Wayne Davis
Chief People Officer, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers
The Cincinnati native relishes the stories and history his grandfather—one of the first African-American coalminers in West Virginia—told him during his summer visits. His grandfather, who left school in the sixth or seventh grade, always impressed upon him how difficult the life of a coalminer was and stressed how important it was that he pursue his education.
“He would take me on little hikes up the mountains and into the hills of West Virginia, and tell me stories about the mining industry, how difficult it was for him and for others,” Davis recalls. “It wasn’t just about African Americans, but all coalminers; stories of waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. and going down into the dark, cold and murky mines, working six days a week, always late into the night. It seemed like a very hard life, and I committed myself at that early age to the idea that when I grew up, I would work to make life better for those who worked for companies.”
More than 30 years later, the Chief People Officer of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has worked across six different industries, including telecommunications, to make life better for employees. Red Robin is his first professional foray into foodservice, but it isn’t his first rodeo in the industry. As a teenager, he was a busser at a steakhouse. Today, he’s tasked with ensuring Red Robin’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels of the business.
“It’s kind of like coming home to a degree because now when I walk into a restaurant, I remember what it was like as a teenager working at that steakhouse,” he says. “I really believe in Red Robin’s commitment to DEI and the longstanding values it has around its people. We put them first and believe that when we take care of them, they’ll take care of our guests.”
He says his focus is to make Red Robin’s employees feel heard and provide them with opportunities to give feedback about work experiences so that policies and practices ensure that “when they sit down with their own grandchildren someday, they’ll be able to tell them their workplace was vastly different than the ones my grandfather talked about when I was a kid.”
Davis agrees that it’s often harder for persons of color to ascend the corporate ladder, but that there’s challenge and adversity in all aspects of life. He stresses it’s important to meet those challenges with positivity, hard work, and the ability to make and deliver on contributions. That’s what will really gets employees noticed, he says.
Davis shared three tips on how minority employees can advance to the next level.
- Find and get exposure. Whenever there’s a special or key project within your company, get your name out there and throw your hat in the ring to be on that project team. You will gain exposure to senior leadership because they will want to be in contact with and find out what’s happening on that team, what their needs and resources are.
- Join a professional organization or association. Exposure to a professional community will provide an opportunity to get in front of individuals who are at senior levels at other companies as well as some who are at your own place of business.
- Ask your boss for their sponsorship. You should always have an expectation that your boss will highlight your contributions and give you an opportunity for recognition. It should be part of your ongoing conversation with him or her. Ask for introductions across the company so leadership team members can meet you, and you can get to know them.
“It really has to start at the feeder level,” he says. “If we can get more people of color to represent at the SVP and EVP levels, that will put us in a much better position to see more CEOs in the future. That’s certainly one of the things we’re looking at here. We’re building succession plans and career paths across our organization so that we’ll be able to create that talent pipeline to the extent that hopefully one day there will be a person of color as CEO. But it takes a lot of work, and it has to be intentional.”