Happy holidays to all my hospitality friends out there. Yes, I know it’s like death by a thousand cuts but as I write this message we are merely days away from January and a new year. A fresh start some would say, although you could argue fresh challenges seem much more likely. The genius that is John Lennon asked the question “so this is Christmas, and what have you done? Great question. 2024 seems to be somewhat of a blur now, but surely I achieved some things, right?
Reflecting on my 2024 I am as usual reminded of my old school reports, ‘Kellie could do better!’
It’s difficult not to look back and criticize what was missed or left behind. What we didn’t achieve. It’s all too easy to be hard on yourself and overthink all the near misses. Hospitality is full of opportunities which almost came off but somehow just missed. For every success there seems to be a mountain of failures. We are taught (and I believe) we learn much more from our failures than our successes. Very often I replay my failures through my mind blessed with the power of hindsight. I dissect each decision, each missed chance and every missed opportunity. I imagine what I wanted to say, what I should have done and what I should have got. It’s powerful to reimagine situations like that, not just to do differently next time but also to remind yourself of the feeling. That’s what stops us making the same mistakes. The feeling failure gives you is palpable and unforgettable.
Hopefully you’re looking back at some success too. Survival is always a good place to start. Another year of navigating turbulent change, insurmountable pressures and unimaginable challenges. Hopefully your businesses have survived. It’s a pretty low yardstick but in these difficult times that’s probably a great achievement.
Well, before you have time to say ‘happy new year’ you’re already thinking about what 2025 will throw at you. If, like me, you are full of good intentions at this time of year you will be writing your new year’s resolutions. In preparation for this column I thought about the principles of resolutrions and found them, on the whole, to be pretty unhelpful. I can think of very few times that a resolution has ever come true for me ( I still dont read a book a month, I can’t play the piano and never really made any none-hospitality friends).
On reflection It seems a little like resolutions lack the backbone of an objective. They are the weak and feeble cousin of the KPI and annoying friend of a real goal. So by their nature do resolutions set us up to fail?
In a landscape such as ours should we throw away resolutions for good, get rid of the big ambitions and dreams? Well on reflection and in short, no. A resolution can be our big picture thinking. It can be the the culmination of a hundred great goals. It can open the world of possibilities unfettered by the constraints of a practical plan. In a world like this surely we still need to dream big?
So, hospitality peeps I challenge you to set aside your worries and concerns, even for a moment and just imagine. What if you reached further, pushing yourself past the point you believed possible? What if you dreamed big? It happens. I would hazard a guess that in this business we have more dreamers than most. More half-full kind of people, More ‘I’ll give it a go’ attitudes. We are not afraid of stepping up. We do it time and time again.
My usual resolutions do have some merit. Lose weight (obviously), get fit and be strong are all themes which can be applied to business. This year I’m going to lose the weight of negativity and negative people, I’ve decided in 2025 to surround myself with people who bring positivity in my life. People who I trust to have my best interests at heart. People who make me feel good about myself. My people. I’m going to get fit. This year, mean ‘mind fit’. More agile, more flexible, more responsive. Do things I find challenging to push myself further.
Finally I’m going to be strong. When faced with the challenges of everyday life I’ll remind myself that I have endured much tougher times than these. I am strong already. When I work with leaders in hospitality I’m reminded of the ‘mettle’ inside. We are made of strong stuff. Stronger than most.
So as I imagine my hospitality world in 2025, I imagine a place where we are seen, where we are heard and where we are believed. I imagine all the people in this sector pulling together and demanding real change, it isn’t hard to do. You might say I’m a dreamer (but I’m not the only one). Happy New Year everyone.
