“It doesn’t matter what you study in college,” one of my professors once said. “In the end, we’re all theater and philosophy majors.”
His suggestion was two-fold: 1.) We all go through our lives acting differently, depending on who we’re with and where we are. 2.) We all have to decide why we’re here and what our lives are about.
I think my professor was right, and I think his idea connects well to the hospitality business.
First, we’re all actors. Each day, we decide how we’ll act around our guests, around our leaders, and around our team members. I would say it’s probably best to act in the same way around everybody, but the truth is that for various reasons, we don’t do that. Still, every day, we have an opportunity to play a character that is either accepting or closed-minded, friendly or grumpy, innovative or routine. We interact with our guests by treating them as valued friends, or we treat them as just another customer walking through the door. We’re all actors. We make a decision about what our character’s personality will be, whether we like to realize that or not.
Second, we have to decide why we’re here. What kind of culture have we created in our workplace? What is our reputation? What are we trying to do today, tomorrow, next year, or in 10 years? What are the values that guide the decisions we make, especially the difficult ones? Are you concious about what your philosopy is?
Realize it or not, we’re all theater and philosophy majors.
Essential Hospitality 