Don’t you wait to try it
Are you scared to find it?

And will you ever heal from all these scars?
And did you have to take it all so far?
Are you scared to start?

Well, tomorrow’s the day. I step into a role in hospitality that I’ve never been in before, for some reason this one seems a bit more daunting than other times I’ve started new roles.

I think it’s the fear of failure, which a lot of people have. For me I’ve wanted to be a leader wherever I worked for the last 10 years. I’ve dipped my toes in the water of leadership, but tomorrow I jump in the deep end.

I say leadership very specifically, because it’s my goal to be a leader not a manager. A manager is someone who wants to be in charge, A leader is someone who takes care of the people in their charge. In other words I’ll sacrifice my betterment for the people to the left of me and to the right of me.

I think when you step into this sort of role language is very important. For me it’s important that the employees I lead know that they don’t work FOR me, they work WITH me. I don’t care what my title is, no one will ever work FOR me. Something I learned from my mentor, and back when I worked with him and I was 23 I’d always argue that I worked for him and he’d argue I worked with him. Years later I realize he was right. The way he lead nobody worked for him, they worked with him.

A mentor is not someone who walks ahead of us and tells how they did it.

A mentor is someone who walks along side us, to guide us on what we can do.

These first few weeks it’s very important for me to remain humble, and have humility. Otherwise I’ll never achieve my goals.

Once I’m settled I look forward in inspiring others to pursue unreasonable hospitality. To listen to their guests, and not just hear the words but understand what is being said.

I hope to be the next generation of great hospitality leaders, and I look forward to doing just that in this role. There’s a lot to learn, but I’ve always been the asshole that tried to overachieve at work. This is no different.

I’m about to make a big impact in a city I love, doing what I love most, taking care of people.

I’m scared, but I’m ready.

Get ready to see what I’m capable of, this comeback is a long time coming.

Where the skies are gold not gray,

J.