The Business of Meetings – Episode 252: From Conscious Leadership to Wellness: Kim Napolitano’s Insights on Building Great Places to Work
Welcome to our very first podcast for 2025!
We are thrilled to begin the new year with an inspiring conversation with an outstanding leader in our industry. Kim Napolitano is the Executive Director of Industry Relations and Intermediary Group Sales for Hilton Worldwide Sales. She is also a dedicated Peloton rider and a certified master practitioner of energetic medicine.
With a passion for wellness and three decades of invaluable leadership experience behind her, Kim joins us today to share her insights on the best type of workplace, conscious leadership, and ways to weave wellness into every aspect of all we do.
Journey to Conscious Leadership
After beginning her journey with an unfulfilled sense of purpose, Kim sought guidance from a life and executive coach, who encouraged her to identify her deeper goals. Later, she witnessed the widespread impacts on the hospitality industry and her team during the pandemic and recognized the need to lead differently. So, she embraced conscious leadership and became a certified master practitioner of energetic medicine. Her training highlighted the interconnectedness of human energy, prompting her to shift from an egocentric leadership style to a more people-focused, we-centric approach.
The Role of Culture in Leadership Success
Research supports Kim’s explanation that people-first companies achieve better financial outcomes, more customer satisfaction, and more employee retention. Hilton’s leadership fosters innovation and alignment with core values, proving that prioritizing culture leads to long-term success.
Clearing Exercise
The following clearing exercise is a helpful tool that assists leaders in starting each day with focus and purpose, ensuring they show up as their best selves for their teams: Each morning, leaders should write out their thoughts for the day and choose a word that represents their stand for that day (like calm, grace, or strategy).
The Iconic Leader Exercise
The following exercise involves reflecting on leaders who have profoundly impacted your life: Participants identify traits they admire, like courage or humility, and develop actionable ways to strengthen those qualities in themselves. Kim explains that spotting those traits in others indicates their potential within oneself.
Conscious Leadership
Conscious leadership means being fully present in the moment rather than dwelling on the past or future. Kim believes that leaders must not only focus on business outcomes but also prioritize the development and well-being of their team. Conscious leadership requires self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and modeling desired behaviors for the team to foster trust, respect, and a sense of belonging and create a positive and thriving work environment.
Adaptive Leadership
Kim finds it essential for leaders to tailor their leadership styles to meet the unique needs of different individuals. For example, she showed empathy and understanding for a team member facing personal challenges and adapted her approach to provide the specific support that individual required. In doing that, she highlighted the importance of being present and responsive to the diverse human needs within a team.
Why Hilton is a Great Place to Work
The journey Hilton took toward becoming one of the best places to work started in 2016 when the company first made the Fortune 2016 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Kim attributes much of their success to the leadership of Chris Nassetta, who led with a vision of creating a positive work environment and the support of senior leaders who embody the same values.
Leadership, Values, and Alignment
Kim emphasizes that business owners must model the values they expect from their teams and be willing to take the necessary steps to evolve and align with their vision.
Five Dimensions of a Great Place to Work
Kim has five key dimensions that define a great place to work: credibility, respect, fairness, a sense of belonging, and pride, the areas that focus on the relationship between employees and their direct leaders.
Handling Mistakes and Failing Forward
Kim believes that leaders should model how to handle mistakes, grow from them, and create an environment where employees feel safe to acknowledge and learn from their errors rather than wanting to hide them. She stresses the importance of vulnerability and self-awareness in leadership and highlights the value of failing forward.
Setting Goals and Supporting Team Members
Kim sets yearly goals and encourages her team members to take on personal challenges, including things that scare them. She supports her team by offering resources from Hilton and demonstrates her commitment to growth by pursuing an executive coaching program. She believes leadership is about continuous learning and providing the necessary support for others to do the same.
Wellness, Energetic Medicine, and Breathwork
Discussing her journey to wellness through energetic medicine and practices like Reiki, Kim explains that wellness is not only about physical health. It is also about mental and emotional clarity. Breathwork (like box breathing) is a tool she recommends for leaders to remain centered during stressful situations, manage their reactions, and stay calm.
Authenticity
Kim believes that true happiness comes from self-validation rather than seeking external approval. True wellness comes from inner connection, self-validation, and embracing personal authenticity, regardless of external opinions.
Final Thoughts
Kim advocates for a broader understanding of wellness that encompasses self-awareness, leadership, and personal development. She encourages leaders to share their journey with their teams to foster an environment of support and mutual growth.
Bio:
Kim Napolitano is a seasoned senior sales executive with a proven track record of driving revenue and leading high-performing teams within Hilton Worldwide Sales. With over 30 years of experience, Kim has consistently demonstrated her ability to build cohesive, results-driven cultures while executing complex strategies that support Hilton’s leadership in the global hospitality industry.
Currently serving as the Executive Director of Industry Relations & Intermediary Group Sales, Kim guides Hilton’s strategic partnerships with key industry organizations, including ASAE, EIC, GBTA, MPI, PCMA, and SITE. She ensures Hilton’s voice is prominent in shaping the future of the hospitality sector. Her oversight includes managing a team of nine, handling all personnel decisions, and driving performance across intermediary group sales. Under her leadership, her teams have consistently received industry-wide recognition for excellence, including Partner of the Year awards from their largest group intermediary customers.
Before her current role, Kim led the Intermediary & Specialty Markets Group Sales, where she was instrumental in merging two distinct teams, creating a unified culture focused on collaboration and alignment. Her leadership resulted in notable achievements, such as driving market share growth within multicultural, faith-based, sports, and government segments.
Kim’s reputation as an industry leader extends to speaking engagements and podcasts, where she shares insights on key topics impacting the hospitality industry. She has appeared on “Attention to Intention” and the “Institute for Excellence in Sales” podcasts, discussing leadership, transformation, and fostering a culture of success.
Kim is also a certified master practitioner of energetic medicine through the Four Winds Society. She brings a holistic approach to her leadership style, aiming to integrate consciousness and well-being into boardrooms and ballrooms. She is currently in the process of becoming a certified Ontological Executive Coach through Accomplishment Coaching.
Kim’s passion for hospitality is matched only by her commitment to fostering the next generation of leaders. A dedicated mentor and industry advocate, she holds leadership roles in several key associations, including the ASAE, MPI, and SITE, where she serves on the ASAE and SITE Board of Directors and is a Foundation member for MPI.
Outside of work, Kim is an enthusiastic Peloton rider with over 1,000 workouts completed. Her leaderboard name, MamaNaPelotono, reflects her fun-loving nature. She married her college sweetheart, Michael, and they have three adult children.
Connect with Eric Rozenberg
Connect with Kim Napolitano
On LinkedIn
