Every successful business has a vision statement; for you to become successful you must create your vision and write a vision statement. Think about it for a short moment . A vision is very simple. It is nothing else but your ability to think about your plan for your future with imagination and a clear picture in mind. In a more scientific language:
the faculty or state of being able to see. My own explanation is a bit more specific. “A vision is but a statement where You describe your long-term professional goal where You see yourself in 10 or 15 years from now on.” In order to write a vision statement you will have to do some thinking. It will take a while. So try to sit down and think about yourself in the future in a specific position, a specific job, eventually a location and the life and career you wish to have. Some of you know it already and some of you have not thought about it at all. And then there are many in their late teens or early twenties who are just beginning to think about the future.
Honestly, it does not matter how old you are. You can create your vision at any age. Just don´t forget. You cannot buy time. Now is the time to get to work (if you have ambitions and dreams !) … and please do not do to much research on Booble or Yube. You can spent hours or even days there and you will definitely learn something, but I have to say it again: You cannot buy time !
What is it you really want ?
The very first question, I ask most of my clients is simply this: “What is it exactly, you want ?” (in life). And this is , what comes as a surprise to me. Most of them do not really know. In my Book, “The Perfect Hotel Career” I have written a full chapter on how to find out what you really want out of life and in your career. What I learned was, that many young people do not dream anymore. They either have no incentive or need to plan for the future (because their parents did already) or they are afraid to dream BIG because of their internalized belief system holding them back. There is also a geographical difference I observe. Those of my clients in India or in Africa dream Big and are quite ambitions. Most of them are “Hungry” to be successful. Those from the western world, Europe, North America are more comfortable in their present setting. They are not as hungry compared to their future competitors in other countries.
But let me come back to your vision. You should begin with asking yourself several questions: What kind of position you would like to have in 10 years from now. A second question is in which part of the hotel industry you would like to work. Is it more the exiting and roller coaster environment like in Banquets or Food & Beverage or would you feel more at ease in a more structured setting like Rooms Division ? Would you like to work more independently and manage the housekeeping department ? It all depends on your nature. Are you calm and steady or are you easily bored and need some excitement in your daily routines ? For me personally it was simple. I was the guy who fell in love with F&B. Of course did we have routines, but these routines were almost always interrupted due to unforeseen events during the day. There really was no day like the other. There was always some kind of excitement. For me it was a simple choice.
How about You ? Who are you ? What kind of daily routine do you prefer ? And then again, in 5 or in 10 years what kind of position will be there for you to pick. Will it be the Director of Food and Beverage Operations or the Director of Rooms Division ? Maybe you like to be in Sales & Marketing. If you are a good sales person then Sales and Marketing might be the field of your choice. You are free as a bird to pick the area and department within the hotel you like. Next: Lets talk for a moment about the position.
My advise on position is simple and if you are ambitious you will decide (with me) not to go for less than the position of a department head, be it in F&B, in Rooms or S&M. If you are very ambitious you will ultimately decide to become a hotel general manager and you just have to make up your mind on the size of the hotel, the number of stars and if it is a business hotel in a large city or a paradise resort anywhere in the world. Again a small example from my own plan: I wanted to become a F&B Director from early on. My eyes were set on this. I wrote every day in my Log Book at the Waldorf=Astoria: “I am a Food and Beverage Director.” I wrote it religiously for months. Only after I had taken in enough of the American Dream did I change this to General Manager. (My limiting German belief system had given in to the American way of thinking “Big”. If you know what I mean, read the book “The Magic of thinking Big”. You find the link to it in my Resources section. If you do not understand what I mean then I recommend reading it even more.
With all this information you should be able and know, what it is you want for your career and for your life and it is time to write your vision statement. It should not be more than 25 words but should contain everything you want to achieve. I know, that you want a lot. The trick here is, to put it into a no more than 20-25 words sentence and statement which you must repeat every day for as long as you have achieved your vision. Here are some simple examples:
Vision: am a Hotel Manager of a 300 room city hotel by age 35 in a top global hotel company earning $ 350.000.– net per year . — You can make it more specific by saying: By age 35 I am a 300 room, 5 star HIlton Hotel General Manager, earning $ 350,000.– annually ! This second option has less words, yet it is more specific.
Vision: I am the CEO of XYZ company by age 48 and earn $ 350.000.-net per year plus anual bonus of $ 150.000.– annually. — Another example you could use. However missing is the location. It is my advise to provide at least a regional description. It is not mandatory, but it sharpens your senses, when opportunities knock on your door. This was the case during my career at the Los Angeles HIlton. I was very eager to get my first GM position and indirectly I had already been told by someone close to the President, that I would get a shot at a Hilton Hotel close to San Francisco but I should be patient. I knew the hotel already but did not like to wait. At this time my old Mentor called me from Dubai, where he was looking for a General Manager of a 400 room luxury hotel. To make it short: I left Los Angeles, HIlton and probably a very good career behind me, just to get the position in Dubai. About 9 months into the job in Dubai I was informed by an old colleague, that I had been shortlisted to become the GM of the Miami Airport Hilton with 800 rooms ! Did I forget to mention, that Miami had always been and still is today 25 years later – my favorite city in the USA.
Adding a location, a region, a city into your vision statement makes sense. The same might happen to You, that you are to impatient and that you want your job fast. Keep in mind. Not only did I leave the country where I felt at home, I also left a great company where I had established myself quite well. Simply because I did not want to wait. This is, where a very precise Vision statement comes in.
Vision: I am retiring as a successful global hotelier by age 50 with a net worth of $ 2 Million and live of the interests of my investments. This one seems to be a bit far off. Yes, it is and No, it is not. If you are no longer a young hotelier but you have actually achieved your first vision, (and you are reading this) , it is time to create a new vision for yourself. And trust me, this one is more challenging compared to the first one. As you have climbed the ladder, you will have been approached by investment advisors promising you to help you to built your nest egg wisely. In this Blog, I will not talk about investing and saving, only so much: The earlier you begin to plan for your later career and potential retirement the better it will be. If you are indeed at a GM level now or Head of Department, you are well advised to create a new vision for yourself.( By the way, the number above is not only possible, rather a bit low. I bought MSFT at $17.– and Amazon at $ 19.– just to mention 2 stock picks. But this was in the 1990ties. Now there are new ones and they are no longer tech stocks. If you want to learn about Money – and you MUST – begin with Anthony Robbins “Money”. You find the link to order in my Resources page.)
Vision: I am a well known 5 star hotel with XYZ company Executive Chef by age 35, live and work in an Asian Key City earning $ 150 K annually and am known to open successful restaurants and develop successful concepts. This could be a short vision statement for someone aspiring to become a renowned Executive Chef with one of the great hotel companies in an Asian key city. It is clear, crisp and has enough space for you to fill in with whatever you like to achieve and can imagine. Not everybody wants to become a General Manager or more. Some hoteliers are serving and performing excellently in Housekeeping, Rooms Division or F & B. Some are completely happy with this positions and will serve in their companies loyal and most reliable for many years. Eventually they move – almost by default – into Corporate positions. Some of my earlier colleagues and team members are today successful Regional- or Corporate Directors of world class companies.
The above are simply examples to help You getting started. It is however a most important exercise you should complete with a “heart full of desire”. Napoleon Hills uses the term “Burning Desire” – It is fundamentally important that you feel this emotion. That you really, really want – what you want – bad enough. Bad enough, that you are even willing to burn bridges behind you, get out of your comfort zone and get ready to take what is rightfully yours already. I experienced this emotion three times in my life. And every time I went out to get what I wanted, I got it. How about You ? Do you want to make your dream come true too ? Then go for it and create your vision ! Don`t wait: Because you cannot buy time and time is money !
One last point : As you are creating your vision, be free from worries or doubts. Do not try to argue if your dream can come true or is too ambitious. Do not even worry about how you will achieve it. Just dream and create your vision. How I did it ? It was quite spontaneously. It was a sunny summer day. The song “Sunshine Reggae” was top of the charts, I put my small palms on the balcony my Berlin apartment and created my vision rather unorthodox with a few Ronricos – (Puerto Rican rum). How you will go about it ? I am curious and will be happy to hear from you !
I know you will make the best out of it !
Helmut H Meckelburg