Whenever the chips are down, people love to give advice.
Have you noticed this? As soon as this pandemic got real, we were showered with reminders to focus on people, to stay strong amid adversity, to hold tight to our values and above all, to remember that this too shall pass.
Don’t get me wrong: Advice-givers often come from a good place; I know they do. There’s absolutely comfort to be had in reminders that we’ll be OK. Us lowly common folk look to leaders in our lives and communities and industries to inspire confidence and assure us the future will be brighter.
But there’s a fine line between inspiring reminders and platitudes, and I think it’s time for the idealized advice to go.
I’ve heard far too many keynote speakers at online industry events repeat the same drivel, and I’m over it. Super-wealthy power players telling me that everything will be OK as long as I hang on to my values rings hollow.
It’s time to get real, friends. At all levels in our industry.
The best speakers and sources we’ve encountered here at Hotel News Now in the last six months (and really, in the last 11 years) are the ones who tell it like it is—who don’t mind sharing mistakes and hardships.
Take the story HNN’s Sean McCracken wrote on Sonesta, published earlier this week. Company President and CEO Carlos Flores gets real in the story, talking about how the company was at a turning point earlier this year, rethinking strategy after falling short of some growth goals.
Flores isn’t afraid to be transparent about the bad and the good, and the net result is, in my opinion, really helpful for a reader.
It’s why I love our Q&A with a GM series (here’s a recent story from that series). GMs operating in the most challenging situations usually aren’t afraid to be honest and share the bad as well as the good.
I’d love to see more CEOs and consultants take this approach. Not everything is peachy keen. Not every sales team is going to be able to pluck up and find business by making some cold calls from home. But when leaders can talk frankly and honestly about how they and their teams work through the crummy conditions that abound in 2020? That’s inspiring.
I’ve always said that there’s comfort in solidarity. For me, that really translates to: “This is crappy for everyone. Nobody is immune. Leaders will make mistakes. So let’s drop the BS and talk for real about how we’re working through the problems.”
I dare you. Comment below, email me at sricca@hotelnewsnow.com or find me on Twitter @HNN_Steph.
The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or its parent company, STR and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.