you invent this stuff? I did it was in my mind it popped up.
00:31:04:09 - 00:31:34:00
Levar Jackson
Just because you don't have the that classical training doesn't mean that your ideas any less valid. It just has to be vetted. The same as anyone else's. And don't take it personally, because I've been ripped to pieces over some of the stuff that I've done, some of the stuff I tried to invent, but, you also have to have that open mindset of like, if you're investor, have that open mindset to say, this may not work, but we're doing it for the right reasons, and we're going to do it in a way that we want to make you money.
00:31:34:03 - 00:32:02:05
Levar Jackson
Yeah. Lazy business also starts all the way at the top C-suite. If you're not willing to take that meeting with a random stranger not a random stranger, but with that person who could change your company, could give you good ideas. You know. That's I think that's like the way I want to live my life from, you know, from now on is always trying to have that meeting, trying to say the yes, but don't always have to commit to completing the plan.
00:32:02:05 - 00:32:04:05
Levar Jackson
But at least that I want to hear it.
00:32:04:07 - 00:32:26:21
Rob Napoli
Yeah. I mean, I think it's really important to make sure that you're open to growth in terms of, hearing ideas and learning and evolving. You don't always have to. You know, I coach a lot of, founders, on this in my past life. And I always said, you know we are running a program. I was just doing a program for the Benelux region that I do every year.
00:32:26:23 - 00:32:41:11
Rob Napoli
And I always when they come in and they're going to meet about 100 people in New York in two weeks time. And I said, look, you're going to get some amazing feedback. You're going to get some pushback. You're going to get advice. They're going to tell you what you should and shouldn't do. All of these things, take it with a grain of salt.
00:32:41:13 - 00:32:59:11
Rob Napoli
Understand that you need to hear it all as you do. Hearing all of it allows you to think critically and more deeply about the problem that you're solving. But you don't have to listen to it all. You hear it, you digest it, but you don't have to use it. And, you know, it's always that kind of light bulb moment of growth of just.
00:32:59:11 - 00:33:15:10
Rob Napoli
Yeah, this is this is why you take that meeting. This is why you have this conversation. This is why you get on a podcast. This is why you jump on a panel. And the idea behind it is just to learn, evolve and continue to grow and figure out what makes sense for you. And what doesn't. And that is so powerful, and I love that.
00:33:15:10 - 00:33:17:05
Rob Napoli
That's kind of your life motto.
00:33:17:07 - 00:33:36:20
Levar Jackson
I also want to touch on how do you also give that critique, that feedback. So if when people come to me and I want to make sure, like I want this to become a thing, when you're giving that feedback, never say it's impossible. Say like, these are the pain points I see, but if you can address those, I feel like you know XYZ.
00:33:36:24 - 00:34:00:00
Levar Jackson
If you're saying like, hey, I want to make a flying car, I would tell you, people can't drive on the street. I don't want you to let them loose in the skies. But I mean, it could happen. And, perhaps they do need a pilot's license. So if you're like, that's the thing that if I didn't have the kind of the not tough skin, but a little bit of, like the New Yorker in me that I've been told.
00:34:00:00 - 00:34:21:18
Levar Jackson
No so many times that, you're not classically trained. You can't do this. You can't invent this. I can't, and I did, so if I had listened, it would have taken me out and I would have just stayed in my box. And people are afraid of change, and people are afraid to address, their insecurities around that.
00:34:21:22 - 00:34:38:18
Levar Jackson
Because if I say, hey, I'm going to make algae oil, which I have an algae growth system in as a whole, fun thing. It really, unshakes people around like you know, fossil fuels, like, no, you're just replacing one or the other. Your you can still have the exact same pipeline. You can still have the fueling stations.
00:34:38:18 - 00:34:53:00
Levar Jackson
You can still everything stays the same. You just not using dead dinosaurs. And, something that's more sustainable, but it doesn't change anything other than that. That's again, it harkens back to that lazy thinking.
00:34:53:02 - 00:35:11:16
Rob Napoli
I love that. I think with that, we're going to is a great way to end the episode. Levar I really appreciate getting to chat and talk about how do we put action to our words and that is so important. But for those listening, whether you're listening, on your headphones on the audio version or watching this on YouTube, how can they get in touch with you?
00:35:11:16 - 00:35:17:10
Rob Napoli
How can they find you, how can they learn more or maybe they have an idea that they want to explore with you how they get in touch, the way.
00:35:17:12 - 00:35:36:13
Levar Jackson
Always. You can find me on LinkedIn. We're on Instagram, which is Yogh group. We're the only ones with that name because we are, we did lock that down. You can find us on our website. It was Yogh.group. We're updating the website is. We find it fantastic in a week or two. And, yeah would just reach out to me.
00:35:36:13 - 00:35:45:10
Levar Jackson
LinkedIn usually the best way. There are times where I ignore it, but, no, we pull that stuff off of Twitter because it was weird and wild and crazy.
00:35:45:15 - 00:35:48:04
Rob Napoli
So, it's a wild one
00:35:48:05 - 00:36:00:13
Levar Jackson
We may end up going on blue Sky, but, yeah, Twitter was a little bit too crazy for us anymore. So we had to pull ourselves off of that. But, yeah. Instagram. You also can reach us there and threads Yeah, we're definitely on threads.
00:36:00:15 - 00:36:14:22
Rob Napoli
Well, I'll make sure to link the, your, LinkedIn, the website and the Instagram handle all in the show notes all you have to pop those open and click on it and you can get in touch with Levar. Levar thanks for, coming down to the office, in New York and doing this in person.
00:36:14:22 - 00:36:18:24
Rob Napoli
I really I'm really glad to have you on. I really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you, my friend.
00:36:19:03 - 00:36:20:04
Levar Jackson
Thank you for having me.
00:36:20:06 - 00:36:30:17
Rob Napoli
Awesome. And for those out there listening, this is another episode of hospitable. If you could be a tier one like rate, subscribe, leave a review, do all those amazing things for us and until next time, stay well.